Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0051. Saturday, 23 Feb 1991. Subj: 2.0051 For Your Information Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Thu, 21 Feb 91 13:15:11 EST From: Michael Covington Subject: Phonetic symbol font (2) Date: Thu, 21 Feb 91 13:25:14 EST From: John_M._Lawler@ub.cc.umich.edu Subject: Update on ftp files available (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Feb 91 13:15:11 EST From: Michael Covington Subject: Phonetic symbol font We are developing a phonetic symbol font for the HP Laserjet. This will be based on 12-point Courier type and will include a couple of dozen phonetic symbols as well as some logical and mathematical symbols. We will distribute it free, with printer drivers to use it with Word Perfect 5.1 (and 5.0 if there is sufficient demand). In principle, it can be used with any printer, but you'll have to install it yourself. I would appreciate comments immediately about what symbols to put in. The font itself will be available in about a month and an announcement will be sent to LINGUIST when it is ready. --------------------------------------------------------- Michael A. Covington internet mcovingt@uga.cc.uga.edu Artificial Intelligence Programs bitnet MCOVINGT@UGA Graduate Studies Research Center phone 404 542-0359 The University of Georgia fax 404 542-0349 Athens, Georgia 30602 bix, mci mail MCOVINGTON U.S.A. packet radio N4TMI@WB4BSG (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Feb 91 13:25:14 EST From: John_M._Lawler@ub.cc.umich.edu Subject: Update on ftp files available Herewith the text of the file "CONTENTS" from the LING directory on um.cc.umich.edu. I've put a few more things there for anonymous ftp: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents of LING directory on um.cc.umich.edu 2/20/91 Maintained by Linguistic Society of America Contact John Lawler (jlawler@ub.cc.umich.edu) Currently there are seven files (besides this one) available on the LING directory for anonymous ftp: (1) EMAILIST.LSA is the latest version of John Moyne's (semi-)official LSA email address list. This is also available on the "linguistics" directory on csli.stanford.edu. EMAILIST.LSA has 73,768 bytes in 1532 data lines 75,300 on Unix, including 1532 newlines 76,832 on MS-DOS, including 1532 CR/LF pairs (2) ESERVER.AD is the announcement, with directions, for accessing the Linguistic e-mail address server: LINGUISTS@ALF.LET.UVA.NL This allows you to send a message and find out the address of anyone who's in the list, plus add your address if you're not, or change it when necessary. The server is maintained by Norval Smith, of the Institute for General Linguistics at the University of Amsterdam. ESERVER.AD has 3905 bytes in 88 data lines 3993 on Unix, including 88 newlines 4081 on MS-DOS, including 88 CR/LF pairs (3) LINGUIST.LST is the collected back issues of the LINGUIST mail group (linguist@uniwa.uwa.oz.au). They appear as archives of messages. LINGUIST.LST has 254,248 bytes in 6657 data lines 260,905 on Unix, including 6657 newlines 267,562 on MS-DOS, including 6657 CR/LF pairs (4) SURVEY.LSA is the collected (almost entirely unedited) responses received via e-mail (not including paper responses) from the recent LSA member survey on computer usage and software. SURVEY.LSA has 185,872 bytes in 5501 data lines 191,373 on Unix, including 5501 newlines 196,874 on MS-DOS, including 5501 CR/LF pairs (5-7) OVERVIEW.INS, SCHEDULE.INS, and COURSES.INS are files containing information about the LSA's 1991 Summer Institute at the University of California at Santa Cruz. OVERVIEW.INS gives a simple list of all courses, while SCHEDULE.INS and COURSES.INS are the complete schedule and descriptions of courses, respectively. OVERVIEW.INS has 7437 bytes in 141 data lines 7578 on Unix, including 141 newlines 7719 on MS-DOS, including 141 CR/LF pairs SCHEDULE.INS has 4301 bytes in 104 data lines 4405 on Unix, including 104 newlines 4509 on MS-DOS, including 104 CR/LF pairs COURSES.INS has 56,758 bytes in 1032 data lines 57,790 on Unix, including 1032 newlines 58,822 on MS-DOS, including 1032 CR/LF pairs --------------------------------------------------------------------- These are also available on ub.cc.umich.edu. More to come, hopefully.. Cheers, -J ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0052. Saturday, 23 Feb 1991. Subj: 2.0052 Job Announcement Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Wed, 20 Feb 91 17:27:57 EST From: mccray@nlm.nih.gov (Alexa T. McCray) Subject: Job Announcement - Computational Linguist (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Feb 91 17:27:57 EST From: mccray@nlm.nih.gov (Alexa T. McCray) Subject: Job Announcement - Computational Linguist The Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications, a research division of the National Library of Medicine, is seeking a computational linguist to join its Natural Language Systems Program. We seek an individual who has demonstrated experience in natural language processing and an advanced degree in linguistics or computer science. Candidates should have experience in the development of systems using Prolog, Lisp, C or other high level languages and should be well qualified in linguistic theory. The National Library of Medicine is located on the beautiful NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. The Lister Hill Center has extensive state of the art facilities including many Sun, Macintosh, and PC-compatible workstations, file servers and associated scanning and imaging equipment. Our research staff is dedicated to developing advanced technologies for storing, manipulating and disseminating biomedical information. The successful candidate will join a team of experienced professionals addressing major research issues in an environment which assures high visibility for outstanding work. Salary will range from $31,116 to $40,449 depending on education and experience. U.S. citizenship is required. The U.S. Government is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Send a resume and a cover letter describing your research interests to the following address no later than March 25, 1991. Chief, Computer Science Branch NLS Program Search Lister Hill Center National Library of Medicine 8600 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Maryland 20894 ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0053. Tuesday, 26 Feb 1991. Subj: 2.0053 For Your Information Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Mon, 25 Feb 91 17:16:00 CST From: Emily Epstein Subject: ANNOUNCING NEW RELEASE OF INTERNET LIBRARY CATALOG (2) Date: Mon, 25 Feb 91 13:39:48 PST From: fellous%pipiens.usc.edu@usc.edu (Jean-Marc Fellous) Subject: CNE Workshop on Emotions Total: 186 lines (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- [From ANSAXNET, Mon, 25 February] Date: Mon, 25 Feb 91 17:16:00 CST Sender: Emily Epstein Subject: ANNOUNCING NEW RELEASE OF INTERNET LIBRARY CATALOG [Re my last posting, this was posted on a number of library-related lists awhile ago. If you want more detailed information on internet access to library catalogs, this is for you. Make sure you have plenty of disk space to receive it; this file is *huge* -- Emily] THE FIRST, BEST AND MOST AUTHORITATIVE CATALOG OF INTERNET ACCESSIBLE LIBRARIES AND RELATED DATABASES IS NOW AVAILABLE!! A new release of the Internet-Accessible Library Catalogs and Databases has been posted on LISTSERV@UNMVM. It contains the following additions: California Agricultural Technology Institute, Cal. State Fresno Occidental College CARL (revised) Florida State University System (revised) Johns Hopkins University University of Minnesota (revised) University of Nebraska Princeton University University of Tulsa University of Pittsburgh (revised) Clemson University University of Tennessee (revised) Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (revised) Marquette University University of Calgary Queens University Libraries, Canada University of Saskatchewan Libraries, Canada Bar-Ilan University, Israel Ben-Gurion University, Israel Haifa University, Israel Hebrew University, Israel Technion, Israel Tel Aviv University, Israel Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel Fifty (50) new entries to the Bulletin Board section! ALSO, LOOK FOR AN ANNOUNCEMENT IN THE NEAR FUTURE REGARDING ACCESS TO DOZENS OF UK LIBRARIES ON JANET !! I am sending this notice to a large number of network lists and I apologize in advance if you receive more than one copy. Please recycle duplicate copies responsibly. To obtain the revised file, send mail or a command to LISTSERV@UNMVM. The body of the mail or command should say GET LIBRARY PACKAGE. The ascii file is now too large to send over BITNET as one file. This command will retrieve four files, sent separately. Because of the very large size of the Postscript file, it will not be availanle from Listserv, even as a package, unless there is sufficient demand for it. Both the ascii and PS files are also obtainable via anonymous FTP and from two sites. From NIC.CERF.NET, cd to cerfnet/cefnet_info and retrieve files called: internet-catalogs-01-91-gen.ps (general Postscript version) internet-catalogs-01-91-apl.ps (Apple Postscript version) internet-catalogs-01-91.txt (ascii version) You can also FTP to ARIEL.UNM.EDU and cd to library. The files are called: library.ps (Postscript) internet.library (ascii) It is possible to automatically receive updated versions of this file. For more information, send mail or a command to your nearest Listserv node or, only as a last resort, to Listserv@unmvm. The body of the mail or the command should say INFO AFD. You will be sent a file called Listafd Memo which describes the automatic file distribution feature of the Revised Listserv. As always, if you have any questions about the List or suggestions for additions or corrections, please send mail to stgeorge@unmb or stgeorge@bootes.unm.edu. Art St. George, Ph.D. Executive Network Services Officer University of New Mexico High-Tech Access: Soft Touch Access stgeorge@unmb (BITNET) (505) 277-8046 VOICE stgeorge@bootes.unm.edu (Internet) (505) 277-8101 FAX (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Feb 91 13:39:48 PST From: fellous%pipiens.usc.edu@usc.edu (Jean-Marc Fellous) Subject: CNE Workshop on Emotions ***************************************************************************** ** C.N.E W O R K S H O P O N E M O T I O N S ** ***************************************************************************** The Center for Neural Engineering of the University of Southern California is happy to announce that its student Workshop on Emotions will be held Monday March 18th from 8.30am to 4.00pm in the Hedco Neuro-Science Building Auditorium (on U.S.C campus). The papers presented will be the following: Affect versus Cognitive-repair Behaviors. Sharon Ruth Gross - U.S.C (Social Psychology) A Mathematical representation of Emotions. Charles Rapp - Illinois Institute of Technology (Computer Science). Cognitive and Emotional disorders in Parkinson's Disease. Peter Dominey - U.S.C (C.N.E, Gerontology). Cognitive-Emotional interaction using subsymbolic paradigm. Aluizio Fausto Ribeiro Araujo - University of Sussex (U.K) (School of cognitive and Computing Sciences) Emotional expressions conceptualized as uniquely effective communication devices Heidi M. Lincer - U.S.C (Psychology). Taxi world: Computing Emotions. Clark Eliott - Northwestern University. (Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Sciences). Zeal: A Sociological perspective on Emotion, cognition and organizational structure. Gerardo Marti - U.S.C (Gerontology, Sociology) In addition, the following papers have been accepted but will not be presented orally during the Workshop. They will be put on loan during the Workshop. Emotions and autonomous machinery. Douglas A. Kerns - California Institute of Technology (Electrical Engineering). Representation, Action, and Emotion. Michael Travers - M.I.T (Media-Lab). Toward an Emotional Computer: Models of Emotions. Jean-Marc Fellous - U.S.C (C.N.E Computer Science) There will not be any registration fees but, as to get an estimation of the number of persons attending the Workshop, interested people are invited to announce their attendance by email (or surface mail). We remind the participants that this event being a Workshop not a Conference they are strongly encouraged to participate to the debates by their comments and questions to the speakers. Thank you for forwarding this announcement to potentialy interested persons/instituions/mailing_lists. Further informations requests (and email registration) can be addressed to Jean-Marc FELLOUS Center For Neural Engineering University of Southern California U.S.C - University Park Los Angeles CA 90089-2520 U.S.A Tel: (213) 740-3506 Fax: (213) 746-2863 email: fellous@rana.usc.edu .. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0054. Thursday, 28 Feb 1991. Subj: 2.0054 Queries Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Date: Wed 28 Feb 91 From: a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au Subject: Introductory Linguistics Textbook for Graduates (2) Date: Tue, 26 Feb 91 14:59:36 -0800 From: rwaksler@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu (Rachelle Waksler) Subject: International Austronesian Conference (3) Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 15:48:07 +0100 (MET) From: garof@sixcom.sixcom.it (Joe Giampapa) Subject: text-linguistic image acquisition in arabic proverbs Total: 109 lines (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed 28 Feb 91 From: a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au Subject: Introductory Linguistics Textbook for Graduates I keep on looking for the holy grail: a good textbook for a graduate level introduction to linguistics. Does anyone have any suggestions this year? (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 26 Feb 91 14:59:36 -0800 From: rwaksler@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu (Rachelle Waksler) Subject: International Austronesian Conference Is anyone going to the International Austronesian Conference in Hawaii in May that would like to share accomodations? Please respond to Shelley Waksler at rwaksler@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 15:48:07 +0100 (MET) From: garof@sixcom.sixcom.it (Joe Giampapa) Subject: text-linguistic image acquisition in arabic proverbs Keywords: text linguistic arabic proverb I am trying to help a friend with her research in Arabic proverbs, and have a few questions about what she is studying. Her research is occupied with the following: "With the Text-linguistic concept of the closeness of the text, I seek the signals of the self-contained status of the proverb as well as of the arabic traditional line of verse on the rhythmical, phonetical, syntactical and semantic levels; which are the devices and which are the most recurring characteristics." 1. What are "text-linguistics"? Is it an approach or hypothesis which states that the creation of an image by text (ie. phrase or sentence) is made possible by the words' semantics, argument structure, pronunciation, phrasal syntax, etc.? 2. What is the text-linguistic "concept of the closeness of the text"? To what would the text be "close", and based on which criteria? Is "closeness" a statistical concept? For what regards the seeking of "signals of the self-contained status of the proverb": 3. Is this an example of how "text-linguistics" empower the comprehension of a proverb? 4. What could constitute valid "signals" in a general human experience of poetry or proverbs. Are there recurrent human perceptually-based primitives? 5. Is there any computational or automatic method for extracting signals from text? 6. Is there any computational or automatic method for constructing images, based on such signals, from text? 7. Does anyone have any experiences to share, be they in a similar approach to analyzing poetry, prose, proverbs, manners of speech, etc.? 8. Are there any arabists out there? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Due to constraints of time and disk space, I would prefer that e-mail responses be sent to me, though I shall try to stay in touch with group discussions as well. -Joe Giampapa Sixcom Host Systems and Remote Processing Division of the Olivetti Group Milano (Italia) garof@sixcom.it garof@sixcom.uucp Due to occasional outages of Internet in Italy, senders from Internet sites are requested to explicitly coerce their message's routing. The addresses below have been confirmed to work: garof%sixcom.it@uunet.uu.net garof%sixcom@carla.dist.unige.it garof@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu <<==== this is a reliable forward ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0055. Thursday, 28 Feb 1991. Subj: 2.0055 LINGUIST Archive, Libraries, Lexical Research Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Thur, 28 Feb 91 From: The LINGUIST Moderators Subject: Retrieving Back Issues of LINGUIST (2) Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 06:47:29 CST From: Natalie Maynor Subject: Accessing UK Libraries (3) Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 08:41:48 EST From: John_M._Lawler@ub.cc.umich.edu Subject: Consortium for Lexical Research Total: 221 lines (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thur, 28 Feb 91 From: The LINGUIST Moderators Subject: Retrieving Back Issues of LINGUIST Back issues of LINGUIST may be now obtained in one of two ways: 1. You may send the server (address: listserv@uniwa.uwa.oz.au) the following message: GET archive/ e.g. GET archive/vol-2-43 If you do not know what issue you want, you can get a directory of all issues, with their headings, by sending the following command to the server: GET archive/directory Note that this is the ONLY way you can obtain back-issues if you do not have Internet access. 2. If you have Internet access, you may FTP all back issues of LINGUIST in a single file from the University of Michigan. The issues exist as a file LINGUIST.LST in the subdirectory LING on two machines, um.cc.umich.edu and ub.cc.umich.edu. (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 06:47:29 CST From: Natalie Maynor Subject: Accessing UK Libraries Information on accessing UK libraries is available via anonymous ftp from ra.msstate.edu. The file is in docs/words-l and is named uk- libraries. (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 08:41:48 EST From: John_M._Lawler@ub.cc.umich.edu Subject: Consortium for Lexical Research ------- Forwarded Message From: ted@nmsu.edu (Ted Dunning) Subject: the consortium for lexical research Date: 20 Feb 91 18:33:45 GMT The Consortium for Lexical Research Rio Grande Research Corridor Computing Research Laboratory New Mexico State University Box 30001, Las Cruces, NM 88003. lexical@nmsu.edu (505) 646-5466 Fax: (505) 646-6218 Work in computational linguistics has reached the point where the performance of many natural language processing systems is limited by a "lexical bottleneck". That is, such systems could handle much more text and produce much more impressive application results were it not for the fact that their lexicons are too small. The Association for Computational Linguistics has established the Consortium for Lexical Research (CLR), and DARPA has agreed to fund this. It will be sited at the Computing Research Laboratory, New Mexico, under its Director, Yorick Wilks, and an ACL committee consisting of Roy Byrd, Ralph Grishman, Mark Liberman and Don Walker. The Consortium for Lexical Research will be an organization for sharing lexical data and tools used to perform research on natural language dictionaries and lexicons, and for communicating the results of that research. Members of the Consortium will contribute resources to a repository and withdraw resources from it in order to perform their research. There is no requirement that withdrawals be compensated by contributions in kind. A basic premise of the proposal for cooperation on lexical research is that the research must be "precompetitive". That is, the CLR will not have as its goal the creation of commercial products. The goal of precompetitive research would be to augment our understanding of what lexicons contain and, specifically, to build computational lexicons having those contents. The task of the CLR is primarily to facilitate research, making available to the whole natural language processing community certain resources now held only by a few groups that have special relationships with companies or dictionary publishers. The CLR would as far as is practically possible accept contributions from any source, regardless of theoretical orientation, and make them available as widely as possible for research. There is also an underlying theoretical assumption or hope: that the contents of major lexicons are very similar, and that some neutral, or "polytheoretic," form of the information they contain can be at least a research goal, and would be a great boon if it could be achieved. A major activity of the CLR will be to negotiate agreements with "providers" on reassuring and advantageous terms to both suppliers and researchers. Major funders of work in this area in the US have indicated interest in making participation in the CLR a condition for financial support of research. An annual fee will be charged for membership. It is intended that after an initial start-up period, the Consortium become self-supporting. The Computing Research Lab (CRL) already has an active research program in computational lexicons, text processing, machine translation, etc., funded by DARPA and NSF as well as a range of machines appropriate for advanced computing on dictionaries. Resources and Services of the Consortium The following lists of lexical data and tools seem to provide a reasonable starting content for the repository. We will continually solicit and encourage additions to this list. Data 1. word lists (proper nouns, count/mass nouns, causative verbs, movement verbs, predicative adjectives, etc.) 2. published dictionaries 3. specialized terminology, technical glossaries, etc. 4. statistical data 5. synonyms, antonyms, hypernyms, pertainyms, etc. 6. phrase lists Tools 1. lexical data base management tools 2. lexical query languages 3. text analysis tools (concordance, KWIC, statistical analysis, collocation analysis, etc.) 4. SGML tools (particularly tuned to dictionary encoding) 5. parsers 6. morphological analyzers 7. user interfaces to dictionaries 8. lexical workbenches 9. dictionary definition sense taggers Services Repository management will involve cataloging and storing material in disparate formats, and providing for their retransmission (with conversion, where appropriate tools exist). In addition, it will be necessary to maintain a library of documentation describing the repository's contents and containing research papers resulting from projects that use the material. A brief description of the services to be provided is as follows: a. CRL will provide a catalog of, and act as a clearing-house for, utilities programs that have been written for existing online lexical data. b. CRL will compile a list of known mistakes, misprints, etc. that occur in each of the major published sources (dictionaries etc.). c. CRL will set up a new memorandum series explicitly devoted to the lexical center. d. CRL will also be a clearinghouse for preprints and hard-to-find reprints on machine-readable dictionaries. e. CRL also expects to conduct workshops in this area, including an inaugural workshop in late 1991 or early 1992. f. CRL would provide a catalog for access to repositories of corpus-manipulation tools held elsewhere. g. CRL has already set up a network accessible file transfer service. We invite you to participate in the Consortium for Lexical Research. Anyone interested in participating even in principle as a provider or consumer of data, tools, or services should send a message to lexical@nmsu.edu or lexical@nmsu.bitnet as should anyone who would like to be on our lexical information list. ------- End of Forwarded Message ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0056. Friday, 1 March 1991. Subj: 2.0056 Cognitive Linguistics Total: 83 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Date: Mon, 25 Feb 91 16:09 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Re: Cognitive Linguistics (2) Date: 24 Feb 91 17:40 +0100 From: Arild Hestvik Subject: Cognitive Linguistics (3) Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 08:46:10 MST From: "don l. f. nilsen" Subject: Lakoff-Chomsky Debate on Cognitive Linguistics (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Feb 91 16:09 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Re: Cognitive Linguistics I am glad to have generated such a storm of protest. Nothing is duller than working in a field where there are no passionate upholders of 'truth' and 'beauty'. I will of course reply but it will take too much time at the moment to do justice to the points made by my antagonists and I am trying to finish three papers, revise my text book, prepare a new course and redo a kitchen. So keep your eyes glued to this spot in the not too far distant future to a few returning barbs and arrows. Incidentally -- when I referred to cognitive scientists who do accept the autonomy view of language vis a vis other cognitive systems, I was not simply referring to 'generative linguists' but more to the neurologists, neuropsychologists, aphasiologists, philosophers at Iowa Medical School, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, Cambrdige, Johns Hopkins, etc etc with whom I work. I would welcome any reprints on the other side. And I do believe debate and criticism from both sides should be encouraged. Vicki Fromkin (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 24 Feb 91 17:40 +0100 From: Arild Hestvik Subject: Cognitive Linguistics Another futile arm-chair debate about general intelligence vs. innate linguistic knowledge is raising its head--let's instead have the real arguments and *research* decide whether there is an innate language faculty or not. In the end that's the important thing and not whether cognitive linguistics is a brand-name reserved for people who a priori have made up their mind one way or the other. -Arild Hestvik Sun Feb 24 17:40 (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 08:46:10 MST From: "don l. f. nilsen" Subject: Lakoff-Chomsky Debate on Cognitive Linguistics It's interesting to note that Lakoff and Chomsky have taken such opposite positions re "Cognitive Linguistics" when they are both trying to do the same thing--use linguistic information to investigate the properties of the human mind. Lakoff's and Chomsky's metaphors are probably much more compatible with each other than either one of them would like to admit. I quote from Kakoff and Johnson's METAPHORS WE LIVE BY: We often take the myths of our own culture as truths. The myth of objectivism is particularly insidious in this way. Not only does it purport not to be a myth, but it makes both myths and metaphors objects of belittlement and scorn." In my own field of humor research we say that the difference between tragedy and comedy is the difference between a participant and a spectator. In fact, there is a three-way distinction--TRAGEDY-NEUTRALITY-COMEDY. What both Lakoff and Chomsky need is more distance. With more distance they can concentrate on the compatibilities of their metaphors rather than the incompatibilities. Don Nilsen ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0057. Saturday, 2 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0057 Phonetic Symbols; Query Total: 83 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Sun, 24 Feb 91 20:26 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Phonetic Symbols (2) Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 00:06:45 EST From: Michael Covington Subject: Phonetic symbols on laser printers (3) Date: Thu, 28 Feb 91 10:19:38 PST From: lynn@casbs.Stanford.EDU (Lynn Gale) Subject: brain visuals query (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 24 Feb 91 20:26 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Phonetic Symbols I would be eternally grateful for the set of phonetic symbols. I have the printer but unfortunately use Wordstar 5.5 or 6. Any possibility of conversion? What can I do? Vicki Fromkin (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 00:06:45 EST From: Michael Covington Subject: Phonetic symbols on laser printers Thanks to all who have sent suggestions concerning the phonetic symbol font that we are distributing. To clarify a few points: - The font will be for the HP Laserjet and will be usable, in principle, with any word processor (provided you know how to download and select fonts). - We will do the installation for Word Perfect 5.1 to make its use fairly painless. - We are developing this font for our own use and will distribute it free. We will *not* do adaptations for other printers or other word processors, but others are welcome to do so and distribute the results. - Many Word Perfect 5.1 users are unaware that a huge character set is already available to them, ON ANY PRINTER, REGARDLESS OF FONTS INSTALLED, because the characters that do not exist in fonts are automatically printed in graphics mode. Print the file CHARACTR.DOC that comes with Word Perfect 5.1, and you'll see a wealth of special symbols, including Greek, Hebrew, Cyrillic, and Katakana. --------------------------------------------------------- Michael A. Covington internet mcovingt@uga.cc.uga.edu Artificial Intelligence Programs bitnet MCOVINGT@UGA Graduate Studies Research Center phone 404 542-0359 The University of Georgia fax 404 542-0349 Athens, Georgia 30602 bix, mci mail MCOVINGTON U.S.A. packet radio N4TMI@WB4BSG --------------------------------------------------------- (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 28 Feb 91 10:19:38 PST From: lynn@casbs.Stanford.EDU (Lynn Gale) Subject: brain visuals query My sister teaches anatomy at a small college in Missouri. She'd like to get some teaching aids (video, overhead, 3D models, slides, Mac graphics, whatever) for showing locations in the brain that are important to linguistic functions (e.g., vocalization, speech, language recognition). Do you have any sources, or know who to ask, or even what other bboard to post a query to? Thanks much. lynn@casbs.stanford.edu -or- lynn%casbs@stanford.bitnet ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0058. Saturday, 2 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0058 Conference; Words and Humor Total: 163 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Fri, 1 Mar 91 10:57 MST From: OEHRLE@ccit.arizona.edu Subject: Conference on Logic and Linguistics (2) Date: Fri, 1 Mar 91 16:37:57 PST From: fellous%pipiens.usc.edu@usc.edu (Jean-Marc Fellous) Subject: summary of response (part II): Words and Emotions (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 1 Mar 91 10:57 MST From: OEHRLE@ccit.arizona.edu Subject: Conference on Logic and Linguistics --please post-- PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS ASL/LSA CONFERENCE ON LOGIC AND LINGUISTICS to be held at University of California at Santa Cruz July 20-21, 1991 in conjunction with the 1991 LSA Linguistic Institute sponsored by The Association for Symbolic Logic and The Linguistic Society of America TENTATIVE LIST OF INVITED SPEAKERS G. Chierchia I. Heim J. Groenendijk & M. Stokhof A. Kratzer R. May & R. Fiengo M. Moortgat B. Partee S. Peters T. Reinhart B. Webber with a special session on `Compositionality and Dynamic Theories of Anaphora' Abstracts are invited for papers which deal with problems on the border between logic and linguistics, including (but not limited to) the logical analysis of natural languages, artificial languages, and linguistic formalisms; the application of model-theoretic and proof-theoretic techniques to natural language problems. Papers will be allotted 30 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for discussion. The Program Committee consists of Jon Barwise, William Ladusaw, Alice ter Meulen, Richard Oehrle, and Rich Thomason. Abstracts should be not more than one page in length and should indicate the paper's title; its author's name, affiliation, and e-mail and postal addresses; and whether or not the paper is to be considered for inclusion in the special session `Compositionality and Dynamic Theories of Anaphora'. Abstracts should be submitted by April 1, 1991 either via e-mail to oehrle@ccit.arizona.edu or to Richard Oehrle, Department of Linguistics, Douglass 200E, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721. Submission via e-mail is strongly encouraged. Notification of acceptance will be mailed May 1, 1991. A tutorial session on Dynamic Theories of Anaphora will be offered by Gennaro Chierchia on Friday, July 19, 1991. Details about enrollment and fees will appear in the announcement of the conference schedule, to be distributed in April. supported by a grant from IBM (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 1 Mar 91 16:37:57 PST From: fellous%pipiens.usc.edu@usc.edu (Jean-Marc Fellous) Subject: summary of response (part II): Words and Emotions Here are some more answers I received in response to my inquiery about Words and Emotions. Once again, many thanks to the persons who replied. ************************************************************** Cher Jean-Marc, Je viens de lire le resume des reponses a ta demande d'informations sur ce qui se fait ces jours-ci en linguistique dans le domaine des mots exprimant des emotions. Je n'ai pas ete surpris de voir le nom d'Anna Wierzbicka apparaitre dans l'une des reponses: figure-toi que j'ai travaille avec elle et que je lui ai passe ton message des que je l'ai recu... A-t-elle reagi? Il faut peut-etre patienter un peu - elle est toujours extremement occupee. Je signalerai pour completer les references dont tu disposes d'ores et deja les textes suivants tous signes Wierzbicka: - 1973. The semantic structure of words for emotions. In Roman Jakobson, C.H. van Schooneveld and D.S. Worth eds, Slavic poetics: essays in honor of Kiril Taranovsky. The Hague: Mouton. 499-505. - 1986. Human emotions: unique or culture-specific? American Anthropologist 88:3. 584-594. Revised and expanded in A.W., Semantics and culture (Chicago University Press; it may have been published already, but I haven't seen it in print) - 1988. L'amour, la colere, la joie, l'ennui. La semantique des emotions dans une perspective transculturelle. Langages 89. 97-107. - 1990. Emotivity in language structure (Review article on B.Volek, Emotive signs in language and semantic functioning of derived nouns in Russian). Semiotica 80. 161-169. Ensuite, il y avait cette autre reaction disant que ce que tu devrais faire c'est envisager une etude de champ semantique. On t'a donne un renvoi au volume de Lehrer 1974. Les champs semantiques (je les appelle axiologiques) figurent depuis mettons une dizaine d'annees au centre des mes interets,LING PRO^A et je peux t'assurer que le progres dans ce domaine a ete tout a fait specta- culaire. Aussi Lehrer n'est-elle pas la seule autorite que tu pourrais consulter. Je me permets en toute modestie de te renvoyer a deux de mes propres textes, ou tu trouveras - j'espere - des indications bibliographiques et autres qui seront utiles: - Peeters, Bert. 1991. Champs associatifs et champ axiologique. Cahiers de lexicologie. Sous presse. - Peeters, Bert. 1991? More about axiological fields. A paraitre dans le Canadian Journal of Linguistics / Revue canadienne de linguistique. Je viens de corriger les epreuves du premier texte, et je suis maintenant en train de revoir la premiere version du deuxieme. Voila. Esperons que tout ceci sera plus ou moins pertinent pour tes recherches. Amities. Bert Peeters. Department of Modern Languages, University of Tasmania, GPO Box 252C, Hobart TAS 7001, Australia. ********************************************************** in the overview of replies to your query for information I missed refernce to the work of Lakoff an Johnsson (,Metaphors we live by,) and Lakoff (,Women, fire and dangerous things,), perhaps because you had already given them in your original query. I seem to remember that Nico Frijda (,Emotions,) and Henk Verkuijl (semanticist) were planning to do some joint work on this topic. Good luck ton (Ton.vanderWouden) ********************************************************** Jean-Marc: You got some great responses to your words-and-emotions query. Do you know about the work that Paul Ekman is doing? He has isolated seven basic emotions: HAPPINESS, SADNESS, ANGER, FEAR, SURPRISE, INTEREST and RELIEF. Paul is in the Psychology Department at the University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, in case you want to write him for further details about his research. Don Nilsen ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0059. Tuesday, 5 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0059 Comments and Queries Total: 177 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Sat, 2 Mar 91 00:08:20 EST From: markt@umd5.umd.edu (Mark Turner) Subject: Mother Of (2) Date: Mon, 4 Mar 91 11:05 GMT From: Alida extn 4189 Subject: RE: Phonetics in Wordperfect (3) Date: Mon, 04 Mar 91 07:42:01 CST From: GA3662%SIUCVMB.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: Celticists? (4) Date: Mon, 04 Mar 91 11:19:00 From: Alexin Zoltan Subject: NL Processing Companies in US? (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 2 Mar 91 00:08:20 EST From: markt@umd5.umd.edu (Mark Turner) Subject: Mother Of MOTHER OF "Mother of" is about to become a catch-phrase. Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, a man not known for verbal flair, reported to the American Legion that the mother of all battles had become the mother of all retreats. Radio Baghdad launched "mother of" as a threat. The White House, hoping to humiliate Saddam Hussein, bounced it back as a taunt. In between, this new verbal toy has saturated American slang and American news. NBC anchor Tom Brokaw observed that for Saddam, the mother of battles had become the mother of corners. The Washington Post for 28 February stated that the allied attack was the mother of all maneuvers and that General Norman Schwarzkopf's magnificent report to the press was the mother of all briefings. The New York Times of 1 March carried on its Op-Ed page the "Mother of All Columns." Of course, this phrase is not new at all. These quips from government and television give a fascinating demonstration of how commonplace concepts provide the ground for individual invention. The commonplace cultural concept of a mother has served for centuries as a guide to using "mother" metaphorically in English. In DEATH IS THE MOTHER OF BEAUTY (University of Chicago Press), I examine the metaphoric use of "mother" and other kinship terms. Prototypically, mothers bring new things into being, hence "England is the mother of Parliaments," "Filth is the mother of stench," and "Solitude is the mother of anxieties." Prototypically, a mother is a whole who contains a part that separates off in dependent and derivative fashion, hence "Latin is the mother of Italian," and the phrase "mother node" to describe in linguistics and graph theory a state from which "daughter nodes" derive. Derivative nodes must be "daughter" rather than "son" nodes because they in turn can serve as "mother" nodes. "Mother of battles" relies on certain aspects of the concept of mother. Prototypically, a mother is a locus of great efficacy, great power: she has produced an awesome, dramatic, and compelling situation before and is prototypically thought to have the power to do it again. A mother is therefore a force to be reckoned with. A mother stands prototypically in a superior relation to her offspring. Calling something a "mother" can signal a comparison with other things that must be, by implication, inferior on the scale, less daunting. In the common cultural model of mother, a mother moved to attack in her role as mother is particularly fierce. A mother is also an ancestor. We have a commonplace notion that ancestors are pure in stock. They pass traits down the generational line that become diluted and adulterated with each step. Calling a trout a "grand-daddy trout" when it is no older than your average trout is a way of saying that it is a prototypical trout, a real trout, that its position in the world of trouts is at the top. The mother of battles is pure of stock, more clearly a battle than any other. There is a system to imagination. At times, it seems as if cultural difference is such a barrier as never to be penetrated. But you would not think so to hear the phrases exchanged in international conversation. Saddam Hussein, Dick Cheney, and Tom Brokaw all think they know what a mother is. Mark Turner Associate Professor University of Maryland 20742. email: markt@umd5.umd.edu. (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 4 Mar 91 11:05 GMT From: Alida extn 4189 Subject: RE: Phonetics in Wordperfect Please can you send a copy of this - the phonetic development - in Wordperfect 5.1. Although we are primarily IT/IS in my department, my research is in L2 and IT, and our Modern Languages people would be very, very interested! They teach mainly French, German, Spanish, Italian and Russian. They also use Wordperfect, luckily. And we have the HP laserjet. Well, I have just spoken to one of the Langs people, and he said a copy of the international phonetic alphabet would be nice - we have an MA student who wants to do their dissertation on phonetics, and there are plently of other people interested. I assume we can copy your copy - there is such a hoo-ha about software copying over here! ie we nnever know if we are within the law because site licences, etc are misleading. We use 3.5" floppy disks. My academic address is : Alida Bedford School of Information Science Portsmouth Polytechnic Milton Site Locksway Road Southsea Hants PO4 8Jf UK Thank you - do you want comments once we have been using this? Please let us know, and what you want to find out. Bye Alida (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 04 Mar 91 07:42:01 CST From: GA3662%SIUCVMB.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: Celticists? I am trying to introduce a friend of mine to the joys of e-mail. Does anyone know if there is a Celticist newletter? It doesn't have to be particularly linguistically oriented (he does ancient Irish mythology). Any ideas would be appreciated. Geoff Nathan (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 04 Mar 91 11:19:00 From: Alexin Zoltan Subject: NL Processing Companies in US? 4 March 1991. To Whom it May Concern, I should be glad if someone could help me with obtaining a (mail) list of the major NL processing companies in the States. Many thanks, Karoly Fabricz, h157ale@ella.uucp JATE University, Szeged, H -6722 Hungary, Egyetem u. 2. (h157ale@ella.hu.uucp) Szeged, Egyetem u. 2. JATE University, H-6722 Hungary ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0060. Tuesday, 5 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0060 Cognitive Linguistics Total: 105 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Thu, 28 Feb 91 22:18:01 -0600 From: "Michael Kac" Subject: Re: Cognitive Linguistics (2) Date: Sat, 02 Mar 91 20:23:20 EST From: pesetsk@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Subject: posting for the mailing list (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 28 Feb 91 22:18:01 -0600 From: "Michael Kac" Subject: Re: Cognitive Linguistics To Hestvik: The wording of your comment suggests that the question of whether language is autonomous, or part of an autonomous module, is the same as the question of whether it's innate. Those seem to me to be dif- ferent issues, at least partly. I suppose it would be hard to claim that there's an autonomous language faculty that isn't innate, although even that doesn't seem like a foregone conclusion; but surely one could believe in an innate general cognitive capacity. It also seems possible to suppose that this capacity, however general, might be very different in humans from what it is in infrahuman species. The debate that's going on in Linguist doesn't seem, in any event, to in- volve who is right on the issue of whether language is autonomous. It seems, rather, to involve a battle over turf: the antagonists appear to be arguing over who has the right to occupy the hallowed plot of ground called cognitive linguistics. That's not a very worthwhile thing to have a fight over, it seems to me, though I sympathize with those who object to reserving the term 'cogni- tive linguistics' for the research program of only one group of combatants. I say this with some trepidation, since I can now see coming a metafight over philosophies regarding what it is and isn't right to have fights about. So in the end, I'm with Hestvik: everybody back to the lab! Michael Kac (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 02 Mar 91 20:23:20 EST From: pesetsk@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Subject: posting for the mailing list Arild Hestvik (arild@adler.philosophie.uni-stuttgart.de) writes, in response to the Cognitive Linguistics debate on this mailing list. >Another futile arm-chair debate about general intelligence vs. innate >linguistic knowledge is raising its head--let's instead have the real >arguments and *research* decide whether there is an innate language faculty >or not. In the end that's the important thing and not whether cognitive >linguistics is a brand-name reserved for people who a priori have made up >their mind one way or the other. I agree, but there is a problem with this reply. Lakoff claims that research has *already* decided these questions. Indeed, he claims that there is "massive" evidence for his view. So, from his point of view, he is out of the armchair already. Now it is important to realize how this claim gets made. The "evidence", as I understand it, concerns things like preposition choice and metaphor (e.g. why "armchair"), not the things you or I have worked on -- e.g. locality conditions on Norwegian pronouns or the possibility of expletive 'do' participating in inverted counterfactuals. The obvious question is how evidence about the modularity of metaphor can tell us anything about how to explain the antecedents of Norwegian pronouns. The answer comes only by begging the question, it seems to me. If you start with the assumption that everything called "language" is a product of general intelligence, then "massive evidence" concerning one piece of "language" will automatically bear on every other piece of "language", since all aspects of language have the same nature and the same origin. By begging the question, you get the answer to the question that you want. What Lakoff and other "Cognitive Linguists" have to provide is not research on other "also interesting" topics, but "Cognitive Linguistic" research specifically on the same topics that we look at, if they want to reach any legitimate conclusions about the topics we work on. This is why I think that the proposed journal, whatever its title, is a good idea. I look forward to "cognitive" reanalyses of your dissertation, my dissertation, Rizzi's "Relativized Minimality", recent work on verb-negation-clitic order, the distribution of parasitic gaps -- all as functions of general, non-language-specific cognitive proceses. If, as Powers and Lakoff suggest in recent notes, work in Cognitive Linguistics has been suppressed by the linguistics establishment; and if, as Lakoff suggests, there really is massive evidence bearing on his claims; and if this evidence addresses the question rather than begging it, then the journal should be very interesting indeed. David Pesetsky P.S. Notice, by the way, that there is no reciprocity required. I do not need to prove anything about the relation of metaphor to other cognitive systems, because I am not making any claims about it. I'm one of the guys who doesn't assume everything is conected to everything else. It may be turtles all the way down, but it's not necessarily turtles all the way across. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0061. Tuesday, 5 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0061 Jobs Total: 57 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Fri, 1 Mar 91 12:21 GMT From: ANNA MORPURGO DAVIES Subject: Professorship of General Linguistics at Oxford (2) Date: Mon, 04 Mar 91 07:51:57 CST From: GA3662%SIUCVMB.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: Job at Carbondale (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 1 Mar 91 12:21 GMT From: ANNA MORPURGO DAVIES Subject: Professorship of General Linguistics at Oxford [From Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 1117. Saturday, 2 Mar 1991.] OXFORD UNIVERSITY: PROFESSORSHIP OF GENERAL LINGUISTICS The electors intend to proceed to an election to the Professorship of General Linguistics, with effect from 1 October 1991 or such later date as may be arranged. The stipend of the professorship is currently L. 31088 (British Pounds). Applications (twelve copies or one from overseas candidates), naming three referees, should be received not later than 8 April by the Registrar, University Offices, Wellington Square , Oxford OX1 2JD, England, from whom further particulars may be obtained. (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 04 Mar 91 07:51:57 CST From: GA3662%SIUCVMB.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: Job at Carbondale TERM LECTURER OR VISITING ASSISTANT/ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY AT CARBONDALE. TEACH COURSES IN ESL/EFL METHODOLOGY AND RELATED COURSES AT THE GRAD. AND U-GRAD. LEVEL. MINIMUM ABD IN LINGUISTICS OR APPLIED LINGUISTICS. PHD PREFERRED. PRIMARY SPECIALIZATION IN ESL/EFL METHODS AND TEACHER TRAINING. AUG. 16, 1991-MAY 15, 1992. SEND CV, LETTER OF APPLICATION AND THREE LETTERS OF REFERENCE TO PAUL J. ANGELIS, CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY AT CARBONDALE CARBONDALE, IL, 62901, USA TEL: (618) 536-3385 BITNET: GA3606@SIUCVMB DEADLINE: APRIL 1, OR UNTIL FILLED. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0062. Wednesday, 6 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0062 Conference Total: 62 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Mon, 4 Mar 91 18:39:18 CST From: houlihn@ux.acs.umn.edu Subject: Call for Papers (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 4 Mar 91 18:39:18 CST From: houlihn@ux.acs.umn.edu Subject: Call for Papers Call for Papers for the Seventeenth Annual MINNESOTA CONFERENCE ON LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS Friday, October 25 and Saturday, October 26, 1991 (Possibility of extra session on Thurs., Oct. 24, or Sun., Oct. 27) University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota Celebrating the 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS Invited Speakers: Diana Archangeli, University of Arizona (Tentative) James Huang, Cornell University George Yule, Louisiana State University Abstracts are invited for 15-minute papers. Papers may be on any topic related to the study of language from any perspective, including theoretical linguistics, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, stylistics, psycholinguistics, communication disorders, etc. Persons interested in presenting a paper at the conference are requested to submit five copies of a one-page abstract of the paper, with one additional page being allowed for references and illustrative data. The abstract should be accompanied by a separate page stating the title of the paper, the names and addresses of the authors, summer addresses of authors (if different, with dates), and e-mail addresses of authors (if any). Please do not identify the authors on the abstract itself. Abstracts and supplementary information may be submitted via e-mail to the department e-mail address below. Abstracts must be received by MAY 1, 1991. Abstracts will be acknowledged upon receipt, by e-mail when possible. Queries and abstracts should be addressed to MCOLL Department of Linguistics University of Minnesota 142 Klaeber Court 320 16th Avenue SE Minneapolis, MN 55455 ((612) 624-3528) OR umling@ux.acs.umn.edu Notification of acceptance of abstracts will be mailed by June 1, 1991. Conference coordinator: Kathleen Houlihan houlihn@ux.acs.umn.edu (612) 624-3806 ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0063. Wednesday, 6 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0063 Queries and Replies Total: 122 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Mon, 4 Mar 1991 20:37 MST From: CAROLG@CC.UTAH.EDU Subject: Re: Textbook for Graduate Linguistics (2) Date: Tue, 5 Mar 1991 09:56 MST From: KAMPRATH@CC.UTAH.EDU Subject: Call for Info on Unstressed Vowels (3) Date: Tue, 05 Mar 91 11:54:56 EST From: Michael Covington Subject: Re: Phonetics Font (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 4 Mar 1991 20:37 MST From: CAROLG@CC.UTAH.EDU Subject: Re: Textbook for Graduate Linguistics Re: Introductory linguistics text for grads: I don't think such a thing exists. However, the undergraduate text by Akmajian, Demers, Farmer and Harnish is probably the most advanced, and with some enhancement by lecture and additional readings could be used for a graduate-level introduction. Carol Georgopoulos Linguistics Program University of Utah. (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 Mar 1991 09:56 MST From: KAMPRATH@CC.UTAH.EDU Subject: Call for Info on Unstressed Vowels This is a request for names of languages you know that have unstressed vowel "systems". I am working on the relationship between stressed vowels and the unstressed vowels they neutralize to (assuming that there is a generative relationship between the two). I am looking particularly for languages whose stressed vowels neutralize to *more than one* unstressed vowel. Languages whose vowels are all schwa in unstressed syllables, presumably like English in this respect, are thus of little or no interest to this study. Languages like Catalan, however, whose seven stressed vowels neutralize to three distinct unstressed vowels, are exactly what I'm looking for. Just the names of such languages would be helpful to me, but if you have other information, such as the kinds I'm about to enumerate, I'd appreciate your sending that along too: 1. bibliographical references to reliable grammars of the language's phonology 2. bibliographical references to works on stress-related vowel reduction and vowel neutralization in general 3. Does the language have (or is it reputed to have): a. phonological tone b. "morphologicaI tone" (e.g., Serbo-Croatian) c. pitch accent or stress accent d. syllable timing or stress timing e. "graded" stress, i.e., secondary (tertiary?) stress in various pretonic and posttonic positions f. a variety of unstressed vowel inventories depending on stress "grade" and position relative to the primary-stressed vowel 4. Does the language have other phonological processes involving vowels? 5. What are the neutralization relationships between the stressed and unstressed vowels, e.g., in Catalan: u, o, O ~ u a, e, E ~ schwa i is i If you're interested in what I'm trying to get at with this work, my 1991 LSA paper is a summary and question-raiser. I'll send you a copy if you ask me for it. Thanks in advance for any information you can supply. Christine Kamprath (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 05 Mar 91 11:54:56 EST From: Michael Covington Subject: Re: Phonetics Font We thank the many people who have inquired. To clarify yet again: (1) The phonetics font for laser printers is not available yet. We will post an announcement when it is available. (2) A font is a binary file that cannot easily be emailed. We will make this font available via anonymous FTP. Your local computer center can tell you how to use FTP if you do not know already. We will announce the FTP address when the time comes. (3) In any case, don't send inquiries to LINGUIST; send them to me. Thanks, Michael Covington --------------------------------------------------------- Michael A. Covington internet mcovingt@uga.cc.uga.edu Artificial Intelligence Programs bitnet MCOVINGT@UGA Graduate Studies Research Center phone 404 542-0359 The University of Georgia fax 404 542-0349 Athens, Georgia 30602 bix, mci mail MCOVINGTON U.S.A. packet radio N4TMI@WB4BSG --------------------------------------------------------- ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0064. Friday, 8 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0064 Cognitive Linguistics Total: 77 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Mon, 4 Mar 91 23:33:59 GMT From: Margaret Fleck Subject: autonomy of language etc (2) Date: Tue, 05 Mar 91 15:06 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Re: Cognitive Linguistics (3) Date: Tue, 5 Mar 1991 20:50 MST From: CAROLG@CC.UTAH.EDU Subject: Re: Cognitive Linguistics (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 4 Mar 91 23:33:59 GMT From: Margaret Fleck Subject: autonomy of language etc This may be a silly naive question, but isn't it unwise to debate how language is related to other areas of cognition in a forum containing essentially no one with detailed knowledge of those other areas? Wouldn't it be more productive to find a way to bring linguists and psychologists together with researchers from areas such as robotics and computer vision, who (I strongly suspect) are almost unrepresented on this list and in the LSA? Margaret Fleck (fleck@robots.oxford.ac.uk, Oxford University) (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 05 Mar 91 15:06 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Re: Cognitive Linguistics This is not the reply to George I promised -- just a couple of quick comments to Kac and Pesetsky. To Michael -- I agree. There are two separate issues. I also agree that maybe we should all get back to the lab where according to who? "The rat is the only one who is always right". And it is not really fighting for turf (as you yourself note) the problem with one group with one view calling themselves 'cognitive linguists' is that that implies that the rest of us are not. And afterall, the first UCLA WORKING PAPERS IN COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS VOL 1 edited by Susie Curtiss came out in the summer of 1979. To David -- I agree. And there are other kinds of evidence that have to be looked at also -- for example, the work of Curtiss and Yamana (look at the recent MIT Bradford book LAURA BY Jeni Yamada) showing the asymmetrical developments of language from general cognitive ability or other specific cognitive abilities. Laura, studies by Jeni, is an extremely retarded person (from birth) with a full knowledge of English syntax and grammar. A lot of her highly complex sentences don't make too much sense because she does not, for example, know whether 2 is more than or less than 11. enough -- for no real answer. Real work awaits. Vicki Fromkin (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 Mar 1991 20:50 MST From: CAROLG@CC.UTAH.EDU Subject: Re: Cognitive Linguistics To Lakoff/Hestvik/Kac/Pesetsky: I agree. Lets all subscribe to "Cognitive Linguistics" and read it. THEN, we can get back to this debate with some substance to talk about. Carol Georgopoulos ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0065. Friday, 8 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0065 Responses Total: 121 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Tue, 5 Mar 91 15:36:45 -0600 From: "Michael Kac" Subject: Re: Celtic? (2) Date: Tue, 5 Mar 1991 20:54 MST From: CAROLG@CC.UTAH.EDU Subject: Re: Mother of (3) Date: Thu, 7 Mar 1991 8:54:03 GMT From: BLACK_PD@DARWIN.NTU.EDU.AU (Paul Black, Education, NT Uni, Darwin) Subject: RE: Mother of (4) Date: Wed, 6 Mar 91 09:28 MET From: "NORVAL SMITH (UVAALF::NSMITH)" Subject: RE: Kamprath's Query on Vowels (5) Thu, 07 Mar 91 14:59 PST From: Pamela Munro Subject: Kamprath's question on vowels (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 Mar 91 15:36:45 -0600 From: "Michael Kac" Subject: Re: Celtic? To Nathan: I can't be of any direct help, but you might try contacting my colleague Nancy Stenson at stenson@vx.acs.umn.edu; she is up on things Celtic and might have info of the kind you're seeking. (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 Mar 1991 20:54 MST From: CAROLG@CC.UTAH.EDU Subject: Mother of To Mark Turner, re "mother of": It's an interesting locution, but it means something else in Islam, according to NPR, which had a piece explaining it the other day. It seems it means, essentially, "big". So, e.g, there can be more than one "mother of battles". (Notice that no one calls any of these things a "big mother". Carol Georgopoulos (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 7 Mar 1991 8:54:03 GMT From: BLACK_PD@DARWIN.NTU.EDU.AU (Paul Black, Education, NT Uni, Darwin) Subject: RE: Mother of I enjoyed Mark Turner's posting on the expression 'mother of', but I couldn't help wondering if his interpretation would be equally appropriate in Iraqi culture. I'm referring specifically to his suggestion that 'The mother of all battles is pure of stock, more clearly a battle than any other.' I know little about Arabic, but in various Australian Aboriginal languages 'mother of' could mean little more than 'big' - e.g. the thumb may be called the mother of the hand. I took Saddam's 'mother of all battles' to mean that it was just going to be one huge battle, not that it would somehow be an especially definitive battle proto- typically. Paul Black / black_pd@darwin.ntu.edu.au / Northern Territory University (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Mar 91 09:28 MET From: "NORVAL SMITH (UVAALF::NSMITH)" Subject: RE: Kamprath's Query on Vowels Re Kamprath's search for unstressed v-systems with > 1 unstressed vowel, I don't understand his dismissal of English. Apart from the fact that he can't have looked at all the forms of English around, there are many standard forms of English with contrasts among the unstressed vowels. "accept" and "except" contrast in RP phonologically between a schwa and an [I]. In my English the contrast is phonetically between a retracted [E] and a sound close to that symbolised in the IPA by an inverted "a". Norval Smith (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 07 Mar 91 14:59 PST From: Pamela Munro Subject: Kamprath's question on vowels Hello, You may want to look at some Uto-Aztecan languages. In Luiseno, the case I can describe most clearly, the answers to your grammatical questions are 3 a, b, f no 3 c stress 4 yes, many (deletion, shortening) 5 i, e > unstressed i; u, o > unstressed u; a remains a. In stressed sylls there are both long and short vowels. There are essentially no long vowels in unstressed sylls. I'm giving you the way I perceive the unstressed vowels. Bill Bright has observed to me that he thinks the quality is somewhat lower, i.e. perhaps unstressed i, e neutralize (for him) to e. The point is that they neutralize, however; this is not in dispute. There are no phonological grammars, but there is a considerable literature on Luiseno. You might look at two papers by me in IJAL, one on reduplication in 1973 (I think) coauthored with Peter Benson, one late last year on historical comparative Cupan (the immediate subfamily which contains L.). I'm sorry I don't have refs with me here. Please ask me if you'd like more information. I'm sure that other related languages have similar processes. The one that seems closest to me, on the basis of what I know, is Gabrielino, in which apparently i, e > e and u, o > o when unstressed. I say apparently because this language is extinct, but this seems to be what happens in JP Harrington's field notes. I'm afraid there's nothing published on this, but you may certainly cite me to this effect if it helps you. I'd like to see a copy of your paper. Pam Munro ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0066. Saturday, 9 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0066 Queries: Pear Story, Quechua, Families, Tromso Total: 169 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Wed, 6 Mar 91 16:46:40 EST From: John_M._Lawler@ub.cc.umich.edu Subject: Query about "The Pear Story" (2) Date: Thu, 7 Mar 1991 02:05 CST From: JIMG@ducvax.auburn.edu Subject: Quechua query (3) Date: Wed, 6 Mar 91 22:45:10 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Language Families (4) Date: Wed, 06 Mar 91 11:30:46 IST From: David Sitman Subject: Listing of online sources for linguists (5) Date: Thu, 7 Mar 91 09:36:31 CST From: battiste@cis.uab.edu (Ed Battistella) Subject: Inquiry: Contacts in Tromso, Norway (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Mar 91 16:46:40 EST From: John_M._Lawler@ub.cc.umich.edu Subject: Query about "The Pear Story" I'd like to know how one goes about getting an actual copy of the film (and if possible, also a video) of "The Pear Story", the film that the text-analytic studies were based on. As I understand it, the film was made on a grant to Wally Chafe from some public agency in the U.S., and should therefore be in the public domain. But I may be wrong. I've already been wrong in assuming that our university owned a copy, so... I suspect I know how to find out the answer to this query with a couple of e-mails, but since the answer is of general interest, it seems appropriate to post it here. OK, don't all raise your hands at once... Thanks, -J (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 7 Mar 1991 02:05 CST From: JIMG@ducvax.auburn.edu Subject: Quechua query I have a friend interested in Quechua but he's having trouble finding sources. If anyone has any info, books, software, journals, etc., please email me at jimg@ducvax.auburn.edu (INTERNET) jimg@auducvax (BITNET) Thanks Barry Waid Auburn University (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Mar 91 22:45:10 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Language Families I would like to initiate a discussion about three proposed language families which have not won universal acceptance but which, if correct, would represent a major advance in our understanding of linguistic prehistory. These are Austro-Thai (proposed by Paul Benedict), Nostratic (proposed by the late Vladimir Illich-Svitych and Aharon Dolgopolsky), and Sino-Caucasian (proposed by Sergey Starostin). I choose these three because they far-ranging, controversial, and based on strong (if not necessarily compelling) evidence of the classical sort (sound correspondences and such). I am leaving Amerind (Greenberg) out, because it is openly nonclassical in this sense. Also, it seems to me that the three proposals I mention, although important and controversial, have received far too little public airing, esp. in the US, whereas Greenberg's work on Amerind has received altogether too much. Is there anybody else who would like to do this? (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 06 Mar 91 11:30:46 IST From: David Sitman Subject: Listing of online sources for linguists I am compiling an annotated listing of sources of interest to linguists which are available on the networks. Below is the list of sources of which I am aware. Please let me know of any other sources which should be included, or any listed here which should be removed (irrelevant, obsolete, etc.) I plan to include basic information concerning field of interest and access. Please let me know what information you think should appear. David Sitman Bitnet: A79@TAUNIVM Tel Aviv University Internet: A79@VM.TAU.AC.IL &*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*& 1. Sources accessible via electronic mail Discussion lists ---------------- LISTSERV-managed lists in Bitnet: Name Full address List title --------- ------------ ---------- CYRILLIC CYRILLIC@ASUACAD Russian Language List GAELIC-L GAELIC-L@IRLEARN GAELIC Language Bulletin Board LANGUES LANGUES@UQUEBEC LANGUES Enseignement du francais par ordinateur LANTRA-L LANTRA-L@FINHUTC Interpreting (and) translation LLTI LLTI@DARTCMS1 Language Learning and Technology International LN LN@FRMOP11 Langage Naturel LTEST-L LTEST-L@UCLACN1 Language Testing Research and Practice MULTI-L MULTI-L@BARILVM Language and Education in Multi-Lingual Setting NIHONGO NIHONGO@MITVMA Japanese Language Discussion List PURTOPOI PURTOPOI@PURCCVM Rhetoric, Language, Prof Writing SLART-L SLART-L@PSUVM Second Language Acquisition Research and Teaching Other lists: linguist@uniwa.uwa.oz.au LINGUIST Discussion List NL-KR@CS.ROCHESTER.EDU Natural Language and Knowledge Representation Servers ------- clbib@russell.stanford.edu Bibliographic server fafsrv@nobergen.bitnet Int'l. Computer Archive of Modern English langserv@ivory.cc.columbia.edu Planned languages server linguists@alf.let.uv.nl Nameserver for linguists lipadit@htikub5.bitnet LInguistic PAper DIstribution Tilburg 2. Sources accessible via anonymous FTP on the Internet Host ---- csli.stanford.edu russell.stanford.edu um.cc.umich.edu 3. Usenet News groups soc.lang (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 7 Mar 91 09:36:31 CST From: battiste@cis.uab.edu (Ed Battistella) Subject: Inquiry: Contacts in Tromso, Norway I have a colleague who's going to be going to Tromso, Norway and we're trying to set up an email link. Does anyone know any linguists in Tromso (or more generally) in Norway that I could put my colleague in touch with. Thanks. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0067. Saturday, 9 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0067 Conferences on Phonology and Morphology Total: 125 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Wed, 06 Mar 91 09:49:42 MEZ From: John Rennison Subject: 2 upcoming conferences: Phonology and Morphology (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 06 Mar 91 09:49:42 MEZ From: John Rennison Subject: 2 upcoming conferences FIRST CIRCULAR and CALL FOR PAPERS 1.11 SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL PHONOLOGY MEETING and FIFTH INTERNATIONAL MORPHOLOGY MEETING July 4-9, 1992 Krems, Austria The venue of the last International Phonology and Morphology Meetings (1988 in Krems) met with such positive reactions that we have decided to arrange the next Meetings there again in 1992, following the now traditional 4-year cycle. This time, we will also have improved accommodation and conference facilities. Seventh International Phonology Meeting (under the auspices of AIPhon) July 4-7, 1992 The five main topics of the Meeting will be: 1) Representations 2) Realization: the phonology-phonetics interface 3) Phonological and phonetic prominence 4) Typology 5) Diachrony The morning and afternoon sessions will be devoted to: * MAIN REPORTS (ca. 30 min.) and discussion of these reports. So far, the following people have agreed to give a main report: Carlos Gussenhoven, Daniel Hirst, Allen James, Tore Janson, Michael Kenstowicz, Yves-Charles Morin, Glyne Piggott, Moira Yip. * SECTION PAPERS of 15 minutes length on the 5 topics named above, followed by 15 minutes' discussion. There will be 2 parallel sections, staggered by 15 minutes so that no two papers are presented simultaneously. * POSTER SESSIONS instead of the discussion sessions of previous Meetings. There will also be evening workshops on specialized topics, and we would welcome offers to organize further workshops. Fifth International Morphology Meeting (under the auspices of the International Association of Morphology) July 7-9, 1992 Topics proposed are: 1) Paradigms in inflection and word formation 2) Morphological categories 3) Morphological meaning 4) Diachrony Main reporters so far: Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy, Igor Mel'cuk, Nigel Vincent. The types of papers and presentations will be similar to those of the Phonology Meeting. Details for both meetings Our ``overlapping'' topic this time is Diachrony, and papers will be concentrated on the end of the Phonology meeting and beginning of the Morphology Meeting. We invite you to submit abstracts of 1 page maximum, camera- ready, for 15-minute papers and poster sessions. Deadline for all abstracts: December 1st, 1991 Only those who pre-register will receive the 2nd circular (with abstracts of the main reports), in autumn 1991. Please use the enclosed pre-registration card (or a photocopy). Only those who pre-pay the conference fee(s) will receive the abstracts volume ahead of the Meetings. The conference fee for each Meeting separately is AS 800,- (eight hundred Austrian Schillings, ca. US$ 70.00), for both meetings together AS 1.200,- (one thousand two hundred Austrian Schillings ca. US$ 105.00). This is a net amount, and if banking charges diminish your payment, we will have to ask you to pay the balance. The preferred method of payment is by personal cheque, payable in US$ or AS at your choice. If for any reason you cannot send a cheque, you can transfer currency in Austrian Schillings via your bank or (better) national Post Office banking service to the Austrian Post Office account (``Postgiro- Konto'') number 7548.527, belonging to the ``Wiener Sprachgesellschaft''. Since you may have difficulties in calculating the correct amount in US$ to send, we propose that you send a cheque for $70 or $105 (for the AS 800,- or AS 1.200,- fee respectively), and on your arrival in Krems you will be refunded the balance (or will have to pay it). Mailing address: PHONOLOGIETAGUNG Institut f. Sprachwissenschaft Berggasse 11 A-1090 Wien Austria / Europe We look forward to seeing you in Krems! The organizing committee Elisabeth Andraschko, Wolfgang U. Dressler, Hans C. Luschuetzky, Oskar E. Pfeiffer, Martin Prinzhorn, John R. Rennison ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0068. Sunday, 10 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0068 Technical Reports in Formal Linguistics Total: 90 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Mon, 4 Mar 91 14:16 EST From: "NANCY M. IDE (914) 437 5988" Subject: Technical Reports (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 4 Mar 91 14:16 EST From: "NANCY M. IDE (914) 437 5988" Subject: reports Originally From: fclrep@uni2a.unige.ch [From Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 1131. Tuesday, 5 Mar 1991.] Technical Reports in Formal and Computational Linguistics Robin Clark, Luigi Rizzi, Eric Wehrli Editors Department of Linguistics University of Geneva No 1: Papers on Learnability and Natural Selection ---Robin Clark (144 pages) The papers collected here develop a computational approach to demonstrating the learnability property for a Principles & Parameters approach to natural language. The model uses Genetic Algorithms to develop a learner that is able to converge quickly and efficiently despite the equivocal nature of the input evidence. Chapters 1 and 2 describe the general properties of the learner and relate the formal model to linguistic evidence. Chapter 3 describes a computer simulation of the learner. Chapter 4 summarizes and refines the results reported in the earlier chapters. Price: 15.-- SFr (within Switzerland) 20.-- SFr (outside Switzerland) ------ No 2: Residual Verb Second and the Wh Criterion ---Luigi Rizzi (28 pages) The Wh-Criterion is the principle which determines the S-structure distribution and LF interpretation of wh-operators. Residual Verb Second is a cover term for construction-specific applications of I to C movement in non V-2 languages (Subject-Aux inversion in English, Subject clitic inversion in French, obligatory inversion in Italian interrogatives, etc.). This papers argues that residual V2 is triggered in order to satisfy the Wh-Criterion and other related well-formedness conditions. Price: 7.50 SFr (within Switzerland) 12.50 SFr (outside Switzerland) To order, or for further information, contact: FCLREP@uni2a.unige.ch Technical Reports Department of Linguistics University of Geneva CH-1211 Geneva 4 We accept either Mastercard or Eurocheques, made payable to ``Technical Reports''. Please include the following information with your order: Name: Address: Volume(s) Requested: Mastercard #: Expiration Date: Please indicate whether you want the volume(s) sent by Airmail (the default is surface mail). For airmail, add 10.-- SFr per volume to the total price. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0069. Sunday, 10 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0069 Prague Summer School Total: 131 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Wed, 6 Mar 1991 13:23:11 +0100 From: Jan Hajic Subject: Prague Summer School (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Mar 1991 13:23:11 +0100 From: Jan Hajic Subject: Prague Summer School ****************************************************** *** SUMMER SCHOOL IN COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS *** *** Formal and Computational Models of Meaning *** ****************************************************** TIME AND PLACE: July 8-21, 1991, Prague, Czechoslovakia ORGANIZERS: Faculty of Mathematics and Physics and Faculty of Philosophy, Charles University COURSES: - - Jurij D. Apresjan, Academy of Sciences, Moscow, USSR: The Types of Lexical Information for a Dictionary in an Integrated Linguistic Description - - B.T.Sue Atkins, Oxford University Press, UK: Lexicography for Computational Linguistics - - Christian Boitet, G.E.T.A., Grenoble, France: Meaning and Understanding in Machine Translation - - Jens Erik Fenstad, University of Oslo, Norway: Computational Semantics - - Charles J. Fillmore, University of California, Berkeley, USA: Semantic Interpretation and Construction Grammar - - Eva Hajicova and Petr Sgall, Charles University, Prague: A Functional Approach to the Meaning of the Sentence and to Intersentential Links - - George Lakoff, University of California, Berkeley, USA: Cognitive Semantics - - Martha E. Pollack, SRI International, USA: Contextual Influences on Meaning - - James Pustejovsky, Brandeis University, USA: Computational Lexical Semantics - - Mats Rooth, AT&T Bell Laboratories, USA: Formal Semantics - - Hans Uszkoreit, University of Saarbruecken, Germany: New Developments in Grammar Formalisms - - Wolfgang Wahlster, University of Saarbruecken, Germany: Discourse and User Models The programme will be organized in four 90 minute non-overlapping blocks per day. FEES: 900 USD for industrial participants 700 USD for academic community The fees cover the costs of all courses, a welcome party, a guided tour of Prague, accomodation in double rooms in the University students hostel for the whole period of the School (14 nights, 10 USD per night), and 3 meals per day in the students canteen (13 days, 8 USD per day). There is a limited number of beds available for accompanying persons (20 USD per night). Registration is possible without accomodation and meals, with a registration fee of 450 USD for academic community and 650 USD for industrial participants. The organizers cannot take the responsibility for hotel accomodation. REGISTRATION: The deadline for registration is April 30, 1991, but it is important to react as soon as possible, as the courses have limitations on the number of participants. You can either ask for a brochure containing more details with the Registration Form attached, or simply send the following data along with an evidence of the payment of the registration fee: Registration form Name: Affiliation (university or company): Address for correspondence: e-mail address: Telephone: Specify: industrial participant / academic institution / student Do you wish to reserve room and meals in the University hostel? (Y/N) Fees (specify the amount paid): Registration fee: Date: (Signature:) The address and other contact: MFF UK - linguistics, c/o Dr. Eva Hajicova Malostranske nam. 25, 118 00 Praha 1, Czechoslovakia Voice: +42-2-532136 Fax: +42-2-847688 (attn. MFF UK linguistics) e-mail: MATRACE@CSPUNI12.BITNET (or UMLEH@CSEARN.BITNET) PAYMENT: The fee should be paid before April 30, 1991. Cheques are payable to "ACL", use Swiss franc or a European currency equivalent on date the cheque is signed and be sure the cheque is payable in Switzerland or France. Cheques in USD must be drawn on a US bank. Send the cheque with a copy of the registration form to Michael Rosner (the address below). Bank transfer: Credit Union Bank of Switzerland, Geneva, a/c "Association of Computational Linguistics", 141.880.LAV. Send a copy of the registration form to Michael Rosner: Michael Rosner (Prague Summer School) IDSIA, Corso Elvezia 36, 6900 LUGANO, Switzerland Arrivals: Sunday, June 7, 1991 Beginning of the School: Monday, July 8, 9 a.m. End of the School: Saturday, July 20, 6 p.m. Departures: Sunday, July 21 Registration desk: open at July 7, 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., in the building of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Praha 8 - Troja, Str. V Holesovickach 2. How to get there: Underground ("Metro") line C, terminal "Nadrazi Holesovice", from there one stop by bus No. 156 or 175. The faculty building is the tall building on the same side of the road as the bus stop. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0070. Wednesday, 10 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0070 Responses: Quechua, Cognitive, Tromso Total: 230 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Sat, 9 Mar 91 14:43 +0100 From: Michael.Cheney@teol.lu.se Subject: Re: Quechua (2) Date: Sat, 9 Mar 91 16:43:33 -0600 From: "Michael Kac" Subject: Quechua (3) Date: Sun, 10 Mar 91 17:04:50 -0800 From: Bill Poser Subject: cognitive linguistics (4) Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 16:00:01 PST From: marit@ling.ucsc.edu (Marit Westergaard) Subject: Contacts in Tromsoe (5) Date: Sun, 10 Mar 91 20:40:19 CST From: John Goldsmith Subject: Re: Tromso (6) Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 10:37 CST From: GUNDEL@vx.acs.umn.edu Subject: Re: Tromso (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 9 Mar 91 14:43 +0100 From: Michael.Cheney@teol.lu.se Subject: Re: Quechua Regarding the query on Quechua, I recall that there are several books of introduction to the language. I do not have the books with me here so I cannot check the titles:but I recall Clodoaldo Soto-Ruiz, *Gramatica Quechuana* (Published, I think, in Lima) Soto-Ruiz, *Quechua* (Lima(?), this is an introduction w/ lessons etc) Conrad Phelps, The Grammar of Quechua. Sorry to be so vague about the titles, etc but I am a long way from home where I have the books stored and am a specialist in Old Testament studies, not South American languages. It might be a good idea to contact Cornell University for further help, as they have considerable background in Quechua instruction. Mike Cheney Teologiska Inst Lunds Universitet (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 9 Mar 91 16:43:33 -0600 From: "Michael Kac" Subject: Quechua One possible source of information is Carol Klee, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese, U. Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455. (No e-mail address that I can find.) (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 10 Mar 91 17:04:50 -0800 From: Bill Poser Subject: cognitive linguistics I would like to add my objection to the usurpation of the term "cognitive linguistics" for work done by advocates of a particular set of views in a particular subfield of the domain that this term more properly covers, and to address several issues that have arisen in the discussion thus far. It is true that linguists are not, in general, particularly well versed in psychology and up on the literature on modularity. However, it is not clear to me that those involved in "cognitive linguistics" are, in general, any more familiar with this area. Indeed, I am struck by the fact that what from the literature is an active area of controversy is regarded by them as settled. I recommend that anyone who regards the issue as settled consult the anthology: Modularity in Knowledge Representation and Natural Language Understanding, edited by Jay L. Garfield (1987). What linguists do have to contribute is their knowledge of what language is like and what phenomena there are to be accounted for. Not surprisingly, linguists know a great deal more about this than non-linguists. Perhaps more surprisingly, and certainly unfortunately, even those non-linguists who address linguistic questions are often rather naive about language and unacquainted with theoretical work. Two examples: (a) a well-known figure in Artificial Intelligence has been a proponent of the view that natural language understanding does not require parsing, that is, that it does not require syntactic analysis or any knowledge of syntax, but can all be done from semantics. In its pure form, this theory is incapable, as a matter of principle, of accounting for the fact that the English sentences (1) and (2) are not synonymous: (1) Mary saw John. (2) John saw Mary. (For discussion I recommend Mitch Marcus' paper in the book _Talking Minds_.) (b) a well known figure in work on neural networks gave a talk that was touted as describing a neural network that "learned syntax". As it turned out, it was able to learn the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs. That is not quite all there is to syntax. To most linguists such claims are so far out as to look like the work of cranks, but their proponents are not regarded as cranks by people in AI and psychology. The gulf in knowledge of language between linguists and non-linguists is huge. Now, this is not by any means to say that all non-linguists are ignorant, but it is to say that that it is very important, in any psychological investigation of a behaviour, to have a good idea of what that behaviour is like, and that linguists play a crucial role in investigations of linguistic behaviour by providing most of the facts and generalizations about the structure of language that need to be accounted for. Secondly, I would like to second David Pesetsky's point that anti-modular views have been rendered plausible to a large extent by ignoring the sorts of linguistic behaviour that need to be accounted for. It won't do to look only at certain areas of semantics and pragmatics - how about syntax, morphology, and phonology? The same thing is true of functionalist attempts at explanation. For most of the generalizations posited by linguists, especially formal ones (e.g. locality principles), I have seen no attempt at functional explanation. (Note that I do not mean to identify anti-modularism and functionalism: while a functionalist explanation can be faculty specific only vacuously, it is logically possible that there could be general principles of cognition and/or generalized cognitive abilities that lack any functional explanation.) Third, let me point out a subtlety that seems often to be missed. There are two different claims involved in the modularity vs. generality debate. One claim has to do with informational encapsulation, to use Jerry Fodor's term. This is a claim about modularity of mental processing. The other claim has to do with the faculty-specificity of explanatory principles, that is, with whether there are specifically linguistic principles or whether they are all consequences of more general cognitive principles. These two claims are not the same. It seems to me that a lot of what I have read by people like George Lakoff bears on the faculty-specificity of principles but, at least not directly, on processing modularity. (If this is not true, no doubt George will object.) Finally, I'd like to respond to Margaret Fleck's suggestion that the input of people in computer vision and robotics is crucial. While the input of anyone with relevant knowledge is welcome, I don't see the special relevance of these two areas, for two reasons. First, they don't have much to do with language, and if it is the relationship between language and cognition in general that is at issue, it would seem that they aren't particularly relevant, unless perhaps she just means that they are among the many people who may have something to contribute to our general knowledge of cognition. Second, by the very definition of these fields, people in them are not concerned with understanding how human cognition works, but rather with making machines do somewhat similar things. It doesn't matter to them whether the machines emulate human abilities (if they could do better than humans, they would be delighted), and they don't care whether they perform these tasks by the same mechanisms that humans do. This is true in general of much of AI work - what one does to solve an engineering problem MAY provide an idea as to how humans might do it and may provide some tools for studying humans, but the tasks of engineering and of understanding how human minds work are by no means the same. Bill Poser (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 16:00:01 PST From: marit@ling.ucsc.edu (Marit Westergaard) Subject: Contacts in Tromsoe To Ed Battistella RE: Contacts in Tromsoe, Norway Your colleague can contact the following linguists in the Linguistics Department at the University of Tromsoe: Tarald Taraldsen knutt@mack.uit.no Ove Lorentz lorentz@mack.uit.no Toril Fiva fiva@mack.uit.no However, if your colleague is our Fulbright professor for next year, he will be working in the English Department, and the only linguist there with an e-mail address is me. I am on sabbatical at UC Santa Cruz until July -91 and can be contacted at the following address: marit@ling.ucsc.edu Marit R. Westergaard (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 10 Mar 91 20:40:19 CST From: John Goldsmith Subject: Re: Tromso Jan-Terje Faarlund is at Trondheim, and his email address is jan.faarlund@avh.unit.no John Goldsmith (6) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 10:37 CST From: GUNDEL@vx.acs.umn.edu Subject: Re: Tromso To: Ed Battistella, concerning linguists in Norway I know of one linguist in Norway - Thorstein Fretheim in the Linguistics Dept. at Univ. of Trondheim. A colleague of mine here just told me about someone else - Per Moehn, though he's not sure where exactly he is; maybe also in Trondheim. Jeanette Gundel, U of Minnesota ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0070. Wednesday, 10 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0071 Responses: Vowels, Families, Mother of Total: 148 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 10:12:00 CST From: GA3662%SIUCVMB.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: Reduced vowels (2) Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 22:07:42 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Articles Solicited (3) From: jdbobalj@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Subject: Re: Queries: Families Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 18:04:45 EST (5) Date: Thu 7 Mar 91 09:32:56-EST From: Larry Gillick Subject: Mother of (4) From: Adam Kilgarriff Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 15:51:24 GMT Subject: Mother of (6) Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 18:46:30 EST From: markt@umd5.umd.edu (Mark Turner) Subject: Arsenio Hall and Mother Of (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 10:12:00 CST From: GA3662%SIUCVMB.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: Reduced vowels To the person who asked about multiple vowel reduction (sorry, when I'm sending I can't reference previous mail): Dwight Bollinger 1986. Intonation and its parts. Stanford University Press. argues that American English has *three* (count 'em) contrasting reduced vowels: Willie {barred i} Willa {schwa} willow {barred o} He gives lots of minimal triples (tory, tora, toro; sallied, salad, sallowed etc.) I myself don't make the contrast between final barred i and final /i/ but I gather lots do. In addition, Russian has two *kinds* of reduced vowel, depending on which syllable is involved. Thus Gorbachev has an {a} (low central) in the first (unstressed syllable) and a schwa in the second. It also reduces vowels differentially--/o,a/ reduce to the complex previously mentioned, but /e/ reduces to {i}. This is an amateur description, and I'm sure Slavicists could improve on it. Russian is a strongly stress-timed language. Hope this helps. Geoff Nathan (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 22:07:42 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Articles Solicited I would like to solicit submissions of articles by North American linguists to the Soviet linguistics journal Voprosy Jazykoznanija, whose editorial board has recently appointed me a representative for this purpose. The submissions can be in English or Russian, but the language of publication at present continues to be Russian only. Please mail mss. to Alexis Manaster Ramer, Computer Science Dept., Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202. (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: jdbobalj@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Subject: Re: Queries: Families Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 18:04:45 EST I'm quite interested, but not overly well informed, but if you can recommend some reading on the subject... (English, French or Russian).., (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Adam Kilgarriff Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 15:51:24 GMT Subject: Mother of Mark Turner's piece was very interesting. One aspect of `mother' allusions he did not refer to but which must play a role in the catchiness of Saddam's phrase is its use in `motherfucker' and derivatives. Calling a thing a `mother' in American English is very often a display of anger and frustration at it. The conceptual link with the mothers that bore us is attenuated, but the surface-language link with Saddam's phrase is direct. A US soldier says `this is a mother of a battle', while Saddam says `this will be the mother of all battles'. The `motherfucker' association clearly plays a role in our responses, throwing dollops of ambiguity, irony and general-purpose perversity into the concoction of associations that Mark Turner documents. Perhaps it's this twist that particularly appeals to the journalists, the politicians, and all of our postmodern sensibilities? Adam Kilgarriff adamk@cogs.susx.ac.uk (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu 7 Mar 91 09:32:56-EST From: Larry Gillick Subject: Mother of Mark Turner discusses the expansion of the expression "mother of X" from Radio Baghdad's threat to embroil the forces of the anti-Iraq alliance in "the mother of all battles": > Of course, this phrase is not new at all.... > The commonplace cultural concept of a mother has served for centuries > as a guide to using "mother" metaphorically in English.... > "Mother of battles" relies on certain aspects of the concepts of mother.... > [In summary: ] The mother of battles is pure of stock, more clearly a > battle than any other. Unfortunately, this expression did not arise out of centuries of English usage, but out of Arabic. As I understand it (and all I know is what I read in the papers -- I'm sure there are many reading this who can give us precision here), "the mother of battles" is an expression from Islamic history, perhaps from the Koran itself, referring to a specific, actual battle. The allusion is somewhat as though George Bush had spoken of Armageddon to his Biblically-educated constituency, except that the battle of Armageddon is prophesied to come rather than recorded to have occurred. (Thanks to Jed Roberts for the comparison.) Certainly Turner is examining the spread of this usage in an English-speaking environment, and the Arabic original probably uses similar metaphorical force to that which he finds in English "mother". Nevertheless, its separate and quite specific origin should not be glossed over. (6) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 18:46:30 EST From: markt@umd5.umd.edu (Mark Turner) Subject: Arsenio Hall and Mother Of Arsenio Hall tells a joke in which Saddam Hussein now sells slurpies on a beach in Southern California (my own homeland). He is asked what sizes they come in, and responds "small, medium, large, and the mother of all slurpies." ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0072. Thursday, 14 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0072 Queries & Comments Total: 240 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: brentari@castor.ucdavis.edu (Diane Brentari) Date: Thu, 7 Mar 91 10:43:10 -0800 Subject: stress (2) Date: Sun, 10 Mar 91 22:34:26 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Language Families (3) Date: Mon, 11 Mar 1991 09:38 EST From: GODDEN%RCSMPB@gmr.com Subject: German Word Frequency Lists (4) Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 22:07:42 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Articles Solicited (5) Date: 13 MAR 91 16:57:19.56-GMT From: SEMIO1%FRPERP51.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: Didactique fle (6) Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1991 10:35 CST From: Mary Califf Subject: help for a novice (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: brentari@castor.ucdavis.edu (Diane Brentari) Date: Thu, 7 Mar 91 10:43:10 -0800 Subject: stress Dear Editors, I am searching for any language where: 1) stress assignment is REGULAR 2) the stress will not occur on the predicted syllable unless the syllable contains a 'full' vowel. That is to say, not a reduced vowels. Please send any suggestions of such languages to: dkbrentari@ucdavis.edu Thanks very much! (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 10 Mar 91 22:34:26 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Language Families Since a number of people expressed interest in this topic, I would like to began a discussion of some recently proposed language families (or not so recently, as the case may be) by providing some information about Sino-Caucasian. This was proposed by Sergei A. Starostin in 1984 in an article in Russian of which there now exists an unpublished English translation by William Baxter of the University of Michigan. The original article was "Gipoteza o geneticheskikh svjazjakh sinobetskikh jazykov s enisejskimi i severnokavkazskimi jazykami" and it appeared in the collection Lingvisticheskaja rekonstrukcija i drevnejshaja istorija Vostoka, Moscow: Nauka (1984), vol. 4, pp. 19-38. I think that I could supply a reasonable number of people with xerox copies in either language. The hypothesis is that Sino-Tibetan is related to Yeniseyan and to North Caucasian. A largish number of lexical items exhibiting apparently regular and often non-trivial sound correspondences has been proposed as well as a tentative reconstruction. The underlying work on Yeniseyan was by Starostin, but since it is a very small and chronologically shallow family, I don't think there is anything controversial there. The most important ST source was Old Chinese, whose phonology was reconstructed by Starostin in a book which has recently been published in Russia (but the system is strikingly similar to that proposed independently by scholars in the U.S. (notably the aforementioned Bill Baxter) and China). The North Caucasian is about to appear in English in the form of a rather massive comparative dictionary and phonology of North Caucasian by Starostin and Sergei Nikolaev. A certain amount of information on Starostin's proposal is contained in a survey article entitled "Some recent work on the remote relations of languages" (by yours truly and Vitaly Shevoroshkin (N.B. some of you may know Vitaly as a radical advocate of various theories, but the article in question merely offers some information on Nostratic, ST, and some other proposals, without taking any strong positions), in the book Sprung from Some Common Source out of Stanford University Press (which is currently in press). The article just referred to is also a good introduction to the Soviet work on Nostratic. Some of you may know the ideas of A. Bomhard on this subject, but I am referring to the work of Illich-Svitych and Dolgopolsky, starting in the 1960's, on a proposed language family comprising Indo- European, Afro-Asiatic, Uralic, Altaic, Kartvelian, and possibly Dravidian. The proposals are quite different and' indeed inconsistent with those of Bomhard and, for my money, are quite well argued. For some reason, however, the Nostratic etymological dictionary of Illich-Svitych, published in three parts between 1971 and 1984, has not been reviewed in American linguistic journals, and remains largely unknown, with the result that the (apparently overwhelmingly negative) reaction to Bomhard's book is the only thing most people associate with the work Nostratic. I have been trying to get various American journals to do such a review, and there is some motion in that direction. But if anybody agrees with me that there should be one, it would be nice if they told their favorite journal editor. Since the books are hard to come by, I am prepared to supply the stuff (it may have to be in xeroxed form) to any journal willing to do such a review. Among the reasons I find the Nostratic hypothesis quite plausible is the well-worked out set of phonetic correspondences and a fair-sized lexicon. In addition, you find such nice results as the apparent fact that the long-contested three series of IE velars (palatal, plain, and labial) correspond surprisingly regularly to velar+front-vowel, velar+a, and velar+rounded-vowel (respectively) in Altaic and Uralic. Or the fact that some Kartvelian and Chadic data support Calvert Watkins' conjecture that IE first person pronouns conceal traces of an archaic inclusive- exclusive distinction. Or the possibility (which I myself first noticed) that certain Uralic affricates which correspond to IE *sk or *st in initial position are always geminated intervocalically (where they correspond to IE *s), all of which is consistent with Nostratic **st and **sk clusters both initially and medially. Finally, I regard as an argument in favor of the hypothesis the fact that numerous long-noted lexical parallels between, say, Semitic and IE or IE and Kartvelian are NOT claimed to be Nostratic-level cognates but rather borrowings (there is a beautiful paper of Dolgopolsky's on such loanwords, written in English!). The reason being that these words do not fit the set of correspondeces needed for Nostratic. For instance, Semitic *thawr- and IE *tauro- 'bull' are not claimed to be related, because the initial consonants are inconsistent (Semitic *th is claimed to correspond to IE *st). In other words, the hypothesis is strong enough to exclude things (i.e., make negative claims), and the people who developed it were not among those who take every superficial resemblances between two language families as evidence of kinship. Of course, neither Sino-Caucasian nor Nostratic can be regarded as proven, until a reasonable number of competent people knowleageable in the various language groups sifts through these proposals. This has not happened, either in the Soviet Union, in Europe, or in the U.S. I would like to see it happen, if for no other reason than because much less plausible and less scholarly work on other hypothetical language families has received incomparably more attention. Also, if Sino-Caucasian or Nostratic or both turn out to be wrong, that will have an important methodological moral. As far as I can see, the authors of these two hypotheses have done their research in a very conservative, by-the-book fashion. If they are wrong anyway, that would have to mean that the methodology of comparative linguistics as presented in the standard sources can lead to incorrect results, which I think would be kind of exciting, too. (Whereas, if Greenberg's proposals for Amerind (or indeed his own version of Nostratic, which I think he calls Eurasiatic) were found wanting, we would just shrug our shoulders, and say that that is exactly what was to be expected, given his methodology. In Greenberg's case, there would news on the methodological front, if he were right. In the Nostratic and Sino-Caucasian cases, only if they are wrong.) (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 11 Mar 1991 09:38 EST From: GODDEN%RCSMPB@gmr.com Subject: German Word Frequency Lists There are various word frequency lists I know of available for English, e.g. the Thorndike-Lorge list, the K.L.M. list. Can anyone give me a pointer(s) to any similar frequency lists for German? Thanks. -Kurt Godden godden@gmr.com (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 22:07:42 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Articles Solicited I would like to solicit submissions of articles by North American linguists to the Soviet linguistics journal Voprosy Jazykoznanija, whose editorial board has recently appointed me a representative for this purpose. The submissions can be in English or Russian, but the language of publication at present continues to be Russian only. Please mail mss. to Alexis Manaster Ramer, Computer Science Dept., Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202. (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 13 MAR 91 16:57:19.56-GMT From: SEMIO1%FRPERP51.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: Didactique fle Je travaille actuellement sur un manuel de fle destine < des etudiants marocains. Je m'interesse tout particulierement aux problemes de l'enonciateur et du co-enonciateur. Pourriez-vous me faire parvenir une bibliographie concernant la linguistique enonciative ainsi que des references didactiques? En vous remerciant d'avance, Vous pouvez me contacter directement a Semio1@frperp51 (6) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1991 10:35 CST From: Mary Califf Subject: help for a novice I'd like some help from the professionals on this list. I have an MA in English, but I'm currently employed as a computer programmer, and I'm working on an MA in computer science. One of my primary interests is NLP, and I think that my humanities background could benefit me in that field. However, we have no linguistics department at my university, so I'm on my own in boning up on the subject. One faculty member is helping me out with some direction, but a single point of view can be limiting. All of that was to lead to my request. I need a reading list. I've read some Chomsky (_Aspects of the Theory of Syntax_,_Syntactic Structures_,_Language and Mind_), and I'm planning to read his other works. However, Chomsky + his bibliographies isn't going to give me everything I need. What else should I be reading, now or later? Any help or direction would be much appreciated. Reply either to the list or directly to me at califfma@baylor.edu or califfma@baylor (BITNET) Thanks in advance, Mary Elaine Califf ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0073. Friday, 15 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0073 Conferences Total: 179 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Sunday, 10 March 1991 10:02am ET From: "Sue.Gass" <21003SMG%MSU.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> Subject: Second Language Research Forum (2) Date: Sunday, 10 March 1991 9:57am ET From: "Sue.Gass" <21003SMG%MSU.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> Subject: Conference Announcement (3) Date: Sun, 10 Mar 91 12:58:42 EST From: Stephen Clausing Subject: call for papers (4) Date: Sat, 9 Mar 91 12:38:35 PST From: HOJI@VM.USC.EDU Subject: Conference Announcement (Japanese/Korean) (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sunday, 10 March 1991 10:02am ET From: "Sue.Gass" <21003SMG%MSU.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> Subject: Second Language Research Forum The Twelfth SECOND LANGUAGE RESEARCH FORUM Michigan Stte University April 2-5, 1992 Second Language Acquisition: Interdisciplinary Perspectives Deadline for submission of abstracts is October 15, 1991. Submit 3 copies of a one-page abstract (without name) and a 3" x 5" card giving name, title of paper, affiliation, address, phone number and e-mail address to: India Plough Conference Chair English Language Center 1 Center for International Programs Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 48824 Phone: 517 353-0800 e-mail: 21003icp@MSU Fax: 517 336-1149 (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sunday, 10 March 1991 9:57am ET From: "Sue.Gass" <21003SMG%MSU.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> Subject: Conference Announcement Theory Construction and Methodology in Second Language Acquisition Research Michigan State University, October 4-6, 1991 Plenary Speakers: Kevin Gregg, St. Andrew's University, Osaka Patsy Lightbown, Concordia University, Montreal Michael Long,University of Hawaii-Manoa John Schumann, UCLA Call for Papers (Deadline April 1, 1991) The theme for the conference is theory construction and methodology in Second Language Acquisition. We are interested in theory-driven data-based studies; the papers should comment explicitly on some of the following issues: 1) Justifcation for methodology 2) What should a theory of SLA consist of? 3) How can we evaluate theories of SLA? 4) Are the many SLA theories rivals or complementary? 5) What knds of evidence are our current methodologies capable of establishing ? 6) How strong is the evidence for SLA generalizations? Please submit 3 copies of a one-page abstract (without name) and a 3" by 5" card giving name, title of paper, affiliation, address, phone number, e-mail address to: Alan Beretta/Susan Gass English Language Center 1 CIP Michigan State University E. Lansing, MI 48824 Phone: 517 353-0800 e-mail: 21910mgr@MSU or 21003smg@MSU (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 10 Mar 91 12:58:42 EST From: Stephen Clausing Subject: call for papers [From Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 1153. Monday, 11 Mar 1991.] The Applied Linguistics Division of the MLA is sponsoring a section entitled "Computers in Applied Linguistic Research" to be held at the forthcoming MLA conference in San Francisco, Dec. 28. Send 1-page abstracts by e-mail to Stephen Clausing, SClaus@Yalevm by March 15. (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 9 Mar 91 12:38:35 PST From: HOJI@VM.USC.EDU Subject: Conference Announcement (Japanese/Korean) CALL FOR PAPERS THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA JAPANESE/KOREAN LINGUISTICS CONFERENCE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SANTA BARBARA SEPT. 6-8, 1991 Deadline for the Submission of Abstracts: May 22, 1991 -- This conference is intended to provide a forum for presenting research in Japanese and Korean linguistics, thereby facilitating efforts to deepen our understanding of these two languages which have striking typological similarities. The first SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA JAPANESE/KOREAN LINGUISTICS CONFERENCE was held in August, 1989 at UCLA; its proceedings have been published as "Japanese/Korean Linguistics" by CSLI (The Center for the Study of Language and Information) and are distributed by the University of Chicago Press. The proceedings of the second conference will also be published by CSLI. -- Papers in Japanese and Korean linguistics are invited for presentation at the conference; papers comparing the two languages are especially welcome. Potential topics include, but are not limited to: syntax, semantics, phonology, morphology, pragmatics, historical linguistics, typology, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, language acquisition, and discourse. Presentations are 20 minutes long, and will be followed by a short question period. The deadline for the submission of abstracts is May 22, 1991. Abstract submissions should be sent to one of the addresses below, and should include: 1) Six (6) copies of a one-page abstract with a title; name and affiliation should be omitted from the abstract. The one-page limit should be strictly observed; the second page may be used only for references. 2) A 3" by 5" card with the title of the paper, the name of the author(s), the mailing address of the author, and the author's affiliation, phone number and e-mail address or e-mail contact. If your summer address, phone number and e-mail address will be different, BE SURE to include your summer information as well. 3) A self-addressed, stamped postcard if you wish to be notified that your abstract has been received. (Very Good Idea!!) Syntax, semantics, phonology and morphology: Hajime Hoji Dept. of Linguistics University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 90089-1693 hoji@uscvm.bitnet Other topics: Patricia Clancy Dept. of Linguistics UC Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 93106 pclancy@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu Authors of accepted papers will be notified immediately after review by e-mail or by telephone (about June 23). Further information will be sent out, along with the conference program, by the end of June. There will be a registration fee of $15 for students and $20 for non-students. If you pre-register by sending in your fee with your abstract, registration will cost $10 for students and $15 for non-students. Checks should be made out to: J/K Linguistics Conference. -- The book "Japanese/Korean Linguistics" can be ordered either directly from the Press or through a local bookstore. UCP's address: 11030 S Langley Ave, Chicago, IL 60628. Orders may also be placed by phone at 800-621-2736. Any questions that cannot be answered by Chicago, can be directed to us at CSLI. (E-mail address: publications@csli.stanford.edu.) ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0074. Saturday, 16 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0074 Job, Queries, Summer School, Conferences Total: 297 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 13:22 EST From: AF429%ALBNYVMS.BITNET%UACSC2.ALBANY.EDU@munnari.oz Subject: Visiting Position (2) Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 08:34:00 EST From: Steven_Dworkin@um.cc.umich.edu Subject: Linguists at Heidelberg? (3) Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1991 20:34:19 EST From: BALTIN@ACFcluster.NYU.EDU Subject: Chinese or Japanese judgements (4) Date: Tue, 12 Mar 1991 18:56:27 +0100 From: Michael Hess Subject: Summer School in NLP (5) Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 18:04:40 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: The association for mathematics of language (6) Date: Thu, 14 Mar 91 13:20 +0200 From: Subject: IATL CALL FOR PAPERS (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 13:22 EST From: AF429%ALBNYVMS.BITNET%UACSC2.ALBANY.EDU@munnari.oz Subject: Visiting Position Job Announcement: Subject to availability of funds, the Dept. of Linguistics and Cognitive Science at the University at Albany, SUNY, seeks a theoretical syntactician or phonologist to fill a one year visiting assistant professor position. Candidate should have demonstrable teaching experience at the undergraduate level. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications. Send CV, letter of application which specifically addresses and documents teaching experience, and 3 letters of recommendation to: Ann K. Farmer Dept. of Linguistics & Cognitve Science HU376 University at Albany, SUNY Albany, NY 12222 Closing Date: April 19, 1991 The University at Albany, is an Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer. Applications from women, minority persons, handicapped persons, and or special disabled or Vietnam era veterans are especially welcome. (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 08:34:00 EST From: Steven_Dworkin@um.cc.umich.edu Subject: Linguists at Heidelberg? Does anyone out there have e-mail address for linguists at the University of Heidelberg (Germany)? Thanks. Steve Dworkin (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1991 20:34:19 EST From: BALTIN@ACFcluster.NYU.EDU Subject: Chinese or Japanese judgements I was wondering if a native speaker linguist who speaks Japanese or Chinese could help me. I am looking for judgements and the Japanese translat- ions of the following sentences: (1) Who read every book? (2) What did everyone read? (3) Which students read every book? (4) Which books did every student read? The judgements that I'm looking for are judgements of the in- terpretation or interpretations of each of the sentences, particularly with respect to the scope of the wh-phrase and the universal quantifier with res- pect to one another. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in ad- vance,-----Mark Baltin (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 12 Mar 1991 18:56:27 +0100 From: Michael Hess Subject: Summer School in NLP FIRST SWISS SUMMER SCHOOL IN NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING 23 - 27 September 1991 Lugano (Switzerland) The Special Interest Group in Natural Language Processing of the Swiss Group of Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science (SGAICO), in collaboration with the University of Geneva, is organising a Summer School in Natural Language Processing this autumn. The intended audience is, on the one hand, students of linguis- tics who have no opportunity to take classes in NLP at their home universities and, on the other hand, people from industry working in a specialised field of NLP (e.g. speech processing, Machine Translation) but without too much background in general linguis- tics. Lectures will therefore not presuppose too much in the line of factual NLP knowledge but they will otherwise be fairly demanding. In many respects the School is intended to be a com- plement to the European Summer Schools in Language, Logic and Information, which are oriented exclusively towards the scien- tific aspects of the field. Our intention is to give the dif- ferent applications of NLP considerably more weight. The School will therefore consist of two types of courses: Four longer courses covering the fundamental aspects of NLP (between 10 lessons of 45 minutes to 4 lessons of 60 minutes), and five shorter courses covering more specialised and application oriented aspects of the field (1 or 2 lessons of 60 minutes). Courses will, if possible at all, not run in parallel so that participants will be able to take in the full programme of approx. 48 hours. Speakers are well-known specialists in the field of NLP, mostly from outside Switzerland. The language of the School will be English. We hope this will make the School attractive for people from universities and industry from all over Europe. Programme Fundamental Aspects: Martin Kay (Stanford Univ.): Natural Language Processing - the Foundations Barbara Grosz (Harvard Univ.): Pragmatics and Discourse Processing Manfred Pinkal (Saarbru"cken Univ.): Recent Semantic Models for NLP Klaus Netter (Saarbru"cken Univ.): Constraint-Based Grammar Formalisms Specific Aspects: Ken Church (Bell Labs): NLP Techniques and Text Retrieval NLP Techniques and Text Retrieval Status: O Eric Wehrli (Geneva Univ.): Interactive Tools for Parsing and Translation Maghi King (ISSCO): Evaluation of NLP Products Graham Russell (ISSCO): Language Technology and Applications Michael Hess (Zurich Univ.): Discourse Representation Theories Costs: sFr. 100.- for full-time students, around sFr. 200.- for participants from academic institutions, around sFr. 400.- for participants from commercial or governmental institutions (exact fees for non-students will be known in about one month's time). The fee does not include meals or accommodation. A limited number de meals or accommodation. A limited number Status: O of grants for students will be available. Accommodation: A limited number of hotel rooms can be booked through IDSIA Deadlines: The deadline for early registration is 15th June 1991. After this date a late fee of sFr. 20.- will be added to the invoice. On-site late registration for courses (without hotel reservation) will also be possible. The deadline for hotel reser- vations through IDSIA is 15th July 1991. Cancellation: If you cancel registration for the School before 31st July 1991 you will be reimbursed 50% of the fee. Cancella- tion of hotel bookings must be arranged with the hotel direct. Address of local organiser: For general information about the School contact: Mike Rosner (SGAICO NLP) Michael Hess (SGAICO NLP) NLP) Michael Hess (SGAICO NLP) Istituto Dalle Molle IDSIA ISSCO Corso Elvezia 36 54, rte des Acacias CH-6900 Lugano CH-1227 Gene`ve Fax: +41 91 22 89 94 Fax: +41 22 300 10 86 Tel.: +41 91 22 88 81 Tel.: +41 22 705 71 16 E-mail: mike@idsia.uu.ch E-mail: hess@divsun.unige.ch --------------------------- CUT HERE ----------------------------- REGISTRATION AND REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ( ) I want more detailed information about the School (in approx. one month) I register for the First Swiss Summer School in Natural Language Processing as ( ) a full-time student (please enclose proof of enrollment) ( ) an employee of an academic organisation ( ) an employee of a commercial or governmental organisation ( ) and want also more detailed information ( ) and I will want to book a hotel room through IDSIA ( ) I have registered as a full-time student and apply for a grant Place, Date, Signature: ...................................................... Name/First Name _________________________________________________ Affiliation _________________________________________________ Address _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ Phone/E-mail _________________________________________________ Please send this form, by snail-mail, e-mail or fax, to the local organiser at the address given above (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 18:04:40 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: The association for mathematics of language THE ASSOCIATION FOR MATHEMATICS OF LANGUAGE (A SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS) Because some, mostly, foreign colleagues only heard about the upcoming MOL2 meeting quite recently, it was decided to extend the deadline for submission of abstracts till the middle of March. Abstracts are only accepted electronically. Please send them to: MOL2@IBM.COM The response so far has been terrific, however, and simple arithmetic tells us that many of the submissions received will not be accepted. --------------------------------------- It is also never too late sign up as a member of AMOL (known to ACL members as SIGMOL). This can also be done by sending email to the above address. Since the election of permanent officers is to take place soon, you may want to hurry up and sign up right away. The organizing committee of AMOL, which is also acting as the program committee of the MOL2 meeting, consists of: William Baxter Edward Keenan Alexis Manaster Ramer (president of AMOL, co-chair of program committee) Aravind Joshi M. Andrew Moshier Daniel Radzinski Walter Savitch Thomas Wasow Wlodek Zadrozny (secretary of AMOL, co-chair of program committee) (6) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 14 Mar 91 13:20 +0200 From: Subject: IATL CALL FOR PAPERS IATL, The Israeli Association for Theoretical Linguistics announces its 7th annual conference, June 17-18, which will take place at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Papers are welcome in any topic of theoretical linguistics. Please send 6 anonymous copies of a 1-2 page abstract, one camera-ready copy of the abstract including name and affiliation of author, and a separate sheet with mailing information to Edit Doron Department of English The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 91905 Jerusalem, Israel by May 1, 1991. for further information please contact edit@hujivms.bitnet ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0075. Saturday, 16 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0075 Cognitive Linguistics Total: 479 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: 13 Mar 91 11:06:52 EST Subject: more on the cognitive issue From: JASKE@bat.bates.edu (2) Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 09:46:09 -0600 From: Robert Goldman Subject: cognitive linguistics; Linguist list (3) Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 20:06:30 -0600 From: "Michael Kac" Subject: Syntax (4) Date: Thu, 14 Mar 91 12:37:41 EST Subject: Poser (was: cognitive linguistics) From: George Berg (5) Date: Thu, 14 Mar 91 16:20:45 GMT From: Margaret Fleck Subject: modularity? (6) Date: Thu, 14 Mar 91 15:55:52 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: cognitive linguistics (7) Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1991 11:58:54 PST From: Susan Newman Subject: re: Cognitive Linguistics (8) Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1991 10:43:01 -0500 From: Fred Subject: Cognitive Linguistics (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 13 Mar 91 11:06:52 EST Subject: more on the cognitive issue From: JASKE@bat.bates.edu In view of the several lengthy and unanswered dissertations that have been posted to this list about the merits or demerits of the appropriation of the name Cognitive Linguistics, I would like to put in my little grain of sand, for whatever it's worth. First of all i should say that i must in part agree with those who think this appropriation it's self-righteous and not likely to help cooperation or understanding among the different `schools' that claim to be doing cognitive linguistics. To this i must add that i see this action in the unfortunate context of arrogance and self-righteousness, on the part of everybody in the field, and certainly on the part of many of those who say they're doing autonomous or formal linguistics. Anyway, what I wanted to respond to though was the some scholars who have been writing on this subject here but who seem to have a very mistaken idea of what non-formalist linguists are doing when they take time off from trying to undermine (non- hyphenated?) linguistics. They say things like "Well, "functionalists" can get away with saying that language is such and such because they haven't started looking at the real stuff of language, like syntax and morphology and phonology; they just look at certain semantic and pragmatic phenomena and conclude that language is such and such." I don't know how generalized this impression is among formal linguists - though probably quite -, but those who hold it should really start waking up up from such a silly and non-sensical fantasy. I find it extremely ironic that it is people that concentrate on a very narrow spectrum of linguistic phenomena, what they call core linguistics, who would be saying things like that. Don't they think that the other 99% of language that they don't deem autonomous enough to bother with is represented in cognition too? Don't they realize that it is because they look at 1% of language outside the context of the other 99% that they think that language is as strange and bizarre as they claim it is, all cold, encapsulated, and meaningless? Let's get serious. Like somebody else said, let's stop bickering and let's get back to work. The problem is that when i get this kind of mail i get all worked up! Let's hope that it subsides soon. Jon Aske Linguistics Dept. UCBerkeley (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 09:46:09 -0600 From: Robert Goldman Subject: cognitive linguistics; Linguist list As an AI person, I agree with you that the questions that AI NLP handles are ENGINGEERING questions, rather than LINGUISTICS questions, per se, and I concede that this distinction is overlooked far too often. However, I have no choice but to squawk at the ridiculous straw man you've made of Schank's views (this is straw man (a) in your note, I believe). I'm by no means convinced by them, but even *I* wouldn't claim that a Schank-style semantic (or expectation-driven) parser would IGNORE the linear order of words in its input. In fact, when a semantic parser sees `Mary' it tries to retrieve a corresponding memory concept. When it reads `saw', it retrieves a corresponding conceptual representation which looks for a subject, and sets up an EXPECTATION for an object. When `John' comes along, the appropriate conceptual representation is identified as the patient of the seeing. So such a parser IS capable of distinguishing the two sentences (1) Mary saw John. (2) John saw Mary. One must at least appeal to the passive construction to point out problems with this approach! Off-hand, I've forgotten how this construction is handled. For a less dismissive review of semantic parsing, there's an entry on "Parsing, expectation-driven" in the Encyclopedia of AI, Shapiro ed., Wiley, 1990. Robert Goldman (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 20:06:30 -0600 From: "Michael Kac" Subject: Syntax William Poser in his recent comment refers to a certain well known AI re- searcher who denies the relevance of syntax to natural language understanding. (Presumably he means Roger Schank -- why be coy about it?) Anyway, it seems to me that one of the most interesting consequences of David Caplan's work on disordered syntactic comprehension is the extent to which it shows just how important syntax actually is in human language understanding. However you choose to formalize it, the distinction between 'raising' and 'control' pre- dicates, for example, turns out to be significant in that there are aphasics who have problems with the former but not the latter and ones for whom the reverse is true. There are other kinds of evidence that can be adduced as well, from common experience. One kind involves cases where even though there is substantial semantic/pragmatic bias that would lead you to think it would work differently, there are ambiguous sentences in which there is a strong preference for the anomalous interpretation. My favorite comes from a New Yorker newsbreak con- sisting of an article about Princess Anne which ends with the sentence *The daughter of Queen Elizabeth and her horse finished third in the competition*. There seem to be a lot of people out there -- linguists included, I might add -- who subscribe to the view that ambiguities are (a) always resolvable if there's sufficient context, and (b) resolved in the direction of what the contextual bias suggests. This is clearly not so. There are actually two issues addressed in the preceding paragraph. One has to do with the view that context has a certain kind of power, which it some- times does and sometimes doesn't. The second has to do with the role of syn- tax in understanding. There's clearly a component to that process which in- volves grouping smaller expressions into larger ones, which evidences itself rather dramatically in examples like the one cited above. Michael Kac (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 14 Mar 91 12:37:41 EST Subject: Poser (was: cognitive linguistics) From: George Berg In his recent contribution to the "cognitive linguistics" debate I think that Bill Poser is inadvertently misrepresenting the amount of linguistic sophistication among researchers in artificial intelligence (AI) and artificial neural networks ("connectionism"). Although he doesn't say who his "well-known figure in Artificial Intelligence" is, I assume that Poser is talking about the work of Roger Schank in the early-to-mid 1970's - his Conceptual Dependency research. I think it's a red-herring when he says that "in its pure form" CD is incapable of distinguishing between the subject and object of a sentence. In its *actual* form, it is. Take a look in the literature, esp. Schank and Riesbeck's "Inside Computer Understanding". Illustrated there is the actual code for programs which, using Conceptual Dependency, correctly process (with admittedly limited coverage) sentences into his semantic representation. Although not syntactically sophisticated, it is adequate to do what he wanted. Also, Poser seems to misunderstand the importance of what Schank was saying and doing. He was reminding us that there is more to language than syntax. Especially if you are interested in building models of natural language processing for either AI or cognitive science purposes, you *must* address semantic and pragmatic issues. Even if you choose to disregard Conceptual Dependency, you cannot dismiss the positive influence that Schank has had on AI, computational linguistics and cognitive science. His work may have had little impact on theoretical linguists, but that's because they're not currently examining the same issues. By the way, unless I am mistaken, Schank got his degree in linguistics. I doubt that he is "rather naive about language and unacquainted with theoretical work". Also, in a scientific discussion, I think it is important to cite work by name. If you feel you shouldn't, your case is probably weak enough that you shouldn't state it at all. I can't identify Poser's "well known figure in work on neural networks" offhand (maybe McClelland?). It may well be that his/her talk abstract said that the network "learned syntax" when all it could do was recognize the distinction between transitive and intransitive verb, but most credible researchers doing connectionist-based work in natural language processing do have a reasonable knowledge of linguistics. They might not subscribe to the orthodox views in theoretical linguistics, but they know the issues (especially that there is more to syntax that the difference between transitive and intransitive verb). If Poser doubts this, he should talk to some of the researchers who will be at the AAAI Spring Symposium on Connectionist Natural Language Processing, which will be at Stanford 3/26-28. Poser goes on to say: To most linguists such claims are so far out as to look like the work of cranks, but their proponents are not regarded as cranks by people in AI and psychology. The gulf in knowledge of language between linguists and non-linguists is huge. Linguists should give the poor "non-linguists" some credit for intelligence. The reason that people such as Schank and others are not viewed as cranks, is that they are not. It is easy to misrepresent people's views (any of us can be made to look like a crank if misrepresented). Schank points out the relationship between syntax and the rest of linguistic knowledge and abilities. Looking into the AI literature on natural language processing you find intellegent discussion of the linguistic issues (even a GB-based approach on occasion). Researchers using artificial neural networks are currently wrestling with representing and processing structured information, of which syntactic relationships are a prime example (cf Pollack, Van Gelder, Chalmers). Those that deal with language are, by and large, knowledgeable in the areas of linguistics relevant to their work. In short, rather than setting up straw men, and in the process widening an "us vs. them" gap between linguists and researchers in AI and artificial neural networks, we should be examing the work of those people who cross those gulfs (e.g. Berwick, Marcus) to see what we all can learn from them. George Berg (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 14 Mar 91 16:20:45 GMT From: Margaret Fleck Subject: modularity? I think that Bill Poser has gotten a rather strange picture of what goes on in computer vision. Perhaps, like all of us, he has to construct his models of other areas of Cog Sci/AI from a handful of lab-mates plus a few media personalities (like Chomsky). Computer vision is roughly analogous to computational linguistics, plus speech and the language bits of AI. We do have a slightly larger supply of engineers (though speech has a fair number), but they are by no means the whole field. Many people in vision would be surprized and offended at your claim that they don't care about human processing, and slightly miffed to be regarded as part of "AI." To make an exact parallel to the membership of this list, though, you might want a mix of computer vision people and the visual psychophysicists with whom they collaborate. I have two reasons for viewing visual and linguistic processing as potentially related. First, the low-level parts of both fields perform analogous interpretation of similar types of sensory input: speech low-level visual processing: edge finding, stereo matching, texture analysis computational phonology, high-level visual processing: shape morphology, and syntax representation, segmentation, object recognition Historically, speech and low-level vision have occasionally shared algorithms, e.g. for removing noise. There has been little contact at the higher levels, except that both provide toy examples to the neural nets people. However, I think it is an open question whether segmenting an image into objects is done in a similar way to segmenting a speech waveform into morphemes. Answering this question would seem to require communication between those who understand the details of the two types of low-level processing. Secondly, there needs to be some interface between (high-level) vision and (mid-level) linguistic processing. For example, to learn the meaning of the word "pear," a child must isolate the right string of phonemes, also isolate a description of the shape, color, texture of the object involved, and associate the two. Although this might be done by feeding the output of early visual and linguistic processing through some elaborate mechanism of high-level cognition, the simplest hypothesis would be that the two sensory processing modules communicate directly at the level of (low-level) semantics. If this were true, the output of high-level vision and the visual/shape parts of low-level semantic representations would have to be written in a common language. This might potentially be a big source of constraint for constructing theories in the two fields. Perhaps not all visual information is "linguistically relevant," but numeral classifiers illustrate that at least some shape information is. Unfortunately, there is no good formal model for describing shape. If you really want to get me going, I could also point out that two common methods of linguistic input (reading and sign language) are done via the visual system. And that, although vision is more heavily general-purpose than speech, there do exist conventionalized systems of visual symbols (e.g. airport signs, road signs, conventions for presenting graphs and mathematical diagrams, facial expressions) and some general-purpose sorts of auditory processing. If there are going to be similarities between language and some other sort of processing, this seems as good a candidate as any. On a different note, I would generalize Poser's claims about ignorance to a general statement that most researchers in Cog Sci/AI are painfully clumsy outside their home field. It is hard to watch a linguist building a mathematical model or a computer scientist building a linguistic one without feeling like taking the pen or keyboard away from them. Optimistic planners in Cog Sci/AI seem to have grossly underestimated how difficult it is for researchers in different areas to communicate with one another. Margaret Fleck (6) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 14 Mar 91 15:55:52 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: cognitive linguistics If I may weigh in, I think that everybody has the right to call their theory or approach whatever they want, provided the term has not been preempted by some else. For example, most people use the term 'formal linguistics' to refer to work which is not, strictly speaking, formal, 'generative' is often used to name work which is not, strictly speaking, generative, and so on. Alexis (7) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1991 11:58:54 PST From: Susan Newman Subject: re: Cognitive Linguistics Re: Daniel Everett's remarks on cognitive linguistics (Date: 13 Feb 91): I am intrigued by your comment that work such as that represented in WFDT may not be as widely representd in LSA as othe work because its argumentation style doesn't lend itself to falsification a la Popper. Could you say bit more about what you mean here? I am interested because I think similar mismatches in argumentation are at stake in other areas of cognitive science, as well as because I study argumentation as a key (social and cognitive) tool for human knowledge construction. By the way, as a linguistically oriented cognitive scientist (though not a linguist) I would by no means agree to being a working Popperian, nor to the implication that the only possible alterantive is Feyerabend. Susan Newman (8) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1991 10:43:01 -0500 From: Fred Subject: Cognitive Linguistics I have a pet beagle named Fred who thinks he's a linguist and who sometimes reads my e-mail. After sniffing around for a while yesterday, he left me the following note: --------- Dear Colleague: It is clear from the tenor of the discussions surrounding the use of the term 'cognitive linguistics' by the members of one of the research communities of linguists to describe what they do that a political nerve has been touched. Those, like Fromkin and Pesetsky who might describe themselves as doing 'autonomous linguistics' claim that they have strong empirical support for their position, and indeed they do. But it is incorrect to infer, as they seem to, that the hypothesis of autonomy is an empirical hypothesis. In the first place that hypothesis has never been precisely formulated, and where it has been invoked it's been so vague as to be untestable. The reason of course is that it has never been meant to be tested, nor can one even imagine a single crucial experiment which for any committed autonomist could falsify the hypothesis. Where theoretical predictions made by autonomists have been shown not to accord with the facts, the theory has been revised or the facts have been ignored (or said to be outside the domain of grammar, or to be covered by ceteris paribus clauses). I do not mean to suggest that such behavior speaks to the poverty of autonomous linguistics; as Kuhn and Lakatos have argued, that kind of behavior may be pretty much the *very best* that can be expected in science. For Poser to claim that there have been no attempts at nonautonomist explanation for locality principles no doubt says something more about what he has read and what he is prepared to accept than what has been done. This is not to say that there is an equally convincing nonautonomist analysis for every autonomist one (or vice versa), but there surely have been enough unanswered successes in both camps to make each hypothesis independently plausible, given our current state of knowledge. (Since the autonomy question has been central in linguistics now for about twenty-five years, this says something not terribly encouraging about the rate of progress we can expect in our field.) The fact is that no one knows - Fromkin doesn't know, Pesetsky doesn't know, Lakoff doesn't know, and you and I don't know - whether an autonomous solution to the distributional facts of language is required or viable, or indeed what in the end autonomy will even mean. It is good that there are now two research programs with at least partially conflicting goals; if the Pesetskys and Fromkins pay attention to what the Lakoffs and Fillmores and Langackers are doing, and vice-versa, so much the better for the prospects for our science. One reason I doubt such attention has been or will be paid is that there's all this political tooting going on around the various analyses. And it's when we confuse the tooting for the real results of our work that we're in trouble. As to the name 'Cognitive Linguistics', I suppose I'd be more sympathetic to the point of view expressed by Fromkin if she complained equally about the usurpation of the terms 'generative', 'transformational', and so on by others. Sure, it's a political move by the Cognitive Linguists, but not without precedent. It was, after all, not so long ago that Chomsky referred to his theory as the 'Extended Standard Theory' (a term coined by Haj Ross, I believe). I'd recommend that you not get involved in this dispute. Yours, Fred ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0076. Sunday, 17 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0076 Responses: Reading, Quechua, Vowels, Databases Total: 422 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1991 11:58 CST From: Mary Califf Subject: thanks for reading list responses (2) Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 15:05:54 +0100 (MET) From: garof@sixcom.sixcom.it (Joe Giampapa) Subject: Re: help for a novice (3) Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 09:27:12 EST From: rapaport@cs.Buffalo.EDU (William J. Rapaport) Subject: Re: Responses: Quechua (4) Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 13:22:17 EST From: Peter Cole Subject: Quechua (5) Date: Thu, 14 Mar 91 13:58:23 +0100 From: Ton.vanderWouden%let.ruu.nl@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: Quechua (6) Date: Thu, 14 Mar 91 15:44:22 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Responses: Quechua (7) Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 11:40 N From: husoc%kap.nl@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: quechua (8) Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 11:36 MST From: WDEREUSE@ccit.arizona.edu Subject: Re: Responses: Quechua (9) Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 10:35:27 EST From: Wayles Browne Subject: re: quechua (10) Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 19:52:03 -0600 From: "Michael Kac" Subject: Re: Responses: Vowels (11) Date: Thu, 14 Mar 91 17:31 GMT From: John Coleman Subject: Reduced vowel system in English? (12) Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 22:03:46 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Stress (13) Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1991 21:29 MST From: CAROLG@CC.UTAH.EDU Subject: Re: Linguistic Databases (14) Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 10:48 +0100 From: "Hartmut Haberland, Roskilde University" Subject: German word lists (15) Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 10:54:53 MST From: Richard Hacken Subject: German Word Frequency Lists (16) Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1991 13:09 EST From: Robert D Hoberman Subject: Mother of Battles (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1991 11:58 CST From: Mary Califf Subject: thanks for reading list responses I want to express to the entire list my surprise at and gratitude for the number of responses I have received in less than 24 hours. Many people have taken the time to send suggestions, though I welcome more (no two people have suggested the same things). Several have offered to send copies of hard-to-find materials or have encouraged further conversation. I am used to this kind of response from the faculty I know, but your efforts in aiding a complete stranger are much appreciated. Mary Elaine Califf (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 15:05:54 +0100 (MET) From: garof@sixcom.sixcom.it (Joe Giampapa) Subject: Re: help for a novice In reply to Mary Elaine Califf, who would like an NLP reading list: You might want to try electronically subscribing to the Usenet group comp.ai.nlang-know-rep. If you do not have Usenet, I believe that you can subscribe in normal e-mail. The list is: nl-kr@cs.rpi.edu and is published in Digest format. My last issue was, Volume 8 No. 11, Thur 7 Mar 1991. They are not distributed often. If you ask your question there, you will most likely get a healthy response. Ciao! -Joe Giampapa garof@sixcom.it (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 09:27:12 EST From: rapaport@cs.Buffalo.EDU (William J. Rapaport) Subject: Re: Responses: Quechua Another source on Quechua is Wolfgang Wolck, Dept. of Linguistics, SUNY Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260. No email. Phone 716-636-2177 (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 13:22:17 EST From: Peter Cole Subject: Quechua Another source of ionformation on Quechua is my book "Imbabura Quechua", in the Lingua Descriptive Series. A problem with the book is that it has no index It follows the format of all the books in the series, so you should get a copy of the issue of Lingua which gives a detailed table of contents for all books in the series. That is in Lingua 42, 1-77. Some other important sour ces are the series of 5 reference grammars in Spanish called "Gramatica Quechua . . .", Lima, Ministry of Education, 1976; David Weber's two monographs published by U California Press, Pieter Muysken and Claire LeFebvre's book and articles, Gaby Hermon's book, MOdularity in Syntax, Foris. Sorry I don't have complete references for all of the above handy. (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 14 Mar 91 13:58:23 +0100 From: Ton.vanderWouden%let.ruu.nl@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: Quechua Professor Pieter Muysken (pmuysken@alf.let.uva.nl) has done substantive work on Quechua, both field studies and theoretical work, syntax and morphology. Ton (6) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 14 Mar 91 15:44:22 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Responses: Quechua An excellent source of information on Quechua is Bruce Mannheim, Dept. of Anthropology, U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48202 (don't know if he uses e-mail). Please feel free to say I recommended him. Alexis Manaster Ramer (7) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 11:40 N From: husoc%kap.nl@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: quechua Kluwer Academic Publishers published in 1988 "Mixed Categories: Nominalizations in Quechua" by Claire Lefebvre (UQAM) and Pieter Muysken (University of Amsterdam). Although this volume is not of an introductory nature, it may contain information helpful to the person enquiring about Quechua. It is available in paperback ISBN 1-55608-051-4. (8) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 11:36 MST From: WDEREUSE@ccit.arizona.edu Subject: Re: Responses: Quechua The literature on Quechua is quite large, and has gotten better over the last ten years. I don't have my collection with me here, but the authors I recommend are Weber, Huallaga (Huanuco) Quechua Grammar (UC Publications in Linguistics), works on Ayacucho Quechua by Clodoaldo Soto Ruiz, mentioned by Mike Cheney, Ayacucho Grammar and Dictionary by Gary Parker (published by Mouton in 1968 I think), for Ecuadorian Quechua, there is a pedagogical grammar by Stark and Muysken (I think), and a descriptive grammar by Peter Cole: Imbabura Quechua (in the Lingua Descriptive Series); there are two pedagogical grammars for Bolivian Quechua, one by Bills, Troike, and Vallejo, An Introduction to Spoken Bolivian Quechua (U texas Press), and one by Louisa Stark. For Argentinian Quechua, all there is is the works by Domingo Bravo, not sophisticated linguistically. For Cuzco Quechua, the variety most people want to learn, there are unpublished pedagogical materials by Sola (Cornell U.), a grammar and dictionary by Antonio Cusihuaman, published in Lima, an older but quite large dictionary by Jorge Lira, published in Buenos Aires. I'm sure there are several other recent pedagogical works on Bolivian and Cuzco Quechua, but don't remember titles. A good contact person, who has taught Puno (Cuzco) Quechua at U. Penn. is Nancy Hornberger, Dept. of Linguistics or Anthropology. Another grammar I just thought of is Willem Adelaar, Tarma Quechua. One should also be aware of the fact that Quechua is not a group of dialects but a group of mutually unintelligible but closely related languages, so one should always specify which area one is interested in. Willem J. de Reuse Dept. of Anthropology University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (9) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 10:35:27 EST From: Wayles Browne Subject: re: quechua Prof. Donald Sola' teaches Quechua at the Dept. of Modern Languages, Morrill Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853; his e-mail address: calj@cornella.bitnet or calj@cornella.cit.cornell.edu Another Quechua scholar is Bruce Mannheim, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1382, e-mail Bruce_Mannheim@um.cc.umich.edu (10) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 19:52:03 -0600 From: "Michael Kac" Subject: Re: Responses: Vowels Re reduced vowels in English: Some speakers (I think I'm one of them, but I don't know if it's wishful thinking or not) have a phonemic schwa vs. barred-i distinction that can be heard in the pronunciation of the phrase *Rosa's roses*. Michael Kac (11) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 14 Mar 91 17:31 GMT From: John Coleman Subject: Reduced vowel system in English? Christine Kamprath (KAMPRATH@CC.UTAH.EDU) writes: > This is a request for names of languages you know that have unstressed > vowel "systems". > I am working on the relationship between stressed vowels and the > unstressed vowels they neutralize to (assuming that there is a > generative relationship between the two). I am looking particularly > for languages whose stressed vowels neutralize to *more than one* > unstressed vowel. Languages whose vowels are all schwa in unstressed > syllables, presumably like English in this respect, are thus of little > or no interest to this study. I would concur very strongly with Norval Smith's statement that > there are many standard forms of > English with contrasts among the unstressed vowels. > "accept" and "except" contrast in RP phonologically between a schwa and an > [I]. There are further distinctions between "reduced" vowels in RP than even this. For example, given a relationship between `title' and `titular', is the close back vocalic quality of the `-le' of title a "reduced" `-ul'? Is rounded schwa (o-bar) in `prOpose' or `Oppose' yet another distinct unstressed vowel quality? What is the quality of the `reduced u' in "awful"? You may be interested in: J. Kelly and J. K. Local (1986) "Long-domain resonance patterns in English". International Conference on Speech Input/Output; Techniques and Applications. IEE Conference Publication No. 258. and some of their examples in their (1989) book "Doing Phonology" (Manchester University Press). Cf. p. 74 example 22, pp. 135-140, p. 159, pp. 174-6. J. K. Local (1990) "Some rhythm, resonance and quality variations in urban Tyneside speech", in S. Ramsaran (ed.) "Studies in the Pronuciation of English", identifies five systematically distinct types of word-final /I/ in Tyneside English, and they're probably to be found in most other dialects too! (cf.p 290 --- a two-by-three system is set up, but one term - i1 - appears twice in the system). --- > Does the language have (or is it reputed to have): > a. phonological tone Maybe. It depends what you mean. See Goldsmith's "English as a Tone Language" > b. "morphologicaI tone" (e.g., Serbo-Croatian) Since `tone' in English is one aspect of accent distinctions such as reJECT vs. REject, I guess it does. > c. pitch accent or stress accent Both of these. I mean English accent has both pitch and stress exponents (among others). > d. syllable timing or stress timing The concensus is stress timing. > e. "graded" stress, i.e., secondary (tertiary?) stress in various > pretonic and posttonic positions Yes. > f. a variety of unstressed vowel inventories depending on stress >"grade" and position relative to the primary-stressed vowel Indirectly. The systematic variance identified by Local is dependent on what kinds of syllable structure occur in the word, which also conditions stress "grade" and position relative to the primary-stressed vowel. > 4. Does the language have other phonological processes involving > vowels? I should say. --- John Coleman (12) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 22:03:46 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Stress A language with regular stress assignment that skips over reduced vowels is French: final stress but not on schwa. (13) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1991 21:29 MST From: CAROLG@CC.UTAH.EDU Subject: Re: Linguistic Databases About data bases available to linguists: There's also CHILDES, the child language acquisition data base, which has not only English data but some from other languages. It's quite large. I don't have the information handy for how to get access to it; perhaps someone else can fill in. Carol Georgopoulos (14) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 10:48 +0100 From: "Hartmut Haberland, Roskilde University" Subject: German word lists RE: your inquiry about German word lists: The classical list is Kaeding's of 1897 (I believe): Friedrich Wilhelm Kaeding: Haeufigkeitswoerterbuch der deutschen Sprache. Steglitz bei Berlin. Reprint: Quickborn 1964 I always was a bit suspicious about it, since Kaeding used all written material he could get for free for his data base. One of his major sources were the minutes of the German Reichstag, which must have biased his corpus in the direction of political language. I also remember that the most frequent German noun according to Kaeding is Haupt. With the meaning 'head', this word is certainly obsolte 8and it was obsolete in 1897), havin been re- placed by 'Kopf'. But it is still used in compounds like Hauptbahnhof 'Main [i.e. Central] Station', ad that's where Kaeding must have got it from. But again, this is a bias of his material. [NB. The name is spelled with a e, not with a-Umlaut] There is a newer book by W. D. Ortmann: Hochfrequente deutsche Wortformen Munich: Goethe-Institut (c) 1979 but as far as I can see, this is based on Kaeding's original list. But there is also Helmut Meier: Deutsche Sprachstatistik Hildesheim 1964 (second edition: 1967) which, among others, contains word lists. i did a quick check via telnet with the University of California library catalogue to see if any of these books are available in the USA. Meier is re- presented at every major library. The reprint of Kaeding's book was only listed for the library of the University of California at Rivera, PF3691.K34. Best regards, Hartmut Haberland (15) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 10:54:53 MST From: Richard Hacken Subject: German Word Frequency Lists In reply to a query from the Ides of March, here are some word frequency helps for the German language: IDIOMATIC GERMAN: Ortmann, Wolf Dieter, HOCHFREQUENTE DEUTSCHE WORTFORMEN, Munich, 1975. Ortmann, Wolf Dieter, WORTBILDUNG UND MORPHEMSTRUKTUR HOCHFREQUENTER DEUTSCHER WORTFORMEN, Munich, 1985. **note--several other works by Ortmann may be helpful--** Meier, Helmut, DEUTSCHE SPRACHSTATISTIK, 2nd ed., Hildesheim, 1967. Pfeffer, Jay Alan, BASIC (SPOKEN) GERMAN WORD LIST, Englelwood Cliffs, NJ, 1964; Pittsburgh, 1970. Pfeffer, Jay Alan, GRUNDDEUTSCH, Tuebingen, 1975. Waengler, Hans Heinrich, RANGWOERTERBUCH HOCHDEUTSCHER UMGANGSSPRACHE, Marburg, 1963. GRUNDDEUTSCH, Tuebingen, 1984. Ruoff, Arno, HAEUFIGKEITSWOERTERBUCH GESPROCHENER SPRACHE, Tuebingen, 1981. NEWSPAPER GERMAN: Swenson, Rodney, A FREQUENCY COUNT OF CONTEMPORARY GERMAN VOCABULARY BASE ON THREE CURRENT LEADING NEWSPAPERS, s.l., 1967. Rosengren, Inger, EIN FREQUENZWORTERBUCH DER DEUTSCHEN ZEITUNGSSPRACHE, Lund, 1972. OTHER TEXTUAL GERMAN SOURCES: Scherer, George A.C., FINAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR ON WORD FREQUENCY IN THE MODERN GERMAN SHORT STORY, Boulder, Colo., 1965. Erk, Heinrich, WORTFAMILIEN IN WISSENSCHAFTLICHEN TEXTEN, Munich, 1985. Odwarka, Karl, A WORD FREQUENCY STUDY OF BASIC GERMAN TEXTBOOKS, Ann Arbor, 1977. Billmeier, Guenther, WORTHAEUFIGKEITSVERTEILUNGEN VOM ZIPFSCHEN TYP, UEBERPRUEFT AN DEUTSCHEM TEXTMATERIAL, Hamburg, 1969. I would be interested in knowing of others, especially recent ones. No rankings or preferences are suggested. (Though obviously a more current list is more current, as Yogi Berra would undoubtedly agree). * * * Dateischluss * * * (16) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1991 13:09 EST From: Robert D Hoberman Subject: Mother of Battles "A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic" by Hans Wehr lists a large number of expressions of the form "mother of X". In some the relationship between the meanings of the whole and of X is possession: _mother of ink_ 'squid', _mother of forty-four_ 'centipede'. For most, however, the whole is a sort of epitome of X, either the most important part, as in _mother of the head_ 'skull, brain, cerebral membrane, meninges', _mother of the Koran_ 'the first [and most important] chapter of the Koran', _mother of the homeland_ 'capital city'; or the most important of a class, where X is plural: _mother of towns_ 'Mecca', _mothers of problems_ 'the main problems', _mothers of events_ 'the most important of events', _mothers of virtues_ 'the principle virtues'. There are similar expressions with _father_, and it is not obvious to me in every case why _mother_ or _father_ is selected. Sometimes it matches the gender of the noun for the general class, as in _mother of towns_, where _town_ is feminine; the word ma`raka 'battle' is feminine. So "mother of battles" fits in well with the general type, and means 'the greatest or most important battle'. Robert Hoberman rhoberman@ccmail.sunysb.edu ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0077. Sunday, 17 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0077 Job, New PhD Program Total: 273 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Sat, 16 Mar 1991 01:45 CST From: BWAID@ducvax.auburn.edu Subject: Job Opening (2) Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 09:41 N From: Henk van Riemsdijk Subject: New PhD Program (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 16 Mar 1991 01:45 CST From: BWAID@ducvax.auburn.edu Subject: Job Opening I am posting this here because I believe one of these positions includes teaching a Linguistics class. Auburn University, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work, invites application for two full-time (9 month), tenure-track appointments in cultural anthropology at instructor or assistant professor level. One-half of the teaching load will likely involve participation in a broadly-based and cross-disciplinary course in an innovative core curriculum. During the academic year faculty will also teach basic anthropology and courses in their area of expertise. Ph.D. in anthropology required, completed by 9-16-91, for an assistant professor rank. ABD in anthropology will be considered for instructor. Send vitae, letter of application with a summary of research and teaching interests, and the names of three references to: Dr. John Cottier Faculty Search Committee Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work 6090 Haley Center Auburn, AL 36849-5209 Deadline is May 7. Auburn University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Oppportunity Employer. Minorities and women are encouraged to apply. Any typos or other errors are mine. I am just an undergrad here but I can pass on any questions someone may have. I am posting to Humanist and Anthro-L, please feel free to forward and/or repost elsewhere. Thank you Barry Waid Auburn University BWAID@ducvax.auburn.edu (INTERNET) BWAID@auducvax (BITNET) (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 09:41 N From: Henk van Riemsdijk Subject: New PhD Program The Nijmegen / Tilburg CENTER FOR LANGUAGE STUDIES (CLS) ================================= Graduate School and Research Institute for - Psycholinguistics - Sociolinguistics - Language and Speech Technology - Grammatical Theory announces the launching of a Ph.D. Program Ph.D. Program ------------- Nijmegen University, Tilburg University and the Max-Planck Institut fuer Psycholinguistik expect to obtain permission to start a joint Ph.D. Program in September 1991. This is a four-year program offering course work aimed at broadening the scope of the candidates to the four areas covered by the school, specialization seminars and individual tutoring of dissertation research. The language of instruction is English. Faculty ------- Faculty connected with the Graduate School includes: TILBURG UNIVERSITY Harry Bunt, Professor (Ph.D. Univ. of Amsterdam), Formal Semantics, Computer Linguistics Norbert Corver, Assistant Professor (Ph.D. Tilburg University), Syntax Walter Daelemans, Assistant Professor (Ph.D. Leuven University), Artificial Intelligence, Computer Linguistics Guus Extra, Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Psycholinguistics, Second Language Acquisition Ben Hermans, Assistant Professor (Ph.D. Free University of Amsterdam 1991), Phonology Roeland van Hout, Associate Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Sociolinguistics, Methodology Erika Huls, Assistant Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Sociolinguistics, Interactive Language Behavior Reinhard Muskens, Associate Professor (Ph.D. University of Amsterdam), Formal Semantics, Logic Leo Noordman, Professor (Ph.D. Groningen University), Psycholinguistics, Discourse Processes Gisela Redeker, Assistant Professor (Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley), Psycholinguistics, Interactive Language Behavior Jan Renkema, Associate Professor (Ph.D. Free University of Amsterdam), Text Linguistics Henk van Riemsdijk, Professor (Ph.D. University of Amsterdam), Syntax Craig Thiersch, Fellow of the Royal Academy (Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Syntax, Computational Linguistics Ton Vallen, Associate Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Sociolinguistics, Second Language Acquisition Ludo Verhoeven, Associate Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Psycholinguistics, Literacy Studies Carel van Wijk, Assistant Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Psycholinguistics, Language Production MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FUER PSYCHOLINGUISTIK Melissa Bowerman, Senior Research Associate (Ph.D. Harvard University), Language Acquisition Veronika Ehrich, Senior Research Associate (Ph.D. Universitaet Bielefeld), Language Acquisition Giovanni Flores d'Arcais, Professor (Ph.D. University of Padua), Psycholinguistics Uli Frauenfelder, Senior Research Associate (Ph.D. Ecole des Hautes Etudes Sociales, Paris), Psycholinguistics, Lexical Processing Claus Heeschen, Senior Research Associate (Ph.D. Universitaet Bonn), Psycholinguistics, Aphasia Wolfgang Klein, Professor (Ph.D. Universitaet des Saarlandes, Saarbruecken), Psycholinguistics, Second Language Acquisition Aditi Lahiri, Senior Research Associate (Ph.D. University of Calcutta and Ph.D. Brown University), Phonetics, Phonology Willem Levelt, Professor (Ph.D. Leyden University), Psycholinguistics, Speech Production Clive Perdue, Senior Research Associate (Ph.D. Universite de Paris VIII), Language Acquisition Wietske Vonk, Senior Research Associate (Ph.D. Groningen University), Psycholinguistics, Discourse Processes Juergen Weissenborn, Senior Research Associate (Ph.D. Universi- taet des Saarlandes, Saarbruecken), Language Acquisition NIJMEGEN UNIVERSITY Jan Aerts, Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Corpus Linguistics Theo Bongaerts, Associate Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Applied Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition Cees de Bot, Associate Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Sociolinguistics, Second Language Acquisition Loe Boves, Associate Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Phonetics, Speech Technology Theo van Els, Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Applied Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition Marinel Gerritsen, Associate Professor, (Ph.D. Leyden University), Sociolinguistics, Dialectology Carlos Gussenhoven, Associate Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Phonetics, Phonology Toon Hagen, Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Sociolinguistics, Dialectology Henk van Jaarsveld, Assistant Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Psycholinguistics, Lexical Processing Eric Kellerman, Associate Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Psycholinguistics, Second Language Acquisition Toni Rietveld, Associate Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Phonetics, Methodology Erik Schils, Assistant Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Methodology Rob Schreuder, Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Psycholinguistics, Lexical Processing Pieter Seuren, Professor (Ph.D. University of Utrecht), Philosophy of Language, Semantics Iman Slis, Assistant Professor (Ph.D. Nijmegen University), Speech Disorders Wilhelm Vieregge, Professor (Ph.D. University of Bonn), Phonetics, Sociophonetics Directors --------- Rob Schreuder (Nijmegen University) Henk van Riemsdijk (Tilburg University) Applications ------------ Applications should be addressed to CLS - TILBURG CLS - NIJMEGEN attn. Henk van Riemsdijk attn. Rob Schreuder Tilburg University Nijmegen University Dept. of Language and Literature Wundtlaan 1 P.O. Box 90153 6525 XD Nijmegen 5000 LE Tilburg The Netherlands The Netherlands e-mail: RIEMSDYK@KUB.NL ROB@MPI.NL phone: +31 13 662668 +31 80 617752 fax: +31 13 663110 +31 80 521213 Applicants should have completed their undergraduate training and be able to present evidence of adequate knowledge in at least one of the four main research areas of the school. Applications should contain a statement of purpose, a curriculum vitae, samples of any previous work, course and grade lists (transcripts), references and, where applicable, evidence of adequate command of the English language. Deadline for applications is MAY 15 1991. Decisions my be expected before the end of June 1991. Financial Aid ------------- Candidates that are admitted may expect to have the university fees waived. In addition we expect to be able to offer a minimum of 6 research assistantships for four years in each of the two locations. These assistantships provide sufficient financial support to cover the basic living expenses. Locations --------- Tilburg and Nijmegen are located in the south and east of The Netherlands. The distance between the two cities is 65 km (40 miles). They are linked by a direct train connection. The Max- Planck-Institut is located on the Nijmegen University Campus. The aim is to create two groups each year, one in each location, but to maximize interaction between the two groups. Institutional Links ------------------- CLS is closely linked with the Institute for Language Technology and Artificial Intelligence (ITK) at Tilburg University, a joint venture of the Computational Linguistics Section of the Humanities Faculty and the Infolab Facility of the Economics Faculty. Technological Facilities ------------------------ A wide range of technological facilities is available: libraries, PCs and AI workstations, powerful mainframe computers, phonetic laboratories and facilities for experimental language behavior research. Further Information ------------------- Further information on the course program and on the research activities of the Center can be obtained by contacting either one of the two directors at the addresses listed above. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0078. Sunday, 17 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0078 Conferences: Belgium, Taiwan, GLOW Total: 315 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 13:01:24 +0100 From: Guido Vanden Wyngaerd Subject: Call for Papers: Belgian Linguistic Society (2) Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 15:53 U From: HSCHUREN%TWNAS886.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: conferences in Taiwan (3) Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 14:32:49 -0500 From: bonnie@louis-xiv.bu.edu (Bonnie Schwartz) Subject: GLOW Workshops on Syntactic Acquisition (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 13:01:24 +0100 From: Guido Vanden Wyngaerd Subject: Call for Papers: Belgian Linguistic Society Colloquium organised by the Belgian Linguistic Society PREDICATION Call for papers The Belgian Linguistic Society is organising a Colloquium on PREDICATION at the University of Ghent on December 7th 1991. The predication relation, which has long been a key notion in both classical logic and linguistics, has recently received renewed interest from several angles. Thanks to Williams and Stowell there has been a focusing of attention on predicative structures in Government & Binding theory, with arguments for and against small clauses as unities of description being lively discussed. Within recent versions of Functional Grammar a theory of levels has been developed, dealing not only with the different entities that need to be distinguished in linguistic descriptions, but also with the (hierarchical) relations between them: one of them is predication. In organising this Colloquium the Belgian Linguistic Society wants to address two basic issues: the first, one of internal structure, has to do with the nature of the subject-predicate relation, the second, one of external structure, is concerned with how the (sub)predication as a unity fits in with higher unities of description. We are inviting researchers in this field, which is crucial in syntax as well as semantics, to present a paper. We welcome not only theoretical papers concerned with the nature of the subject-predicate relation and the status of the predication in linguistic descriptions, but also empirical studies devoted to particular languages and dealing with the application of the subject-predicate relation in linguistic structures. Ultimately, this Colloquium aims at arriving at a state of the art, beyond the frontiers of the various research paradigms. That is why the organisers plan to submit to the participants proposals which it is hoped will result in a maximal convergence of the topics discussed. The organisers, Johan De Caluwe (R.U.Gent), Andr{ Hantson (Fac. Univ. N.D. de la Paix, Namur), Willy Vandeweghe (P.H.V.T., Gent) Those interested are requested to return the slip below, by 15 April 1991, to: Johan De Caluwe, R.U.G. - Dienst Nederlandse Taalkunde, Blandijnberg 2, B - 9000 Gent tel. 091/644076 of 091/644075! ======================================================= NAME: ______________________________________________ INSTITUTE: ______________________________________________ ADDRESS: ______________________________________________ TEL: ________________ wishes O to receive further information (programme, abstracts, etc.) about the Colloquium O to present a paper at the Colloquium, concerned with (provisional description of the topic): .............................................................. .............................................................. .............................................................. .............................................................. .............................................................. .............................................................. (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 15:53 U From: HSCHUREN%TWNAS886.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: conferences in Taiwan I have several conferences to be announced to interested linguists. They will all be held in Taiwan this coming summer. August 9-11. (1) The Second International Symposium on Chinese Languages and Linguistics (IsCLL II). To be held in Acdemia Sinica, Taipei. Scope: Theoretical and descriptive studies of Chinese and languages spoken in China. Parasession on historical linguistics. Abstract submission deadline April 8, 1991 (2pp. anonymous, with attached card indicating title and author name). to: IsCLL II Committee, Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei, Taiwan. Email: hschuren@twnas886.bitnet OR hsphil@twnas886.bitnet FAX: 886-2-786-8834 (2) The International Conference on Computer Processing of Chinese and Oriental Languages 1991 (ICCPCOL 1991). Academia Sinica, Taipei. August 13-16. Write: Prof. Hiao-chaun Wang, Insitute of Electrical Engineering, National Tsing Hu University, Hsinchu, Taiwan (3) August 18-20. The fourth R.O.C. Computational Linguistics Conference (ROCLING IV). Kenting Park, Pingtong, Taiwan. Full paper submission deadline: Early May. To Prof. Hsi-Jian Lee, Insitute of Information Enginerring, National Chiaotung University, Hsichu, Taiwan. Email: HJLEE@twnctu01.bitnet OR rocling@twnas886.bitnet (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 14:32:49 -0500 From: bonnie@louis-xiv.bu.edu (Bonnie Schwartz) Subject: GLOW Workshops on Syntactic Acquisition ******************************************************************************* W O R K S H O P S O N S Y N T A C T I C A C Q U I S I T I O N G L O W 1 9 9 1 -- L E I D E N, T H E N E T H E R L A N D S SUNDAY, 24 MARCH 10:30 - 10:40 WELCOME and INTRODUCTORY REMARKS B. Schwartz and N. Hyams 10:40 - 11:05 N. Hyams (UCLA) THE GENESIS OF FUNCTIONAL CATEGORIES 11:05 - 11:25 DISCUSSION 11:25 - 11:50 J. Frijn (NWO/RUG) & G. de Haan (RUG/NIAS) THE ACQUISITION OF FINITENESS IN DUTCH 11:50 - 12:10 DISCUSSION Session I = 1 hour, 40 min. 12:10 - 13:15 LUNCH (1 hour, 5 min.) 13:15 - 13:40 T. Hoekstra (U. of Leiden/NIAS) & P. Jordens (Free U. of Amsterdam/NIAS) THE ACQUISITION OF NEGATION IN DUTCH 13:40 - 14.00 DISCUSSION 14:00 - 14:15 Commentary on preceding 3 papers T. Roeper (UMass Amherst/NIAS) 14:15 - 14:40 GENERAL DISCUSSION -- 25 min. Session II = 1 hour, 25 min. 14:40 - 14:50 BREAK (10 min.) 14:50 - 14:55 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON L2A B. Schwartz 14:55 - 15:20 L. Eubank (U. of N. Texas) VERB MOVEMENT, AGREEMENT, AND TENSE IN L2 ACQUISITION 15:20 - 15:40 DISCUSSION 15:40 - 16:05 A. Vainikka & M. Young-Scholten (U. of Dusseldorf) VERB-RAISING IN SECOND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION 16:05 - 16:25 DISCUSSION Session III = 1 hour, 35 min. 16:25 - 16:35 BREAK (10 min.) 16:35 - 17:00 B. Schwartz (BU) & R. Sprouse (Harvard) ON THE ACQUISITION OF THE SYNTAX OF GERMAN VERBS BY TURKISH SPEAKERS 17:00 - 17:20 DISCUSSION 17:20 - 17:35 Commentary on preceding 3 papers J. Meisel (U. of Hamburg) 17:35 - 18:00 GENERAL DISCUSSION -- 25 min. Session IV = 1 hour, 25 min. THURSDAY, 28 MARCH 9:00 - 9:25 J. Devilliers (Smith College) DEFAULTS IN THE ACQUISITION OF WH-MOVEMENT 9:25 - 9:45 DISCUSSION 9:45 - 10:10 R. Thornton (MIT) LONG-DISTANCE WH-MOVEMENT IN EARLY CHILD LANGUAGE 10:10 - 10:30 DISCUSSION 10:30 - 10:55 R. Tracy (U. of Tuebingen) RESTRUCTURING THE LEFT PERIPHERY: THE ACQUISITION OF WH-QUESTIONS IN GERMAN 10:55 - 11:15 DISCUSSION Session V = 2 hours, 15 min. 11:15 - 11:25 BREAK (10 min.) 11:25 - 11:50 S. Crain (UConn/Haskins Laboratories) JUVENILE D-LINKUENCY: FROM WEAK TO STRONG CROSSOVER 11:50 - 12:10 DISCUSSION 12:10 - 12:25 Commentary on preceding 4 papers R. Manzini (UCL) 12:25 - 12:50 GENERAL DISCUSSION -- 25 min. Session VI = 1 hour, 25 min. 12:50 - 13:50 LUNCH (1 hour) 13:50 - 14:15 D. Lebeaux (U. of Maryland, College Park/NIAS) DETERMINING THE KERNEL 14:15 - 14:35 DISCUSSION 14:35 - 15:00 Y. Otsu (Keio University/MIT) THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCRAMBLING IN JAPANESE 15:00 - 15:20 DISCUSSION 15:20 - 15:45 Z. Penner (U. of Berne) ON THE ACQUISITION OF WH-MOVEMENT IN BERNESE GERMAN 15:45 - 16:05 DISCUSSION Session VII = 2 hours, 15 min. 16:05 - 16:15 BREAK (10 min.) 16:15 - 16:30 Commentary on preceding 3 papers E. Reuland (U. of Groningen) 16:30 - 16:55 GENERAL DISCUSSION -- 25 min. 16:55 - 17:20 A. Pierce (U. of Pennsylvania) & V. Deprez (Rutgers) NEGATION AND FUNCTIONAL PROJECTIONS IN EARLY GRAMMAR 17:20 - 17:40 DISCUSSION Session VIII = 1 hour, 25 min. 17:40 - 17:50 BREAK (10 min.) 17:50 - 18:15 H. Clahsen, S. Eisenbeiss & A. Vainikka (U. of Dusseldorf) THE SEEDS OF STRUCTURE 18:15 - 18:35 DISCUSSION 18:35 - 19:00 L. Rizzi (U. of Geneva) THE DEVELOPMENT OF ROOT NULL SUBJECTS 19:00 - 19:20 DISCUSSION 19:20 - 19:35 Commentary on preceding 3 papers A. Mills (U. of Amsterdam) 19:35 - 20:00 GENERAL DISCUSSION -- 25 min. Session IX = 2 hours, 10 min. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Ken --- WEXLER@psyche.mit.edu and Bonnie --- BONNIE@louis-xiv.bu.edu E10-020 Program in Applied LInguistics MIT Boston University Cambridge, MA 02139 718 Commonwealth Ave. Boston, MA 02215 (617) 253-5797 (617) 353-6220 ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0079. Monday, 18 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0079 Language Families Total: 51 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 22:02:24 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Language Families (2) Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 15:56:18 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Language Families (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 22:02:24 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Language Families I have just learned that the April issues (which may already be available to those with subscriptions) of The Atlantic and Scientific American have major stories on some of the research on language families such as Nostratic, Sino-Caucasian, but also (sigh!) Amerind and "World". I think even professional linguists may find these informative (in the case of the Sc. Am. story, I would vouch for its overall accuracy; the other one I have not seen at all). There was also a very informative story on this in USNews in November (into which certain, rather unimportant, inaccuracies did creep in (for example, it attributes to Sergei Starostin the claims that Sino-Caucasian is related to Basque and to Na-Dene, neither of which have anything to do with him)). I happen to like that story because it made the point (which I am afraid I am responsible for) that, if major breakthroughs like these in comparative linguistics turn out to be vindicated, then that would have important implications for the way linguistics will look into the 21st century. (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 15:56:18 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Language Families For those interested in the work on North Caucasian (which in turn is hypothesized to belong in a proposed Sino-Caucasian family), I would recommend a look at: I. M. Diakonoff andf S. A. Starostin, 1986, Hurro-Urartean as an Eastern Caucasian Language, Munich: Kitzinger. At last, something in English and in print! ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0080. Monday, 18 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0080 Conference; Cognitive Linguistics Total: 138 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 15:00:37 EST From: Eastern States Conference on Linguistics '91 Subject: Call for Papers: ESCOL '91 (2) Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 21:36:52 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: cognitive linguistics (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 15:00:37 EST From: Eastern States Conference on Linguistics '91 Subject: Call for Papers: ESCOL '91 ANNOUNCEMENT and CALL for PAPERS ESCOL '91 The Eighth Annual Meeting of the Eastern States Conference on Linguistics sponsored by Cognitive Science Center, The Johns Hopkins University Dept. of Linguistics, University of Maryland, College Park Campus Dept. of Modern Languages & Linguistics, U. Maryland, Baltimore Campus BALTIMORE, MARYLAND October 11-13, 1991 Invited Speakers Ray Jackendoff, Brandeis University Peter Culicover, Ohio State University Luigi Burzio, The Johns Hopkins University Wayne O'Neil, MIT Alec Marantz, MIT With a special session on Language Learnability and general sessions on all areas of linguistics. We invite abstracts (1 page, with an extra page for references and/or data) for 20 minute presentations on the topic of Language Learnability or on any other topic, theoretical (all frameworks welcome!), experimental, functional, descriptive or otherwise, of interest to linguistics. Please send 6 copies of your abstract together with a card listing your name, affiliation, paper title, session you are submitting for (General or Learnability), address(es) you may be reached at over the summer and in September, phone number and/or e-mail address. DEADLINE for RECEIPT of ABSTRACTS is June 30, 1991 Send abstracts to: ESCOL '91 Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics University of Maryland, Baltimore Campus Baltimore, MD 21228 E-mail: ESCOL91@umdd.umd.edu ESCOL91@umdd.bitnet (2)--------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 21:36:52 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: cognitive linguistics Bravo, Fred! Except that, instead of complaining about "usurpation", I would say that, so long as nobody else had preempted the terms, words such as 'generative' or 'standard' or 'extended' were up for grabs. Bully for those who grabbed them. I would also like to apologize to the non-linguists on behalf of those of my brethren who cannot seem to imagine that you people, however intelligent you may be, have any right to say anything about language. And to just recall the contributions to our understanding of language (or linguistic theory) by such people as Austin and Searle (speech acts), Ritchie (the weak equivalence of transformational grammars and Turing machines), van Wijngaarden (metarules), Boas (the importance of studying aboriginal languages and many of the techniques for describing them), Levelt and Daly (the first people to point out that the emperor of weak generative capacity arguments had no clothes), Montague (need I elaborate?), and many other non-linguists. Finally, it seems to me that the whole issue that is being debated here is really about who (if anyone) should be allowed to dictate the agenda for the scientific study of language, rather than about specific theories, models, or hypotheses. I do not see why anyone should be condemned (or dismissed) for simply not wanting to define their work and their ideas in terms of categories and issues provided by one man (or one small school). You cannot reasonably expect everybody who believes in a different organization of the mind than does Chomsky or whoever to spend their whole life debating the other side. I say this not on goose-gander grounds (which some, like Fred, would dwell on), but rather because it is obvious that there are two (and only two) paradigms for the conduct of scientific inquiry into an issue on which there is no consensus. One is for everybody concerned to get together and try to arrive at the truth or else for each side to leave the other alone and try to get there independently. Where I would agree with Fred is that the first paradigm is inapplicable in the present case (since the exponents of autonomy and modularity refuse to take either earlier or contemporary advocates of other views seriously). But, deplorable as that may be, note that either paradigm (if pursued honestly) will lead to truth anyway. That is, whichever side is wrong will sooner or later discover that fact on its own. If, God forbid, autonomy and/or modularity should turn out to be His truth, then those who have other ideas will sooner or later find this out. And will then become more catholic than the Pope. There have been many instances of this in the history of all sciences including linguistics. Unless I am very much mistaken, the lexical phonologists who have rediscovered the phoneme are more strongly committed to it than any old-style phonemicist, for example. Would Bill Poser argue that generative phonology should never gotten beyond the stage of arguing with the phonemicists about the phonemic level, as he now seems to argue that those who are not bound by the autonomy and modularity theses should now, instead of doing their work, spend their whole time trying to play catch-up with the proponents of said theses? (N.B. This should not be taken as implying that I take the phonemic level to be any part of God's truth. The example is chosen for the sake of illustration). ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0081. Tuesday, 19 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0081 Queries & Responses Total: 217 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 23:22:54 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Curious Stress Patterns (2) Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 14:14 GMT From: Richard Ogden Subject: Finnish (3) Date: Fri 15 Mar 91 10:02:34-EST From: Mark Mandel Subject: German Word Frequency Lists (4) Date: Sun, 17 Mar 1991 11:30:59 EST From: GATHERCO@SERVAX.FIU.EDU Subject: CHILDES data base (5) Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 21:29:16 -0800 From: slobin@cogsci.berkeley.edu (Dan I. Slobin) Subject: Re: Responses: Databases (6) Date: Sun, 17 Mar 1991 14:43 CST From: BWAID@ducvax.auburn.edu Subject: Thanks for Quechua info (7) Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 15:51:37 -0500 From: macaulay@j.cc.purdue.edu (Monica Macaulay) Subject: Quechua (8) Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 10:52 +0100 From: "Hartmut Haberland, Roskilde University" Subject: RE: Heidelberg (9) Date: Fri 15 Mar 91 09:59:18-EST From: Larry Gillick Subject: Mother of all Battles (10) Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 09:01:30 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: mother of (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 23:22:54 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Curious Stress Patterns Does anybody know of a language in which syllables with long vowels are "heavier" than those that end in a consonant, which in turn are "heavier" than those that end in a short vowel? Sinhalese is like this (I seem to be the first person to report this). In particular, a sequence of short-vowel syllables is stressed on the first. Likewise a sequence of closed syllables. However, if case both kinds appear, the leftmost closed syllable is stressed. So, closed is heavier than open. But a sequence of all long-vowel syllables the rightmost is stressed (so, closed and long-vowel syllables behave differently). And, finally, when you have both closed (short-vowel) syllables and long-vowel ones, the rightmost long-vowel one gets stressed. (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 14:14 GMT From: Richard Ogden Subject: Finnish I am working on a non-segmental phonology of Finnish, based on close observation of Finnish phonetics. Is anyone else working on Finnish phonology, morphology, phonetics or the history of Finnish? If so I would be keen to hear from you. I can be contacted at: rao1@uk.ac.york.vax --- Richard Ogden (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri 15 Mar 91 10:02:34-EST From: Mark Mandel Subject: German Word Frequency Lists In Linguist V.2 N.0072, Kurt Godden asks about word frequency lists for German. I know of at least two: Hochfrequente deutsche Wortformen, edited by Wolf Dieter Ortmann; subtitled "7995 Wortformen der KAEDING-Zaehlung, rechnersortiert in alphabetischer un ruecklaeufiger Folge, nach Haeufigkeit und nach Hauptwortarten". (I have replaced umlauts with e's for safe transmission; the AE in KAEDING is in the original.) "Herausgegeben vom Goethe-Institut / Arbeitsstelle fuer wissenschaftliche Didaktik / Projekt Phonothek / Muenchen 1975" This is a four-volume work based on texts analyzed by Friedrich Wilhelm Kaeding, starting around 1891 and covering nearly 11 million words (tokens) of running text from a dozen or so genres in uneven proportions. Ortmann's analysis is limited to those words (types) with an absolute frequency of 101 or more in Kaeding's data. The machine processing does not distinguish case, umlauts are replaced by "E", and "ess-zett" becomes "SS"; hence "essen" and "Essen" both become "ESSEN", and our re-spelling programs produced errors such as "psie" for "Poesie". The data are evidently offset-printed from a rather uneven line-printer output; our OCR scanner frequently mistook E for F, B for R, and so on. The existence of alphabetical and reverse-alpha listings as well as the frequency-rank listing made it easier to correct these errors, but the job is tedious. (All three of these lists appear in the first volume, along with other material; vols. 2-4 contain other types of analysis.) Of course the vocabulary is often rather bizarre, with high frequencies accorded to such words as Artillerie, Prinzessin, and Ferdinand, while Fernsprecher (not to mention Fernsehen or Computer!) does not appear at all. (Discussion of the usability of this list gave rise to a new verb here: entkaisern.) More useful is Ein Frequenzwoerterbuch der deutschen Zeitungssprache / Die Welt / Sueddeutsche Zeitung, by Inger Rosengren, CWK Gleerup, Lund Sweden, Copr. 1972. The two newspapers are covered for the one-year span from 1 Nov. 1966 through 30 Oct. 1967. (Hmm, why did they skip Hallowe'en / All Hallows' Eve?) The lists are separate for the two. Numbers (1.), the ampersand (&), names (Paul), and abbreviations (AG, UNO) are all included in place. The words are counted separately in several subject areas (Meinung, Politik, Feuilleton...) and in total, with several statistical manipulations. The print, again, is all uppercase, but ess-zett becomes "SZ" and capitalization is represented by a suffixed asterisk. (Our scanner has other troubles here, taking A-umlaut as X, O-umlaut as U, and U-umlaut as O!) Vol. 1 treats the words as tokens (Wortformen), Vol. 2 as lexical items (Wort und Lemma). (From Mark Mandel, one of many readers at dragon.isi.edu.) (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 17 Mar 1991 11:30:59 EST From: GATHERCO@SERVAX.FIU.EDU Subject: CHILDES data base In response to Carol Georgopoulos' suggestion regarding the CHILDES data base, anyone who is interested should contact Brian MacWhinney at brian+@andrew.cmu.edu. He can also put those who are interested on the info-childes network, which is dedicated to any information that has to do with first-language acquisition. Ginny Gathercole (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 21:29:16 -0800 From: slobin@cogsci.berkeley.edu (Dan I. Slobin) Subject: Re: Responses: Databases For information on CHILDES (Child Language Data Exchange System), contact Brian MacWhinney at Carnegie-Mellon: brian+@andrew.bitnet OR brian+@andres.cmu.edu -Dan Slobin (slobin@cogsci.berkeley.edu) (6) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 17 Mar 1991 14:43 CST From: BWAID@ducvax.auburn.edu Subject: Thanks for Quechua info Thank you to all the responses on Quechua, my friend appreciates all the help. He is starting grad school at U Illinois this fall and plans to study Quechua, so he wanted to look over what he could find before he started. Thanks Barry Waid Auburn University bwaid@ducvax.auburn.edu or jimg@ducvax.auburn.edu (7) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 15:51:37 -0500 From: macaulay@j.cc.purdue.edu (Monica Macaulay) Subject: Quechua IU (Indiana University-Bloomington) has a Professor of Quechua (!), whose name is Janis B. Nuckolls. I think she's officially in the Anthropology department, and I don't know if she has an email address. (8) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 10:52 +0100 From: "Hartmut Haberland, Roskilde University" Subject: RE: Heidelberg Linguists at heidelberg: Try Hubert Lehmann (leh@dhdibm1.EARN or leh%dhdibm1.Bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu, whatever works from your site). He'a linguist, a nice chap, and works for IBM in Heidelberg. Hartmut Haberland (9) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri 15 Mar 91 09:59:18-EST From: Larry Gillick Subject: Mother of all Battles >From Mark Mandel at dragon@a.isi.edu: Please note that all of us here at Dragon Systems share a single mail address. Something, somewhere, is attaching Larry Gillick's name to our mailings and deleting signature lines! In Linguist V.2 N.0072, Joe Giampapa responds with a question to my comment (in N.0070, mislabeled as from my co-worker Larry Gillick) on Turner's analysis of "mother of all battles". No, sorry, I am not working on any aspect of Arabic cultures; and Jed Roberts is not a linguist or Arabist at all, but our chief software engineer, who was in my office while I was composing the posting. (10) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 09:01:30 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: mother of I completely agree with the latest response on this topic, by Robert Hoberman, from which it follows that in the context, 'mother of battles' meant 'the greatest or most important battle'. Ipso facto, I am puzzled by some of the speculation in the earlier contributions on this topic. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0082. Tuesday, 19 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0082 Language Families & Unstressed Vowels Total: 180 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 21:41:31 -0600 From: "Michael Kac" Subject: Language families (2) Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 10:03:37 -0500 From: "Daniel L Everett" Subject: Re: Language Families (3) Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 12:28:02 EST From: Osamu Fujimura Subject: Re: Vowels (4) Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 09:03:06 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Response: Stress (5) Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 09:21:08 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Response: Stress and Chinese (6) Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 09:31:34 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Response: Stress and Icelandic (7) Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 12:31 GMT From: John Coleman Subject: RE: Reduced Vowels (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 21:41:31 -0600 From: "Michael Kac" Subject: Language families Manaster-Ramer's comments about Nostratic prompt the following: Up until very recently, about all I knew about the Nostratic hypothesis was that it had been proposed by two (presumably crazy) Russians and that no one took it seriously. >From somewhere I got the impression that the reason no one took it seriously was that it wasn't done, as Manaster-Ramer says, 'by the book'. But this ap- pears to be wrong (you can trust Alexis on points like this): it's all done using classical philological methods. So why the near conspiracy of silence about it? (People at Watkins' Presidential Address at the 1988 LSA will recall a brief comment about 'the Nostratsophere', which about captures how American linguists are conditioned to think about all this.) A personal sidelight: A couple of years ago, after the Michigan conference on Language and Prehistory, the Classics department here hosted a Russian linguist named Vladimir Orel who presented evidence that Etruscan is a North Caucasian language. When he announced that this was what he was going to argue for, my immediate reaction was to expect some kind of wild-eyed strange stuff, but a- gain it was strictly by the book: there's not a lot of Etruscan, but there are etymologies for a good many words, and they're pretty detailed (at least from the standpoint of someone who is admittedly not a historical linguist). I will also confess to being taken with Alexis's twist on the Greenberg stuff vs. Nostratic: if the latter is in fact wrong, doesn't that indeed have dis- turbing implications? (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 10:03:37 -0500 From: "Daniel L Everett" Subject: Re: Language Families It is very unfortunate indeed that Scientific American and Atlantic Monthly have chosen to continue the unscientific drivel on language families that was initiated in US News & World Report. Why can't these reporters do any honest investigation before they print things like this (cf. US News' equally silly coverage of the Gulf War)?? However, I realize that many nonspecialists think that some of this stuff sounds plausible. So, perhaps this would be a good place to debate the issue. I can only talk about Greenberg's work on South American languages (which is part of the overall story that keeps getting revived). For every South American language that I have done field work on (about 15), Greenberg's data are either almost completely bad, or they are good but what he says is nothing new or not at all conclusive. Cf. My article in the forthcoming book from Stanford University Press on "Language and Prehistory in the Americas". There is no conclusive evidence whatsoever for a single "Amerind" grouping. There is not, nor has there ever been, a mainstream historical linguist who believes that the depth of reconstruction reported on in these three magazines is at all plausible. However, since I am primarily a theoretical/descriptive linguist, I ask that historical linguists reading this newsgroup join the discussion and put this nonissue to rest. Dan Everett (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 12:28:02 EST From: Osamu Fujimura Subject: Re: Vowels About English reduced vowels, Marian Macchi has a very interesting finding though preliminary and unreported. Using a pair of words like 'adopt' vs. 'adept', she found that speakers of the same dialect, the same generation split into two groups in terms of the direction of formant shift when asked to repeat the words; one toward a unified schwa, one into two distinct reduced vowels. Her e-mail address is mjm@bellcore.com. Osamu Fujimura, OSU, Speech & Hearing. (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 09:03:06 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Response: Stress Another example of a language with a regular stress pattern (i.e., a nonlexical one) which skips over reduced vowels (in this case schwa) is Mandarin Chinese, I believe. (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 09:21:08 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Response: Stress and Chinese I find it difficult to believe that anybody would claim that] English only has one unstressed vowel in ANY of its many varieties. Even if you lack the Rosa's roses contrast, as many people no doubt do, is there anybody who does have some contrast between at least two of the last vowels of sofa, city, and yellow. Also, in initial position, there are likely to be many more than just one vowel, e.g., about vs. iguana vs. obey, even for speakers who lack additional contrasts such as request vs. ricotta. Rich Rhodes (rrhodes@cogsci.berkeley.edu) has a paper on unstressed vowels in English and, while I think he is wrong in some cases about what is unstressed and what is non-primary-stressed, it is quite enlightening and will certainly help dispel the myth under discussion here. (6) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 09:31:34 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Response: Stress and Icelandic One more language with a regular pattern of stress and several (three, I think) reduced vowels is Icelandic. This in fact the basis of Vennemann's wonderful argument against classical generative phonology. Since stress is predictable it would be assigned by a late rule, but the morpheme structure conditions would have to duplicate the stress rule in order to capture the restricted set of vowels found in the unstressed position in polysyllabic morphemes. (N.B. I am not sure if the "reduced" vowels are phonetically reduced in any real sense, but the set of vowels in unstressed position is much more restricted than in stressed. If anybody needs details, they can be rounded up easily enough). (7) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 12:31 GMT From: John Coleman Subject: RE: Reduced Vowels So dkbrentari@ucdavis.edu is "searching for any language where ... the stress will not occur on the predicted syllable unless the syllable contains a 'full' vowel. That is to say, not a reduced vowels". `Reduced' is not a well-defined concept in phonetics or phonology. In English phonology, "reduced" means among other things, central, short and unstressed. So are they searching for a language in which the stress cannot occur on unstressed syllables? This is a circular definition, so surely any language will do. For example, stress placement in English is regular, but stress may not fall on reduced vowels (since they are exponents of absence of stress). --- John Coleman ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0083. Wednesday, 20 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0083 Responses: Language Families, Vowels & Stress Total: 184 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 16:47:44 EST From: Toby Paff Subject: Nostratic (2) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1991 15:26 PST From: Scott Delancey Subject: Re: Language Families (3) Date: 20 Mar 91 9:37:46 From: Mark Durie Subject: RE>Language Families (4) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 11:23:28 EST From: "Bruce E. Nevin" Subject: Re: Curious Stress Patterns (5) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 16:10:29 -0800 From: rwaksler@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu (Rachelle Waksler) Subject: Re: Stress and Huasteco (6) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 09:33 MST From: Mike Hammond Subject: Sinhalese Stress (7) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 17:40:48 -0800 From: rndeyes@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (71040000) Subject: closed syllables (8) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 20:33:06 -0600 From: "Michael Kac" Subject: Re: Unstressed Vowels (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 16:47:44 EST From: Toby Paff Subject: Nostratic Some discussion of the extended language family hypothesis can be found in an issue of Science that appeared last summer (sorry I lack the exact reference here ... any serials index can get it for you). The discussion is more interesting than the usual in that it also takes a look or two at the supposed 'biological' evidence as well, which, though I have no way of knowing directly, is presumably at least as shakey as the linguistic evidence. The discussion stems from the conference that was held to deal in part with some of Greenberg's work. Toby Paff (tobypaff@pucc) (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1991 15:26 PST From: Scott Delancey Subject: Re: Language Families While I haven't read any of the journalistic coverage of the issues referred to in Dan Everett's note, I must say that as a contribution to the discussion so far in this forum it seems a bit intemperate. We should all heed Manaster-Ramer's caveat about not lumping all lumping proposals together; whatever the merits and deficiencies of the work of linguists like Starostin and Benedict, it is unfair to tar them with the same brush as Greenberg, whose work is (and I am attempting to be maximally neutral and diplomatic in my phrasing here) methodologically innovative in ways that Starostin's certainly is not. It certainly is not true that no "mainstream historical linguist" has ever engaged in work at this time depth, unless one automatically takes any expression of interest in deep reconstruction as disqualifying anyone from membership in th mainstream. Semitic-Indo-European connections, in particular, have been explored for generations, by linguists such as Carleton Hodge, who is as "mainstream" a historical linguist as I can imagine. And I have been told (perhaps someone more knowledgeable can comment) that a reasonable estimate for the time depth of Niger-Khordofanian is on the order of ten millenia or so, which is the same order that would be involved in Austro-Tai or, on Greenberg's hypothesis, in Amerind. (In fact Greenberg is most likely wrong about the time depth of human occupation of the Americas, but surely no one can consider the Clovis time depth to be a crank or fringe notion). Scott DeLancey University of Oregon (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 20 Mar 91 9:37:46 From: Mark Durie Subject: RE>Language Families A note for Daniel Everett: since you are only familiar with the South American work of Greenberg, how can you call the Soviet work on Asian families unscientific drivel? Can you read Russian? (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 11:23:28 EST From: "Bruce E. Nevin" Subject: Re: Curious Stress Patterns Goldsmith (1990) _Autosegmental & Metrical Phonology_ talks about this on pp. 115-116, and cites Southeastern Tepehuan (Uto-Aztecan) as reported in Elizabeth Willett (1982) Reduplication and accent in southeastern Tepehuan, IJAL 48:168-84. CV syllables are the lightest, CVV syllables are intermediate in weight, and CVC syllables are heaviest. He also discusses a 3-way distinction whose best-known case "may be" Estonian. Hope this is helpful. Bruce (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 16:10:29 -0800 From: rwaksler@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu (Rachelle Waksler) Subject: Re: Stress and Huasteco Subject: Re: Curious stress patterns Huasteco has a pattern that syllables with long Vs are heavier than closed syllables. (Lahiri and Koreman 1988, a WCCFL paper) I don't know whether there are any rules that will show whether open short V syllables are lighter than closed syllables, but it's a place to start. (6) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 09:33 MST From: Mike Hammond Subject: Sinhalese Stress With respect to Alexis Manaster-Ramer's recent posting in "Linguist" about Sinhalese stress. There are other languages where there is a ranking of syllable weights beyond a simple distinction of light vs. heavy. I actually have a paper in NLLT in '86 where I include a discussion of Klamath which distinguishes light from closed from long syllables. You could even argue that English nouns distinguish closed syllables from sylables containing a long vowel. A final open light syllable is stressless in English, e.g. America. A final closed syllable may be stressed or stressless: helix vs. narthex. But a final long vowel must be stressed: anecdote. (Words ending in the suffix -ate are exceptional: certificate.) mike hammond (7) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 17:40:48 -0800 From: rndeyes@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (71040000) Subject: closed syllables The Yup'ik language has several dialects which make a distinction for foot building where CVC will take stress over a CV syllable, but a regular foot will be built over a sequence CVC CVC, or CVC CVV. Steven Jacobson is the author of the Yup'ik dictionary, and there's a grammar, which might be by him also, I can't remember. Bruce Hayes has done some work with it, but I'm not sure that it's published. (8) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 20:33:06 -0600 From: "Michael Kac" Subject: Re: Unstressed Vowels A thought prompted by Coleman's comment that 'reduced' is not a well- defined concept in phonetics or phonology: In one sense it is, at least in the traditional way of talking about two languages I know a bit about, namely English and Russian. In both languages, you get alternations in which the stress changes (the English *telegraph-telegraphy* example is a textbook case in point) and where segmental features of the stressed vowel are different from those of the unstressed one. My earlier comment about the 'Rosa's Roses' case is thus, in retrospect, beside the point: there's an issue there as to whether the two unstressed vowels are the same but that, I now realize, doesn't have anything to do with reduced vowels in the sense just cited. In Russian, at least according to the textbooks (and I'm told by those who know more about it than I do that it's Muscovite Russian), underlying /o/ becomes /a/ when unstressed and underlying /e/ becomes /i/. Mea culpa. MK ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0084. Wednesday, 20 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0084 Queries and Responses Total: 153 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 17:06:07 CET From: Ingo Plag Subject: Kikongo (2) Date: 18 Mar 91 16:02 -0600 From: David Leip Subject: A call for assistance (3) Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 18:12:07 EST From: Wayles Browne Subject: Dictionaries (4) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 17:04:30 CST From: GA3704%SIUCVMB.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: Structure of French (5) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 17:09:37 CST From: GA3704%SIUCVMB.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: Maltese (6) Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 10:52:00 CST From: George Huttar Subject: Quechua (7) Date: 19 Mar 91 8:46 +0100 From: Karin Haenelt Subject: Job, Queries, Summer School, Conferences (8) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1991 12:42 MST From: MAWAD%CLIPR@VAXF.Colorado.EDU Subject: "mother of all battles" (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 17:06:07 CET From: Ingo Plag Subject: Kikongo I am looking for somebody with good knowledge of Kikongo. I am especially interested in all kinds of syntactic constructions involving the verb SAY as (would-be?) complementizer. Thanks in advance, Ingo Plag (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 18 Mar 91 16:02 -0600 From: David Leip Subject: A call for assistance A colleague of mine is looking for information on a PC package called, "Multilingual Scholar". It apparantly is a user-definable keyboard re-mapper. He would like to find out, who sells it, how much it costs, and what exactly it does. Please send replies to: Jon Radue Brock University THanks! - David Leip. (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 18:12:07 EST From: Wayles Browne Subject: Dictionaries Colleagues in Zagreb are seeking recent literature about theoretical and practical lexicography and dictionary-making. They can use materials written in Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages. If unpublished items are available, how does one get them? I will pass on replies sent to the list or directly to jn5j@cornella.bitnet or jn5j@cornella.cit.cornell.edu Thank you--Wayles Browne, Cornell U. (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 17:04:30 CST From: GA3704%SIUCVMB.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: Structure of French I'd appreciate any suggestions for a textbook for an advanced undergraduate/MA-level course in the structure of French (phonology, morphology, syntax) which I teach to students of French with little linguistic background beyond French phonetics. I've used various texts over the years and don't terribly like any of them. What is anyone else using? Thanks for suggestions. Margaret Winters Southern Illinois University - Carbondale (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 17:09:37 CST From: GA3704%SIUCVMB.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: Maltese Is there anything like "Maltese Made Easy"? or other relatively accessible teaching grammar of Maltese around in English? A friend of mine will be there on a Fulbright next year and is trying to get ready. Thanks for any suggestions/information... Margaret Winters Southern Illinois University - Carbondale (6) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 10:52:00 CST From: George Huttar Subject: Quechua Possible additional sources on Quechua are: for Bolivian: Academic Publications Dept., Summer Institute of Linguistics, 7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd., Dallas, TX 75236 (FAX: 214-709-2433 or 214-709-3387; email: dalsil!bill.merrifield@txsil.lonestar.org); for Peruvian: Instituto Linguistico de Verano, Apartado 52, Pucallpa, PERU; for Ecuadorian: Centro Linguistico, Casilla 17-11-05080, Quito, ECUADOR (FAX: 593-2-441-596). George Huttar (7) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 19 Mar 91 8:46 +0100 From: Karin Haenelt Subject: Job, Queries, Summer School, Conferences linguists at heidelberg: here is the address of Prof. Dr. Peter Hellwig, Dept. of Comp. Ling. bitnet-format: c87@dhdurz1.bitnet Karin Haenelt (8) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1991 12:42 MST From: MAWAD%CLIPR@VAXF.Colorado.EDU Subject: "mother of all battles" As an Arab and a Linguist, I too agree with Alexis-Manaster-Ramer about his agreement with Robert Hoberman that in its given context, "mother of all battles" meant "the greatest or most important battle." I cannot read much more than that. --Maher. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0085. Thursday, 21 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0085 Cognitive Linguistics Total: 351 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 08:56:44 EST Subject: Cognitive Linguistics From: COWART@PORTLAND.maine.edu (Wayne Cowart) (2) Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 21:02:22 -0800 From: Bill Poser Subject: cognitive linguistics (3) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 07:39:22 -0500 From: "Daniel L Everett" Subject: falsification and usefulness (4) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 07:41 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Re: Cognitive Linguistics (5) Date: Wed, 20 Mar 1991 12:12 PST From: Scott Delancey Subject: Re: Cognitive Linguistics (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 08:56:44 EST Subject: Cognitive Linguistics From: COWART@PORTLAND.maine.edu (Wayne Cowart) To Fred the Beagle: Autonomy claims feel a bit contentless and invulnerable (at least to a workaday Popperian) because they are metatheoretical. Thus the only 'results' that can endorse or falsify them are those that emerge slowly as theories crystalize and gain credibility. Note: "theories". Autonomy claims can't really be tested against any one theory because they are claims about relations among theories. So you have to wait for at least two theories to mature before questions about their relations can be settled. This will never bring the rush you get when a theory crumbles under the weight of a single observation. And that hardly ever happens anywhere anyway. As compelling accounts of specific phenomena become available, the answer to the autonomy question will become increasingly clear. Progress will be swiftest, I suspect, if the focus can be on those phenomena. A sufficient variety of hunches about the metatheoretical issues is already on the table. The terminology doesn't matter. Good theories can survive assaults by tendentiously named alternatives. So I'm with you; let's stay out of this debate. Wayne Cowart (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 21:02:22 -0800 From: Bill Poser Subject: cognitive linguistics I am frankly shocked at both the content and the virulence of some of the spate of responses to my comments on "cognitive linguistics" and the modularity debate, mainly because they are based largely on gross misrepresentation of what I said. I am accused of claiming that non-linguists know nothing about language or linguistics and can make no contribution. A concise example is Alexis Manaster-Ramer's reference to: my brethren who cannot seem to imagine that you people, however intelligent you may be, have any right to say anything about language. Brother Alexis here summarizes the view that some of the other writers appear to hold. In point of fact, I said nothing of the kind. I merely said that linguists typically know more about language than other people do, and that the gap in overall level of knowledge about language between linguists and others is large. Nowhere in my message did I make the sort of extreme universally-quantified statement that I am accused of making. I reproduce here in its entirety the main part of my message relevant to this issue so as to put this ridiculous distortion to rest: Now, this is not by any means to say that all non-linguists are ignorant, but it is to say that that it is very important, in any psychological investigation of a behaviour, to have a good idea of what that behaviour is like, and that linguists play a crucial role in investigations of linguistic behaviour by providing most of the facts and generalizations about the structure of language that need to be accounted for. Please note that I explicitly denied that "all non-linguists are ignorant", and that I claimed merely that linguists provide "MOST of the facts and generalizations about the STRUCTURE of language..." [emphasis added]. I did not claim that non-linguists do not provide any of these facts and generalizations, and I explicitly limited my claim to structural matters, as I am fully aware that much of what is known about the mental processing of language, for example, is due to psychologists, not linguists. In this connection I also call attention to my statement that: It is true that linguists are not, in general, particularly well versed in psychology and up on the literature on modularity. Moreover, the claim that I deny the right of any non-linguist to say anything about language is directly refuted by my statement that: the input of anyone with relevant knowledge is welcome Similarly, there is no basis in my message for the claim that I am opposed to a variety of approaches to the modularity issue. Indeed, the brunt of my message about modularity was that the issue is NOT settled. In sum, I do not hold the views imputed to me, and my message cannot reasonably be interpreted as it has been. I believe that those who have misrepresented me in this way owe me an apology. Turning to substantive matters, let me first respond to Jon Aske's suggestion that "formal" linguists are being silly by ignoring all the neat phenomena he is interested in. I agree that many of these phenomena are interesting and deserve more attention. Indeed, lest this seem mere rhetoric, let me direct his attention to my paper "MA" (a Chinese character that I can't reproduce here) in the volume _Interdisciplinary Approaches to Language: Essays in Honor of S.-Y. Kuroda_, edited by Carol Georgopoulos and Roberta Ishihara, Kluwer, 1991, pp. 449-458, in which I discuss the semantics of a Japanese morpheme from a perspective drawn from the work of Elinor Rosch and George Lakoff. Specifically, I propose that this morpheme restricts the denotation to the cognitive reference point, which explains, among other things, why it cannot be added to stems that lack a prototype (a reference point that lies within the extension). So you see, I have some interest in these things myself and have read Lakoff's book and some of Rosch's papers. I'm (sort of) one of you, Jon. [If you are actually moved to read the paper and can't find a copy of this nice but incredibly expensive Festschrift, Paul Kay has an ms. and I have put a copy of the published version in the mail to George Lakoff.] But my point was that if you want to take a strong anti-modular stand, you can't just find that SOME aspects of language aren't modular and leave it at that, especially when the claims in favor of modularity are based on other aspects. If it turns out that semantics isn't modular, that doesn't mean that syntax isn't, and if the claims you're trying to refute are about syntax, you haven't met the challenge by talking about semantics. With regard to Fred (=younghee@vm.epas.toronto.edu)'s statement that there have been non-autonomist attempts to account for locality principles, let me cite the relevant sentence: For most of the generalizations posited by linguists, especially formal ones (e.g. locality principles), I have seen no attempt at functional explanation. Note that I was talking about functionalism there, not modularity. I'd certainly be interested in references to functionalist approaches to locality principles (especially in phonology and morphology). Second, consider Robert Goldman's point about Roger Schank and the related point by George Berg. I don't think I'm being unfair to Schank. Schank waffles on what he considers syntax and what semantics, and backs down on precisely this point, introducing considerations of word-order, while still maintaining that what he is doing is syntax-free. Now he may be right that you don't need to do the same sort of parse that syntax-based parsers do, but certainly word order is standardly considered to be syntactic. And I did say that it was only the pure form of his theory that fails on these sentences. I think that the parsing procedure that Goldman describes implicitly makes use of syntactic information. At least for the sake of argument, I will accept the claim that some sort of representation that says that the verb "see" requires an agent and a patient is a semantic representation. (The point is arguable - once you start considering differences between obligatory and optional arguments and so forth you may decide that this kind of argument structure is really syntactic.) The crucial thing that Goldman's parser does in addition to trying to satisfy this argument structure is to do it in a certain order. It looks for the agent first, then for the patient. In doing so, it makes use of the knowledge that in active sentences with no dislocation (topicalization etc.) the agent comes first, i.e. a word order fact. Hence, I claim that this parser makes use of syntactic information, albeit of a limited sort. To see that this isn't a universal property of conceptual organization, we have only to consider such a parser for a language with OVS word order (e.g. Hixkaryana). To make it work, the parser will have to be modified to look for the patient first, then the agent. Yet I hesitate to say that the conceptual organization of speakers of Hixkaryana is any different from that of speakers of English (at least not on this basis). Do we really want to say that their conceptual abilities are different, or that they have a different notion of "see"? It seems much more plausible to say that their language has a different syntax. Schank may have been trying to show that semantics plays a larger role than it had been granted, but he did so by making a much stronger and much more dubious claim about the lack of need for syntax. Whether or not Schank has a linguistics degree isn't the point. The point is the seriousness with which such notions are taken by others in the field. I certainly don't claim that anyone with a linguistics backgroud is right or reasonable. On the general point of sophistication in this area, I'm well aware of the work of many AI people, and that some Natural Language Processing people (perhaps a better term as some don't like to be associated with "AI") are quite sophisticated linguistically. But the gap overall is still quite large. And I would say it is even larger when one looks at morphology, phonology and phonetics, closer to my own area. For example, most work on morphological parsing until a few years ago was ungeneralizable because the people writing it had little idea of the range of morphological systems. (Richard Sproat of Bell Labs has a nice discussion of this in a tutorial paper on morphological processing that is supposed to appear as an ACL publication, or maybe already has.) An example from phonetics is the statement in Douglas O'Shaughnessy's book _Speech Communication: Human and Machine_ (p. 62) that "Except for trills and ingressive sounds ... English provides good examples of sounds used in various languages...", which gives the misleading impression that the phonetic inventory of English covers most known speech sounds. In addition to trills and ingressives, English lacks glottal ejectives, rounded front vowels, retroflexes, uvulars, bilabial fricatives, pharyngeal fricatives, nasal fricatives, and pharyngealization, among others. If we consider distinctive oppositions we may add to this list still other categories, such as aspiration, nasalization, and voiceless sonorants. This is, overall, a very good book on speech technology, but this statement and others like it show a very limited knowledge of the range of speech sounds and inventories in the world's languages. (This bit is lifted from my review, in press, in the Journal of the International Phonetic Association.) Although I certainly chose extreme examples, I have a great deal of contact with AI people, psychologists, and others in linguistics related fields, and although there are some who are very knowledgable, I am constantly appalled at how little so many people know. In response to Margaret Fleck, while I am not a student of computer vision, I do know some people in the field and have read Ballard & Brown's _Computer Vision_, so my image is not based on pure hearsay. Some people in the field do care about human processing, but the people working on humans frequently call themselves psychologists or psychophysicists or neurophysiologists, restricting computer vision to people who are, literally, interested in vision by computers, and that is how I interpreted her message. I certainly agree that there are parallels between different cognitive subsystems and that comparison is worthwhile. Analogies are interesting and often productive, but generally not probative. My query was why Margaret thought that computer vision was essential, or whether perhaps it was just another field that shed light on cognition in general. It seems to me that she has answered that the study of human vision sheds light on the general issues, with which I fully agree. I also agree that visual/auditory interaction is interesting. Indeed, another example is the McGurk effect, whereby subjects presented with a voice saying [ba] and a video image of a speaker articulating [ga], hear [da]. (McGurk, H. & MacDonald, J. (1976) "Hearing lips and seeing voices," Nature 264.746-748.) Let me close by agreeing with Margaret's observation that people in different areas know too little about other areas. My previous message was about a particular case of this, namely that non-linguists frequently do not bother to learn enough about linguistics. But the point certainly holds true in other directions and between other subfields. (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 07:39:22 -0500 From: "Daniel L Everett" Subject: falsification and usefulness For Susan Newman: Popper and Feyerabend certainly do not exhaust the alternatives for understanding or analysing scientific research. There are many other ideas, some quite persuasive, and "naive falsificationism" is too easy a trap to fall into for one to protest too loudly against theories which are not readily falsifiable by one's own, perhaps idiosyncratic, criteria. Much of my research is spent in the Amazon, trying to learn something about the languages spoken there. In field work of this type, where one is face to face with a nearly overwhelming array of new cultural and linguistic facts, it would be counter-productive for anyone to limit themselves to one body of literature, such as formal linguistics, even when it is their intention to publish their research results primarily in formal linguistics journals. Formal linguistics of the chomskyan type does not claim to study "language" anyway (but *linguistic competence*), so the wider the reading the better in field work. Lakoff, Fillmore, Hopper, Givon, Chafe, and the many other so-called "functionalists" or "cognitivists" have produced a significant body of literature. While I cannot honestly claim to have read it all, I have read much of it. It is often illuminating and I know that I have come to appreciate and maybe even understand things in Amazonian languages through these perspectives that I would not have learned through a purely formal perspective. Nevertheless, it is true that these accounts very often leave me less than satisfied because, when all is said and done, they can explain just about anything. Functional accounts can often serve to explain equally well two, mutually contradictory hypotheses. This is not the case in formal accounts. In this sense, Functional Linguistics and Cognitive Linguistics are often less than helpful and most frequently suggestive rather than conclusive, precisely because they can't be falsified (at least I haven't seen how to do it and have lost interest in trying). Similar problems for functionalist approaches in evolutionary theory, not unlike the claims of so-called Cognitive Linguistics, are discussed in various works by S. Gould. (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 07:41 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Re: Cognitive Linguistics I seem to have started something. I think that's good. Better to be talking to each other. I think. Maybe not. One day I will come back into the arena -- Vicki (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 1991 12:12 PST From: Scott Delancey Subject: Re: Cognitive Linguistics Though I'm sure everybody's (getting?) tired of the argument, I think it's worthwhile to point out that the term "cognitive", in the specific sense of describing approaches to linguistics that seek explanations for general linguistic prinicples in terms of general ( = nonspecific) prinicples of cognition, has been in use for quite a while--the first published use that I know of being Lakoff and Thompson's paper in BLS 1 (1975 !!). (Which is about the same time that I first noticed the term "theoretical linguistics" being used in the restricted sense of "mainstream generative linguistics"). Why is everybody getting so excited about it now? Scott DeLancey University of Oregon ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0086. Thursday , 21 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0086 Conferences Total: 417 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 15:31:56 MET From: David Powers (AG Siekmann) Subject: IJCAI-91 NLL Workshop - Call for Papers (2) Date: 19 Mar 91 17:19 +0100 From: Arild Hestvik Subject: Conference on Comparative Germanic Syntax (3) Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 10:11:11 -0600 From: Gregory K. Iverson Subject: 1991 UWM Linguistics Symposium (4) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 15:15:02 MET From: David Powers (AG Siekmann) Subject: IJCAI-91 NLL Workshop - Call for Papers (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 15:31:56 MET From: David Powers (AG Siekmann) Subject: IJCAI-91 NLL Workshop - Call for Papers CALL FOR PAPERS Natural Language Learning August 25 1991 - IJCAI Workshop - Sydney Machine Learning and Natural Language are two areas of Artificial Intelligence which not only overlap with each other, but with other significant areas of Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science. The focus of this workshop is computational language learning models. Primarily, we aim to bring together those who have implemented language learning models, or aspects thereof. However, we intend that computationally viable language learning theories developed by Linguists and Psycholinguists will also be examined at the workshop. In addition, Machine Learning or Natural Language research which has not specifically been undertaken from a language learning perspective may be considered relevant - in particular, for example, work in Concept Learning and Semantic Representation. Thus we wish to invite applications from all who have implemented language learning programs, and we will further encourage participation from those whose work could be of use in the implementation of language learning systems. A major goal will be the analysis of the various language learning models to allow comparison and contrasting of the theoretical perspective and hypotheses embodied, the implementation techniques and learning algorithms, and the implications of the virtues, failings and results of particular implementations and modelling experiments. Attendance will be by invitation, and the number of participants will be strictly limited, probably to 35. It will be necessary to charge a fee of $65 for each participant. Issues ------ What technology and ideas can be imported into Natural Language Learning from other areas of Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science? Which phenomena, hypotheses and theories have been modelled, tested or used in Natural Language Learning, and with what success? To what extent do results in Natural Language Learning suggest the need for a revision of Formal Language, Linguistic, Neural Network and Psycholinguistic theory and application? How broadly must we define Natural Language Learning - in particular, do we need to learn simultaneously interpretation of both the symbolic and grounded modalities? Possible Sessions -------- -------- The issues above suggest that the workshop could be organized into sessions along the following lines: Psycholinguistic Models Learning Algorithms Complexity & Restriction Semantics & Representation The final program will of course reflect the distribution of the submissions received, and other issues may also be highlighted. Organizing Committee ---------- --------- David M. W. Powers powers@informatik.uni-kl.de (or davidp@mqcomp.mqcs.mq.oz.au) FB Informatik, Universitaet Kaiserslautern, 6750 Kaiserslautern FRG +49-631-205 -3449 (Tel), -3200 or -3210 (Fax), -3455 (Sec) Larry Reeker reeker@cs.ida.org Institute for Defence Analyses, 1801 N. Beauregard St, Alexandria VA 22311-1772 +1-703 -845-3577 (Tel), -820-9680 (Fax) Ephraim Nissan onomata@bengus.bitnet Dept of Computer Science, University of Wollongong, NSW Australia Submission Details ---------- ------- Prospective participants are encouraged to contact a member of the symposium committee to obtain a more detailed description of the symposium goals and issues. Participants should then submit an extended abstract of a paper (1000-2000 words) and/or a personal bio-history of work in the area (300-500 words) with a list of (up to 12) relevant publications. We will acknowledge your e-mail enquiries or submissions promptly, and will deal with other forms of communication as quickly as possible. Submissions should be sent by e-mail to powers=sub@informatik.uni-kl.de (and/or reeker@cs.ida.org) by May 15th. If e-mail is impossible, two copies should be sent to arrive by May 15th to: Larry Reeker, Institute for Defense Analyses, C & SE Div., 1801 N. Beauregard St, Alexandria, VA 22311-1772 OR, fax a copy (with cover page) by May 15th BOTH to 1-703-820-9680 (Larry Reeker, USA) AND to +49-631-205-3210 (David Powers, FRG). (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 19 Mar 91 17:19 +0100 From: Arild Hestvik Subject: Conference on Comparative Germanic Syntax ---------------------------------------------------------------- Call for Papers THE SEVENTH WORKSHOP ON COMPARATIVE GERMANIC SYNTAX University of Stuttgart, November 22 - 24, 1991. ---------------------------------------------------------------- After a year's intermission, we would like to resume the annual series of workshops on comparative Germanic syntax with a meeting at the UNIVERSITY OF STUTTGART FROM NOVEMBER 22 TO 24, 1991. (We thus hope to continue the tradition begun in Trondheim 1984 and continued in Reykjavik 1985, Turku 1986, Montreal 1987, Groningen 1988 and Lund 1989.) Those who wish to present a paper (30 min. + discussion) are hereby invited to submit an abstract no longer than 2 pages BEFORE SEPTEMBER 1, 1991. Preference will be given to presentations on parametric (and other) variation concerning/involving the Germanic languages, as this workshop will be sponsored by the University of Stuttgart Graduate Programme "Linguistic Foundations of Language Processing". We expect to be able to meet travel expenses of the speakers. Abstracts should be sent anonymously in tenfold, accompanied by a camera-ready original with name and address of the author(s), to Hubert Haider, Susan Olsen & Sten Vikner Institut fuer Linguistik/Germanistik Universitaet Stuttgart Postfach 10 60 37 D-7000 Stuttgart 10 Germany Requests for further information can be sent to the above address or via e-mail to "vikner@rus.uni-stuttgart.dbp.de" (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 10:11:11 -0600 From: Gregory K. Iverson Subject: 1991 UWM Linguistics Symposium 20th Annual University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Linguistics Symposium APRIL 12, 13, 14, 1991 (FRIDAY MORNING - SUNDAY NOON) Invited speakers: Barbara FOX, University of Colorado Matthew DRYER, State University of New York, Buffalo Talmy GIVON, University of Oregon Robert LONGACRE, University of Texas, Arlington Marianne MITHUN, University of California, Santa Barbara Doris PAYNE, University of Oregon Other papers by Keith ALLAN, Werner ABRAHAM, Carl BLYTH, Cynthia CLAMONS, Ron COWAN, Yoko COLLIER-SANUKI, Soon Ae CHUN, Susanna CUMMING, Michael DARNELL, Helma DIK, Chrysanne DIMARCO, George FOWLER, Bruce HAROLD, Hilde HASSELGARD, Susan HERRING, Agnes Weiyun HE, Graeme HIRST, Christina KAKAVA, Wenze HU, Alan KIM, Kyu-hyun KIM, M. KLAIMAN, Randy LAPOLLA, Marshall LEWIS, Silvia LURAGHI, Enrique MALLEN, Alan MANNING, Ann MULKERN, Francisco OCAMPO, Tsuyoshi ONO, Dorit RAVID, Gerald SANDERS, Ronald SCHAEFER, Mutsuko Endo SIMON, Ryoko SUZUKI, Aleksander SZWEDEK, James TAI, Asha TICKOO, Russell TOMLIN, Maura VELAZQUEZ-CASTILLO, Xiaojin YU, Bin ZHANG, and David ZUBIN. For more information, write to Michael Nooonan or Edith Moravcsik, Department of Linguistics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53201. Telephone: Noonan: 414; 229-4539; Moravcsik: 414; 229-6794 E-mail: Noonan: noonan@csd4.csd.uwm.edu; Moravcsik: edith@csd4.csd.uwm.edu ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- REGISTRATION FORM /PLEASE FILL OUT, CUT OFF, AND MAIL WITH CHECK/ WORD ORDER IN DISCOURSE University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee April 12-14, 1991 (Friday morning - Sunday noon) Preregistration rates: (DEADLINE MONDAY, APRIL 1) student: $30 (UWM students: free) non-student: $35 At-the-door registration rates: student: on Friday: $35 (UWM students: free) on Saturday: $20 (UWM students: free) non-student: on Friday: $40 on Saturday: $25 Name: ____________________________________________________________ Mailing address: _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ Affiliation: _____________________________________________________ Send to: UWM Linguistics Symposium Department of Linguistics University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI 53201 HOTEL INFORMATION ASTOR HOTEL RESERVATION DEADLINE: Monday, March 11 924 East Juneau Avenue Milwaukee, WI 53202 (414; 271-4220) Rates*: single room: 1 double bed: $45; 2 double beds: $53 double room: 1 double bed: $57; 2 double beds: $65 PARK EAST HOTEL RESERVATION DEADLINE: Thursday, March 14 916 East State Street Milwaukee, WI 53202 (414) 276-8800 Rates*: single room: $45 double room: $55 Please note: - *To get these rates, you must mention UWM Linguistics Symposium. There is a 12% tax on the rates given above. Rooms may not be available at these rates after the deadlines given. - When making reservations, send one night's deposit or send/phone a major credit card number. - There is a direct busline between the hotels and the university (about a 15-minutes ride). When checking in, please ask for instructions. In addition, the Astor (possibly the Park East as well) will provide complimentary shuttle service to and from campus. (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 15:15:02 MET From: David Powers (AG Siekmann) Subject: IJCAI-91 NLL Workshop - Call for Papers American Association for Artificial Intelligence Spring Symposium Series 1991 MACHINE LEARNING OF NATURAL LANGUAGE & ONTOLOGY "TUESDAY 26th March 1991" 9:00 "COGNITIVE SCIENCE" "Psycholinguistics" "Powers" David Powers" "WELCOME" Mallory Selfridge "How Do Children Learn to Recognize Ungrammatical Sentences" Steven Lytinen & Carol Moon "Cognitive Modelling of Second Language Acquisition" James Martin "Learning Conventional Metaphors and Learning Using Conventional Metaphors" Neza van der Leeuw "A Data-Driven Model of First Language Acquisition" 11:00 "COMPLEXITY THEORY" "Learnability" "Berwick" Janet Fodor "Making Phrase Structure Grammars learnable" Sanjay Jain & Arun Sharma "Restrictions on grammar size in language identification" Leona Fass "Applying Some CFL Learnability Results to Natural Language Learning" 14:00 "TRADITIONAL APPROACHES" "Explanation-Based Learning" "Reeker" Scott Stethem "Explanation-Based Learning from Rule-Governed Features in Phonological Representations" Christer Samuelsson & Manny Rayner "Quantitative Evaluation of the Utility of Explanation-Based Learning as a Tuning Tool for Large-Scale Natural Language Interfaces" 16:00 "TRADITIONAL APPROACHES" "Machine Learning" "Feldman" Pat Langley "Machine Learning and Language Acquisition" Robin Clark "A Computational Model of Parameter Setting" Robert Berwick "Parsing and Language Acquisition: From rules to parameters" 18:00 "RECEPTION" "Tresidder Oak Lounge" "WEDNESDAY 27th March 1991" 9:00 "SYMBOL GROUNDING" "Problem and Practice" "Powers" Stevan Harnad "The Symbol Grounding Problem and Categorical Perception" Jeffrey Siskind "Naive Physics, Event Perception, Lexical Semantics and Language Acquisition" Brian Bartell & Garrison Cottrell "A Model of Symbol Grounding in a Temporal Linguistic Environment" Susan Weber "Miniature Language Acquisition and the L0 Project" 11:00 "SYMBOL GROUNDING" "Symbol and Semantics" "Harnad" Vasant Honavar "Towards Computational Models of Natural Language Acquisition" Uri Zernik "Learning from Authentic Corpus" Stefan Wermter "Hybrid Symbolic/Connectionist Methods for Natural Language Processing Jan Scholtes "Learning Simple Semantics by Self-Organization 14:00 "TRADITIONAL APPROACHES" "Semantics and Phonology" "Lehnert" Peter Hastings & Steven Lytinen "Automatic Acquistion of Word Meanings" Michael Brent "Automatic Semantic Classification of Verbs" Narciso Jaramillo & Marti Hearst "Acquiring the Semantics of Simple Phrasal Patterns Using COBUILD Jeffrey Siskind "Acquiring Core Meanings of Words, Represented as Jackendoff-style Conceptual Structures, from Correlated Streams of Linguistic and Non-Linguistic Input" Mark Ellison "Discovering Planar Segregation" 16:00 "TRADITIONAL APPROACHES" "Syntax and Structure" "Marcus" Mitchell Marcus "Deducing Linguistic Structure from Large Corpora" David Leblanc & Henry Davis "A Model of the Development of Phrase-Structure" David Magerman "Mutual Information" Rick Kazman "On Building a Model of Grammar from Information in the Lexicon" Deborah Dahl "Applications of Training Data in Semantic Processing" PLENARY "Kresge Auditorium" "Patel-Schneider" THURSDAY 28th March 1991 SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT" "Computing and Applications" "Selfridge" Larry Reeker "Language Learning and Adaptive User Interfacs" Claire Cardie & Wendy Lehnert "Learning Complex Syntax within a Semantic Parser" Marc Goodman "A Case-Based, Inductive Architecture for Natural Language Processing" Bill Hart "Recurrent Neural Nets for Natural Language Acquistion" 11:00 "JOINT PANEL" "Connectionist Learning of Natural Language" "Powers & Dolan" Jordan Pollack "Induction as Phase Transition" Charles Dolan "Why Natural Language Processing needs Connectionism." David Powers "How Far Can Self-Organization Go? Results in unsupervised language learning" Jane Hill "Hybrid Models of Language Learning" Andreas Stolcke "Vector Space Grammars and the Acquisition of Syntactic Categories: What connectionist and traditional models can learn from each other" "Formal End of Symposium" DISCUSSION The aim of the MLNLO symposium is to encourage interaction and promote discussion amongst Language and Learning researchers. With this in mind, in addition to the usual long talks, we have included a similar number of short spots which allow people to introduce themselves, their work and their groups. The long talks are a nominal 30 mins and the spots 10 mins. These times include a few minutes for questions and discussion, as usual, but additional time is allowed at the end of each session for general discussion. As this discussion is not intended to be limited to the current session, but may allow picking up and relating of earlier themes, increasing amounts of discussion time are allowed as the day wears on, and as the days roll by. As we are not running parallel session, chairmen also have the freedom to allow discussion to continue following a particularly provocative presentation, taking into account the additional discussion time in that session. For this reason precise times for talks are not shown in this programme. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0087. Friday, 22 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0087 For Your Information Total: 258 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 12:47:51 EST From: Peter Cole Subject: Mid-Atlantic Workshop on the Syntax of East Asian Languages (2) Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1991 15:32 MST From: KAMPRATH@CC.UTAH.EDU Subject: intonation symbols (3) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 10:26:38 SET From: Pier Marco Bertinetto Subject: A piece of bibliographical information (4) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 17:25:38 EET From: Jari Perkiomaki Subject: WLIST -- word frequency & length counter (5) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 10:27:42 EST From: kelly@cattell.psych.upenn.edu (Michael Kelly) Subject: nonparametric statistics package (6) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 14:14:56 CST From: david@wubios.wustl.edu (David J. Camp) Subject: dedigestifier now supports LINGUIST digest (7) Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 15:12:26 GMT From: Lorraine Leddy Subject: Publications List Available (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 12:47:51 EST From: Peter Cole Subject: Mid-Atlantic Workshop on the Syntax of East Asian Languages The Workshop is a monthly meeting of linguists interested in the syntax of Chinese, Japanese and Korean (and potentially other East Asian Languages). It meets at the University of Delaware. The next meeting in on April 12 in Room 107of Newark Hall at 1 p.m. There will be two papers presented, both on Chinese: Yafei Li of MIT speaking on "Empty Operators in Chinese" and Jie Xu of the University of Maryland will present "A Note on Chinese Null Objects". The May meeting will be on the 24th. The probable speakers will be Lisa Cheng of MIT and Tom Ernst of Delaware. Topics will be announced later. All are welcome, but please let us know you are coming. Driving directions are available on request. (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1991 15:32 MST From: KAMPRATH@CC.UTAH.EDU Subject: intonation symbols RE: intonation symbols I would like to remind people of the availability of symbols we can use to indicate an intended joke, :-) , which is a smiling face on its side, or a tongue-in-cheek remark, ;-) , which is supposed to indicate a winking eye on that smiling face. In general I really hate these hokey smiley face symbols, but they are a usable means of indicating intonation when we're talking electronically. This conversational forum brings with it the danger of misunderstanding and unintended offense. Some of the exchanges I've seen recently on the net may have benefitted from a clear indication of intended irony; an unintended sneer can start a flurry of word-slinging to no purpose. I don't think we want tempers to flare over mere misunderandings: if you really want to say "so and so is an idiot," have the courage of your convictions and say so explicitly! I hope we can keep the tone of our exchanges helpful and informational. If anyone else has ideas for indicating intonation, please share them. Christine Kamprath [Moderators' Note: A file exists on the LINGUIST server that lists these symbols (called "emoticons"), in more detail than most people would want to know about. To retrieve this file, send the server (listserv@uniwa.uwa.oz.au) the message: get emoticons The file will then be mailed to you.] (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 10:26:38 SET From: Pier Marco Bertinetto Subject: A piece of bibliographical information May I have the opportunity to communicate to those who are interested in anapho ric processes that the last issue of "Rivista di Linguistica" (2,1,1990) was en tirely devoted to "Anaphoric Relations in Sentence and Text"? The issue contains papers by Maria-Elisabeth Conte, Alessandra Giorgi, Luigi Ri zzi, Denis Delfitto, Francis Corblin, Monica Berretta, Frantisek Danes, Georges Kleiber, Peter Bosch & Bart Geurts. It may be ordered through the publisher: Rosenberg & Sellier, via Andrea Doria 14, 10123 Torino, Italy. Thank you for your attention. Pier Marco Bertinetto (Pisa) (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 17:25:38 EET From: Jari Perkiomaki Subject: WLIST -- word frequency & length counter We have just released a free MS DOS programme called WLIST.EXE, a word frequency and word length counter. This programme is suitable even for linguistic purposes. WLIST.EXE is available ARCed by anonymous ftp at garbo.uwasa.fi, directory /pc/fileutil, under the name WLIST10.ARC. Following is the documentation. We hope you find the programme useful. WLIST.EXE -- A fast word frequency and word length counter. (C) Copyright 1990 Ari Hovila. Based on the ideas of Ari Hovila and Jari Perkiomaki, University of Vaasa. Syntax : wlist [-m] [-e] [-a] file Options: : lists all words in lower case -m : lists all words 'as-is' -e : sorts words by their endings -a : makes a plain word list, no frequencies or statistics Description: WLIST is our first more "serious" attempt to do things with words. We needed a utility that would not only make plain word lists but also do some statistics, preferably suitable for linguistic purposes. Furthermore, the programme must be capable of handling the Finnish way of sorting, and long words (right now WLIST can handle words as long as 50 characters) and, of course, be as quick as possible. Using WLIST is rather straight-forward. By default, it lists words in ascending alphabetical order (the Finnish characters will be sorted correctly) and in lower case. The output will show the frequency and length of each word as well as an analysis of overall word length distribution (chars/word). Moreover, the statistics include the totality and the average lengths of all words and different words. You may find the different options, which are described above, useful. Please note that they can all be freely combined for the preferred result. WLIST is a programme under development. We are anxious to know your opinion about this programme. Please send your suggestions and comments by e-mail either to Ari Hovila or Jari Perkiomaki . -- Jari K Perkiomaki, U of Vaasa, fk00133r@uwasa.fi, perkioma@jyu.fi, jpe@brando.uwasa.fi, Jari.Perkiomaki@macpost.uwasa.fi (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 10:27:42 EST From: kelly@cattell.psych.upenn.edu (Michael Kelly) Subject: nonparametric statistics package To Macintosh users: Many linguists and psycholinguists collect data that is unsuitable for standard parametric statistics (e.g., the data may not be on an interval scale). Unfortunately, many statistical programs for the Mac lack nonparametric tests, especially some esoteric, but occasionally useful statistics like the Kolmogorov-Smirnov goodness of fit test and the runs test. Because I've needed some of these for my own work, I have written a hypercard stack that incorporates many nonparametric statistics. In addition, each statistic is provided with a brief description of its purpose and procedure for use. If anyone would like a copy of this hypercard stack, you can send me a disk and a self-addressed stamped envelope, and I'll be happy to send you a version. Please indicate whether you have hypercard 2.0 or a version from the 1.x series. You can address your request to: Michael Kelly Department of Psychology University of Pennsylvania 3815 Walnut St. Philadelphia, PA 19104 I'll be happy to provide further information via e-mail. (6) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 14:14:56 CST From: david@wubios.wustl.edu (David J. Camp) Subject: dedigestifier now supports LINGUIST digest I have modified my dedigestifier (called "digest") to support the Linguist digest. It is included below. It requires perl and elm. -David- #! /usr/bin/perl # # This is 'digest' a program to run elm on a digest as a folder. # Copyright (C) 1990 David J. Camp # # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by # the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option) # any later version. # # This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the # GNU General Public License for more details. # # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License # along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software # Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. # # david@wubios.wustl.edu ^ Mr. David J. Camp # david%wubios@wugate.wustl.edu < * > +1 314 382 0584 # ...!uunet!wugate!wubios!david v "God loves material things." # $| = 1; open (FOLDER, ">/tmp/dig$$"); while (<>) { if (/(^\([0-9]*\) |^--)----(\n|-----------------------(\n|-(\n|----------------------------------------\n)))/) { print FOLDER "From dummy Wed Feb 29 12:12:12 1990\n"; do { $_ = <>; } until (eof() || /[\041-\177]/); } print FOLDER $_; } close (FOLDER); exec ("elm -f /tmp/dig$$ <&2 ; /bin/rm -f /tmp/dig$$"); (7) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 15:12:26 GMT From: Lorraine Leddy Subject: Publications List Available NOW AVAILABLE A full publications list of research, working papers and PhD These from the Centre for Cognitive Science, University of Edinburgh. For more detailed information on ordering and receiving the list please mail: Or write to: Technical Report Librarian Centre for Cognitive Science University of Edinburgh 2 Buccleuch Place Edinburgh EH9 8LW ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0088. Friday, 22 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0088 Responses: MS, Maltese, Kikongo, Mother of Total: 300 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 15:29 +0100 From: "Hartmut Haberland, Roskilde University" Subject: RE: Multilingual Scholar (2) Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 8:19:59 PDT From: argosy!henry@decwrl.dec.com (Henry Polard) Subject: Re: Maltese (3) Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 19:04:23 +0100 (MET) From: garof@sixcom.sixcom.it (Joe Giampapa) Subject: Maltese (4) Date: Wed, 20 Mar 1991 18:56 MST From: CAROLG@CC.UTAH.EDU Subject: Re: Maltese (5) Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 13:16:34 MET From: Jacob Hoeksema Subject: Re: Queries And Responses (6) Date: 20 Mar 91 10:03 EST From: pchapin@nsf.gov Subject: Kikongo and Maltese (7) Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 14:40:40 CST From: John Goldsmith Subject: Re: Kikongo (8) Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 13:00:04 MST From: "don l. f. nilsen" Subject: MOTHER-OF METAPHORS (9) Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 19:45:16 CST From: GA5123%SIUCVMB.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: The granddaddy of all headaches (10) Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 20:34:25 CST From: GA5123%SIUCVMB.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: Once more, mother of all battles (11) Date: 21 Mar 91 11:47:00 EST From: "JOHAN ROORYCK" Subject: French introduction to linguistics (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 15:29 +0100 From: "Hartmut Haberland, Roskilde University" Subject: RE: Multilingual Scholar Correct Subject: Multilingual Scholar I have a FAX number in Denmark (the int'l prefix for Denmark is 45) which gives you information about Multilingual Scholar: 86161288 and can probably direct you to an US dealer (or elsewhere). (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 8:19:59 PDT From: argosy!henry@decwrl.dec.com (Henry Polard) Subject: Re: Maltese > Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 17:09:37 CST > From: GA3704%SIUCVMB.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU > Subject: Maltese > > Is there anything like "Maltese Made Easy"? or other relatively > accessible teaching grammar of Maltese around in English? A > friend of mine will be there on a Fulbright next year and is > trying to get ready. > > Thanks for any suggestions/information... > Margaret Winters > Southern Illinois University - Carbondale There was, and may still be, a book in the Teach Yourself... series entitled, "Teach Yourself Maltese." Sorry, I don't know the publisher's address. Good luck! --Henry Polard (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 19:04:23 +0100 (MET) From: garof@sixcom.sixcom.it (Joe Giampapa) Subject: Maltese > Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 17:09:37 CST > From: GA3704%SIUCVMB.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU > Subject: Maltese > > Is there anything like "Maltese Made Easy"? or other relatively > accessible teaching grammar of Maltese around in English? A > friend of mine will be there on a Fulbright next year and is > trying to get ready. > > Thanks for any suggestions/information... > Margaret Winters > Southern Illinois University - Carbondale The only Maltese person I know speaks Italian (from its geographical location) and English (from being an ex-British colony). I do not know if there is a Maltese dialect, but I will ask my friend the next time I see her. -Joe Giampapa garof@sixcom.it garof%sixcom.it@uunet.uu.net (from US Bitnet sites) (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 1991 18:56 MST From: CAROLG@CC.UTAH.EDU Subject: Re: Maltese About Maltese: try the Teach Yourself ... series. They do a really surprising number of languages, and most of the books I've used have been good (but I've used them for data, not learning to speak the language). They are published in the US by David McKay Co. Inc., 2 Park Avenue, New York NY 10016. They'll send a complete list of Teach Yourself titles on request. Carol Georgopoulos (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 13:16:34 MET From: Jacob Hoeksema Subject: Re: Queries And Responses Re Maltese grammar: There is Teach Yourself Maltese by Joseph Aquilina (I have a 1965 edition, and don't know if there's a more recent print.) --Jack Hoeksema University of Groningen (6) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 20 Mar 91 10:03 EST From: pchapin@nsf.gov Subject: Kikongo and Maltese Ingo Plag asks about Kikongo. I recommend Alexis Takizala as a resource. He is a native speaker with a Ph.D. in Linguistics from UCSD. Here is the most recent address I have for him (from March 1986): Dr. Alexis Takizala, P. O. Box 1592, Lubumbsdhi, Zaire. Margaret Winters asks about Maltese. Although he hasn't written anything pedagogical, I would ask Bernard Comrie (USC Ling.) Paul Chapin (7) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 14:40:40 CST From: John Goldsmith Subject: Re: Kikongo Solikoko Mufwene speaks and has written on Kikongo, including the areas raised in the note. His address is smufwene@uga.bitnet John Goldsmith (8) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 13:00:04 MST From: "don l. f. nilsen" Subject: MOTHER-OF METAPHORS LINGUIST SUBSCRIBERS: On March 16 the ARIZONA REPUBLIC picked up an ASSOCIATED PRESS article on MOTHER-OF METAPHORS. It mentions, among other things: Johnny Carson opened a recent show by promising "the mother of all monologues." His fill-in, Jay Leno later reported that "even Saddam Hus sein's mother is mad at him: 'You called it the WHAT of all battles?'" A recent flash of bright light in the Pennsylvania sky brought no talk of UFOs; instead, a pilot quickly cited it as "the mother of all meteors." In the NCAA playoffs a North Carolina booster posted a sign that promised, "The Tar Heels will defeat the Great Satan Duke in the mother of all Atlantic Coast Conference tournament games." Pat Oliphant suggested that Saddam is now the owner of "The Mother of All Junkyards. Saddam Hussein has been proclaimed the "father of the mother of all cliche s in U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT. And finally, Queen Elizabeth's pet corgis bit her on the hand when she att empted to interfere in the "mother of all dog battles." Don Nilsen (9) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 19:45:16 CST From: GA5123%SIUCVMB.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: The granddaddy of all headaches Since the Mother of All Battles has generated such excitement, I felt obligated to draw attention to a parallel phrase in apparently indigenous English: the granddaddy of all headaches. There seems to be no direct Arabic or Koranic influence here. You may see it documented in Liz Hamp-Lyons and Ben Heasley, _Study Writing: A Course in Written English for Academic and Professional Purposes_ (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), p. 64. It is quoted from an article in the (London?) _Sunday Times_ magazine, by a polio victim describing the first day of her illness: "I was being distracted by the 'granddaddy' of all headaches. It felt as though someone was thumping the back of my head and neck with a sledgehammer". I leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out what "granddaddy" means here. --------- Lee Hartman -- Southern Illinois University -- ga5123@siucvmb.bitnet (10) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 20:34:25 CST From: GA5123%SIUCVMB.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Subject: Once more, mother of all battles For those who have not yet succumbed to the mother of all boredom with the "mother of" phenomenon, here is yet another viewpoint: Let's look at the phrase in English for a moment, not as an example of picturesque Arabic rhetoric, but as a phenomenon of journalistic translation. We know that two conflicting goals of a translator are (1) to duplicate faithfully the words of the original and (2) to duplicate faithfully the effect-on-reader of the original. If the news-media's translators had aimed for the latter goal, they might have chosen a phrase like "our great battle"; they might even have combed the rhetoric of some Western leader, such as President Bush, for the present-day equivalent of a great battle in a just war inspiring patriotism, etc. But by translating literally instead, the news media were able to enhance the 'otherness' of the enemy, to make perhaps an eloquent orator (I frankly don't know Saddam Hussein's reputation in this regard) seem to the average American news consumer like a bombastic fool. Those who see the semblance of a conspiracy by the (U.S.) news media to render service in the propaganda war against Iraq will see in the 'mother' translation yet another case of the media's assisting the U.S. administration to 'demonize' President Hussein. Many readers, no doubt, will remember the allegations that circulated to the effect that the news media too willingly helped recent U.S. administrations to demonize (in reverse chronological order) Noriega, Ortega, Khaddafy,.... I hope that in the foregoing I have not offended anyone's sense of the subject-matter limitations inherent to Linguist -- language is often put in the service of political goals, and that use of language should be fair game to linguists, I would argue. A final note on language and otherness: we hear much about the average American's ignorance about Islam, but many persons-on-the-street could tell you "they worship Allah" (I saw a TV interview with a U.S. soldier in Saudi Arabia who had acquired a copy of the Koran in English, in order to "find out how Allah is different from God"). The answer, of course, is "much the same way that Dieu is different from God -- i.e. a non-English-speaking person is referring to Him(/Her/It)". Was I informed correctly that Arabic-speaking Christians also worship "Allah"? --------------- Lee Hartman, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, ga5123@siucvmb (11) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 21 Mar 91 11:47:00 EST From: "JOHAN ROORYCK" Subject: French introduction to linguistics For Margaret Winters For an introductory course to French phonology, I think Albert Valdman's introduction to French phonology and morphology is still the best introduction because of its contrastive French - English approach. For morphology proper, there is not really a good textbook that I know of. I make up a general introduction myself, and then I use large portions of Sergio Scalise's generative morphology book which can be easily adapted to an undergraduate audience (at least in part). Moreover, it has nice overviews of issues such as Blocking in French inspired by Zwanenburg's work. For compositional morphology, I adapt an article by Philippe Barbaud (UQAM), (to be) published in the proceedings of the LSRL conference 1989 in Columbus. The article allows one to introduce X' theory, and to show the distinction between X' theory in the morphology and in the syntax (presence vs. absence of functional categories). For syntax proper at the undergraduate level, a very good and pedagogically interesting book is Annie Delaveau and Francoise Kerleroux book (in French, I can't recall the exact title, something like introduction a la linguistique...) It introduces a certain number of topics in generative grammar without presupposing too much theoretical background: raising vs control, complementizers, 'en', interrogatives and relatives. Of course all of this is for an undergraduate level course with students who have no previous knowledge about linguistics. For a graduate course curriculum, I would advise you to contact Laurie Zaring, also at Indiana University, who developed one semester syllabi for respectively syntax, morphology and phonology for students who have had (the equivalents of) Kenstowicz and Kisseberth and Radford (1981, 1988). I hope this may help you somewhat, Johan Rooryck Department of French and Italian 642 Ballantine Hall Bloomington IN 47405 ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0089. Saturday, 23 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0089 Families, Conferences Total: 268 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 10:09:22 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Language Families (2) Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 19:07:19 -0500 From: "Daniel L Everett" Subject: Re: Responses: Families (3) Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 07:43 MST From: Mike Hammond Subject: Arizona Phonology Conference (4) Date: Fri, 22 Mar 91 15:44:41 EST From: Peter Cole Subject: International Conference on Language in the Andes (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 10:09:22 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Language Families I am moved by Kac's, and saddened by Everett's, comments on the controversial language families. If Prof. Everett admits that he knows nothing about the proposals that were investigated in detail and reported on with diligence by several journalists, how can he condemn the journalistic profession rather than his own? The "drivel" he refers to will be the first that most SPECIALISTS have ever heard of Nostratic or Sino-Caucasian, for example. It is also the case that all these articles note that these theories are controversial, and in particular, it is regularly pointed out that some of those who believe in the plausibility of Nostratic and Sino-Caucasian do not believe in the validity of Greenberg's work on Amerind, not to mention Ruhlen and Bengtson's on "Proto-World". The Sc. Am. piece, in particular, focuses on the controversy between those who accept certain hypotheses and those who do not. In particular, it quotes Eric Hamp vs. Aharon Dolgopolsky and me on several points regarding Nostratic, it quotes me in what' I believe is the first published critique of Cavalli-Sforza's work on linking population-genetic and linguistic trees, and so on. What particularly pains me is the arrogation by Professor Everett of the title of 'mainstream linguist' for himself and whoever agrees with him. I would like to be told by what right he considers the late Vladislav Illich-Svitych, Aharon Dolgopolsky, and Sergei Starostin (whose work he admits he knows not) as outside the mainstream. Does the same also apply to V. V. Ivanov (who has written ringing endorsements of the Nostratic hypothesis in his reviews) but also is the coauthor, with Gamkrelidze, of the recent book Indo-European and the Indo-European? Does it apply to a dozen or more young Moscow-based linguists whose work he presumably knows even less about (Anya Dybo, Sergei Nikolaev, Mudrak, Peyros, and others), whose only crime is to accept as plausible the Nostratic and Sino-Caucasian hypotheses? By what right do we read Greenberg out of the linguistic mainstream? And if we do, who is safe? I completely disagree with the methodology (or lack thereof) in Greenberg's work on Amerind (and now on Eurasiatic which is essentially the same family as Nostratic), but so long as I am allowed to speak, I will defend his right to the title of linguist and to his opinions about linguistic prehistory. Finally, is Eric Hamp to be cast out as well? He and I have just written to Sc. Am. jointly praising their coverage and promising to produce a joint review of the Nostratic work (recording any difference that may remain between us after a careful evaluation is done (which, of course, no one has done so far)). And in his interviews with the press, Prof. Hamp, unlike apparently Prof. Everett, always remembered to stress that comparative linguistics NEVER asserts that two languages are UNrelated and that no scientist ever dismisses work he has not carefully examined for himself. (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 19:07:19 -0500 From: "Daniel L Everett" Subject: Re: Responses: Families Mark and Scott note that it is intemperate of me to criticize work by Soviet scholars when I don't read Russian and am not familiar with it. Scott Delancey also points out that I shouldn't lump the lumpers together so freely. These are points well taken and, if I weren't so egomaniacal, I would take back those particular remarks and keep only the criticism of Greenberg's work on South American languages. Well, I guess that I can do that. Intemperance is useful at times, however, getting people to speak out more openly and not be so polite. By now, Scott D may have already read the remarks that I sent about functionalist linguistics. Now, I bet that is really intemperate. So, to repeat, I hereby narrow the focus of the word "drivel" to apply only to Greenberg's work on South American languages. I leave it to others to widen its scope (and I bet it should be widened). Dan Everett (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 07:43 MST From: Mike Hammond Subject: Arizona Phonology Conference What follows is the schedule for the Arizona Phonology Conference to be held in Tucson in April. Should anyone wish to make arrangements for crash space in Tucson (priority given to students), s/he may contact Lee Fulmer at the bitnet address FULMERS@RVAX.CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU . Those needing a ride from the airport may contact Wendy Wiswall, (602) 628-8074, or e-mail address WISWALLW@RVAX.CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU . Requests for other information (for example, what clothes to bring, the airport, nearby hotels with reasonable rates, etc.) may contact Megan Crowhurst, CROW@RVAX.CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU . _______________________________________________________________________ ARIZONA PHONOLOGY CONFERENCE V THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 1991 7:30 p.m. Soire'e at the home of Diana and Dante Archangeli. FRIDAY, APRIL 5, Student Union 285 (9:00-12:00) 9:00-9:45 Juliette Blevins, UT Austin "Tonal Representations of Lithuanian Accent" 9:45-10:00 break 10:00-10:30 Abigail Kaun, UCLA "Suffixal Tone Association in Haya" 10:30-11:00 Jane Tsay, UA "Tone Alternation in Taiwanese" 11:00-11:30 Jabier Elorrieta, UT Austin "The Feature Specification of Uvulars" 11:30-12:00 Wendy Wiswall, UA "Tunica Partial Vowel Harmony as Evidence for a Height Node" 12:00-1:45 lunch Modern Languages 314 (1:45-2:30) 1:45-2:30 Nick Clements, Cornell "Scalar Rules and Feature Representation" 2:30-2:45 break Douglass 101 (2:45-5:30) 2:45-3:15 Stephanie Anderson, UT Austin "Consonant-Vowel Interaction and Vowel Harmony in Madurese" 3:15-3:45 Chip Gerfen, UA "Izi Vowel Harmony and Selective Cyclicity" 3:45 - 4:00 break 4:00 - 5:30 Doug Pulleyblank, UOttawa "Formal and Substantive Constraints on West African ATR Systems" 7:30 Dinner chez D.T. Langendoen and Nancy Kelly 3418 E. 3rd St. SATURDAY APRIL 6 Douglass 101 (9:30-5:30) 9:15-9:30 Coffee 9:30-10:30 Cari Spring, OSU "Word (In)variability in Axininca: The Minimal/Maximal Opposition" 10:45-11:00 break 10:30-11:00 Elizabeth Hume, Cornell "Metathesis: the Product of Elementary Operations" 11:00-11:30 Mark Hewitt, Brandeis "Binarity & Ternarity in Alutiiq" 11:30-12:00 Susana Sainz, Cornell "English Reduced Vowels, Stress, and Cyclicity" 12:00-1:30 lunch 1:30-2:15 Bruce Hayes, UCLA "Weight of CVC can be Determined by Context" 2:15-2:30 break 2:30-3:00 Chris Golston, UCLA "Level-Ordered Lexical Insertion: Evidence from Speech Errors" 3:00-3:30 Dan Silverman, UCLA "The Representation of English Loanwords in Cantonese" 3:30-4:00 break 4-5:30 Alan Prince, Brandeis "Optimality" ??? Soire'e at the home of Dick Oehrle and Sue Steele 2801 E. 2nd (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 22 Mar 91 15:44:41 EST From: Peter Cole Subject: International Conference on Language in the Andes CALL FOR PAPERS Please duplicate, post and distribute International Conference on Language,Language Policy and Education in the Andes October 28, 29 and 30, 1991 Sponsored by: The Latin American Studies Program, the Department of Linguistics, the Department of Educational Studies, and International Programs of the University of Delaware The themes of the conference will be 1) the linguistic structure of the indigenous languages of the western Andean countries (primarily Quechua and Aymara); 2) the structure of the Spanish spoken in the region; 3) the sociolinguistics of language use in the region; and 4) national language policy in the region, especially as it relates to education and the legal and practical status of the indigenous languages. It is hoped that papers will be presented in all the above areas. In addition, we hope to hold a panel discussion on the Quechua alphabet. The official languages of the conference will be Spanish and English. Papers will be either 20 minutes for presentation with ten minutes for discussion, or 45 minutes for presentation with fifteen minutes for discussion. Please indicate the amount of time needed. There will be two or three invited speakers from South America whose names will be announced later. Selected papers from the conference will appear in a volume to be published by the Latin American Studies Program of the University of Delaware. THE CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE NORTH EAST LINGUISTIC SOCIETY (NELS), WHICH WILL BE HELD AT THE UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE, OCTOBER 25, 26, 27 OF 1991. For information on NELS, contact the NELS Coordinating Committee, Department of Linguistics, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716-2551. Send one page abstracts to: International Conference on Language, Language Policy and Education in the Andes, Department of Linguistics, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716-2551. Abstract Deadline: June 1, 1991 ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0090. Saturday, 23 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0090 Responses: Cognitive Linguistics, French Total: 251 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 10:17 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Re: Cognitive Linguistics (2) Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 14:45:41 CST From: John Goldsmith Subject: Re: Cognitive Linguistics (3) Date: Fri, 22 Mar 91 00:24:34 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Cognitive/Functional Linguistics (4) Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 08:51:10 -0500 From: "Daniel L Everett" Subject: Apology (5) Date: 22 Mar 91 12:35:00 EST From: "JOHAN ROORYCK" Subject: Introduction to French linguistics (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 10:17 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Re: Cognitive Linguistics A couple of perhaps trivial comments. (Have still not gotten around to sending my really IMPORTANT (hah!) comments on the cognitive/shmognitive debate. 1) Re Popper and testability and aall that stuff. A quote fromquote from Einstein shows he is no Popperian but I would doubt that anyone questions his scientific credentials: "Science is the attempt to make the chaotic diversity of our sense experience correspond to a logically uniform system of thought. The sense experiences are the given subject matter. But the theory that shall interpret them is mad made...(The aim of science) is the establishing of principles which are to serve as the starting point of deductions...The scienti st has to worm these general principles out of nature by perceiving certain general features which permit precise formulation amidst large complexes of empirical facts." (Now here's the anti-Popperian part. vf) It may well happen that clearly formulated principles lead to conclusions which fall entirely outside the sphere of reality at present accessible to our experience" And of course the general theory of relativity was one of those theories as were Maxwell's equations for over 50 years. One accepts a theory as 'true' (if one is a God's Truth scientist) to the extent that the evidence presented and the arguments in favor are stronger than an alternative view. And I believe the arguments in favor of 'modularity' (that is, the view that language is an independent, autonomous, genetically determined system (or more correctly the human faculty to acquire and store and use language), not derivative of some more general non-specific cognition, are stronger than those which take the 'derivative' view. I strongly urge the doubters to read LAURA: A CASE FOR THE MODULARITY OF LANGUAGE by Jeni Yamada, Bradford Books, MIT Press, 1990, which reports on a severely retarded (from birth) child with little general cognitive ability but highly complex language ability (which often is meaningless because of her general lack of knowledge and understanding)as shown by such utterances as: "I told a big story and my voice, was kinda low. But it was NOT. It was just in my regular voice. (creakiness) I had to (keep) my voice an the volume down. I said, an' ,y an' oh, this other guy tells you a joke". It's a little sad they have left. An I told the head leader they're not sure if (they're) gonna set it for, for eight, eight our time which will be as )pauses abruptly) our time an', the girl arrives where it's one, which is in school right now." Susie Curtiss has also written extensively on the dissociation between language and other cognitive abilities from birth, due to various neurological and genetic problems. If anyone is interested in seeing specific localized lesions sites for language and non language, look at the book by Hanna and Antonio Damasio LESION ANALYSIS IN NEUROPSYCHOLOGY NY, Oxford,Oxford Univ Press 1989. Finally -- further support for Poser's view that "if you want to take a strong anti-modular stand, you can't just find that SOME aspects of language aren't modular and leave it at that... If it turns out that semantics isn't modiular, that doesn't mean that syntax isn't..." etc. can be found in an old paper by VA Fromkin and ES Klima, "General and Special Properties of Language", (1980) in Signed and Spoken Languagew: Biological Constraintson Linguistic Form. U. Bellugi and M. Studert-Kennedy, Eds. Verlag Chemie. If anyone wants a copy I will send a reprint. (It's a general paper given to open on of the Dahlem Conferences which included linguists and a lot of non-linguists so it is rather unsophisticated linguistically.) Vicki Fromkin (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 14:45:41 CST From: John Goldsmith Subject: Re: Cognitive Linguistics Perhaps someone who follows Sydney Lamb's publications more closely than I do can make more precise my recollection -- but Lamb was publishing on what _he_ called Cognitive Linguistics by around 1971, perhaps even in the late 1960s. John Goldsmith (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 22 Mar 91 00:24:34 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Cognitive/Functional Linguistics This will be my LAST contribution on this, promise. The source of the problem, as I see it, is simply that some people insist on assuming that one perspective on language, out of many, is either the only correct one, or at least, the point of departure that everybody must assume. And this perspective appears to be some fashionable version of so- called "generative grammar". This seems to mean that othe r linguists are entitled to speak only insofar as they address the issues that arise in this perspective, and non-linguists, well, we all know about them.... My point is simply that many (indeed most) people who have done serious work on language have not been linguists and that most of the latter have never adopted this perspective. Moreover, even if the numbers were otherwise, people should be free to pursue whatever lines of research they want, call them what they want (provided they do not steal existing labels), and, most important of all, address the issues they think important. It strikes as bizarre that someone would insist that functionalists, or cognitive linguists, or whoever, should have to explain locality principles before they can be taken seriously. Why not instead try explaining the phenomena that these people do study in terms of locality principles? Likewise, it is a simple fact that many linguistic phenomena have either not interested linguists at all or only after we were told about them by non-linguists. I don't know the percentages, but I again remind people of Austin, Montague, etc. And, so long as there are such phenomena and people willing to study them, I say "Bully for them". If, as part of the price, I sometimes have to hear something stupid from a non-linguist, so be it. Have we never heard anything stupid from a linguist? I also do not see what people think they can gain by referring to Popper. First of all, as anyone who has read his book carefully will note, he himself admitted that falsification does not work. Second, it is the business of people like Popper who figure what makes science work; it is not the business of scientists to follow the theories of philosophers or historians of science. Much as we do not tell informants what to say, philosophers and historians of science cannot tell us what to do. They can only learn from observing us. Third, if, on the other hand, people want to learn to emulate the natural scientists, then they should study natural science, not second-hand distillations by philosophers or historians of natural science. Finally, speaking now as a computer scientist, I have to say that I have never yet heard anybody in that field trying to dismiss the contributions of linguists (notably Chomsky, Kuroda, and Kuno) to CS, the way that SOME linguists try to dismiss the contributions of non-linguists to linguistics. I have also had some contact with biologists, who have actually learned rather little from linguists but tend to dwell on that little and are always eager to hear more. I just wonder why there should be such an asymmetry. (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 08:51:10 -0500 From: "Daniel L Everett" Subject: Apology After rereading my last posting on functionalism, I realize that it misrepresents me and is far too harsh. I have learned a great deal more from the people I mention in that posting than it might sound and I regularly recommend their writings to others. I want to apologize to all readers who were offended by that last posting. Think I better get back to research and stop reading BBoards for a while. Dan Everett (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 22 Mar 91 12:35:00 EST From: "JOHAN ROORYCK" Subject: Introduction to French linguistics To Margaret Winters and anyone interested in introductory French linguistics I thought I had to make my quick observations a little more explicit by providing more precise references. I already mentioned Albert Valdman's introduction to French phonology and morphology. The exact referecne of Annie Delaveau and Francoise Kerleroux' book is Problemes et exercices de syntaxe francaise (1985), Paris: Armand Colin. I should stress that the book does not presuppose any technical GB background. It tries to develop discovery strategies that are common to any type of formal linguistics. The overall background is GB, of course. For morphology, there is a book by Claude Germain and Raymond LeBlanc Introduction a la linguistique generale (1981) Presses de l'Universite de Montreal. It is an introoduction to classical structuralist morphology (what they call bloomfieldian), but it can serve as a source for the introduction to terminology. Sergio Scalise's book Generative Morphology was published in 1984 with Foris: Dordrecht. For morphology, a recent book by Danielle Corbin might be useful (1987, 1988), but I cannot check the references. It is published in Europe though, I think in Germany, but I am not sure. This is not a handbook, though, but a thorough overview of morphological derivation processes in French, as I recall it. The title of Philippe Barbaud's article is Compounding in Romance: X-bar structure revisited. As for more recent books, I have a vague memory of seeing a copy of a handbook in French GB syntax at the NELS meeting in Montreal which I think was edited or written by Yves Roberge. I hope Canadian linguists plugged into the network can help me out here. It is very recent (1989, 1990), but I am not sure it is adapted to an undergraduate curriculum. It might be graduate level already, as far as I can recall. For those of uswho do not want to teach formal French linguistics for any reason, there is the book by Henriette Walter, Le francais dans tous les sens (1988) Robert Laffont. This is a 'soft' linguistics handbook (I apologize for the term) which gives an introduction to the history of French >From Latin to French, the notion of substratum, lexical influences, the latinization, gallo-romance OldFrench,then an overview of the dialectal varieties of French and of the varietie of frencg in the world. and also something on the social varieties of French. The book is not very deep, but you can gice it as basic reading for an undergraduate class, since the French is not to difficult, and supplement the information in the book which is often toot simplistic, with further literature. At Indiana University, Cathy Pons has developed an undergraduate course with a bibliography of supplementary readings around this book. Again I would like to add that Laurie Zaring has developed one semester syllabi at Indian University for respectively syntax, morphology and phonology for students who have had (the equivalents of) Kenstowicz and Kisseberth and Radford (1981, 1988). A last and self serving note: if colleagues have promising and motivated undergraduate students in French with an interest in French linguistics, I would like to ask them to ecourage those students to apply for rgaduate work at Indiana University, since the department of French and Italian has one of the only full fledged programs in (applied, historical, theoretical) French linguistics in the country. Johan Rooryck Department of French and Italian 642 Ballantine Hall Bloomington IN 47405 ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0091. Sunday, 24 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0091 Queries Total: 405 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 04:29:12 -0800 Subject: Room sharing at European ACL From: magerman@Neon.Stanford.EDU (2) Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 10:42:27 -0600 From: Gregory K. Iverson Subject: Root Structure Constraints (3) Date: Wed, 20 MAR 91 16:44 N From: MURZAKU%VAXSNS.INFN.IT@ICNUCEVM.CNUCE.CNR.IT Subject: Albanian (4) Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 16:33 GMT From: Richard Ogden Subject: Finnish - please check address (5) Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 16:35:26 GMT From: Henry Thompson Subject: Translation experiment -- request for help (6) Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 09:39 MDT From: REBWHLR%cc.usu.edu@munnari.oz Subject: Parsers for the Macintosh? (7) Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 12:34:16 EST From: Ellen Broselow Subject: Transfixation (8) Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 16:30:25 -0500 From: brownes@acf5.NYU.EDU (Scott C. Browne) Subject: Middle Voice vs. Stative? (9) Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 17:24:30 -0800 From: jtang@cogsci.berkeley.edu (Joyce Tang) Subject: `would of' (10) Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 20:32:55 -0500 From: pqj4331@acf5.NYU.EDU Subject: Spanish linguists (11) Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 13:38 GMT From: FEHN23%UJVAX.ULSTER.AC.UK@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU Subject: Subject-verb agreement in Arabic (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 04:29:12 -0800 Subject: Room sharing at European ACL From: magerman@Neon.Stanford.EDU I'm an impoverished graduate student who is attending (and presenting at) the European ACL in Berlin in April. I'm looking for someone who is also attending this conference who would like to share a room. I would also be interested in renting a bed (or couch or piece of floor to put my sleeping bag) in an apartment or house in Berlin near the conference. I am pretty clean person, and I don't smoke or drink (much). I don't plan on taking any pets with me, either :-). I plan to keep regular hours with fun and frivolity kept at a minimum (unless encouraged by my host). I'm pretty desperate, since I'm paying for this trip on my own, and the hotel rooms offered by the conference are over $100 a night. I will need a room for about 7 or 8 days, although any number of days of shared or cheap housing would be greatly appreciated. Please respond to magerman@neon.stanford.edu. Thanks, -- David Magerman Stanford University (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 10:42:27 -0600 From: Gregory K. Iverson Subject: Root Structure Constraints Joe Salmons at Purdue University and I here at Milwaukee are looking to document (relatively) clear cases of constraints on root structure that may be at play in various languages. An example of what we have in mind is the restriction reported for Quechua to the effect that only one of two consonants in a CVC root may be glottalized (an anti-identity kind of constraint), counterbalanced by the basically opposite situation reported for Yucatec Maya where if one obstruent in a CVC root is glottalized then so must the other be (a pro-identity kind of constraint). References to cooccurrence restriction of this sort or others defined on root morphemes would be appreciated. Greg Iverson: iverson@convex.csd.uwm.edu Joe Salmons: salmons@mace.cc.purdue.edu (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 MAR 91 16:44 N From: MURZAKU%VAXSNS.INFN.IT@ICNUCEVM.CNUCE.CNR.IT Subject: Albanian Hello: Is there anybody interested on albanian language. I would be very glad to know if somebody else work on this language and to communicate with him. I am particularly interested on anaphoric and deictic system of this language and I'm working for a computational implementation based on Discourse Representatiom Theory. Thank you, ---Aleksander Murzaku (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 16:33 GMT From: Richard Ogden Subject: Finnish - please check address I mailed the other day asking for contacts with other people working on Finnish. I'm not sure if the address I gave works. To be sure, here it is again: rao1@uk.ac.york.vaxa Thanks. Richard Ogden (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 16:35:26 GMT From: Henry Thompson Subject: Translation experiment -- request for help In order to conduct an experiment on the evaluation of translation, I need a large collection of translations of the same text. I am therefore appealing via various electronic channels for help. If you have the time, the ability and the inclination, please assist me by translating one or both of the French passages given below into English, and returning them to me. Common courtesy, to say nothing of the requirements of the data protection act, leads me to assure respondents that their names will not be retained, nor will they appear in any subsequent publication. I will, however, retain e-mail addresses, unless you request otherwise, and there are a few questions about your linguistic background which I would also be grateful for the answers to. The two French texts below are followed by a pro-forma for you to use in your response. Thank you in advance Henry Thompson Human Communication Research Centre University of Edinburgh ----------------------------------------------------------------- The first text, a business letter: Objet: Colloque sur les Industries de la langue Monsieur, Je vous remercie d'avoir bien voulu participer a ce colloque dont la Commission tirera le plus grand profit et vous prie d'en trouver ci-joint le compte-rendu. J`attire votre attention sur le fait que le document LIFE qui vous a ete distribue contient une bibliographie importante en annexe et je vous serais particulierement reconnaissant si vous pouviez m'indiquer quelques references meritant d'y etre ajoutees. Vous remerciant de votre collaboration, je vous prie d'agreer, Monsieur, l'expression de mes sentiments distingues. X. YYY ----------------------------------------------------------------- The second text, an extract from a background paper for a meeting 2. L'impact economique des langues Les langues constituent le vehicule de l'information, notamment de l'information economique. La creation d'un marche unique europeen demande que tous les partenaires participant aux activites economiques puissent avoir acces aux informations mises a leur disposition dans des langues autres que la leur et qu'inversement ils puissent communiquer les informations qu'ils destinent a des personnes ne parlant pas leur langue. C'est le probleme du transfert de l'information entre les langues, autrement dit de la traduction. Plus precisement, l'impact economique negatif du multilinguisme est double pour les agents economiques europeens: * en tant que producteurs de biens et services, ils se heurtent a des obstacles supplementaires lorsqu'ils veulent exporter, ce qui se traduit par des pertes de temps et d'argent et, par voie de consequence, par une competitivite moindre; * en tant que consommateurs de biens et services, ils eprouvent des difficultes accrues a s'informer sur les developpements techniques les plus recents et a se procurer les equipements les plus modernes, ce qui a pour consequence un retard technologique et donc, cette fois encore, une perte de competitivite. Par contre, le fait d'etre le seul bloc economique et industriel important dans le monde a devoir trouver une solution a de tels problemes peut aussi donner a l'Europe un avantage economique considerable: elle a ici l'occasion unique d'acquerir un savoir-faire precieux dans le domaine du traitement des langues, qu'elle pourra mettre en valeur sur le plan economique (directement en vendant son experience et ses realisations; indirectement en surmontant plus aisement d'autres barrieres linguistiques dans ses relations avec des partenaires economiques exterieurs: URSS, Chine, Monde arabe, Amerique latine, etc.) et sur le plan social (en appliquant ses acquis a l'integration des handicapes, etc.), dans le cadre d'activites tant monolingues que multilingues. Le developpement d`industries de la langue saines et profitables assurerait a plus long terme une suprematie mondiale a l'Europe. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Please e-mail your responses to ht@uk.ac.ed.cogsci with the Subject field as follows: Subject: Translation exercise Please include answers to the following questions, and indicate if you do NOT wish your e-mail address retained, e.g. so that I can let you know how the experiment turns out. 1. Age: 2. Native language: English/French/Other(please specify); Version of that language (e.g. American/Scottish/English/Australian/... or French/French-Canadian/...). 3. For non-native speakers of English, source and duration of your knowledge of English: x years Primary/Secondary/University study; x years residence in English speaking country (which?); other. 4. For non-native speakers of French, source and duration of your knowledge of French: x years Primary/Secondary/University study; x years residence in French speaking country (which?); other. 5. If you have formally trained as a translator, please indicate in what way and for how long. 6. Anything else you think might be relevant, comments, etc. Henry Thompson, Human Communication Research Centre, University of Edinburgh 2 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh EH8 9LW, SCOTLAND -- (44) 31 650-4440 Fax: (44) 31 662-4912 ARPA: ht@cogsci.ed.ac.uk JANET: ht@uk.ac.ed.cogsci UUCP: ...!uunet!mcsun!ukc!cogsci!ht (6) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 09:39 MDT From: REBWHLR%cc.usu.edu@munnari.oz Subject: Parsers for the Macintosh? I*m trying to find out what parsers are currently available for a Mac II (si or ci). It*s primarily syntax parsers I*m looking for but semantic/pragmatic parsers are also of interest. My research concerns the relationship between lexical sense and syntactic environment. So what I*d like to be able to do is search on a stretch of continuous text, locate instances of a lexical item whose senses I*m attempting to delimit and have the parser give me a relatively detailed syntactic tree for the sentence in which the target lexical item occurs. Is this pie in the sky? Or are there parsers out there that I could be using now in my research? Where are they? How much do they cost?, etc. Thanks Rebecca S. Wheeler Utah State University (7) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 12:34:16 EST From: Ellen Broselow Subject: Transfixation For an article for the handbook on morphology edited by Booij and Mugdan, I'm looking for examples of transfixation, where a transfix is defined by the editors as "a discontinuous affix that disrupts the base". I'd be grateful if people could steer me to relevant examples other than the familiar Semitic ones, Sierra Miwok, and Yawelmani. (Clearly questions of analysis arise here; I'm just looking for anything that might conceivably fit the definition.) (8) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 16:30:25 -0500 From: brownes@acf5.NYU.EDU (Scott C. Browne) Subject: Middle Voice vs. Stative? I'm looking for some info/guidance/clarification. What is validity of using the term MIDDLE VOICE in English grammar? I have read about it in Kaplan(1989) and it seems that it's a stative use of the specific verbs- (1) a. These pictures sell well. b. Elle photographs wonderfully. c. the fabric folds nicely. My questions are... A) does the middle voice require present tense, i.e. " these pictures are selling well" (not middle voice?) B) wouldn't most definitions of stative include those in (1) above? B) wouldn't most definitions of stative include those in (1) above? brownes@acf5.nyu.edu (9) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 17:24:30 -0800 From: jtang@cogsci.berkeley.edu (Joyce Tang) Subject: `would of' Dear linguists: Apparently there is a change in progress in both American and British English, in which contracted `have' is turning into an inflection on modal auxiliaries (e.g. `could've', `would've', `should've'). I am interested in finding out if anyone has studied this change, and, if so, what your thoughts have been. Does this schwa-v syllable have underlying `have', or `of'; or is it simply a "filler" syllable? Anyone who grades high school or undergraduate papers has probably noted that this form often surfaces orthographically as `of'. How recent a development is this? Does it occur only post-consonantally, as in `would've', `could've', `should've', or does it also occur in other environments (e.g. `will've', `ought to've')? Does it occur only in counterfactual contexts, or is the same change occurring for other auxiliaries (`will', `ought', etc.). How does it interact with negation and with question forms? Has anyone found the syllable to occur in places where it would not be expected as a contraction of 'have'? For example, I have heard: "What would uv you videotaped?" Martin Harris noted, in 1984, what he called "a new form in spoken English": "He really should've done that, but even if he had've, it wouldn't've made any difference." (He also noted that his son's written version was "had of.") Is this change related to `would've' replacing `had' in dependent clauses? (E.g.: "If I would've done that, then X would've been fine." "You would've known somebody who would've gone there.") When `would' is used in unexpected contexts, does `uv' go with it (E.g.: "You might not ever would uv done that")? Are there data on pronunciation over the past few generations and in different registers? Is there any regularity to the uv vs. uh alternation (e.g., `woulda' pre-consonantally, vs. `wouldve' pre-vocalically)? Any comments would be appreciated. Thank you, Joyce Tang (jtang@cogsci.berkeley.edu) (10) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 20:32:55 -0500 From: pqj4331@acf5.NYU.EDU Subject: Spanish linguists I would like to get in touch with linguists from Spain that also use this list. I am a student at NYU from Spain. My address: pqj4331@acf5.nyu.edu Thank you, Pilar Jimenez (11) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 13:38 GMT From: FEHN23%UJVAX.ULSTER.AC.UK@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU Subject: Subject-verb agreement in Arabic Can anyone give me some information on the conditions under which subject- verb agreement fails to occur in Arabic, or on similar phenomena in other languages? I understand that in Arabic it depends on word order, SVO or SOV, and that it has been argued (but I don't know where or by whom) that agreement does not take place where the subject is not in SPEC/IP, but I don't know the precise details. The reason is that I'm working on this phenomenon in Belfast English, where a plural subject may have a singular verb (or more precisely I think default agreement), provided it is not a pronoun and there is no subject-auxiliary inversion - (1) The eggs is/are cracked (2) They are/*is cracked (3) Are/*is the eggs cracked? If anyone can give me information on similar phenomena in any other languages I'd be grateful Alison Henry ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0092. Sunday, 24 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0092 Vowels and Stress Total: 241 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1991 23:46 MST From: KAMPRATH@CC.UTAH.EDU Subject: Unstressed vowels in English (2) Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 09:09:03 PST From: rwojcik@atc.boeing.com Subject: Re: Unstressed Vowels (3) Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 01:18:07 EST From: jdbobalj@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Subject: Re: Responses: closed syllables (4) Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 9:49 GMT From: Richard Ogden Subject: the suffix '-ate' (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1991 23:46 MST From: KAMPRATH@CC.UTAH.EDU Subject: Unstressed vowels in English I'd like to thank everyone who answered my request for information about languages with unstressed vowel systems. In another message I will summarize the information I've received so far and ask a few more questions that have been raised in my mind. In this one, however, I'd like to respond to some comments on my apparently provocative words about English. Some of the responses to my query support my suspicion that there is a fair bit of confusion, misunderstanding, and "myth" (A.M. Ramer's word) about what unstressed vowel neutralization (and reduction) might be. I think that we do not have a clear picture of, or wide-spread agreement about, what the issues are. I am clearly not the only person who thinks so (cf. J. Coleman's remark: "'Reduced' is not a well-defined concept in phonetics or phonology") and is concerned about it (cf. the thermal level of some of the responses to my remarks about English, which suggests that the nerve that was hit was already sore). What often happens in such a situation is that people respond to questions that were not asked, or sometimes they legitimize questions irrelevant to the inquiry by answering them instead of challenging them. The remarks which follow are intended to focus more clearly on my query and the data and ask for participation in clarifying what the issues are. Here's a repeat of the first part of my query: "I am working on the relationship between stressed vowels and the unstressed vowels they neutralize to (assuming that there is a generative relationship between the two). I am looking particularly for languages whose stressed vowels neutralize to *more than one* unstressed vowel. Languages whose vowels are all schwa in unstressed syllables, presumably like English in this respect, are thus of little or no interest to this study. Languages like Catalan, however, whose seven stressed vowels neutralize to three distinct unstressed vowels, are exactly what I'm looking for." Many people brought to my attention a) "reduced" vowels in English and in other languages, or b) the existence of *contrasts* between unstressed vowels in English, though my query asked about *neutralized* (not "reduced") unstressed vowels and referred explicitly to languages which have a *generative* relationship between stressed and unstressed vowels. Thus most of the examples that were offered me, such as accept/except, ribbon/ribbin', Rosa's/roses, and tory/toro, are not relevant to my query--none of the unstressed vowels here have stressed "counterparts." Thus there's no neutralization apparent in these words, and maybe no reduction either, unless by "reduction" is meant simply a sort of muffled quality of unstressed vowels; even to say that this reduction is phonetic centralization as compared to stressed vowels begs the questions of what "as compared to" might mean, and how the stressed vowels participate in the comparison if they have no unstressed counterparts. These responses indicate, at least, that there is confusion about the terms "reduction" and "neutralization," and perhaps that some people consider them synonymous. An example suggested by J. Coleman, title/titular, is also not relevant to my query, because the vowel "counterparts" do not have a stress difference. An example like lobe/lobotomy might be relevant if it were really clear that these words have a generative relationship. Someone suggested that I learn about the variety of unstressed vowels in English by reading Bollinger's work, but failed to note that Bollinger has argued *against* a generative relationship between them and their putative stressed "counterparts", proposing instead that we think of stressed and unstressed vowels in English as composing separate systems, rather than try to generate one set from the other. I am inclined to agree with that, or at least not to want to fiddle endlessly with English, because there are so many unresolved and potentially misleading problems in the "derivational" morphology of English, mostly resulting from the fact that many of the examples to be brought to bear are either learn-ed or latinate/norman-french (i.e., have a historical but not necessarily synchronic relationship in English) or both. That is, it's not clear that there is really a generative relationship between, say, lobe and lobotomy; and, in this example at least, there's also the possibility of orthographic interference. However, I do admit to infelicitous wording in my statement about English; I regret it; I apologize for it. I said "Languages whose vowels are all schwa in unstressed syllables, presumably like English...." I am of course aware that English has more than one unstressed vowel--I don't have to search the literature for obscure dialects to get that information: in my dialect too the unstressed vowel in "tory" and "obey" is not schwa. This is the statement that jangled the sore nerve. I submit that people who found it hard to believe that anyone could make this claim about English should have trusted their gut reaction, i.e., they *shouldn't* have believed it: it was an elliptical statement that seemed clear to me in the context in which I made it. What I intended to say (and what most of my readers interpreted my words as saying, since the literal interpretation is so unlikely) was this: "languages whose vowels all neutralize to schwa in unstressed syllables, presumably like English...." *This* is a controversial statement worthy of comment and objection. I thought that my inclusion of the qualifying word "presumably" would signal my acknowledgment of this, but I guess it didn't. But the reason that I was moved to venture such a remark is this: in pursuing this research I have gotten the impression that the idea (the "myth") that English vowels all neutralize/reduce to schwa in unstressed syllables is, though little-examined, *widely assumed*. (It's reminiscent, to me at least, of the idea that Eskimo has 200 words for "snow," widely accepted because apparently plausible, but, according to G. Pullum and others, not true). I didn't consciously make this remark just to see if anyone would object to it, though perhaps that was a subliminal motivation, the Imp of the Perverse at work, maybe. However, it is notable that only a few people, of the dozens who responded to my query, commented on my English remark at all, and those few didn't offer any *neutralization* data (except for Coleman, who suggested rEject/rejEct, albeit as if it were the same kind of example as title/titular). The other respondents, presumably (?!), either picked up on "presumably" or accepted my remark as presented. What all this suggests to me is that my suspicion, namely that there is no well-examined body of knowledge about these phemomena in our understanding, i.e., that there is a "myth" abroad here, has some basis. I don't want to wrangle about whether English falls into the category of languages I'm looking for. (And, again, if you want to know why I'm looking for them, ask me for my preliminary paper on the topic, which I presented at the last LSA meeting, or look up the abstract in the meeting handbook.) But I hope this discussion has raised our awareness of how little we know about what happens to vowels in unstressed syllables, and I thank those who sent me references to articles written by people who've looked into the matter (although most of these concern reduction or contrasts between unstressed vowels in English, and not neutralization). I continue to welcome input from as-yet-unheard-from people about languages that do have unstressed vowel *neutralization*. Watch this space for the summary of what I've learned about unstressed vowel neutralization in other languages. Christine Kamprath kamprath@cc.utah.edu (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 09:09:03 PST From: rwojcik@atc.boeing.com Subject: Re: Unstressed Vowels Michaeal Kac mentions that unstressed /o/ in Russian becomes /a/ when unstressed, and unstressed /e/ becomes /i/. In fact, the work on vowel reduction in Slavic languages is quite old, going back to, I believe, to the work of A. Potebnja (1835-1891) and Baudouin de Courtenay (who founded modern phonological theory). Russian has five stressed vowels--i, e, a, o, u--and three unstressed vowels--i, u, a--according to traditional analysis. Controversy has developed around the phonemic analysis of the unstressed vowels. Russian phonologists call reduction of /o/ to [a] akan'e, and reduction of /e/ and /ja/ to [i] ikan'e. (Michael left out reduction of so-called /ja/, which typically corresponds to a stressed [a] preceded by a palatalized consonant or the palatal glide.) Here is a simplified account of what goes on in Russian vowel reduction: all non-high vowels reduce to schwa in unstressed position, and vowels following palatalized consonants assimilate to a fronted position. Russians tend to here reduced vowels as phonemic /a/ and /i/, respectively. There are several complications--e.g. schwa lowers to /a/ in absolute initial and pretonic environments. Moreover, Slavic languages and dialects differ considerably in assimilative and dissimilative vowel harmonies. Richard Rhodes (U.C. Berkeley) has produced a nice analysis of vowel reduction in modern American English, and I suggest that anyone interested in this subject contact him. One interesting feature of his work is the observation that some English speakers have a kind of vowel harmony affecting unstressed vowels, not unlike the Slavic cases. Rick Wojcik (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 01:18:07 EST From: jdbobalj@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Subject: Re: Responses: closed syllables Bruce Hayes work on Yupik is curculating in manuscript form right now and will constitute a chapter (?) in his forthcoming book. There is also the following source: Krauss, M ed (1985) _Yupik Eskimo Prosodic Systems_ Alaska Native Language Center Research Paper Number 7 The Center is in Fairbanks, Alaska (PO BOX 900111, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99775-0120 (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 9:49 GMT From: Richard Ogden Subject: the suffix '-ate' Mike Hammond talks about 'words ending in the suffix -ate' and explains that such words are exceptional because they have a long vowel but are not stressed. What is the linguistic status of '-ate'? It seems to me that it has none, it's an orthographic form which might tell you something about the history of English spelling. So it doesn't seem like a good idea to make statements about the phonology of English on the basis of this sort of 'transcription'. --- are the '-ate's in 'Latinate', 'pontificate' and 'certificate' the same phonological object? Certainly not in my speech; I have different phonetic possibilities for each one of them. So I should be careful in my terminology. Richard Ogden ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0093. Sunday, 24 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0093 Job; CELEX Lexicon Project Total: 273 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 10:24:16 MST From: koontz@alpha.bldr.nist.gov (John E. Koontz) Subject: Intern position at Apple (2) Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 12:30:31 PST From: rkluender@UCSD.EDU (Robert Kluender) Subject: Centre for Lexical Information (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 10:24:16 MST From: koontz@alpha.bldr.nist.gov (John E. Koontz) Subject: Intern position Reposted from Usenet's sci.lang group. Note that I have nothing to do with this offer myself, and don't want to get inquiries, if possible! Forwarded message follows: ----------------- From: jeremy@Apple.COM (jeremy j. b. nguyen) Subject: Summer Internship Avaliable Date: 21 Mar 91 00:23:25 GMT Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA Summer intern position with Apple Computer's Advanced Technology Group This year, within the Information Access research group at Apple, we will have a summer intern position for which readers of this newsgroup might be appropriate. Please pass this information on to qualified students and to your colleagues. Resumes and inquiries should be directed to me at the electronic or U.S. mail addresses given below. Thank you, Jeremy Bornstein Information Access Research Apple Computer Advanced Technology Group 20525 Mariani Ave. MS 76-2C Cupertino, CA 95014 Internet: jeremy@apple.com Applelink: JEREMY Fax: 408-974-9793 ---------------------- Description: Work with senior researcher to survey the academic and commercial state of the art in computer indexing and retrieval of texts in a multilingual setting, with particular emphasis on languages represented with non-Roman character sets or ideograms. Prototype and validate generalized retrieval approaches as part of an on- going research program. Requirements: Graduate or advanced undergraduate student. Familiarity with textual information retrieval literature and technology. C programming experience. Preference will be given to candidates with reading skills in major non-Roman languages, e. g., Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Russian-- the more the better. Experience in linguistics and/or computational linguistics is also a plus. (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 12:30:31 PST From: rkluender@UCSD.EDU (Robert Kluender) Subject: Centre for Lexical Information CELEX -- CENTRE FOR LEXICAL INFORMATION Since 1986, the Dutch national Expertise Centre CELEX (Centre for Lexical Information) has been constructing large electronic databases containing various types of lexical data on present-day Dutch, English and German. CELEX makes this information available to institutes and companies engaged in language and speech research and in the development of language and speech oriented technological systems. Using the specially-developed program FLEX, you can access the databases with ease -- no technical expertise is necessary -- and extract information which matches the detailed requirements you have. In addition, CELEX can offer assistance with respect to related research and development projects. The lexical data are stored in three separate databases. The Dutch database is now complete, and contains information on approximately 400,000 present-day Dutch wordforms. The English database currently contains 100,000 wordforms and will soon by extended with another 50,000 wordforms. The first version of the German database was made available in August 1990 and contains 51,000 wordforms. New information on translation equivalency is currently being developed, along with additional syntactic and semantic subcategorizations to establish semantic links between the three databases. The results of these extensions will be made available in 1991. The information contained in all three databases has been derived from various sources. For the most part, dictionary information has been combined with frequency data taken from large text corpora. By means of various manual and automatic procedures, CELEX has checked, improved and extended the information. On offer now is detailed information on the orthography (spelling), phonology (pronunciation), morphology (word structure: inflectional and derivational), syntax (grammar) and frequency of words. An important feature of the CELEX databases is that all the information in them has been represented to meet the formal and strict requirements of computational applications. The data are contained in a relational DBMS (database management system), a highly flexible tool for storing, updating and manipulating the data; it also allows users to make individual selections from the vast quantities of data included. The CELEX user interface FLEX was specially designed to make it easy for non-technical people to use the databases. Researchers can log in to CELEX, create their own particular lexicons using FLEX, and extract the information for their own use. By selecting specific items from the numerous possibilities presented in the FLEX menus, and by specifying restrictions on the selection of words from the databases, you can define and control the contents of your lexicon. LEXICON TYPES When you begin work with any of the databases, you can normally choose between two so-called `lexicon types': either a LEMMA LEXICON or a a WORDFORM LEXICON. Each lexicon type is based on a specific kind of main entry, a lemma or a headword. The lemma lexicon is the one most similar to an ordinary dictionary since each entry refers to a full set of inflected words, dealt with together under some convenient heading. Dictionaries normally represent lemmas as headwords: the verb lemma `call' represents all the verbal forms which `call' can appear as. In the CELEX English database, the lemma is represented by the conventional dictionary-type headword, while in the Dutch and German databases you can choose between the conventional headword form and the stem form. In contrast, entries in a wordform lexicon deal with each individual flection -- this is where you find `call', `calls', `called', and `calling'. INFORMATION AVAILABLE For both lexicon types you can select any number of columns from the 150 columns available for each lexicon type. The table below summarizes the sort of information you could include in an English lexicon: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Orthography - with or without diacritics (spelling) - with or without word division positions - alternative spellings - number of letters/syllables Phonology - phonetic transcriptions (using SAMPA notation or (pronunciation) Computer Phonetic Alphabet (CPA) notation) with: - syllable boundaries - primary and secondary stress markers - consonant-vowel patterns - number of phonemes/syllables - alternative pronunciations Morphology - Derivational/compositional: (word structure) - division into stems and affixes - flat or hierarchical representations - Inflectional: - stems and their inflections Syntax - word class (grammar) - subcategorizations per word class Frequency - COBUILD frequency* ------------------------------------------------------------------- *These frequency data are based on the COBUILD corpus (sized 18 million words) built up by the University of Birmingham, UK AN EXAMPLE If you create a small English Lemma lexicon (that is, one with only a few columns), you might extract information like this from it: ----------------------------------------------------------------- Headword Pronunciation Morphology: Mor: Class Freq Structure Class ----------- ---------------- ------------------- ----- ----- ---- celebrant "sE-lI-br@nt ((celebrate),(ant)) Vx N 6 celebration %sE-lI-"breI-Sn, ((celebrate),(ion)) Vx N 201 cell "sEl (cell) N N 1210 cellar "sE-l@r* (cellar) N N 228 cellarage "sE-l@-rIdZ ((cellar),(age)) Nx N 0 cellist "tSE-lIst ((cello),(ist)) Nx N 5 cello "tSE-l@U (cello) N N 25 cellular "sEl-jU-l@r* ((cell),(ular)) Nx A 21 celluloid "sEl-jU-lOId ((cellulose),(oid)) Nx N 29 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Similarly, a small English wordforms lexicon giving the flections associated with the lemmas above might look like this: -------------------------------------------------------------- Word Word division Pronunciation Class Type Freq ------------ --------------- ----------------- ----- ---- ---- celebrant cel-e-brant "sE-lI-br@nt N sing 2 celebrants cel-e-brants "sE-lI-br@nts N plu 4 celebration cel-e-bra-tion %sE-lI-"breI-Sn, N sing 144 celebrations cel-e-bra-tions %sE-lI-"breI-Sn,z N plu 57 cell cell "sEl N sing 655 cells cells "sElz N plu 555 cellar cel-lar "sE-l@r* N sing 187 cellars cel-lars "sE-l@z N plu 41 cellarage cel-lar-age "sE-l@-rIdZ N sing 0 cellarages cel-lar-ag-es "sE-l@-rI-dZIz N plu 0 cellist cel-list "tSE-lIst N sing 5 cellists cel-lists "tSE-lIsts N plu 0 cello cel-lo "tSE-l@U N sing 24 cellos cel-los "tSE-l@Uz N plu 1 cellular cel-lu-lar "sEl-jU-l@r* A pos 21 celluloid cel-lu-loid "sEl-jU-lOId N sing 29 -------------------------------------------------------------- GETTING AT THE DATABASES People in the Netherlands can log in to CELEX using SURFnet, the Dutch academic network. People elsewhere can use the available PSDNs (Packet Switching Data Networks). In the UK, JANET users connect first to the PSS gateways in london and Manchester, and then log in to CELEX. In the US, any of the public PSDNs (TYMNET, AUTONET, or UNINET to name just a few) can provide direct access to the CELEX machine. In Germany the national PSDN is called DATEX-P. Most countries have a PSDN which can provide a connection to let you log in and work with the CELEX databases, and several users outside the Netherlands have been able to do it -- there are CELEX users in the USA, the UK, Germany, Belgium and Austria. If, however, the network connections aren't sufficient, then CELEX can prepare the information you require and send it on tape. COSTS AND CONDITIONS Before access to the databases is provided, a licence agreement between the user (usually the user's institution) and CELEX is drawn up, which settles the conditions and rights concerning access to and use of the databases. In most cases, charges are levied for the use of the database. Since the mention of money usually causes alarm in academic circles, it's worth stressing that this is purely a cost-covering exercise to ensure that the system can be maintained, and that more information can be developed. This is Dutch government policy at present: state funds enable a central resource to be set up for the general good in the hope that others who need such resources will not waste time and money in constructing similar facilities. Once set up, those facilities are available at a price far lower than the cost of new development would be. For academic and research purposes, the fees asked are modest. Naturally when commercial use is made of the data, higher fees are appropriate. MORE INFORMATION If you are interested in finding out more about CELEX, then please get in touch with us. We can send you copies of our introductory booklet, plus back issues of the five newsletters so far published, and answer any specific questions you might have. In many cases a `trial' account can be set up to let you look round the databases before making any financial commitment You can send email: CELEX@CELEX.KUN.NL (Internet) CELEX@HNYMPI52 (EARN/BITNET), or write to the following address: CELEX -- Centre for Lexical Information University of Nijmegen Wundtlaan 1 6525 XD NIJMEGEN The Netherlands ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0094. Sunday, 24 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0094 Query; Responses on French, Parser, Cognitive Total: 245 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Sat, 23 Mar 91 21:46:42 EST From: pesetsk@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Subject: Query: objects of adjectives (2) Date: Sat, 23 Mar 91 23:50 PST From: Jonathan Mead Subject: Re: Intro to French Linguistics (3) Date: 24 Mar 91 12:41 +0100 From: Mark Johnson Subject: Parsers for the Macintosh? (4) Date: Sat, 23 Mar 91 10:31 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Re: Responses: Cognitive Linguistics (5) Date: Sat, 23 Mar 91 14:54:50 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Modularity (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 23 Mar 91 21:46:42 EST From: pesetsk@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Subject: Query: objects of adjectives F. Roger Higgins, in his dissertation, noted that certain adjectives like 'proud' may not be used with their direct object when the subject is an inanimate NP like 'Bill's manner': 1a. Bill was proud (of his son). b. Bill's manner was proud (*of his son). 2a. Mary was happy (with the results). b. Mary's words were happy (*with the results). 3a. Sue was careful (to turn on the lights). b. Sue's actions were careful (*to turn on the lights). Are there any languages in which there is a difference in form between 'proud' predicated of 'Bill' and 'proud' predicated of 'Bill's manner', and similarly for the other examples? Particularly interesting to me would be a language in which the two uses of 'proud' were morphologically distinct, but any information would be gratefully received, including languages in which the (b) usage (or the (a) usage?) is impossible. Additionally, if anyone knows of a discussion of this phenomenon besides Higgins' brief remarks, I would be interested in that too. -David Pesetsky pesetsk@athena.mit.edu (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 23 Mar 91 23:50 PST From: Jonathan Mead Subject: Re: Intro to French Linguistics Prof. Rooryck mentions a book by Prof. Y. Roberge about French Linguistics. The book is titled "The Syntactic Recoverability of Null Arguments" and is published by McGill-Queens University Press 3430 McTavish Street, Montreal, QC. H3A-1X9. The book is not an introduction to French Linguistics. It focusses on null arguments, clitic doubling and agreement in a range of languages (mostly Romance). Jonathan Mead (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 24 Mar 91 12:41 +0100 From: Mark Johnson Subject: Parsers for the Macintosh? I've written a syntactic parser that runs on a MacIntosh. It implements the Attribute-Value Logic I developed in my thesis (now a book "Attribute-Value Logic and the Theory of Grammar", CSLI Lecture Notes Series). It is really meant as a grammar development environment, since it has fairly extensive graphics facilities (e.g. trees with mouse-sensitive nodes, attribute-value matrices), and these graphic images can be copied as standard MacIntosh PICT pictures into your favorite word-processor or graphics program. The grammars themselves are essentially what are commonly called "unification-bases grammars"; Stuart Shieber's little book "Introduction to Unification-based Approaches to Grammar" gives a good survey of what such grammars look like. The parser itself comes with a couple of sample grammars; one which is LFG like (using attributes that name grammatical relations like SUBJ and OBJ), and the other is Categorial-Grammar inspired and HPSG-like (with SUBCAT lists, etc.). It is written in CommonLisp, and in fact the parser sans graphics will run on any CommonLisp. You need Apple's MACL if you want to use the graphics, though. That's a superb implementation of CommonLisp, and highly recommended for anyone wanting to do computational linguistics in Lisp on the Mac. (In fact, unless you're after something that runs on a Sun or similar workstation, I'd strongly recommend MACL on a Mac over any other Lisp implementation I know of). I am willing to send the MACL CommonLisp code to anyone interested. MACL does have the capababilty of generating stand-alone applications, so you don't have to own MACL to use the parser. But they are so big that it would be impracticable to send it over the net. If anyone without access to MACL is interested in getting a copy of the parser, send me email. By the way, I must also mention that there are a couple of fairly good Prolog's for the Mac. Prolog is a 5th generation computer language, and it has the advantage that relatively sophisticated parsers can be built from scratch in relatively short time (i.e. a few hourse when you're good at it). If you need a special-purpose parser for some special job, it might make sense to roll your own directly using Prolog. The main drawback is that you don't get the graphic display capabilities that the parser I described above has: at least not unless you implement your own graphics package! The book by Pereira and Shieber "Natural Language Analysis using Prolog" is a good place to start learning about parsing and Prolog; I would recommend AAIS Prolog, Quintus Prolog, and ALS Prolog as prologs for the Mac. These are not as good as the MACL implementation of Lisp, but quite useable. (If anyone knows of a really good Prolog for the Mac, please let me know!). Mark Johnson., on leave from Linguistics and Cognitive Science, Brown University. mj@cs.brown.edu (forwarded automatically). (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 23 Mar 91 10:31 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Re: Responses: Cognitive Linguistics TO: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer FROM: Vicki Fromkin E-mail is really addictive and even though one swears under oath to oneself that one will not respond (or read) stuff which pulls one away from one's work (the impersonal 'one' is really imnpossible isn't it?) -- one cannot seem to stay away. So more trivial: 1) I know no linguists who believe they cannot learn from non-linguists about language or anything else. If it's interesting information you use it; (2) But in my wanderings, apparently unlike yours, it is the non-linguists who most often believe they know all about language and have nothing to learn from linguists. This is beginning to change but it is amazing how people believe that since they know how to speak they know about language (3) Remember the many years and millions of dollars when non-linguists predicted that in 5, then10, then 15 years automatic machine translation of languages would be accomlished? The notion that all one needed to do was put in the two dictionaries and feed in a sentence and 'poof' out comes the sentence in the other language, which in reality Bar Hillel characterized as the 'Language in,garbage out' MT results. My first linguistics 'workshop' was the 1962 Venice NATO workshop on the machine translation of languages and it was amazing how the engineers were sure that linguists who told them language was more complicated than they thought were all stupid. I still tell my Ling 1 classes about the famous or infamous machine translation of "The spirit is willing but the flesh is strong" into Russian as "The vodka is good but the meat is rotten". When John Pierce (*of Bell Labs, then Caltech) headed the committee which finally said the predictions were wrong, the scene shifted to those who were sure they could do automatic speech recognition in a few years time. Oh well, such are the dreamers. (4) finally, the study of languages is certainly a legitimate linguistic pursuit but very different from the study of language; the only theory of a language is a grammar of that language and unless you believe in the Joos view that 'languages can differ in innumerable ways' you must believe that an individual grammar must be based on a theory of grammar which must account for all and only the grammars of all and only the possible languages in the world. I really think I use this 'bulletin board' as a way of postponing the things I really have to do like income taxes and preparing for my next quarter course. So forgive a procrastinator and I hope you are stronger than I and can just delete a file without reading it. A lot of our (my) discussion is pretty silly. But fun! Vicki Fromkin (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 23 Mar 91 14:54:50 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Modularity Professor Fromkin's arguments for modularity strike me as uncompelling for a very simple reason. In order to show that some aspects of linguistic structure are modular, we would, I think, have to show how this contrasts with what she dismisses as "general cognitive ability". Or, if "general cognitive ability" is itself modularized, then again there is nothing special about the allegedly special linguistic faculties. I think, with all due respect, that the advocates of modularity confuse very general (and entirely believable) results that indicate that cognitive abilities are not a single undifferentiated "cognitive faculty" with highly specific (and to my knowledge non-existent) arguments for a certain specific view of the organization of small parts of language (such as syntax) held by a small minority of linguists and a number of cognitive scientists. And, of course, the position that IS contradicted by the data (viz., there IS a single undifferentiated cognitive faculty) is not what the majority of linguists who dispute (or ignore) the work on modularity hold. It is just another in a distinguished line of straw men. And, again with all due respect, it seems to me that the current attempts to link neurological and psychological results with linguistic ideas about modularity, are bound for the same ultimate destination as the once-celebrated arguments for the reality of transformational grammar in real-time psychological processes, or those for the reality of SPE-style underlying representations in phonology, etc. If the neurological and psychological data turn out not to support the linguist theories, as I conjecture, it will not be the theories that will be given up. Rather, we will suddenly discover that such "external" data are not as relevant to linguistics as they are now claimed to be. And, if, as is inevitable, the linguistic theories are themselves replaced by other, more fashionable, ones (for purely linguistic reasons!), then, the now-heralded neurological and psychological results will, again, be forgotten. (6) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 23 Mar 91 21:14:42 EST From: pesetsk@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Subject: Teenage Mutant Ninja Cognitive Locality Conditions Alexis Manaster-Ramer writes in Linguist 2.0090: >It strikes [me] as bizarre that someone would insist that functionalists, >or cognitive linguists, or whoever, should have to explain locality >principles before they can be taken seriously. Fortunately, no one has made this bizarre assertion here (just as no one made the assertions concerning non-linguists that you attributed to Poser). I do think that "functionalists or cognitive linguists, or whoever, should have to explain locality principles before they can be taken seriously" as explainers of locality principles. Ditto for any other topic, from discourse to phonetics. Otherwise, we're in the kingdom of vaporware. -David Pesetsky ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0095. Monday, 25 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0095 Query; Bibliography; Vowels & Stress Total: 195 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Sun, 24 Mar 91 15:44:50 -0500 From: brownes@acf5.NYU.EDU (Scott C. Browne) Subject: Downloading Dissertations? (2) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 1991 20:06:09 GMT From: BLACK_PD@DARWIN.NTU.EDU.AU (Paul Black, Education, NT Uni, Darwin) Subject: Applied Linguistics Bibliography Available Through FTP (3) Date: Sun, 24 Mar 91 13:26 MST From: Mike Hammond Subject: Syllable-sensitive Stress Systems (4) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 10:41 GMT From: John Coleman Subject: RE: Vowels and Stress (5) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 10:47 GMT From: John Coleman Subject: RE: Vowels and Stress (6) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 10:53 GMT From: John Coleman Subject: RE: Vowels and Stress (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 24 Mar 91 15:44:50 -0500 From: brownes@acf5.NYU.EDU (Scott C. Browne) Subject: Downloading Dissertations? How can I get a hold of some long linguistic documents/dissertations on-line, so that I don't have to stand at a Xerox machine for 2 hours spending my dimes and instead can send them to a local NYU laser printer? The items I seek are: 1. May, R.(1977). _The Grammar of Quantification_. Doctoral Dissertation:MIT. (distributed by the Indiana University Lingusitics Club, Bloomington). 2. Huang,C.-T.J.(1982b). _Logical Relations in Chinese and the Theory of Grammar_. MIT doctoral dissertation. If anyone knows whether I can do this or not and how, please enlighten me. Also if anyone knows how I can get a hold of these manuscripts in a different manner, please let me know. Thanks. Scott brownes@acf5.nyu.edu (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 1991 20:06:09 GMT From: BLACK_PD@DARWIN.NTU.EDU.AU (Paul Black, Education, NT Uni, Darwin) Subject: Applied Linguistics Bibliography Available Through FTP NOW AVAILABLE through anonymous FTP from DARWIN.NTU.EDU.AU: Bibliography of Applied Linguistics and Aboriginal Education by Paul Black and Chris Walton Centre for Studies of Language in Education Northern Territory University This is an indexed bibliography of some 3000 items, including works relating to Australian situations as well as more widely known publications. It is also available in printed form (Aust $20) and in several diskette formats (Aust $10 to $15). For more information contact Chris(tine) Walton (walton_ce@darwin.ntu.edu.au). (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 24 Mar 91 13:26 MST From: Mike Hammond Subject: Syllable-sensitive Stress Systems Alexis Manaster-Ramer recently requested information about stress systems that distinguish syllables containing long vowels from closed syllables from open syllables with short vowels. I responded to this noting that English nouns might be an example. In my discussion I mentioned that the suffix -ate was exceptional. Richard Ogden questions whether -ate has "linguistic status" and maintains that it's [merely?] an orthographic form. Here are the facts about stress in nouns: A heavy penult will attract stress in English nouns, whether it's closed or contains a long vowel. Else stress goes on the antepenult. Am'erica ag'enda ar'oma There are two classes of counterexamples. First, there are words that get stressed on a light penult anyway. Kent'ucky van'illa ban'ana Then there is a class of words where the heavy penult is skipped, but where it's possible to argue that the surface penult is the underlying ultima (See SPE.) g'alaxy c'ylinder /galakty/ /sIlindr/ The final syllable can also attract stress. If the final syllable is long, it will get stressed. kangar'oo Tenness'ee anecd'ote If the final syllable is closed, however, it may or may not attract stress. h'elix vs. n'arth'ex t'empest vs. g'ymn'ast s'ubject vs. 'ins'ect Since long vowels attract stress in ultima or penult, but closed syllables attract stress consistently in penult, but inconsistently in ultima, this suggests that there is a three-way weight distinction. In my original posting, I noted that the suffix -ate is an exception to the generalization that long vowels always attract stress in final position. For example, there are a number of noun-verb pairs, where -ate surfaces stressless in the noun. noun verb d'eligate d'elig'ate c'orrelate c'orrel'ate 'estimate 'estim'ate s'yndicate s'yndic'ate Richard Ogden takes issue with the claim that -ate is a suffix. He offers the observation that the following three words have different "phonetic possibilities": Latinate, pontificate, and certificate. For me, these are pronounced as follows: Latinate, adj. [l'aetIn'et] pontificate, verb [p'ant'If@k'et] certificate, noun [s@rt'If@k@t] These are consistent with the generalization as stated. The long vowel surfaces stressless only with the noun. (There may be other pronunciations of these. For example, I don't know what happens to them in Canada.) [There are exceptions to the claim that -ate is an exception, e.g. c'andid'ate.] In any case, I don't see any reason to deny -ate morphemehood. For me, its pronunciation is rule-governed. Even if it weren't completely rule-governed, that wouldn't be sufficient to maintain that it's only an orthographic unit. For me, the question of whether it's a morpheme hinges on whether there are any linguistic generalizations to be captured by claiming that it is. The distribution of stress on final syllables in nouns would seem to be such a generalization. mike hammond (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 10:41 GMT From: John Coleman Subject: RE: Vowels and Stress > An example suggested by J. Coleman, title/titular, is also not > relevant to my query, because the vowel "counterparts" do not have a > stress difference. That is a theory-internal statement. They fall in different stress-patterns, and are different in intensity and various other dimensions of quality. So to say they "do not have a stress difference" is a theory-internal conflation of physically distinct categories. --- John Coleman (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 10:47 GMT From: John Coleman Subject: RE: Vowels and Stress > An example like lobe/lobotomy might be relevant if it were really > clear that these words have a generative relationship. Other examples of this quantity-related alternation (i.e. /ow/ ~ /o/ in British English, and I guess /ow/ ~ /a/ in some American dialects) are node ~ nodule, phot/ow/ ~ phot/o/grapher and also phot/@/graph, of course. The `photograph' type seems clearly to be generative in the broad sense (productive, predictable, rule-governed, synchronic relation etc.), although whether one form derives from the other or both from some less specified form is a question on which different theories will divide. --- John Coleman (6) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 10:53 GMT From: John Coleman Subject: RE: Vowels and Stress > Coleman, who suggested rEject/rejEct, albeit as if it were the same > kind of example as title/titular They are both examples of pairs of words usually regarded as members of a generative relation. That's what you asked for. I know perfectly well they are different kinds of examples ... !!! If I'm to spend a little of my time thinking about problems raised by other people's work I could do with a little less acerbity from whoever originally raised the issue. (It's in order from everyone else, though.) --- John Coleman ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0096. Monday, 25 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0096 Cognitive Linguistics Total: 263 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Sun, 24 Mar 91 10:45 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Re: Responses on Cognitive (2) Date: Sun, 24 Mar 1991 10:53 PST From: Scott Delancey Subject: autonomous linguistics (3) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 1991 13:01:11 GMT From: ADA612@CSC.ANU.EDU.AU (AVERY ANDREWS) Subject: Autonomy/Cognitive Linguistics (4) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 11:48 GMT From: John Coleman Subject: Comment (5) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 07:59:45 EST From: "Bruce E. Nevin" Subject: connectionist/cognitivist TR (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 24 Mar 91 10:45 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Re: Responses on Cognitive more grist for the mill department: There are two, not one modularity questions: (1) language (or language faculty) is independent, autonomous, genetically pre-wired, non derivative of non- linguistic cognitive abilities, and (2) within the grammar, components are independent of each other, i.e. syntactic principles or constraints are distinct from semantic, phonological etc, in organization, structure, function and processing. My last remarks referred to the 1st question. Both are empirical questions requiring evidence but not necessarily the same evidence. One hypothesis can be true while the other is false. Vicki Fromkin (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 24 Mar 1991 10:53 PST From: Scott Delancey Subject: autonomous linguistics A couple of earlier contributions to the "cognitive linguistics" debate left me fighting the temptation to submit a symmetrical but probably not terribly productive rejoinder along the lines of "when these formalists have something useful to say about really interesting problems like split ergativity, free word order, grammaticalization, or the alternation of full NP's and anaphoric devices in connected discourse, they'll have something worth taking seriously ..." Fortunately, some recent contributions seem to be probing at the same point less contentiously. Poser and Everett, among others, seem to treat "cognitive" and "functionalist", in this context, as synonymous. This is both correct and incorrect (ass any functionalist or cognitive grammarian would predict, of course; this is how catgorization works); the essential point in which it is correct is that all of the various research programs (there are at least three clearly distinguishable ones) which fall under one or the other of these terms share an unwillingness to accept a priori the assumption that significant aspects of morphology and syntax (phonology is likely a different story) are to be explained only in terms of language-specific formal priniciples. Obviously researchers with this set of background assumptions will not feeled inclined to spend (i.e., from this perspective, waste) much time or effort looking for or at the sort of formal conditions on grammars which Pesetsky or Poser are more interested in. I think there is a widespread sense within this community that many of these phenomena (e.g. locality conditions) are artifacts of the formal approach: if you approach the data expecting to find phenomena which have purely structural explanations, that's likely to be what you end up seeing in the data. In this connection I have a comment on someone's suggestion (Manaster-Ramer, I think--or maybe it was that dog?) that if we all just pursue our own research programs, the truth will out, and those who were pursuing false leads will see their error and return to the light. I hope, and half believe, that as a practical proposition this is probably true, but it certainly doesn't logically have to be. One of the arguments for the functionalist research program (articulated in print by Givon in On Understanding Grammar) is that it is indeed subject to such disconfirmation, while the structuralist (i.e. formalist) program is immune. If we start with the assumption that most of the interesting facts about linguistic structure can be explained in terms that are based in general cognition or communicative function, and we are wrong, then as research proceeds we will be left with a more and more obvious and irreducible body of facts for which no such explanations can be found, and will finally be forced to conclude that these data reflect a set of purely linguistic principles of structure. But if we assume from the beginning that our data will be susceptible of purely structural explanation, there is no incentive to look for more "explanatory" explanations (in the sense that George Miller refers to in the June 1990 number of Language), and no inevitable crisis in the research program that will force linguists to consider alternative possibilities. Scott DeLancey University of Oregon (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 1991 13:01:11 GMT From: ADA612@CSC.ANU.EDU.AU (AVERY ANDREWS) Subject: Autonomy/Cognitive Linguistics Three bits' worth on autonomy/cognitive linguistics: 1. Things that look pretty autonomous now might look a lot less so if we knew more about how action is coordinated & parsed. I would expect NL syntax to be more closely related the low-level organization of action than to higher-level strategy & tactics. I'd also suggest that the facilities that pre-hominids must have had for parsing the behavior of their associates, predators & prey (if any) would be the most likely pre-adaptation for syntactic parsing. 2. Autonomous adaptations for efficient language-learning via a constrained UG have a problem in getting started, in that they won't confer a selective advantage on their possessors unless these happen to be members of a population using languages that already happen to be appropriately constrained, which isn't likely to happen often, if at all. So I'd suggest that the quirky features of UG are due to inherent & perhaps accidental properties of the facilities that were co-opted to support language use, rather than UG being the way it is in order to make languages more learnable (in slogan from, language is the way it is because that's what happens to be easily learnable by humans, not in order to make it learnable). The language-learning adaptations would consist in a greater allocation of resources to the facilities being used for language, including practice time, physical space, etc. 3. Nonetheless, although I doubt that any strong form of autonomy is actually true, I think it has the good effect of encouraging people to look for and develop things that are bizarre and unexpected, and, I hope, fundamentally instructive, such as the vagaries of quirky case in Icelandic, or Pesetsky's LF-moved vs. LF-stationary Wh-words. Non-autonomist work faces and periodically succumbs to the threat that workers will just use language to corroborate what they already think they know about human nature, rather than to actually try to find anything out. Language being such a large and confusing subject, people can find pretty much anything they are looking for in it, but the autonomist position tells you only to look for the unexpected. -- Avery Andrews (ada612@csc.anu.edu.au) (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 11:48 GMT From: John Coleman Subject: Comment Bill Poser writes: > On the general point of sophistication in this area, I'm well > aware of the work of many AI people, and that some Natural > Language Processing people ... are quite sophisticated > linguistically. But the gap overall is still quite large. And I > would say it is even larger when one looks at morphology, > phonology and phonetics, closer to my own area. ... > An example from phonetics is > the statement in Douglas O'Shaughnessy's book _Speech > Communication: Human and Machine_ (p. 62) that "Except for trills > and ingressive sounds ... English provides good examples of > sounds used in various languages...", which gives the misleading > impression that the phonetic inventory of English covers most > known speech sounds. In addition to trills and ingressives, > English lacks glottal ejectives, rounded front vowels, > retroflexes, uvulars, bilabial fricatives, pharyngeal fricatives, > nasal fricatives, and pharyngealization, among others. If we > consider distinctive oppositions we may add to this list still > other categories, such as aspiration, nasalization, and voiceless > sonorants. If we are not considering distinctive oppositions at first, then Poser's statement that "English lacks glottal ejectives, rounded front vowels, ..." is even wronger than O'Shaughnessy's, so long as we're talking about phonetics, as Poser says. Trills, ingressives, ejectives, rounded front vowels, retroflexes, uvulars, bilabial fricatives, pharyngeal fricatives, nasal fricatives, and pharyngealization can all be observed in the speech of English speakers, and some of these are actually regular in some varieties of English. > this statement [O'Shaughnessy's] and others like it show a very > limited knowledge of the range of speech sounds and inventories > in the world's languages. Poser may know a lot of segmental phonological analyses of "the sounds of the world's languages", but that is not the same thing as "the range of speech sounds ... in the world's languages". --- John Coleman (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 07:59:45 EST From: "Bruce E. Nevin" Subject: connectionist/cognitivist TR [A cross-post of potential interest to this distribution, from [Neuron Digest Saturday, 23 Mar 1991 Volume 7 : Issue 14 [ FYI the digest header includes the following notice: [Send submissions, questions, address maintenance and requests for old issues to ["neuron-request@hplabs.hp.com" or "{any backbone,uunet}!hplabs!neuron-request" [Use "ftp" to get old issues from hplpm.hpl.hp.com (15.255.176.205). Bruce Nevin bn@bbn.com -=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=- cut -=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=- Subject: TR - Connectionism and Developmental Theory From: Kim Plunkett Date: Fri, 22 Feb 91 11:47:37 +0100 The following technical report is now available. For a copy, email "psyklone@aau.dk" and include your ordinary mail address. Kim Plunkett +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Connectionism and Developmental Theory Kim Plunkett and Chris Sinha University of Aarhus, Denmark Abstract The main goal of this paper is to argue for an ``epigenetic developmental interpretation'' of connectionist modelling of human cognitive processes, and to propose that parallel dis- tributed processing (PDP) models provide a superior account of developmental phenomena than that offered by cognitivist (symbolic) computational theories. After comparing some of the general characteristics of epigeneticist and cognitivist theories, we provide a brief overview of the operating prin- ciples underlying artificial neural networks (ANNs) and their associated learning procedures. Four applications of different PDP architectures to developmental phenomena are described. First, we assess the current status of the debate between symbolic and connectionist accounts of the process of English past tense formation. Second, we introduce a connectionist model of concept formation and vocabulary growth and show how it provides an account of aspects of semantic development in early childhood. Next, we take up the problem of compositionality and structure dependency in connectionist nets, and demonstrate that PDP models can be architecturally designed to capture the structural princi- ples characteristic of human cognition. Finally, we review a connectionist model of cognitive development which yields stage-like behavioural properties even though structural and input assumptions remain constant throughout training. It is shown how the organisational characteristics of the model provide a simple but precise account of the equilibration of the processes of accommodation and assimilation. The authors conclude that a coherent epigenetic-developmental interpretation of PDP modelling requires the rejection of so-called hybrid-architecture theories of human cognition. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0097. Wednesday, 27 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0097 Queries; Language Families Total: 146 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 14:31:10 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: WordPerfect/LaserJet fonts? (2) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 1991 20:45:00 -0500 From: BELMORE@Vax2.Concordia.CA Subject: IT (interliner processing software) (3) Date: Sun, 24 Mar 91 10:52:10 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Language Families (4) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 14:38 EST From: Herb Stahlke <00HFSTAHLKE%BSUVAX1.BITNET@UICVM.uic.edu> Subject: RE: Language Families; Conferences (5) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 14:24:26 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Popper's View on Falsifiability (1) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 14:31:10 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: WordPerfect/LaserJet fonts Does anybody know how to get phonetic symbols, and in general how to generate special characters, in WordPerfect that would then print on HP LaserJet (and hopefully that would appear on the screen)? (2) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 1991 20:45:00 -0500 From: BELMORE@Vax2.Concordia.CA Subject: IT (interliner processing software) Is there anyone out there who has had experience in using this. It was de- veloped by the Summer Institute of Linguistics and I have MS DOS version 1.1c. Somehow I can't get the program to accept my data. I'd be happy to send more details if you're willing to hear me out. (3) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 24 Mar 91 10:52:10 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Language Families I am gratified by the response to my postings about hypothetical language families, much of it in the form of messages directly to m y email address, but raising more general issues. Actually, the one issue that has been raised so far, but by several people, is the propriety of working on, say, Nostratic when Afroasiatic is far from done, or on Sino-Caucasian when Sino-Tibetan remains murky. This is the first substantive issue regarding this kind of work that I have seen raised, so I would like to address it briefly here. The answer is simple. Indo-European was not reconstructed on the basis of prior reconstructions of its various branches. Indeed, to this day, we do not know what the correct branching is for IE, for the most part. Balto-Slavic remains, for example, a controversial hypothesis, and there is certainly no consensus on what 2 (or 3) languages PIE broke up into when it first broke up. Likewise, there is little consensus on the subclassification of the much smaller Uto-Aztecan family, yet no one has ever said that we would first have to settle those issues before postulating a PUA language or even reconstructing it. Likewise, on a smaller scale, we do not doubt the reality of English and the common descent of all English dialects, yet certainly do not have a completely clear cladogram (branching diagram) of said dialects. And, indeed, the process of constructing these intermediate nodes can, in most cases, only be started once the reality of the highest node is granted. By the same token, incidentally, there is considerable unclarity about how to classify the Nostratic branches. While there has been some talk about a Proto-East-Nostratic, it is all very vague and I think premature. Nor is there any great philosophy in all this, I suspect. It just a result of accidents of history that some branchings leave much clearer evidence of having occurred than others. And the clarity of the evidence has nothing (or little) to do with the age of the branchings. (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 14:38 EST From: Herb Stahlke <00HFSTAHLKE%BSUVAX1.BITNET@UICVM.uic.edu> Subject: RE: Language Families; Conferences As an Africanist who got started during the Greenberg-Africanist wars of the sixties, I'm puzzled by the complete absence of reference to G's African linguistic classification. The arguments then and now parallel each other closely. Twenty-five years after the publication of _The Languages of Africa_ his work stands up well. The four major families--Afro-Asiatic, Nilo-Saharan, Niger-Kordofanian, and Khoi-San--have not been broken up. There has been some interesting reclassification within them, such as Bennett and Sterk's work on South Central Niger-Congo and Bender's proposed Omotic branch of Afro-Asiatic, but this is work that was facilitated by Greenberg's overall classification. Not being an Americanist, I won't try to evaluate his work on this hemisphere, but his track record is certainly impressive. I also have seen very little discussion of his methodological contributions, just blunt rejection of the methods. Clearly what he does is not traditional comparative reconstruction and should not be evaluated as such. If anything, mass comparison looks more like an archeological method than a linguistic method, if such an analogy helps. The bottom line is that his methods worked in Africa. I would be surprised to find that they did not work elsewhere. Herb Stahlke Ball State University (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 14:24:26 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Popper's View on Falsifiability I was asked for a specific reference to Popper's own admission that falsifiability does not ultimately work as a criterion for scientificity. I refer to the index to his book, The logic of scientific discovery, under Falsifiability, never final or conclusive, which refers us to pp. 42 and 50. On p. 42 he says "...it is always possible to find some way of evading falsification. ... It is even possible without logical inconsistency to adopt the position of simply refusing to acknowledge any falsifying experience whatsover. Admittedly, scientists do not usually proceed in this way, but logically such a procedure is possible." To be sure, he then proceeds to write a whole book about how scientists DO proceed, but he never succeeds in giving a water-tight definition, to my way of thinking. And even if he did, it would not, given the passages cited, be merely a definition in terms of falsifiability, but rather in terms of a specific empirical method, as he calls it. So, my point is two-fold. To the extent that he succeeds, Popper is not defining science MERELY in terms of falsifiability. And, it is not at all clear that he ever manages to define precisely what it is that scientists do NOT do, even though they are logically entitled to do it. Specifically, on p. 82, Popper admits he has no definite definition of the kinds of stratagems (as he calls them) that scientists must avoid if falsification of false theories is to be possible. "The list [he earlier gave such a list] makes no claim to completeness: it must be left to the investigator ... to guard constantly against the temptation to employ new ... stratagems... ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0098. Wednesday, 27 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0098 Cognitive Linguistics: Last Posting on this Topic Total: 209 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 09:36:54 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Response to Pesetsky, Fromkin, and Poser (2) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 09:33:57 CST From: John Goldsmith Subject: MT (3) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 09:23 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Re: Cognitive Linguistics (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 09:36:54 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Response to Pesetsky, Fromkin, and Poser (1) Is it not remarkable that, instead of arguing about the propriety of the term 'cognitive linguistics', we are debating cognitive linguistics, functional and non-modular approaches, the study of language by non-linguists, and now (with Professor Fromkin's latest remarks) the nitty-gritty issue of languages vs. language (the latter of which can supposedly only be studied in terms of something called grammar)? Isn't it grand? (2) Professors Pesetsky, Fromkin, and (earlier) Poser wish to bew understood as welcoming the contributions of non-linguists. I am sorry if I questioned the scope of this welcome, but now I am convinced, and if any linguist ever raises the issue, I will refer to one of you heavy guns. (3) Professors Pesetsky and (earlier) Poser wish to be understood as granting the viability of cognitive and functional and non- modular approaches to linguistic THEORY. I emphasize THEORY because it has often struck me that people will allow the legitimacy of ANYTHING in linguistics so long as it leaves theory in safe hands. I myself, remembering the days when linguistic theory was the responsibility (in this country) of the leading Athabaskanist, the leading Algonquianist, the leading Uto-Aztecanist, and (somewhat later) the leading Semiticist, have always found this the only real problem with the state of the field in our times. So I am gratified again. (4) I stand corrected specifically on the issue of locality. From now, no one need to labor under the mistaken assumption (as I did for so long) that people may work on SYNTACTIC THEORY and BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY even if they do not account for locality phenomena as their first order of business. I am so sorry about the misunderstanding. But you don't know the relief I feel now that it has been corrected. (5) I am puzzled by Professor Fromkin's remarks about the early days of machine translation. I take it, on a second reading, that her point is that machine translation is impossible either without a well worked-out linguistic theory or without a theory that is based on autonomous syntax, modularity, etc. And that there have been many engineers and computer scientists who have had trouble seeing that. I agree that some kind of theory is required, but it is not at all clear what kind. There certainly have been attempts to base computer analysis and translation of NLs on transformational grammar which (despite the overwhelming linguistic and psychological evidence for the correctness of this model!) yielded essentially nothing (although at least one such project continues). On the other hand, the most (apparently) successful work in this area has been based on theories and models which are heavily indebted to non-linguists and the work itself has often been done by non-linguists (let me recall the names of Shieber, Kaplan, Tomita, etc., as well as the fact that all such work is very firmly grounded in earlier work on parsing, logic, and formal grammars, almost none of which was done by linguists). Without denying the contributions to this area of such great names in linguistics as Pollard and Sag, they remain the exceptions rather than the rule. And, it is also the case that, certainly in practice and increasingly in theory (as in the work of Karen Jensen and Nelson Correa, for example), people who work on NLs with computers find themselves compelled to give up many of the ideas about the organization of language, including certainly modularity and even the old standby, the competence/ performance distinction. (6) I was shocked to see Professor Fromkin revive the idea that there is a contrast between the study of languages and the study of language (the latter being according to her necessarily something you do in terms of developing theories of grammar). As I pointed out, the heyday of American linguistics was the time when such individious distinctions were NOT made. And I am NOT referring to poor Joos who incidentally is the ONLY person ever quoted on the subject of languages varying without limit and not in a book or an article but in a brief editorial note (if I am not mistaken). I am referring to, need I say it, Sapir, Whorf, and Bloomfield. I read some years ago a thing by Jonas Salk deploring the lack of communication between theory and experimental people in his field, and I laughed, for what he considered a problem to be remedied is apparently viewed by many linguists as a major advance to be gloried in and perpetuated. No, I do not agree that the study of language is different from the study of languages, except to the extent that the former seems to involve ONE language and the latter more than one. Nor I do agree that grammars are the only, the preferred, or even a reasonable approach to theorizing about language. It would be a priori surprising if they were, since grammars were designed originally as descriptive devices, without any trace of the kind of mechanisms that people usually postulate when they do theory. For example, grammars do not account for real-time generation and understanding of utterances, they do not account for those aspects of language whose only explanation lies in history, those which depend on anatomy, etc. Grammars depend on the performance/competence distinction, yet certain linguistic phenomena cross this divide. For example, the very existence of a lexical-grammatical construction for correcting oneself (which differs in its lexical AND syntactic form from language to language and dialect to dialect) makes no sense if you assume that grammars are a self-contained mental box. (The data are obvious. Some English speakers say ERROR, CORRECTION rather; others say ERROR, at least CORRECTION. How's that for parameter setting?) On a strict interpretation of what is meant by postulating grammars as mental components, there should be no such constructions therein, since the (ideal) grammar should have no cognizance of the fact that (real) people sometimes make mistakes or change their minds. (7) Going back to the first point, it seems to that it is not an accident that a whole set of issues got raised (and none of them terminological, notice!), for, as I said before, the real issue is who, if anyONE, is to set the agenda for theoretical linguistics. I am gratified, as I said, that far abler scholars than I have given such ringing endorsements of the pluralism which I advocated, and that I was utterly wrong in thinking even for a moment that anyone intended to assert the primacy of linguists over non-linguists or of one kind of linguistics over another. (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 09:33:57 CST From: John Goldsmith Subject: MT I'm not going to get into the "cognitive linguistics" argument -- the matter is far too complex to be treated in a few paragraphs -- but I would like to point out to Vicki Fromkin and our group that work and workers in MT (machine translation, aka automatic translation) have been taking it on the chin for decades from generative linguists for reasons that escape me -- I have some speculation, but maybe Vicki can help on this score. I think us linguists' criticism of work on MT is off the mark, way off the mark, for three reasons: MT linguists, in quite goodly numbers, ARE linguists, just trying to do the best job they can, using the same linguistic tools and analysis that the rest of us have and work on. I have worked closely with a number of MT linguists who also write papers on parasitic gaps, Romance clitics, rule ordering, and so on. Second, and allusions to amusing MT errors of the 1950s notwithstanding, MT in the 1990s works, and it pays. There are well over a half a dozen working companies or institutions that have developed systems that work every day. My general impression is that most LSA members (i.e., us) are not aware of this. As Chomsky might say: it's a fact, look it up. Third, while there may have been some overblown hype thiry, thirty-five years ago in the MT business, the same is true throughout the umbrella group of cognitive science, and we can go on to all of the social sciences for more of the hype. Best to evaluate the work, not the hype. I have a review coming out in Journal of Linguistics of Jonathan Kaye's new textbook in phonology (a good book, incidentally) in which I point out much the same thing, in response to some gratuitous side remarks of Jonathan's about MT. So, why is there so much hostility, and so little familiarity, among linguists concerning MT? One speculative hypothesis, and Vicki may have something to add on this: we might recall that generative grammar was first developed at MIT in Vic Yngve's MT lab in the early 1950s, where Chomsky, Matthews, and Lees, among a number of others, were working. There was, for what seem in retrospect to be quite complex reasons, a parting of the ways early on. I am under the impression that the parting of the ways between generative grammar and MT spring directly from this early conflict. (Interested linguists should note that Fritz Newmeyer's brief account of this early period does not give a complete picture of how that era is recalled by a number of the participants.) (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 09:23 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Re: Cognitive Linguistics I apologize for starting a discussion on 'terminology'. A rose is a rose is a etc.... I say this because not only do I recoil at what I consider an arrogant use of the term 'cognitive linguistics' (arrogant because it defines cognitive linguistics to exclude other views than their own) but at the pejorative connotation attached to the term 'formalisms' and 'formal linguistics' by various colleagues. The view held by 'formalists' (like myself although I would never call myself that) is one accepted in science generally -- e.g. that expressed by Albert E himself in ESSAYS IN SCIENCE p 54, 69: "When we say that we have succeded in understanding a gorup of natural processes, we invariably mean that a constructive theory has been found which covers the processes in question. ... The theoretical scientists is compelled in an increasing degree to be guided by purely formal consioderations in his search for a theory, because the physical experience of the experimenter cannot lift him into the regions of highest abstraction. The predominantly inductive methods appropriate to the youth of science are giving place to tentative deduction." I quote AE because I figure he at least will be listened to, although I am sure that there are those who feel that quoting scripture or authority is a poor sort of argument. Also it may be inappropriate to quote from the physical scientists if Chomsky is right in saying linguistics is in a pre-Galilean period.(see Chomsky, LANGUAGE AND POLITICS, PP 407-19) ANyway, I still think that what is often referred to as 'formal linguistics' is really 'theoretical linguistics' in the sense of the attempt to construct a theory which is explicit and explanatory. V Fromkin ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0099. Thursday, 28 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0099 Responses Total: 275 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Sun, 24 Mar 91 07:49:01 PST From: leverg@bend.UCSD.EDU (Barbara Levergood) Subject: Albanian (2) Date: Sun, 24 Mar 91 19:45 EST From: Y knot Subject: Re: Queries (3) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 11:17 GMT From: John Coleman Subject: RE: Transfixation (4) Date: Tue, 26 Mar 91 09:06:14 +1000 From: bert peeters Subject: Middle voice (5) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 22:05 MST From: WDEREUSE@ccit.arizona.edu Subject: Re: Kikongo (6) Date: Tue, 26 Mar 1991 14:02 CST From: Tim Montler Subject: Phonetics Fonts for Word Perfect and Laserjet (7) Date: Tue, 26 Mar 91 15:29:21 EST From: jdbobalj@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Subject: Re: Dissertations (8) Date: Wed, 27 Mar 91 10:24 MET From: "NORVAL SMITH (UVAALF::NSMITH)" Subject: RE: SIL, Phonetic Fonts, LINGUISTS Nameserver (9) Date: Wed, 27 Mar 1991 07:45 PST From: Thomas E Payne Subject: Re: Word Perfect (10) Date: Wed, 27 Mar 91 10:10 CST From: Harriet Ottenheimer Subject: Re: IT (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 24 Mar 91 07:49:01 PST From: leverg@bend.UCSD.EDU (Barbara Levergood) Subject: Albanian RE: Albanian Leonard Newmark works on Albanian. you can contact him at newmark@bend.ucsd.edu (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 24 Mar 91 19:45 EST From: Y knot Subject: Re: Queries With regard to Alison Henry's query on subject-verb agreement, here's an example in English. Existential sentences permit violations of subject-verb agreement in favor of the singular only if "be" is contracted: (1) There's/There're lots of solutions to that problem. cf: (2) *There is lots of solutions to that problem. Susan Fischer (3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 11:17 GMT From: John Coleman Subject: RE: Transfixation Re: transfixation English: woman (w[u]m[@]n) women (w[i]m[i]n) and other VH examples? Singhalese: I have some transcriptions showing long-domain VH-type oppositions that might be interpreted as transfixation: Rough reproductions of my transcriptions are: (sorry I don't know what bits of these correspond to what morphemes): It's a cock: eikakukule(k) It's a hen: eikikikilia They are cockerels: ungkukulo They are hens: ungkikiljo It's a boy: ejakulle(k) It's a girl: ejakelle(k) It's a dog: eikabalek It's a bitch: eikibelja(k) It's a (m.) bird: eikakurulle(k) It's a (f.) bird: eikikirilja These reproductions are so rough that I wouldn't like them to be used as they are for analysis. If these data are useful to anyone I could send the transcriptions by post. --- John Coleman (4) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 26 Mar 91 09:06:14 +1000 From: bert peeters Subject: Middle voice To Scott C. Browne: I'm not a specialist of English, but I remember having read something about the English middle voice, with some biblio, in Jan van Voorst, Event Structure (Current issues in linguistic theory, 59), Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 1988. Hope this information, limited though it may be, is useful. Bert Peeters (University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia) (5) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 22:05 MST From: WDEREUSE@ccit.arizona.edu Subject: Re: Kikongo Re: Kikongo. A former student of mine, has a good knowledge of Kikongo. He's not a specialist in Bantu linguistics, but is a native speaker, and knows the language well enough to transcribe from tapes and to analyse morphologically. His name and address are: Mr. Yeno Matuka Ball State University Department of English Muncie, IN 47306, tel. (317) 285-8580 Willem J. de Reuse, Dept. of Anthropology, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (6) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 26 Mar 1991 14:02 CST From: Tim Montler Subject: Phonetics Fonts for Word Perfect and Laserjet I have developed a set of downloadable phonetics soft fonts in various typefaces, sizes, and styles for the HP Laserjet series II (IIP, IID, III). We are using the fonts to typeset the Southwest Journal of Linguistics, which is done mainly in 12 point then reduced to around 84% producing a type quality comparable to any linguistics journal. The phonetics symbols occupy characters 128-245 and follow closely the order and recommendations of Pullum and Ladusaw's Phonetic Symbol Guide. For phonetics on the screen we are using a Hercules Plus Card Ramfont. I also have EGA and VGA phonetics fonts that work with the printer fonts. You don't need Hercules Plus, EGA, or VGA if you have some other way of getting special characters on the screen or if you don't mind seeing something on the screen that is different from what prints. The printer and screen fonts are coordinated through Word Perfect 5.1 there is also a 5.0 version). Word Perfect works well with the fonts because it allows an inventory of over 1500 in its special character sets. You don't need Word Perfect to make use of the printer fonts, but you'd have to set up character and proportional spacing tables yourself for any other word processor. I'll send the fonts and WP drivers to anyone who sends a letter of request, a self-addressed, stamped disk mailer, and one 3.5" or two 5.25" disks. Timothy Montler P.O Box 13827 University of North Texas Denton TX 76203 (817)565-2147 montler@untvax.bitnet montler@vaxb.acs.unt.edu (7) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 26 Mar 91 15:29:21 EST From: jdbobalj@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Subject: Re: Dissertations I don't know anything about on-line dissertations, but Jim Huang's thesis is distributed by: MIT Working Papers in Linguistics Room 20D-219 MIT Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA All thesis and working papers are $12 each plus postage. Postage is $2. per thesis in the US, and $3. per thesis elsewhere. Prepayment is required on all orders and can be a cheque (US Funds), Money Order, or Electronic Transfer of funds (contact me by e-mail and I can send you the relevant numbers). I'm working on getting our publications / price list on-line, and will send it to anyone when it's available. In the meantime, contact me at the e-mail address below and I can send our list by (regular) mail, or answer specific requests on-line. --Jonathan Bobaljik --MIT Working Papers in Linguistics --jdbobalj@athena.mit.edu (8) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Mar 91 10:24 MET From: "NORVAL SMITH (UVAALF::NSMITH)" Subject: RE: SIL, Phonetic Fonts, LINGUISTS Nameserver --------------------------------------------------------------------------- On IT (or ITP) (reply to Belmore) This software from the SIL which was developed for processing fieldnotes is being used by a couple of people at the Institute for General Linguistics at the University of Amsterdam. The person who has used it most is Silvia Kouwenberg - KOUWENBERG@ALF.LET.UVA.NL. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Phonetic Fonts for the HP LaserJet (reply to Manaster Ramer) A set of IPA fonts for the LaserJet has been developed by Timothy Montler of UNT. These come with a screen driver, I understand. Timothy Montler's address is MONTLER@VAXB.ACS.UNT.EDU. Snail mail: PO Box 13827 Dept. of English University of North Texas Denton TX 76203-3827 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- News from the LINGUISTS NameServer The database of linguists' e-mail addresses has grown by about a quarter in the seven weeks since we initiated the server. The latest addition concerns linguists in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Anyone requesting the whole list (command: LIST *) should be aware of the fact that it contains 3867 lines as of today. P.S. To find out how it works, send the message: HELP to LINGUISTS@ALF.LET.UVA.NL ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Norval Smith (9) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Mar 1991 07:45 PST From: Thomas E Payne Subject: Re: Word Perfect In response to Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu. Word Perfect 5.0 and newer allows the user to produce just about any special character imaginable for the screen. The catch is you have to have a "program- able" video card such as Hercules + (plain Hercules won't do) or EGA. For the Laserjet printer, I recommend the SIL Premier fonts. For about $200 per type face (e.g. Dutch, Courier, etc.), you get ALL phonetic characters (even more than WP can produce for the screen), from 6 point to about 48 pt. You more than WP can produce for the screen), from 6 point to about 48 pt. Since there are so many characters possible, you have to select the specific characters you need from a library of characters and diacritics. Good software is pro- vided to make this selection. There is a book available from SIL called "Laptop Publishing for the Field Linguist" that describes this phonetic/ special character system based on Microsoft Word. Some of it will be useful to those who use WP. As with most MS-DOS applications, getting special characters for the screen and the printer is two quite seperate operations, and both inevitably require some tinkering. If you find the perfect solution, please let us all know. Tom Payne, Oregon. (10) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Mar 91 10:10 CST From: Harriet Ottenheimer Subject: Re: IT I have used "IT" (Interlinear Text Processor) a bit but found it to be rather restrictive in what it can do. It requires reformatting your data and it only can make use of very short texts (forty lines or so, if I remember correctly). The version I tried was 1.0 for PC. Although I got it to work, in the end it seemed too time-consuming for what I was trying to do. Harriet Ottenheimer (MAHAFAN@KSUVM) [End Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0099] ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0100. Thursday, 28 Mar 1991. Subj: 2.0100 Phonology Total: 144 lines Moderators: Anthony Aristar (a_aristar@fennel.cc.uwa.oz.au) Helen Dry (1echad@utsa86.utsa.edu) (1) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 13:07 EDT From: PRINCE@binah.cc.brandeis.edu Subject: Root Note (2) Date: Tue, 26 Mar 91 11:01:27 PST From: rwojcik@atc.boeing.com Subject: RE: Vowels and Stress (1) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 13:07 EDT From: PRINCE@binah.cc.brandeis.edu Subject: Root Note In a recent posting, Greg Iverson asks about root structure constraints and cites two different kinds of constraints he has found. (1) Roots may contain at most one glottalized consonant: *C'VC' [Mentioned re Quechua]. (2) If a root contains a glottalized consonant, then both consonants must be glottalized [Mentioned re Mayan languages]. Constraint (1) is recognizable as an OCP effect of the sort discussed in McCarthy (refs. below) in the context of root structure constraints in Arabic, Mayan, and other languages. Indeed, it is a form of Grassmann's Law (discussed in OCP terms in Borowsky and Mester, 1983, and Mester, 1986), which as noted by Mester (1986: 242) is virtually identical to ``deglottalization in Shuswap and other Salish languages (see Gibson 1973, Kuipers 1974, and in particular Thompson and Thompson 1985).'' Constraint (2) would appear to evidence a rule spreading of glottal features, or a constraint to the effect that they can only appear in a spread configuration. However, the Mayan constraint that we are familiar with has a somewhat different form: Mayan Glottalization Constraint. In C1-V-C2 roots, if C1 and C2 are both glottalized, then they must be identical in all respects. (quoted from McCarthy, 1989: 81) This constraint has been observed for Tsotsil (Weathers, 1947:111), Chontal (Keller, 1959: 49), Yucatec (Straight, 1976: 49), Tzutujil (Dayley, 1985: 31). McCarthy (1989: 83) suggests that this follows from a constraint on the Laryngeal node to the effect that it MAY NOT appear in a spread configuration, i.e. multiply-linked. That the laryngeal features could be subject to such a constraint was originally proposed in Ito^ & Mester (1986), with respect to voicing restrictions in Japanese morphemes and compounds. Under the no-multiple-linking hypothesis, both C's can be glottalized in a root only when they share a single root node, ie. are identical in all respects. (Appearance of two nonidentical glottalized C's, e.g. p'Vt', would require separate glottal specifications on each C, ruled out by the OCP). This root-sharing approach requires v,c-segregation -- separation of vowel and consonant melodies onto different planes -- but this is predicted by proposals in Prince (1987) and McCarthy (1989). The works cited below by Ito^, Lombardi, McCarthy, Mester, and Yip contain discussion of root structure constraints in various languages. -Alan Prince & John McCarthy References. Borowsky, T. and R.-A. Mester (1983) ``Aspiration to Roots,'' CLS 19, 52-63. Dayley,J. (1985) _Tzutujil Grammar_, University of California Press: Berkeley. Gibson, J. (1973) _Shuswap Grammtical Structure_, University of Hawaii Working Papers 5.5. Ito^, J. & R.-A. Mester (1986) ``The Phonology of Voicing in Japanese,'' LI 17, 49-73. Keller, K. (1959) ``The Phonemes of Chontal (Mayan),'' IJAL 25, 44-53. Kuipers, A. (1974) _The Shuswap Language: Grammar, Texts, Dictionary. Janua Linguarum Series Practica 225, Mouton: The Hague. Lombardi, L. (1990) ``The Nonlinear Organization of the Affricate,'' NL< 8.3, 375-425. McCarthy, J. (1981) ``A Prosodic Theory of Nonconcatenative Morphology,'' LI 12, 373-418. McCarthy, J. (1986) ``OCP Effects: Gemination and Antigemination,'' LI 17, 207-263. McCarthy, J. (1988) ``Feature Geometry and Dependency: a Review,'' Phonetica 43, 84-108. McCarthy, J. (1989) ``Linear Order in Phonological Representation,'' LI 20, 71-99. Mester, R.-A. (1986) _Studies in Tier Structure_, Ph.D. Dissertation, UMass, Amherst. Prince, A. (1987) ``Planes and Copying,'' LI 18, 491-510. Straight, H. (1976) _The Acquisition of Maya Phonology: Variation in Yucatec Child Language_, Garlasnd: New York. Thompson, L. and M. Thompson (1985) ``A Grassmann's Law for Salish,'' in _Festschrift for Gordon Fairbanks_, 134-147. Weathers, N. (1947) ``Tsotsil Phonemes with Special Reference to Allophones of _b_,'' IJAL 13, 108-111. Yip, M. (1989) ``Feature Geometry and Co-occurence Restrictions,'' Phonology 6, 349-374.^Z (2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 26 Mar 91 11:01:27 PST From: rwojcik@atc.boeing.com Subject: RE: Vowels and Stress John Coleman made the following interesting claim about the complaint that his example 'title/titular' was not relevant to the original query: >That is a theory-internal statement. They fall in different stress-patterns, >and are different in intensity and various other dimensions of quality. >So to say they "do not have a stress difference" is a theory-internal >conflation of physically distinct categories. Vowel Reduction is a phenomenon that bears on how we pronounce sounds in prosodic environments. That is why stress is central to the question. The 'title/titular' example bears on the question of what phonological forms we assign to morphemes, not how we pronounce vowels. I wish that modern phonologists would try harder to understand that fundamental dichotomy in alternations that Baudouin de Courtenay observed when he developed the foundations of modern phonology. He would have called vowel reduction alternations 'physiophonetic' and the 'title/titular' vowel alternation 'psychophonetic'. Trubetzkoy came to adopt the term 'phonology' for physiophonetic phenomena and 'morphophonology' for psychophonetic phenomena. The former field dealt with the question of how one pronounces (and perceives) phonological forms, whereas the latter dealt with how one assigns phonological forms to morphemes--two very different phenomena. Trubetzkoy went so far as to say that they belonged to separate fields of study. Alas, modern phonology conflates the two very different phenomena under the rubric of 'phonology'. But from a historical point of view, it is J. Coleman who is making the theory-internal assumption about the relevance of certain vowel alternations. --Rick Wojcik [End Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 0100]