________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-851. Sat 31 Oct 1992. Lines: 74 Subject: 3.851 Queries: Intonation, Okinawan, French Orthography Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu REMINDER [We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is then strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list. This policy was instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate.] -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 28 Oct 92 15:07:01 EST From: Ellen Broselow Subject: query 2) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 11:26:38 EST From: Debbie Schmidt Subject: Okinawa dialect 3) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1992 14:46:00 PST From: Ken_Beesley.PARC@xerox.com Subject: French Orthography Query -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 28 Oct 92 15:07:01 EST From: Ellen Broselow Subject: query Does anyone know of any published work on the use of rising intonation in decla ratives among younger speakers that would be accessible to an undergraduate tak ing her first phonetics course? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 11:26:38 EST From: Debbie Schmidt Subject: Okinawa dialect Can anyone direct me to any work that has been done on the phonology of the Okinawa dialect of Japanese? Thank you in advance. Deborah Schmidt dschmidt@uga.bitnet or dschmidt@uga.cc.uga.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1992 14:46:00 PST From: Ken_Beesley.PARC@xerox.com Subject: French Orthography Query A couple of years ago, a reform of French orthography was proposed. There was some resistance. Does anyone know the status of that reform? 1. Was it adopted? 2. If so, are the old spellings allowed as alternates? 3. Are the reforms detailed in some kind of authoritative document? Thanks in advance. I'll summarize responses. Ken Beesley beesley.parc@xerox.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-851. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-852. Sat 31 Oct 1992. Lines: 96 Subject: 3.852 Queries: Speech Economy, Ventriloquism, Identification Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 22:29:29 HST From: Narahiko Inoue Subject: Query: Hymes' "speech economy" 2) Date: Fri, 30 Oct 92 15:07 GMT From: SCW1@VAXA.YORK.AC.UK Subject: VENTRILOQUISM!! 3) Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1992 14:54:49 +1100 From: Jason Johnston Subject: Query: identification of language -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 22:29:29 HST From: Narahiko Inoue Subject: Query: Hymes' "speech economy" Does anybody know about the origin of Dell Hymes' use of the term "speech economy"? Hymes used "speech economy" in his book _Foundations in Sociolinguistics_ (1974) and in his article "Ways of Speaking" (in Bauman & Sherzer 1974/1989). In both occasions, he referred to his article "Functions of Speech: An Evolutionary Approach" (in Gruber 1961) but he did not use the term "speech economy" in the 1961 article. Tnank you. Narahiko Inoue (inoue@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu) University of Hawaii Dept. of Linguistics Honolulu, Hawaii -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Fri, 30 Oct 92 15:07 GMT From: SCW1@VAXA.YORK.AC.UK Subject: VENTRILOQUISM!! Hello! I've just started a post-graduate course at York University, England. The basic area of research is the speech of ventriloquists. Anyone working on the same/similar subject? Anyone know of any relevant articles? So far I've read a fair amount about the Motor Theory of speech perception. Does anyone know of any recent work on acoustic rather than articulatory invariance with regard to speech recognition? Answers to the above questions, indeed any corespondance at all would be most appreciated. THANKS STUART -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1992 14:54:49 +1100 From: Jason Johnston Subject: Query: identification of language Would anyone be able to identify the language of the following passage, an extract from a letter received in Sydney, Australia and apparently also posted in Australia? It is tantalizingly Romance-like, but already identified as not being Catalan, etc. We have even considered that it may be a code or artificial language. "Se fume ur legonsen frebes myoi Treval Sin ur letr mer fune seconda lemonsin ur crontar se mefur du crone mer sonse ur cronmeda conditione ur fronet su manton. Man tur ur lonten sen malag gene Tole. So condradic man jest tral contens er prohib ur letr. Del ur froget son ur fune?" [NB every "g" might be a "q"; the letter is handwritten.] Please reply to me direct at . There are several more paragraphs, if that helps. Thank you, Jason Johnston Dept of Linguistics University of Sydney 2006 Australia -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-852. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-853. Sat 31 Oct 1992. Lines: 51 Subject: 3.853 Probabilistic Reasoning in Linguistics Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 19:41:34 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Scientific American -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 19:41:34 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Scientific American Am I the only one who is appalled to see the abuse of probabilistic reasoning which Greenberg and Ruhlen resort to in their article in November Sc. Am.? They show that two languages, Halkomelem and Tfalkit (or something like that) have similar words with a similar meaning (just one word per language), calculate the probability of a pair like occurring in a random pair of languages, and say, My God, it's got to be common origin. This utter nonsense, since all the calculation shows is that you should not expect to find the same in every (or even in many) pairs of languages, but there is nothing wrong with it happening in a particular pair. It's like saying that Columbus and Leif Eriksson must have been working together, because it is just too unlikely that they could have discovered the same continent by chance. Incidentally, this kind of reasoning seems to recur fairly often in various sciences (I recall some papers by Guiora on the so- called Sapir-Whorf hypothesis a few years ago that did something similar). Is there any literature on such fallacies? (Linguistically, of course, the best way to see this is a fallacy is to see that similar forms with similar meanings are not all uncommon in situations where we KNOW the origin is not the same, e.g., English 'ear (of corn)' vs. 'ear', German 'Braten' (noun) vs. 'braten' (verb), and so on. If we can have coincidences like this in a single language, we can certainly have them across a pair of languages.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-853. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-854. Sat 31 Oct 1992. Lines: 150 Subject: 3.854 Negation Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 11:16:04 -0500 From: djohns@elm.circa.ufl.edu (David A. Johns) Subject: "So don't I" 2) Date: Fri, 30 Oct 92 16:02:59 +0100 From: Bernard Lang Subject: negation 3) Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1992 10:40:07 EST From: "M.H. KLAIMAN, ENGLISH & LINGUISTICS, INDIANA-PURDUE U.-FT. WAYNE" Subject: Pleonastic negative in Hindi 4) Date: Fri, 30 Oct 92 18:01:54 -0400 From: jdg@coos.dartmouth.edu (Joel Goldfield) Subject: "Ne expressif or ne expl'etif" -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 11:16:04 -0500 From: djohns@elm.circa.ufl.edu (David A. Johns) Subject: "So don't I" In LINGUIST 3.806 Larry Horn says: | One of my citations was a Boston Globe headline reading | | COLTS WANT THIS ONE? SO DON'T THE PATS | | where the (then-)Baltimore Colts and New England Patriots were two | pro football teams preparing for a big game. (Those were the | days...) This I took to illustrate that the "so don't | (can't/won't/...) NP" construction, which I regarded as indeed | sarcastic in some sense, is familiar enough in New England to allow | the assumption of widespread comprehension. As a native speaker of "so don't I", I feel no sarcasm or irony in the expression, although it certainly could be used in a sarcastic context. The headline above would not lose its meaning if it read "So do the Pats", would it? I grew up in Dalton, (western) Massachusetts, and did not realize that there was anything wrong with this expression until I moved away in my 20s. For 25 years now I have used "so don't I" as an example of a local abnormality, much as others talk about "needs washed" or "might could". I have never run into anyone outside Berkshire County who admits to actually using it, although people from as far away as Albany, NY, Springfield, MA, and Bellows Falls, VT, have recognized it. Right now I'm working with a young man from Williamstown, MA, who had never noticed that other people don't use the expression until I brought it up. By the way, the construction is not limited to just "so don't I." Other modals work, as Professor Horn points out above, and the past is OK too, as in "So didn't they". But I feel less comfortable with full NPs -- "So didn't Mary" sounds fine, but "So don't the people who live next door" sounds a little awkward. But maybe I've just been isolated from living models for too long. David Johns -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Fri, 30 Oct 92 16:02:59 +0100 From: Bernard Lang Subject: negation Your discussion about "ne" was reproduced on the list LN@FRMOP11.CNUSC.FR I am only a native speaker, and otherwise incompetent, though I would love to know the origine of the construction. 2 remarks: The use of "ne" in sentences like "Je crains qu'il ne pleuve" is being more and more ignored (just listening to radio or TV,... but then, they don't even use words with their proper meaning, I mean the professionals). "ne" is being forgotten even in negative sentences, as remarked, and people consider that "pas" carries the negation. Then what should one think of "plus", that can carry the negation in the same way, but also means "more". e.g. "je bois plus" is ambiguous in writing, though not orally: "je bois plu" means "I no longer drink" "je bois plusse" means "I am drinking more" The interesting fact about the French is that they will start a civil war for the spelling or rare words, but their syntax is in tatters. Point is: one can pass laws about spelling, and check documents, but how do you enforce speech rules. Bernard Lang -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1992 10:40:07 EST From: "M.H. KLAIMAN, ENGLISH & LINGUISTICS, INDIANA-PURDUE U.-FT. WAYNE" Subject: Pleonastic negative in Hindi I think Hindi has something like the 'pleonastic' negatives which have been under discussion lately, e.g. A: Did you give (i.e., pay) the excess baggage fee? B: De diyaa to, are, kitnaa nahII diyaa! gave gave hey how-much not gave 'I paid all right; how much I paid! (lit., 'How much didn't I pay!')' Also in some temporal correlatives, e.g. jab tak tum nahII aaoge tab tak rahUUgii mAI 'until you come (lit., until you don't come) I will stay' Mimi Klaiman -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Fri, 30 Oct 92 18:01:54 -0400 From: jdg@coos.dartmouth.edu (Joel Goldfield) Subject: "Ne expressif or ne expl'etif" Dear Linguists, Jock McNaught forwarded on a query about the "ne expressif" or what's often also called the "ne expl'etif." In the cases cited, it's included to show the negative predisposition of the speaker/writer, as in: "Je crains qu'il ne pleuve." = "I fear it may/will rain." The "ne" indicates that, logically, the speaker does not want this to happen, but believes that it may/will rain nonetheless. A similar phenomenon exists in at least northern New England English (US) where many speakers say: You'd like some jam? I'll see if I can't get it for you." or "I wonder if he won't arrive here early." = "I wonder if he'll arrive here early." -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-854. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-855. Sat 31 Oct 1992. Lines: 305 Subject: 3.855 Objectionable Words Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1992 13:49 EST From: ALICE FABER Subject: RE: 3.842 Objectionable Words 2) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 14:35:36 EST From: "Ellen F. Prince" Subject: Re: 3.842 Objectionable Words 3) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 18:09:19 MST From: BIASCA DEBRA HALPERIN Subject: Re: 3.842 Objectionable Words 4) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 19:48 PST From: Nakamura Akira Subject: jew 5) Date: 30 Oct 1992 23:53:22 +1000 From: "LLOYD HOLLIDAY, LA TROBE UNIV, EDUCATION" Subject: Re: 3.847 Place-Names and Articles 6) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1992 10:54:27 PST From: Geoffrey Nunberg Subject: re: objectionable words 7) Date: Sat, 31 Oct 92 09:33:22 CST From: Michael Kac Subject: Re: 3.833 Objectionable Words? -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1992 13:49 EST From: ALICE FABER Subject: RE: 3.842 Objectionable Words With regard to the usage notes re: Jew, Israelite, etc., posted by Dennis Baron, it's worth noting that the sense that "Israelite" is more "polite" than "Jew(ish person)" may persist in some parts of the country. I never encountered it in the New York area, but when I moved to Texas for graduate school in 1974, I was absolutely floored when, in the course of conversation, my seatmate on the flight from Dallas to Austin asked me: "Oh, are you an Israelite?" (I had been telling her of my plans to study Hebrew and Linguistics, and that I had learned Hebrew in Israel.) With regard to Benji Wald's comments on replacement of "Jewish" by "Jew" in clearly adjectival contexts, with its clear pejorative connotation, it's worth comparing the replacement of "Democratic" with "Democrat" in similar contexts and with similar connotations (e.g., "the Democrat tax-and-spend Congress", *"the long-established Democrat support of anti-poverty programs"). Alice Faber Faber@Yalehask.Bitnet -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 14:35:36 EST Subject: Re: 3.842 Objectionable Words From: "Ellen F. Prince" one clarification of what i meant to say: when i said that i find 'jewish' marked in contrast to 'jew', i meant in the pair 'a jewish person' vs. 'a jew'. as a predicate adjective, e.g. i'm jewish/a jew, i probably find 'jewish' less marked--but the same for he's french/a frenchman, she's turkish/a turk, you're greek/a greek. with respect to julie coleman's note: >For me, one reason for avoiding the nouns 'jew', 'gay' (etc.) is that they >seem assign the referent to that category only -- as if to say that the main >or the only important fact about that individual is that they are gay o>jewish; whereas the circumlocutions 'a jewish person', 'a gay man', >at least suggest the possibility that there may also be other relevant >features. i have heard this before but it really doesn't help clarify anything for me, since just about anything has more than one possibly relevant feature and we should therefore avoid all common (and maybe proper?) nouns except maybe for 'person', 'thing'. what about saying 'x is a doctor/jogger/plumber/soprano/ kid/diabetic/redhead/bird/house/pebble/song/thought/problem/...'--has one implicated that that's the 'main or only important fact' about x? i think i'm going to become a noun-rights activist. <:)> seriously, we all know about the (truth-conditional) aspectual differences that obtain when we move from verbs to adjectives to nouns, e.g. i'm typing/i type/i'm a typist, i'm fooling (around)/i'm foolish/i'm a fool, but these certainly don't seem relevant to (most current views of) ethnos, sex, sexual orientation, or any of the other categories discussed (that i can recall)--all would be at the stative end of the scale. i don't really see where the (non- truth-conditional) 'unique important feature' implicature comes from at all. rather, i see it as a political vogue, a phenomenon that may be interesting to observe and document but not as a profound 'fact' about nouns vs. adjectives. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 18:09:19 MST From: BIASCA DEBRA HALPERIN Subject: Re: 3.842 Objectionable Words In response to Julie Coleman's submission on this subject, I note that " "Jewess" was offensive in Yiddish, hence the euphemism "Jewish daughter" which we see translated (I believe) into modern Hebrew on the dress- code sign at the entrance to Mea Shirim in Jerusalem (I hope I am accurate on this location) which cautions "Jewish Daughters" to dress with modesty . . .we do not tolerate people passing through our streets immodestly dressed. . . I also note that in France I have heard people refer to Jews(ish people) as "Israelites." Jews although I was raised in Detroit and I am Jewish. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 19:48 PST From: Nakamura Akira Subject: jew The following comments are from a colleague of mine who is not currently on LINGUIST. It's quite clear to me that those who object to the term "Jew" (either Jew or goy) are doing so because inherent to Christian cultures is the notion that a a Jew is a bad thing to be. It's not. Note that anti-Semites have learned new linguistic tricks to slant Jews. I've overheard someone saying she got an "Israeli lawyer" price on something or other, and that the most frequent foreign visitors to the Grand Canyon are (something like) "Germans, Japanese, Canadians, and 'The Israeli's'" (cf. "The Jews", said with a sneer.) As my father has observed, "Jew" is the easiest word in the English language to sneer at while saying. The verb "To Jew" is certainly offensive, as is the verb "To gyp" (gyp is so acceptable at this point that it isn't even capitalized, probably because it 's origins have been lost). Finally, while "goy" has negative connotations, it simply means "nation" (i.e. non-Jew). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) Date: 30 Oct 1992 23:53:22 +1000 From: "LLOYD HOLLIDAY, LA TROBE UNIV, EDUCATION" Subject: Re: 3.847 Place-Names and Articles Consider the following: 1) I am a Scot. 2) I am a Chinese. 3) I am Scottish. 4) I am Chinese. Sentence 2 sounds odd to me, yet both 1 and 3 are OK. "Scot" is a noun, but "Chinese" is not, so ordinarily in the grammar of English the fact that we don't use article plus adjective combinations explains the unacceptability. On the other hand consider that 1 is more marked or emphatic than 3, but 1 may sound sexist so for the marked version using the neutral gender person, speakers turn to constructions like "I am a Scottish person." Speakers who do not want to be discriminated against may find using a marked structure, i.e. one with "a" objectionable as it does exactly what they wish to avoid, appearing different. Now, it is possible to have an unmarked version when using an adjective without an article, e.g. " I'm gay." but it is not possbible to omit the article if one is also attempting to render the adjective gender neutral "*I am gay person." What I am suggesting is that the use of "a Xish person" is an attempt to be gender neutral, but this runs counter to another intuition that "a Xish" is a marked form in contrast to "0 Xish". A quick query on place names. What is the place in England that in fact means [hill] [hill] hill, where the first two hills are Anglo-Saxon? then Latin I think. Lloyd Holliday edulh@lure.latrobe.edu.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1992 10:54:27 PST From: Geoffrey Nunberg Subject: re: objectionable words RE: objectionable words It might be useful to clear up what is actually at stake in these discussions. The point about gay and black is that these words are often held to be offensive when used with certain quantifiers, as in: 1. There are two gays (Blacks) on the panel. He is the only gay (Black) on the panel. His roommate is a gay (Black). By contrast, the words are not offensive when used in sentences like: 2. There are no gays (Blacks) on the panel. Gays (blacks) have voted for the measure. Many gays (Blacks) are voting Democratic in this election. I am not sure exactly how to characterize the relevant environment, or why the choice of quantifier should have this effect. What is clear, however, is that the effect is not present with analogous words like Asian, Hispanic, or lesbian, whose connotations do not vary according to the quantifier. So the explanation will presumably have to make reference to the particular derivational process involved in the formation of the nouns gay and black, and not simply to the difference between using an adjective and using a noun to describe someone's ethnicity. On any account, the story with Jew is different. It is true that an anathema attaches to the use of the word in attributive position, as in phrases like "Jew lawyer." And many people appear to have generalized this stricture to all uses of the noun. But for such speakers, presumably, there is no difference in offensiveness between the environments in (1) and (2). My own reaction to the use of circumlocutions like Jewish people is the same as that of Ellen Prince, Benji Wald, and Mark Mandel. I think it betrays, as we put it in the usage note attached to the entry for Jew in the American Heritage Dictionary, 3rd Edition, "an unwarranted and hence suspect delicacy." In support of this contention, I did a search on a 6-months New York Times corpus and found numerous citations in which the noun was used unapologetically. For example: >In the new Congress there will be 142 Catholics, 75 Methodists, 59 >Episcopalians, 59 Baptists, 51 Prebyterians and 41 Jews. >Together, these 6.1 million people -- those who describe themselves as >Jews by birth, conversion or ethinic origin -- represent an increase from >the combined total of 5.4 million in the 1970 survey. >The result could be the old joke: put five Jews in a room, and you'll wind >up with six opinions. >Alfred Dreyfus, a French officer and a Jew. But I found no cites for either gay or Black used in environments like those in (1), though there were numerous cites for these words in environments like those in (2) (the Times resisted the use of gay for some time, but has been using the word in news columns since about 1989): >Taking their turn with the divisive issue of gays and religion, a national >committee of United Methodist Church is considering changing its current >policy that `the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian >teaching.'' >California Assemblyman Terry Friedman, D-Sherman Oaks, says he will >introduce a bill next month in the state Legislature that would extend >state protection from discrimination to gays and lesbians. >Infused with energy from a younger generation -- many of whom are >extremely open about their sexual orientation and impatient with the >current pace of change -- lesbians and gays are increasingly using >sophisticated strategies to demand not just tolerance but full and equal >access to the same rights and privileges as heterosexuals. However, gay tended to appear as an adjective modifying a semantically unnecessary head noun where quantifers like those in (1) were involved: >In addition, for the first time in the city's history, two lesbians won >seats on the board of supervisors and a gay candidate was the top >vote-getter in the school board election. >Although a handful of other lesbians and gay men had been organizing in >the city since the early 1950s,... The pattern with Black was the same. Of course one might argue that this shows only that the NY Times is more solicitous of the sensibilities of its gay and Black readers than of those of its Jewish readers, but anyone familiar with the history and direction of the newspaper will find this theory implausible. Plainly the editors don't think that the use of Jew as a noun is objectionable, nor do they believe that their readers will find it so. Geoff Nunberg -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) Date: Sat, 31 Oct 92 09:33:22 CST From: Michael Kac Subject: Re: 3.833 Objectionable Words? I wonder if sensitivity to the word *Jew* tout court isn't due to uses of the word as either an adjective or verb that count as offensive by anyone's definition. Example: consider the inference you'd make about the speaker's attitude in the following two cases: 1. That's an idea popular among Jewish intellectuals. 2. That's an idea popular among Jew intellectuals. (Compare also the practice, less widespread than it once was, of referring in a disparaging way to the Democratic Party by calling it the Democrat Party.) Then there is also the use of the word *jew* as a verb meaning 'to seek a reduced price', as in *I jewed him down to a hundred fifty bucks*. So maybe what we're seeing in avoidance of *Jew* as a noun is contamination from these other uses? Michael Kac -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-855. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-856. Mon 02 Nov 1992. Lines: 227 Subject: 3.856 Queries: Computers, Articles, Addresses Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu REMINDER [We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is then strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list. This policy was instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate.] -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 31 Oct 92 15:26:01 -0500 From: Asmawi Mohamad Subject: LISP 2) Date: 2 Nov 92 09:45:40 GMT+0950 From: P_MCCONVELL@BLIGH.NTU.EDU.AU Subject: Measuring Pause 3) Date: 2 Nov 1992 15:45:04+1300 From: Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy Subject: Re: Place-Names and Articles 4) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 92 11:45:22 -0500 Subject: seeking references on control language and inanimate objects From: Sean Boisen 5) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 92 23:02:11 MET From: hartmut@ruc.dk (Hartmut Haberland) Subject: Query - e-mail addresses 6) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1992 12:48:38 +0800 From: jtauber@tartarus.uwa.edu.au (James Tauber) Subject: Hebrew and Koine Greek 7) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1992 16:06:34 +0100 From: HASPELMATH@philologie.fu-berlin.dbp.de Subject: Korean Alphabet Day 8) Date: 2 Nov 92 18:05 EST From: pchapin@nsf.gov Subject: Query: Sapir-Whorf hypothesis -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 31 Oct 92 15:26:01 -0500 From: Asmawi Mohamad Subject: LISP Does anybody out there know of the availability of LISP program for PC platform (either for Dos or windows) that is parallel to MacLISP for macintosh? Thanks a lot for your help. Asmawi Mohamad -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: 2 Nov 92 09:45:40 GMT+0950 From: P_MCCONVELL@BLIGH.NTU.EDU.AU Subject: Measuring Pause I'm enquiring for a student here who is looking at taped narrative texts in an Aboriginal language. What is the easiest/best way of measuring length of pause in text? How do the conversation analysts do it? Is it crude (stopwatch) or does more sophisticated instrumentation help? A reference to a method paper would be good. Then there are other questions. The speakers vary enormously in their mean speed of speaking. Is "mean speed of speaking" a useful concept? Is it possible to factor this kind of thing out and leave significant levels of difference in pause that are "meaningful"? Patrick McConvell, Anthropology, Northern Territory University, PO Box 40146, Casuarina, NT 0811, Australia -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: 2 Nov 1992 15:45:04+1300 From: Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy Subject: Re: Place-Names and Articles A curious feature of all varieties of English (so far as I know) is the discrepancy between river and sea names on the one hand (which need the article) and mountain and lake names on the other (which reject it). In the case of rivers, it does not matter whether the proper part of the name comes after the word _River_, as is usual in Britain (_the River Thames, the River Ouse_ etc.) or before it, as is usual in New Zealand (_the Ashley River, the Waimakariri River_ etc.). Are there any varieties of English where expressions such as _the Mount X_, _the Lake Y_, _the Z Lake_ are usual? And is there any general issue lurking here, which makes it more than just a descriptive curiosity? I would be interested to know of any relevant references. Islands seem to be more disparate than other geographical entities. Groups of islands regularly take the article (_the Orkneys, the Balearic Islands, the Cyclades_). But individual islands seem to fall into three groups: (a) those with stand-alone names, like most cities (_Skye, Sicily, Novaya Zemlya_); (b) those which incorporate the term _island_ or some such geographical label but have no article (_Stewart Island, Norfolk Island, Baffin Land_) and (c) those which have article plus geographical label (_the Isle of Wight, the South Island_). My feeling is that names of types (b) and (c) are less likely to refer to islands which are also political entities than names of type (a) are. Can any sense be made of all this? Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 92 11:45:22 -0500 Subject: seeking references on control language and inanimate objects From: Sean Boisen I'm looking for references relevant to the topic of how people use or might use language for controlling semi-intelligent real-world objects. For example, imagine a smart kitchen with speech understanding technology, so that I could have the ability to request the coffeepot to brew me a cup, or control the thermostat, or perform numerous other simple operations. What predictions can we make, based on other uses of language, or what studies have people actually done, about the _way_ people might address their appliances? For example, what might differentiate use of the object/action construction like "microwave, on", versus "turn on microwave" (using the metaphor of the whole kitchen as some kind of controlling agent). I'm most interested in empirical studies on this particular topic (they don't have to be about kitchens, of course). Speculations are welcome too, but especially if you can support them from some more general sociolinguistic or language acquisition principles (if those are even the right subfields to look toward). Sean Boisen -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 92 23:02:11 MET From: hartmut@ruc.dk (Hartmut Haberland) Subject: Query - e-mail addresses Does anybody have e-mail addresses or FAX numbers for any of the following people: David D. Lewis Robert Stalnaker Eve Sweetser Helmut Schnelle Enik"o Bollob'as Hilary Putnam John Perry David Kaplan Esa Itkonen Hans-Julius Schneider Please answer to jam@dou.dk or hartmut@ruc.dk. Thanks a lot! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1992 12:48:38 +0800 From: jtauber@tartarus.uwa.edu.au (James Tauber) Subject: Hebrew and Koine Greek Can anybody give me information on acquiring the following:- A morphologically tagged Hebrew Old Testament A context-free grammar of OT Hebrew A context-free grammar of Koine Greek Thankyou James Tauber (jtauber@tartarus.uwa.edu.au) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1992 16:06:34 +0100 From: HASPELMATH@philologie.fu-berlin.dbp.de Subject: Korean Alphabet Day I have heard that there is a national holiday in Korea sometime in November that commemorates the creation of the unique Korean alphabet (which is based on distinctive features and hence anticipates modern phonology by several centuries). Can anyone confirm this and provide details? Martin Haspelmath, Free University of Berlin -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) Date: 2 Nov 92 18:05 EST From: pchapin@nsf.gov Subject: Query: Sapir-Whorf hypothesis As background material for a speech the Director of NSF is making later this month, I am looking for a clear (to non-specialists), succinct (2-3 pp.) statement and critique of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. I expect that one or more linguistics textbooks probably have such a section, but I have been away from textbooks for so long that I don't know which ones, nor do I have ready access to them. Can anyone give me good advice? Direct replies are preferred, to pchapin@nsf.gov or pchapin@nsf.bitnet. Thanks in advance, Paul Chapin, NSF -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-856. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-857. Thu 05 Nov 1992. Lines: 61 Subject: 3.857 Jobs: NLP, Discourse Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1992 21:18:43 -0500 From: kuhns@world.std.com (Robert J Kuhns) Subject: NLP 2) Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 18:07:17 PPE From: 5021gene%ucsbuxa@hub.ucsb.edu (Carol Genetti) Subject: Discourse -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1992 21:18:43 -0500 From: kuhns@world.std.com (Robert J Kuhns) Subject: NLP A small Cambridge (Massachusetts) company is seeking to fill 2 programming positions for an NLP project immediately. Requirements are 2 - 5 years experience with C++ and UNIX as well as fluency in either an Asian or Middle Eastern language. For details, please send a short background description and your email address or phone number. Bob Kuhns kuhns@world.std.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 18:07:17 PPE From: 5021gene%ucsbuxa@hub.ucsb.edu (Carol Genetti) Subject: Discourse The University of California, Santa Barbara is recruiting for an ASSISTANT PROFESSOR with a specialization in spoken discourse; additional strength in a language or language family and in another area of linguistics, as well as field work experience is required. Permanent position, tenure-track; Ph.D. required at the time of appointment. Application deadline is February 1, 1993. The position will commence Fall Quarter, 1993. Send letter of application, CV, samples of written work, and names/addresses of three referees (no letters at this time) to: Discourse Search Committee, Linguistic Department, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106. UCSB is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-857. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-858. Thu 05 Nov 1992. Lines: 122 Subject: 3.858 Queries: Address, Cherokee, Sociolinguistics Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu REMINDER [We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is then strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list. This policy was instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate.] -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 17:06:21 +0200 From: ko@TRBILUN.bitnet (Kemal Oflazer) Subject: Looking for Robert Underhill's e-mail address 2) Date: Wed, 04 Nov 92 16:23:34 EST From: Debbie Schmidt Subject: Cherokee phonology 3) Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 12:03:57 EST From: jaske@abacus.bates.edu (Jon Aske) Subject: Canada/language/sociolinguistics -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 17:06:21 +0200 From: ko@TRBILUN.bitnet (Kemal Oflazer) Subject: Looking for Robert Underhill's e-mail address I am trying to get in touch with Prof. Robert Underhill at San Diego State University. Would any one have an e-mail address for him? Thanks a lot in advance. Kemal Oflazer Bilkent University Computer Engineering Department Bilkent, ANKARA, 06533 TURKIYE e-mail: ko@trbilun.bitnet fax: (90) 4 - 266-4127 tel: (90) 4 - 266-4133 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Wed, 04 Nov 92 16:23:34 EST From: Debbie Schmidt Subject: Cherokee phonology A student of mine is interested in looking at Cherokee phonology, but has not had much luck in his library search. Can anyone help us out with any leads? Sincerely, Deborah Schmidt dschmidt@uga.cc.uga.edu or dschmidt@uga.bitnet -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 12:03:57 EST From: jaske@abacus.bates.edu (Jon Aske) Subject: Canada/language/sociolinguistics Please excuse my sending yet another query about sociolinguistics teaching materials. My present question refers to something i remember seeing on the list a while back, namely the language situation in Canada. For my Politics of Language course i have already decided to use James Crawford's new book Hold Your Tongue: Bilingualism and the politics of "English Only" (1992, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley) (even though it's only out in hardback for $24.95). (I haven't been able yet to get a hold of Crawford's other book: Language loyalties: A sourcebook on the Official English controversy, Chicago: University of Chicago, paper $14.95. A review of both books in The Nation (Nov. 9) recommended both highly.) I would also very much like to have a unit on the language situation in Canada. For this i was thinking of using Ronald Wardhaugh's book _Language and nationhood: The Canadian experience_ (1983, Vancouver: New Star Books). However, since i don't know all that much about the Canadian situation i was wondering if anybody would care to comment on the following: 1) Are there any other good books on this topic? Articles? 2) Is this book too outdated? Any recommendations on up to date stuff to be used perhaps with Wardhaugh's book. 3) Is this book to biased? How can i present the issue in a more controversial way (even though i pretty much agree with Wardhaugh). On a related topic: Does anybody have any feelings on using Wardhaugh's _Languages in competition_, 1987, Oxford: Basil Blackwell)? Thanks a lot. Jon -------------------- Jon Aske; Political Science/Anthropology, Bates College, Lewiston, ME 04240 Phone: (207) 786-0589 e-mail: jaske@abacus.bates.edu jonaske@garnet.berkeley.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-858. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-859. Thu 05 Nov 1992. Lines: 108 Subject: 3.859 Probabilistic Reasoning in Linguistics Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: 2 Nov 92 10:22:00 GMT+0950 From: P_MCCONVELL@BLIGH.NTU.EDU.AU Subject: Probability in linguistic comparison 2) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 92 10:22:47 MST From: "Sam Wang (Wang Hsu), University of Alberta" Subject: 3.853 Probabilistic Reasoning in Linguistics 3) Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 12:23:16 EST From: jsc@mbeya.research.att.com (John S. Coleman) Subject: 3.853 Probabilistic Reasoning in Linguistics -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: 2 Nov 92 10:22:00 GMT+0950 From: P_MCCONVELL@BLIGH.NTU.EDU.AU Subject: Probability in linguistic comparison I have not seen the Ruhlen/Greenberg paper referred to by Alexis Manaster Ramer (we get Scientific American in this part of Australia at least 2 months late). However I am interested in the general point he raises. Back in 1985 I was working on the origin of subsections (a type of social category) in Australia using linguistic evidence and had an article published in Aboriginal History criticising a book by von Brandenstein on the same question published by U. Chicago Press. One of the favourite phrases was "it can be no coincidence that..." going on to relate two similar words with two (often vaguely) similar meanings. I wrote a section showing that with about 300 Australian Aboriginal languages to play with, and apparently no constraint such as having to show independently motivated sound changes, geographical contiguity or other connection, you could just about "prove" anything with this method. As it was not a linguistic journal I had to cut the argument down. It was not mathematically very sophisticated anyway. It struck me at the time that there must be a very simple statistical formula involved here, but I had no reference to any linguistic work that gives a plain account of how to evaluate such arguments. No doubt the examples in this book are several steps beyond what Ruhlen and Greenberg are doing, but it should be possible to place both at positions on a continuum of plausibility just from basic features of the method used. Any reference that I could get that that does this kind of exercise would be very useful. Patrick McConvell, Anthropology, Northern Territory University, PO Box 40146, Casuarina, NT 0811, Australia -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 92 10:22:47 MST From: "Sam Wang (Wang Hsu), University of Alberta" Subject: 3.853 Probabilistic Reasoning in Linguistics If we can attribute common origin to two languages by just one pair of comparison, we can certainly say English and Chinese are of common origin, for in Chinese the bird "swallow" is [yan] (fourth tone) and the verb "to swallow" is also [yan] (fourth tone). Its rather hard to say this is merely a coincidence, eh? Regards, Sam Wang (Wang Hsu) swang@ualtavm.bitnet -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 12:23:16 EST From: jsc@mbeya.research.att.com (John S. Coleman) Subject: 3.853 Probabilistic Reasoning in Linguistics Alexis Manaster-Ramer misrepresents Greenberg and Ruhlen when he writes (Linguist List: Vol-3-853. Sat 31 Oct 1992): > [Greenberg and Ruhlen] show that two languages, Halkomelem > and Tfalkit (or something like that) have similar words with > a similar meaning (just one word per language), calculate the > probability of a pair like occurring in a random pair of languages, > and say, My God, it's got to be common origin. This utter nonsense, Greenberg and Ruhlen estimate the probability of similar words with with a similar meaning occurring in SIX languages (not two), chosen from a longer list of similar words with a slightly wider range of meanings. And G&R claim to have done likewise for over a hundred other "basic vocabulary" words. Which makes their argument much stronger than Alexis characterizes it as being. P.S. this is not a personal vendetta. --- John Coleman -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-859. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-860. Thu 05 Nov 1992. Lines: 160 Subject: 3.860 Compounds, Pronouns, WH-Movement Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: 03 Nov 1992 10:20:58 -0500 (EST) From: Mark H Aronoff Subject: English Compounds! 2) Date: Mon, 02 Nov 92 22:57:56 +0900 From: Subject: Re: 3.826 Japanese 3) Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 17:02:36 RSA From: AFNWAMC@pukvm1.puk.ac.za Subject: WH-Movement in Afrikaans -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: 03 Nov 1992 10:20:58 -0500 (EST) From: Mark H Aronoff Subject: English Compounds! English Compounds! In this morning's mail was a brochure from Apple that was so full of wonderful English compounds that I just had to tell the world (or as we say in Kindergarten, share). Here goes. First, the brochure is called "Enterprise Computing in Higher Education Conference Series Overview", with a full NP containing a PP as the first constituent of a compound which itself seems to be embedded inside two others, at least on one reading (Conference and Series could be separate heads, too): [[[[Enterprise Computing]N [in Higher Education]PP]NP] [Conference Series]N]N Overview]N. But it gets better: "mission critical Macintosh systems integrations challenges" in the first paragraph has a compound adjective modifying a multiple compound that contains TWO internal plurals (so much for the no-plurals in compound constraint!)! Next is "the November and December timeframes". Since the head is plural, we can't be dealing with any kind of simple deletion here and the first element must be a conjunction, but conjoined first elements usually don't make the head plural: mom and pop store. I don't have an analysis off-hand. Any takers? An old standby follows: "Virtually Integrated Technology Architecture Lifecycle". Here I presume that VIT is a NP first element of a compound with Architecture and that this compound is the first element of a compound whose head is the orthographic single word Lifecycle. Piece of cake! In the same sentence we have "desktop integration, database access and front-ending". The first two are innocent enough, but the last is a gerund of a verb formed from a phrase: [[[front end]NP]V]ing]N! On we go to "Client/Server application development tools". This one has me puzzled. Is "development tools" a compound or not. Does it matter? There's more, but mostly run-of-the-mill stuff. Does anyone have a parser that will handle all this? Enjoy! Mark -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 02 Nov 92 22:57:56 +0900 From: Subject: Re: 3.826 Japanese Kevin R. Gregg D00712@sinet.ad.jp writes; >>child acquiring the language. So far as I know, BOKU, ANATA, KARE, etc. >>have reference only, and no more sense than ME, YOU, etc. [Well, almost; >>KARE can mean boyfriend]. Japnese pronouns certainly look like pronouns, >>anyway; I'd be curious to know specifically what arguments, other than >>historical ones, there are for excluding them from that class. I'm supposed to read a paper at some conference this Saturday, and I haven't finished writing it yet. I'm panicing, but I guess I'm responsible for this question. Sorry, all I can write is just a short note. 1) Just talking about the expressions which might be equivalent to the first person singular personal pronoun in English, the Japanese language has BOKU, WATASHI, WATAKUSHI, WASHI, TEMAE, ORE, OIDON, WACHIKI, UCHI, WATAI, SOREGASHI, MIDOMO, ATAI, OI, WASSHI, WATACHI, SESSHA, SHOUSEI, and many more. Personally, I wouldn't like to call them all personal pronouns. 2) Kevin points out another meaning of KARE is boyfriend, but it can mean the hearer, too. Chotto, soko-no kare, yotte ikanai? Hey, you there, wanna drop in? If you are a frequent visitor to Kabuki-cho, which I doubt, you would hear the above expression. 3) As far as I know, when you modify the English personal pronouns with adjectives, you'll get highly marked expressions such as; ?the beautiful I But in Japanese, the equivalent is totally unmarked; utsukushii watashi 4) The so-called Japanese personal pronouns show a syntactic/morphological similarity to nominals; watashi-wa watashi-ga watashi-o watashi-no watashi-ni etc. kuruma-wa kuruma-ga kuruma-o kuruma-no kuruma-ni etc. You might think I'm jumping to the conclusion, but my impression is we need not regard the so-called Japanese personal pronouns as pronouns. I would like to categorize them as nominals. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Makoto SHIMIZU Kyushu Institute of Technology shimizu@hakobera.isct.kyutech.ac.jp \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ What do cannibals play at parties? Swallow the leader. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 17:02:36 RSA From: AFNWAMC@pukvm1.puk.ac.za Subject: WH-Movement in Afrikaans As one of the few South African linguists currently linked to LINGUIST I saw Avery Andrews's query about WH-Movement in Afrikaans. Yes, prof. Hans du Plessis followed his 1977 squib up by publishing a booklet in a publication series by the Rand Afrikaans University (in Johannesburg) with the title (in Afrikaans): "Wat is WAT? 'n Inleidende ondersoek na WAT-verskuiwing in Afri- kaans" (1979). There was also a very well researched Ph.D. by prof. P. H. Swanepoel in 1982 - it is titled: "WH-konstruksies in Afrikaans: 'n genera- tiewe benadering" (in English: "WH-constructions in Afrikaans: a generative approach") - at the University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa. I am willing to supply more details if anyone is interested. Wannie Carstens Dept. of Afrikaans & Nederlands Potchefstroom University for CHE Potchefstroom 2520 South Africa e-mail: AFNWAMC@PUKVM1.PUK.AC.ZA -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-860. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-861. Thu 05 Nov 1992. Lines: 183 Subject: 3.861 Negation, Placenames Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 02 Nov 92 08:51:37 +0000 From: Pascal AMSILI Subject: Some points about French "ne" (Re: 3-804/6/29) 2) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 92 07:29:00 CST From: Michael Kac Subject: Re: 3.854 Negation 3) Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 11:32:55 CST From: (Dennis Baron) Subject: Forwarded message... 4) Date: Wed, 04 Nov 92 12:01:35 GMT From: David Denison Subject: re LINGUIST 3-855 5) Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 09:59:33 EST From: jsc@mbeya.research.att.com (John S. Coleman) Subject: Place-Names and Articles 6) Date: Thu, 05 Nov 92 13:18:03 EST From: mark Subject: 3.855 [hill]... hill 7) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 12:38:29 -0800 From: richard_de_armond@sfu.ca Subject: Re: 3.856 Queries: Computers, Articles, Addresses -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 02 Nov 92 08:51:37 +0000 Subject: Some points about French "ne" (Re: 3-804/6/29) From: Pascal AMSILI >From a native speaker, a few points about what have been called here "'ne' pleonastique / expressif" and which is also known as "ne expletif" (e.g., Grevisse 1988): - This 'ne' can always be omitted without loss of grammaticality ("Je le vois pas" is not considered as grammatical), and occurs only in careful written French. - It has no historical link with complete negation: it is rare before XVIIIth c., and is generally explained by a contamination effect: "Avant que Louis ne parte" (before Louis leaves) implies the idea that Louis has not yet left (Grevisse 88:1492). Hence, to be more precise here is my reaction as a native speaker: 1. the "ne expletif" has not lost "pas": it has never been there. 2. I don't see any connection with the loss of "ne" in spoken language, nor with the full general negation without "pas" (as noted in 3-829 by Don Webb). PA -------------------------Pascal AMSILI---------------------------------- IRIT ; Universite Paul Sabatier | tel : (+33) 61.55.66.11 ext. 73.14 118, rte de Narbonne | e-mail : amsili@irit.fr F-31062 TOULOUSE Cedex FRANCE | fax : (+33) 61.55.62.58 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 92 07:29:00 CST From: Michael Kac Subject: Re: 3.854 Negation As one who reported earlier to have grown up with the *So don't I* construction I second David Johns statement that there's no irony or sarcasm implicit in it. As far as I can tell, it means exactly the same thing as *So do I*. Michael Kac -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 11:32:55 CST From: (Dennis Baron) Subject: Forwarded message... I just came across the usage note cited below in Scott & Denny, *Elementary English Composition* (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1906), p. 254. It suggests an early analogue of *so don't I* and post- sentential not, and an early controversy over the issue that I was unaware of. Clearly *I don't think* was common enough at the time to provoke the following comment: *I don't think.* A prejudice has arisen against this harmless form of speech because of its misuse in such sentences as, "I shan't go to town to-day, I don't think." It is also used ironically in the slang expression, "Oh, he's all right, I don't think." But such expressions as "I don't think I shall go to town," "I don't think he is all right," are unobjectionable. Dennis Dennis Baron (\ debaron@uiuc.edu Dept. of English \'\ office: 217-333-2392 University of Illinois \'\ ________ fax: 217-333-4321 608 S. Wright St / '| ()_______) Urbana IL 61801 \ '/ \~~~~~~ \ \ \~~~~~~ \ ==). \_______\ (__) ()_______) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Wed, 04 Nov 92 12:01:35 GMT From: David Denison Subject: re LINGUIST 3-855 Is Lloyd Holliday's question about the doubly redundant English placename a reference to Pendle, Lancashire, now often known as Pendle Hill? As I recall (and this is just from memory), this was originally a Celtic placename, _pen_ `head, top, hill', to which the pleonastic English _hill_ was added, giving _Pen-hill_, later _Pendle_, and then more recently a second _hill_ been added. But the languages concerned are not what he recalled ... David Denison -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 09:59:33 EST From: jsc@mbeya.research.att.com (John S. Coleman) Subject: Place-Names and Articles > A curious feature of all varieties of English (so far as I know) is > the discrepancy between river and sea names on the one hand (which > need the article) and mountain and lake names on the other (which > reject it). Some mountains require the definite article e.g. "the Matterhorn". Most(?) mountain ranges also require it e.g. "the Rockies", "the Alps". --- John Coleman -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) Date: Thu, 05 Nov 92 13:18:03 EST From: mark Subject: 3.855 [hill]... hill In Vol. 3.855, in a discussion of a different topic, Lloyd Halliday asked > What is the place in England that in fact means [hill] [hill] > hill, where the first two hills are Anglo-Saxon? then Latin I > think. As I recall reading about it, it's Torpenhow(e?) Hill. Tor is pre-Celtic, pen is Celtic, howe is OE (and still in some use), and hill is MnE. Mark A. Mandel Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200 320 Nevada St. : Newton, Mass. 02160, USA -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 12:38:29 -0800 From: richard_de_armond@sfu.ca Subject: Re: 3.856 Queries: Computers, Articles, Addresses Note that mountain ranges usually take 'the', but mountains don't in N. America at least. Similar with lakes, I presume: the Great Lakes, but Lake Erie, etc. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-861. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-862. Thu 05 Nov 1992. Lines: 111 Subject: 3.862 Software Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 04 Nov 92 10:04:43 CET From: Thierry van Steenberghe Subject: Re: 3.856 Queries: Computers, Articles, Addresses 2) Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1992 10:19 EST From: MORGAN@LOYOLA.EDU Subject: Re: 3.186 Software available 3) Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1992 09:35 EST From: MORGAN@LOYOLA.EDU Subject: Spell Checkers -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 04 Nov 92 10:04:43 CET From: Thierry van Steenberghe Subject: Re: 3.856 Queries: Computers, Articles, Addresses Asmawi Mohamad asks for LISP implementations on PC platforms. I don't know MacLISP, but I could indicate several LISP packages on PC, e.g. - LeLisp by INRIA-France is a relatively small package, and is sort-of 'dialectal' LISP (this is no pejorative..., there exist many such dialects for LISP as for other programming languages.) I ought to mention that the version I've tried is already old. - Golden Common LISP (GCLISP) by Golden Hill Computers-USA is a pretty extensive package: as the name implies, it is a Common LISP, (actually a superset of it), meaning the standard Common LISP instructions are all included. It includes GMACS, an editor rather similar to the EMACS standard. Both packages work under DOS, GCLISP requiring 4 MB of RAM memory, but it can then run on a 286 machine. I hope this helps. Thierry J. van Steenberghe Permanent e-mail: GENESE Research Group University of Louvain - UCL Institute of Linguistics Place Blaise Pascal, 1 B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) Tel.: +32 (0)10 47 4942 Fax : +32 (0)10 47 2579 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1992 10:19 EST From: MORGAN@LOYOLA.EDU Subject: Re: 3.186 Software available Last year Stephen Clausing of Yale was distributing MacConcordance via the *Humanist* list. I have a copy, but you can reach him directly as far as I know at Yale. If you want me to forward my compressed etc. version, let me know. Leslie Morgan (MORGAN@LOYVAX.BITNET) Dept. of Modern Langs. and Lits. Loyola College in Md. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1992 09:35 EST From: MORGAN@LOYOLA.EDU Subject: Spell Checkers I use Word Perfect 5.1 with spellcheckers for Italian, French, and German. These work fine, with a few caveats: 1. there are no proper names included. 2. DO NOT buy Italian earlier than 5.0; all words have a written accent on them, and were clearly entered by someone who hadn't the foggiest idea of Italian usage. WP corporation hired an Italian to do the 5.0 versions, which evidently actually search by parsing for the possible forms. 3. you can add your own words; if students will be using the dictionaries on a network, you might want to add common proper names/nouns and other frequent forms, then "close" that version on the network. There are also dictionary/spellcheckers for the MacIntosh versions of Word Perfect; I have only tried the earlier one (with WP 1.x) and have found it cumbersome, since you can only use one dictionary per document. With the IBM & clone you can use any number (I've made up my own for Latin, since I frequently have Latin quotes) and in fact, you could make up your own rather than spending $100 + if you have student labor to type in words for you. Good luck and I hope this helps Leslie Morgan (MORGAN@LOYVAX.BITNET) Dept. of Modern Langs. and Lits. Loyola College in Maryland (USA) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-862. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-863. Thu 05 Nov 1992. Lines: 191 Subject: 3.863 FYI: Working Papers, Chinese List Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 05 Nov 92 15:59:40 GMT From: Li.Wei@newcastle.ac.uk Subject: MA in Sociolinguistics & Bilingualism 2) Date: Mon, 02 Nov 92 11:11 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: announcement 3) Date: Sun, 01 Nov 1992 21:08:05 EST From: bai@kenyon.edu Subject: Chinese Discussion List 4) Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1992 12:20:14 +0100 From: "Prof.Dr. Bernd Heine" Subject: New journal (STUF) 5) Date: Mon, 02 Nov 92 16:34:36 CDT From: stan kulikowski ii Subject: trick or treat? -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 05 Nov 92 15:59:40 GMT From: Li.Wei@newcastle.ac.uk Subject: MA in Sociolinguistics & Bilingualism Applications are invited for the 1993 entry to the MA in Sociolinguistics & Bilingualism course in the Department of Speech at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Great Britain. For details, please contact: Professor Lesley Milroy, Department of Speech, University of Newcastle upon Ty ne, NE1 7RU, Great Britain. Fax: +44 91 261 1182; Telephone: +44 91 222 7388 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 02 Nov 92 11:11 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: announcement A N N O U N C E M E N T ===================================== U C L A W O R K I N G P A P E R S I N P S Y C H O L I N G U I S T I C S LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AND BREAKDOWN Fall 1992 Volume 1, Number 1j Table of Contents Tetsuya Sano The developmental delay of the 'Condition B Effect' and the continuity of UG Jeannette Schaeffer Main WH-questions and the lack of inversion inn Italian child language Thomas Cornell The 'syntax-there-but-not-there- paradox: a Victoria Fromkin linguistic account of agrammatism. Gail Mauner Kelly Stack Aperture position theory and syllable onset acquis. Andi Wu Acquiring word order without word order parameters. Nina Hyams & Sigridur Sigurjonsdottir An experimental acquisition study on binding in Iceland. Victoria Fromkin Hyperlinguistic individuals: a reply. ========================================================================= Order Form: Name __________________________________________________ Address________________________________________________ City/State/Zip ________________________________________ Please send ____ copies of UCLA WPPsl Fall 1992 @ $10/copy $_____ Add $5/copy for air mail outside the US $_____ TOTAL ENCLOSED $_____ Prepayment by check or international money order required; payable in US dollars to: UCLA Dept of Linguistics. mail to: Dept of Linguistics, UCLA, 405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Sun, 01 Nov 1992 21:08:05 EST From: bai@kenyon.edu Subject: Chinese Discussion List Dear Everyone: We are pleased to announce a new list, CHINESE. This list is set up to promote communication among teachers, researchers and students of Chinese. Topics for discussion may include: 1) theory and practice in teaching Chinese as a foreign language, 2) linguistics, literature and the teaching of Chinese, 3) technology and the teaching of Chinese, 4) creative classroom activities or 5) any other relevant issues. To subscribe, send a message to: CHINESE-REQUEST@KENYON.EDU The message should consist of the following line only: sub chinese If you have any questions about the list and its operation, please contact: Jianhua Bai, Kenyon College bai@kenyon.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1992 12:20:14 +0100 From: "Prof.Dr. Bernd Heine" Subject: New journal (STUF) SPRACHTYPOLOGIE & UNIVERSALIENFORSCHUNG (STUF) is a newly found journal that has been designed as an international forum for scholars working in the field(s) of language typology and language universals. >From spring 1993, STUF will appear quarterly. STUF is edited by Ulrike Claudi (Cologne), Franz Dotter (Klagenfurt), Ronald Loetzsch (Berlin), Anita Steube (Leipzig), Thomas Stolz (Bochum), and Wolfgang U. Wurzel (Berlin). The editors will be supported by an international advisory board. STUF is interested in data-oriented as well as theory-relevant papers dealing with linguistic phenomena from a typological and/or universalist perspective. Such a perspective can be of a synchronic or diachronic nature; psycholinguistic, ethnolinguistic, or sociolinguistic approaches to the field(s) are also welcome. Languages of publication are English, French, and German. Please write to: STUF Brigitte Goretzki Prenzlauer Promenade 149-152 D/O-1100 Berlin Germany This message is from Ulrike Claudi, University of Cologne. You may contact me, too. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) Date: Mon, 02 Nov 92 16:34:36 CDT From: stan kulikowski ii Subject: trick or treat? i wonder if anyone else has noticed that few kids understand the expression 'trick or treat' to be a form of extortion. for the last several years i have been asking the little bogums at the door, "what is your trick?" or expanding "why should i give you a treat?" most often i get nothing but blank stares back. when i say, "OK, i will take the trick," i often get explanations about how i am supposed to give them candy because they are little kids. "'trick or treat' is what you say when you want candy." a few of them try to make stupid faces or do silly dances, claiming that is their trick and i should pay them candy for doing those things. in the last 4 years, i have had 1 kid in about 90 say they would let the air out of my tires. no one remembers the traditional soaping of the windows. it seems we may be seeing the concern for safety remove the meanings of halloween to a purely commerical beggars' night. maybe next year we can prepare a little informal study if you are interested. stan . 1: the check's in the mail stankuli@UWF.bitnet === 2: i will respect you in the morning | | 3: i won't ...(well, you know this one)... --- 4: he's only just a friend 5: -- universal lies -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-863. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-864. Fri 06 Nov 1992. Lines: 393 Subject: 3.864 Survey of Computational Linguistics Courses Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 06:31:18 -0500 From: bonnie@umiacs.UMD.EDU (Bonnie J. Dorr) Subject: Survey of Computational Linguistics Courses -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 06:31:18 -0500 From: bonnie@umiacs.UMD.EDU (Bonnie J. Dorr) Subject: Survey of Computational Linguistics Courses We recently sent out a surface mailing of the Survey of Computational Linguistics courses for the Association for Computational Linguistics. Much to my dismay, I just discovered that some of the questionnaires were collated and stapled incorrectly. (In the incorrect versions, the order of pages in the stapled copy was 214365 instead of 123456.) I apologize for this error. Here is the on-line version of the survey: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To: Instructors of Classes in Computational Linguistics As a follow-on to the Directory of Graduate Programs recently compiled by Martha Evens, the Association for Computational Linguistics will 1) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 06:31:18 -0500 From: bonnie@umiacs.UMD.EDU (Bonnie J. Dorr) Subject: Survey of Computational Linguistics Courses publish a new edition of the Survey of Computational Linguistics Courses. This is a revised version of the 1986 survey, published in Computational Linguistics (vol. 12) by Robin Cohen, which is intended to be a systematic compilation of syllabi from individual classes that teach computational linguistics (i.e., it is not an enumeration of classes taught in CL programs as in the Directory of Graduate Programs). The new version of the survey will be published in the Computational 1) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 06:31:18 -0500 From: bonnie@umiacs.UMD.EDU (Bonnie J. Dorr) Subject: Survey of Computational Linguistics Courses Linguistics journal in 1993. We are eager to include two types of classes: those that teach computational linguistics as the sole topic and those that teach computational linguistics as one of several topics. The survey will allow us to share with colleagues ideas on how to teach computational linguistics. It will also provide an idea of how the field of computational linguistics is being portrayed to potential new researchers. Our listing will include the name and address of the University and Department(s) offering the class, the name and number of the class, the type of class, and information about the syllabus (e.g., topics, texts used, software used, format, workload, enrollment, duration, frequency, and assistance). In addition it will include some statistics on the responses (i.e., total number of classes having particular characteristics) and a bibliography of the most frequently cited references. We would appreciate your response to the survey as soon as possible. The intention is to complete the report by early 1993. You may send information electronically to: cl-survey@umiacs.umd.edu or by mail: Ms. Sandy Tsue CL-SURVEY Institute for Advanced Computer Studies A.V. Williams Building University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 USA (Electronic transmission is preferred.) Thank you very much for your time. Sincerely, Bonnie J. Dorr ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SURVEY OF COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS COURSES INSTRUCTIONS This survey, originally designed by Robin Cohen, and now revised by Bonnie Dorr, attempts to gather information as painlessly as possible for both respondents and surveyor. The primary change that has been made since this survey was last conducted is that it now incorporates questions about different types of software that people use in their CL courses. Brief answers are solicited to the questions that follow. For multiple choice questions, simply type in the appropriate answer(s) from the list. For open-ended questions, use sentence fragments separated by semicolons. For illustration, a sample response is provided after the questionnaire. If possible, return your response electronically as one file of question numbers and answers, using the message header "ACL Survey Response." Hardcopy is acceptable as well. Feel free to include a copy of course description handouts, if available, for filing with the ACL. Regrettably, we will not be able to transcribe syllabi for the journal survey, but these could serve as the basis for a more extended treatment later. Note: If you have taught your course a number of times, respond according to the latest version of the course. In Q12, you may allude to topics covered and techniques used in previous versions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTROL INFORMATION Name: Department: Institution: Address: Net address: Name and number of course: LEVEL A. Is the course - undergraduate? - graduate? - cross-listed, undergraduate and graduate? CL STATUS B. In any given year that you teach this course, is it a course in computational linguistics (CL) or is CL just one of several topics covered? - only CL - topics other than CL Note: Respond to the remainder of the questionnaire with respect to the computational linguistics part of the course, only. ACL SURVEY QUESTIONS TOPICS Q1. What topics are covered in the course? Suggestion: list the topics, one per line, in the order they are addressed in the course. Use brief summaries of the topic name, followed by names of researchers used as references for each topic in parentheses, where appropriate e.g., lexical acquisition and use of corpora (Boguraev & Briscoe, 1987; Zernik, 1990). REFERENCES Q2. What kinds of reference materials are used in the course? - course text(s); specify author & name (publisher & year, if known) - recommended reading texts; specify as above - papers on various topics; specify if different from those in Q1 Note: If your texts are not written in English, please provide a brief English translation of the title. FORMAT Q3. What format of teaching is used? - formal lectures - paper presentations by professor - paper presentations by students - guest lectures - open discussions - other; please specify WORKLOAD Q4. What workload/method of assessment is used in the course? - midterm exam(s) - final exam - assignments with programming - assignments without programming? - course project - class presentations - other; please specify Note: You may provide further details--e.g., midterm exam: take-home, no programming; class presentations: including one on project topic. SOFTWARE WRITTEN BY STUDENTS Q5. Which of the following do students write? - parsers - generators - morphological processors - tagging programs - discourse processors - language translators - ATNs - semantic network processors - lexical-semantic processors - knowledge-based processors - parallel processors - connectionist processors - statistical processors - other; please specify - none SOFTWARE PROVIDED TO STUDENTS Q6. Which of the following are provided for students? (Label them C if commercial source, N if non-commercial outside source, H if built in house; also specify type, e.g., unification parser, chart parser, etc.) - parsers - generators - morphological processors - tagging programs - discourse processors - language translators - ATNs - semantic network processors - lexical-semantic processors - knowledge-based processors - parallel processors - connectionist processors - statistical processors - grammars - lexicons - corpora - semantic networks - data bases - knowledge bases - other; please specify - none SOFTWARE AVAILABLE FOR DISTRIBUTION Q7. If you've developed software and distribute it, please specify type (e.g., grammars, lexicons, parsers, generators, etc.) and mode (e.g., by diskette, tape, cdrom, anonymous ftp (give addresses), etc.). ENROLLMENT Q8. About how many people take the course each time it is offered? DURATION Q9. Does the course last one term or a full year? - one term - full year FREQUENCY Q10. How often is the course offered? - more than once per year - once per year - every other year - occasionally ASSISTANCE Q11. Are there teaching assistants/markers assigned to the course? - yes; conduct tutorial sessions - yes; only mark and hold office hours - no - other; please specify COMMENTS Q12. Include here any other comments about the course--what you would have liked to do ideally, what you plan for the future, what lessons you've learned. ------------------------- Sample response ------------------------ Name: Bonnie J. Dorr Department: Computer Science Institution: University of Maryland Address: A.V. Williams Building, College Park, MD 20742 Net Address: bonnie@cs.umd.edu Course: Computational Linguistics (CMSC 828) Level(A): graduate, cross-listed in linguistics Status(B): CL only Q1. TOPICS The course is divided into 3 sections: (1) Syntax, (2) Lexicon, and (3) Machine Translation and Generation. The course outline is as follows: - Introduction to CL: techniques and analytical tools for comparing linguistic theories and comparing computational practice; levels of representation and their importance in a computational theory. - Syntax: introduction to basic concepts and theories; bottom-up vs. top-down parsing; Earley algorithm; Tomita's algorithm; ATN's. (Sells, 1985; Kay in "Readings," 1986; Earley, 1970; Tomita, 1987; Woods, 1970; Kaplan, 1972.) - Contemporary syntactic models: government-binding theory; principle-based parsing; deterministic parsing; unification-based approaches; GPSG; LFG. (Berwick & Fong, 1990; Marcus in "Readings," 1986; Berwick & Weinberg, 1984; Sells, 1985; Shieber, 1986; Kaplan & Bresnan, 1982.) - Lexicon: lexical representations; semantic roles; primitives; case frames; thematic relations; predicate-argument structure; conceptual dependencies; spatial fields; nonspatial fields; compositionality; linking routines. (Gruber, 1967; Fillmore, 1968; Jackendoff, 1972, 1983; Schank, 1973; Dorr, 1991.) - Lexical Acquisition: non-representational vs. representational approaches; statistical methods; use of corpora; acquisition of syntactic information; bootstrapping semantics from syntax. (Boguraev & Briscoe, 1987; Klavans & Tzoukermann, 1990; Church & Hanks, 1990; Zernik, 1990; Pustejovsky, 1987; Hindle, 1990; Brent, 1991.) - Machine translation and generation: basic theory and technology; major characteristics and tradeoffs; mapping techniques; problems in MT and generation; divergences; mismatches; lexical selection; syntactic realization; parameterization. (Slocum, 1988; Thurmair, 1990; Kaplan et al., 1989; Abeille et al., 1990; Arnold & Sadler, 1990; Lindop & Tsujii, 1991; Barnett et al., 1991; Dorr, 1991.) Q2. REFERENCES No required texts. Papers on various topics (see Q1) are assigned on a weekly basis. Some reading texts are recommended: - Allen, J., Natural Language Understanding, Benjamin-Cummings, New York, NY, 1987. - Berwick, R., and Weinberg, A., The Grammatical Basis of Linguistic Performance, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1984. - Grosz, B., K. Sparck-Jones, and B. Webber, Readings in Natural Language Processing, Morgan-Kaufman, Los Altos, CA, 1986. - Hutchins, W., Machine Translation: Past, Present, Future, Ellis Horwood, Chichester, England, 1986. - Sells, P., Lectures on Contemporary Syntactic Theories, University of Chicago Press, CLSI, Chicago, IL, 1985. - Zernik, U. (ed.), Lexical Acquisition: Using on-line Resources to Build a Lexicon, Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 1987. Q3. FORMAT - formal lectures - open discussions - paper presentations by students - two guest lectures Q4. WORKLOAD - 2-4 assigned readings per week - One written assignment - One programming lab - Class presentation - Final term paper Q5. SOFTWARE WRITTEN BY STUDENTS - simple generator and lexical-semantic processor for a language translation program - small grammar and lexicon Q6. SOFTWARE PROVIDED TO STUDENTS - parser (N; Marcus Parser) - grammar (N; Marcus style rules) Q7. SOFTWARE AVAILABLE FOR DISTRIBUTION - none Q8. ENROLLMENT - 20 Q9. DURATION - one semester (14 weeks, 2-1/2 hours/week) with one semester follow-on taught in the linguistics department (LING 819). Q10. FREQUENCY - every other year Q11: ASSISTANCE - none. Q12: COMMENTS - The goal of the course is to introduce topics, issues, and theories in computational linguistics, to relate the field to linguistics and AI, and to provide the background necessary for analysis and evaluation of computational models of natural language understanding, generation, and translation. - The distribution of students is approximately 60% computer science, 30% linguistics, and 10% engineering. - Students work in groups of 4 for the laboratory. The goal is to allow linguists and computer scientists to be able to benefit from each other's knowledge while also giving students a chance to have hands-on experience with some of the concepts that are presented in class at a more abstract level. A minimal amount of programming in Lisp is expected. - Sample topics chosen by the students for final papers include syntactic models of parsing, logic programming approaches to generation, connectionist processing models, speech processing models, knowledge representation, lexical semantics, and machine translation. Students are expected to compare and critique different approaches to natural language processing and to give a 20 minute in-class presentation of their paper. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-864. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-865. Fri 06 Nov 1992. Lines: 149 Subject: 3.865 Probabilistic Reasoning Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 05 Nov 92 11:04:21 EST From: Henry Kucera Subject: Re: 3.859 Probabilistic Reasoning in Linguistics 2) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 12:44:20 EST From: "Bruce E. Nevin" Subject: Probabilistic Reasoning 3) Date: Thu, 05 Nov 92 13:10:54 EST Subject: Re: 3.859 Probabilistic Reasoning in Linguistics From: Ann Taylor 4) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 09:23:09 -0800 (PST) From: Scott C DeLancey Subject: 3.859 Probabilistic Reasoning in Linguistics (fwd) -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 05 Nov 92 11:04:21 EST From: Henry Kucera Subject: Re: 3.859 Probabilistic Reasoning in Linguistics Am I missing something? There is a vast amount of literature, mostly from the 1950's (e.g.Swadesh) about lexicostatistics also known as glottochronology. The issues of "basic vocabulary" and of the significance of statistical comparison of various languages was much discussed. As a curiosity: There is an MA thesis (by someone named Murphy, I think) that shows (on Sanscrit and Modern English) that IE separation took place about 3500 BC, not a bad conclusion. The fact that there can be isolated accidental resemblances between two languages is already mentioned in Bloomfield's Language (he cites the word for 'eye' in Modern Greek and Malay, if I remember correctly). Is something else being discussed here or are we no longer reading things written in the 1950's? Henry Kucera -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 12:44:20 EST From: "Bruce E. Nevin" Subject: Probabilistic Reasoning Reference: Ringe, Donald A., Jr. 1992. On calculating the factor of chance in linguistic comparison. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 82, Part 1. 110 pp. $16. Briefly reviewed by Victor Golla in the October issue of the SSILA Newsletter (The Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas _Newsletter_ XI:3 pp. 9-10.) Victor, I know you're among us, maybe you could be persuaded to post the text of your review? A sentence from the review: This will be unwelcome news to "Long Rangers," and will surely be challenged by them. Is the SciAm article perhaps just such a challenge, or is it only (perhaps belated, as Ringe suggests) attention to the issue of chance resemblances? I have not read it. Bob Oswalt has also done a great deal of work on this topic. A long piece he wrote 20 years ago, he has told me, was turned down at that time by _Language_. I have suggested resuscitating it. Unfortunately, Bob does not have email access. Bruce Nevin bn@bbn.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Thu, 05 Nov 92 13:10:54 EST Subject: Re: 3.859 Probabilistic Reasoning in Linguistics From: Ann Taylor For people interested in the probability of chance matchings when comparing languages, there is a recent monograph ('91 or '92) published by the American Philosophical Society called On Calculating the Factor of Chance in Language Comparison (or something very similar) by Donald A. Ringe, Jr. which addresses these issues in a detailed and systematic way. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 09:23:09 -0800 (PST) From: Scott C DeLancey Subject: 3.859 Probabilistic Reasoning in Linguistics (fwd) John Coleman's reponse to Manaster-Ramer's criticism of Greenberg and Ruhlen's statistical argument is doesn't really save it. He says: >Alexis Manaster-Ramer misrepresents Greenberg and Ruhlen ... >Greenberg and Ruhlen estimate the probability of similar words with >with a similar meaning occurring in SIX languages (not two), chosen >from a longer list of similar words with a slightly wider range of >meanings. But G&R do in fact say, in reference to the match of 3 consonants in the words for 'throat' in Halkomelem and 'swallow' in Tfalati: the chances of an accidental match are (1/13)(2/13)/(4/13)= 0.0036412391 Which is just plain baloney no matter how you slice it. Maybe they really know better, but that is what they said, and it's not true -- and apart from the linguistic legitimacy of the claim, there's something alarming about the sight of *Scientific* American printing a sentence which makes such an elementary error in statistical reasoning. And there's an equally egregious error immediately after; in calculating the odds of the six-way match that they present, G&R simply multiply out this spurious 0.004 probability for each of six families. But this is correct only if the six languages compared are the only ones in the relevant data set. In fact each representative language is chosen from dozens or scores of possible candidates within its family, and no evidence is presented to show that the form is prevalent or reconstructible within any of the families. Thus the odds of finding a match are considerably improved beyond what G&R claim. Possibily the statistical argument, correctly done, would still hold--but the statistical claim made in the SA article is nevertheless simply wrong. That said, of course, Coleman is correct in pointing out that >And G&R claim to have done likewise for over a hundred >other "basic vocabulary" words. Which makes their argument >much stronger than Alexis characterizes it as being. though as many people have pointed out, the ultimate strength of the argument is dependent on the validity of the "over a hundred" other sets. Scott DeLancey -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-865. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-866. Fri 06 Nov 1992. Lines: 135 Subject: 3.866 Objectionable Words Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: 31 Oct 1992 20:21:23 -0600 (CST) From: MINER@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu Subject: objectionable words 2) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1992 16:03:08 +0100 From: HASPELMATH@philologie.fu-berlin.dbp.de Subject: objectionable words 3) Date: Mon, 02 Nov 92 12:54:21 EST From: "Lynn S. Messing" Subject: Re: 3.855 Objectionable Words 4) Date: Wed, 04 Nov 92 19:36 PST From: benji wald Subject: Re: 3.855 Objectionable Words -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: 31 Oct 1992 20:21:23 -0600 (CST) From: MINER@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu Subject: objectionable words At least two people have cited the use by Republicans of "Democrat" rather than "Democratic" as an adjective (in expressions like "Democrat proposal," "Democrat congressman," etc.) supposedly in order to demean the opposition. I have always assumed that this usage was motivated by a desire to avoid the unwanted connotations of lower-case "democratic" in a context where the political party is being referred to. In the spoken language "Democrat congressman" is unambiguous; "Democratic congressman" is not. This more charitable interpretation would however not be available for "Democrat party" if that is indeed in use; I don't recall having seen or heard it myself. -Ken -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1992 16:03:08 +0100 From: HASPELMATH@philologie.fu-berlin.dbp.de Subject: objectionable words The different connotations of "Jew" vs. "jewish" are not restricted to English. In German, especially speakers of the older generation prefer "juedische Menschen" to "Juden" in some contexts. For me (b. 1963, gentile) this sounds strange, because I grew up in an environment that totally lacked jews or antisemitism, but when my mother (b. 1929) uses the word "Jude", she probably still has the association both of "normal" antisemitism in Poland of the 1930s (where she grew up) and of Nazi state terrorism against the Jews. I think the hypothesis that the "objectionable" character of "Jew" is a genteelism explains the German situation very well. Martin Haspelmath, Free University of Berlin (West) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Mon, 02 Nov 92 12:54:21 EST From: "Lynn S. Messing" Subject: Re: 3.855 Objectionable Words I have been reading with interest the discussion concerning "Jew" vs. "Jewish". Where does "Hebrew," as a synonym for "Jew" fit into the picture? Just this past weekend, I was asked whether I was "a Hebrew". The person who asked went on to use this phrase several times during the discussion. He obviously did not intend it in a derogatory manner; nevertheless, my gut-level reaction to that phrase was rather negative. As far as I can recall, this was the first time I have heard the word "Hebrew" being used in this way. The person who used the phrase was a man in his eighties who has lived his entire life in the Philadelphia area and in part of Arizona. Was this use of "Hebrew" common in his generation or in either of his geographic areas? How extensive is this usage? What kind of connotations does it have? Lynn S. Messing CEM11150@UDELVM.UDEL.EDU -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Wed, 04 Nov 92 19:36 PST From: benji wald Subject: Re: 3.855 Objectionable Words For Alice Faber. Floored by the euphemism "Israelite". Get ready for "Hebrew". A Southern Californian woman told me she used to work in an office with "two Hebrews". I immediately thought of a Black cult in Florida. "What do you mean Hebrews?" She was hesitant to say "... Jews" "Why'd you say `Hebrews`"? "I didn't want to say 'Jews'". I didn't pursue it at the moment. She was complaining about how Hispanic and Asian her former high school had become... I've also known people to avoid the word "Black", and not necessarily because they were consciously bigotted. Seems like African American is now the noun. I saw an African American frown recently when addressed by a white (is this pejorative?) who referred to "Afro-Americans", as if this was a mispronunciation -- more likely a lack of enough sensitivity to show sustained interest in ethnic labelling malaise of the public society. "Spaniard", "Frenchman" ... pejorative. I don't know. You really have to keep in touch with the communities designated to know what was/is/has become offensive. Hispanic is an "official" term. But on a personal level, it sounds foolish. Latino/a is certainly more intimate. "Chicano" vs. "Mexican American" was highly politically charged, within the community itself. An outsider cd hardly avoid giving offense to somebody without knowing the political position of the person s/he was talking to. Lloyd's 2) should be "I am a Chinaman", which is offensive. Also, at least in California, "Oriental" is offensive, "Asian" is not. Geoff's observations about Times usage are interesting and important. As I said, I don't think "Jew" is pejorative in public discourse nowadays -- but, Geoff -- if you go back to the 50s,was Times usage the same for "Jew/s", and what kinds of terms did Lippmann use (you know his problem)? I'm wondering if the period following WWII to the late 1960s was the period in which "Jew" was avoided, in the way the "Black" and "gay" are now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-866. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-867. Fri 06 Nov 1992. Lines: 147 Subject: 3.867 Phonetics Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 28 Oct 92 10:13:14 EST From: "Bruce E. Nevin" Subject: phoneticians 2) Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 16:43:51 EST From: jsc@mbeya.research.att.com (John S. Coleman) Subject: 3.839 Final Devoicing -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 28 Oct 92 10:13:14 EST From: "Bruce E. Nevin" Subject: phoneticians The discussion of differences missed by ear and caught by instrumental analysis reminded me of Labov, William. 1974. On the Use of the Present to Explain the Past, Proc 11th Int. Congr. of Linguists, 1974. (Reprinted in a collection edited by Baldi and Werth.) Labov (1974) presents evidence that the linguistic intuitions of native speakers may not be reliable, even given the idealization of the pair test or the availability of native speakers trained in phonetics and (other aspects of) linguistics. Native speakers may not hear systematic phonetic (subphonemic) differences that are apparent upon instrumental analysis. And yet native speakers must unconsciously hear those same phonetic differences and must control their audibility in their own speech, or they would not persist in the systematic way that they do. The particular data in question show that the unconscious behavior of speakers of the English of Norwich, England, reflects a contrast between /ay/ and /oy/ that native speakers and linguists alike had agreed had merged and were indistinguishable. This research relates to a merger two or three centuries ago that was reversed or was "undone" in the 19th century. The usual explanation is that this reversal of sound change was due to the influence of spelling, borrowings from the hypercorrected dialect of literate speakers. Labov's data suggest a different explanation, namely, that a distinction that is no longer contrastive can nonetheless still hang around in the language, perhaps to reemerge later. An analogy suggests itself to a recessive phenotype emerging from the gene pool of a biological population. Even though this is a difference that makes no difference to native speakers in distinguishing lexical items such as "line" and "loin", and it makes no evident difference on the level of presentation of self (a usual function of dialect differences), it must make a difference to speakers of this dialect on some level in order so to be maintained. This suggests limitations on what may be claimed for any scheme of representation for the phonological contrasts of a language. The question exactly which type a given sound change may be is less important than that a range of alternatives be known and considered in the work of analyzing and understanding a particular situation in language change. If an alternative interpretation for a given correspondence or other datum is not raised for consideration, its plausibility can never be evaluated relative to other interpretations. This, I believe, was Hoenigswald's intent in _Language Change and Linguistic Reconstruction_. Bruce Nevin bn@bbn.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 16:43:51 EST From: jsc@mbeya.research.att.com (John S. Coleman) Subject: 3.839 Final Devoicing More on the incomplete neutralization controversy. Two papers, Fourakis and Iverson (1984), and Jassem and Richter (1989), have been cited as showing failure to replicate earlier incomplete neutralization results in German and Polish respectively. Using more natural and spontaneous test materials than earlier experiments, F&I, and J&R performed two experiments each: F&I 1. Measurements of duration of vowel duration and consonant closure duration. The result: failure to replicate earlier experimental results showing preservation of the voiced-voiceless distinction as a systematic durational distinction. F&I 2. In less natural speech (a reading task), the incomplete neutralization effect was replicated. F&I conclude that incomplete neutralization is related to how natural the speech is. In more natural speech, neutralization is complete; in less natural speech, neutralization may is incomplete. Note that only their first experiment is the crucial one to this debate. J&R 1. Using randomized test-data, native Polish speakers cannot distinguish underlying voiced from voiceless categories, showing that the neutralization must be complete. J&R 2. Like F&I 1, there is no statistically significant durational distinction between devoiced and underlyingly voiceless categories. ------------- Comment: The three critical experiments, F&I 1, J&R 1 and 2, suffer from two major problems which cast doubt on the conclusion that they do not support incomplete neutralization. F&I 1 and J&R 2 suffer from the same problem, that by concentrating on duration measures alone, they fail to demonstrate the possibility that the word-pairs in question are distinguishable on the basis of other properties, such as spectral or amplitude distinctions. Lisker (1986) identifies at least 16 possible cues to the voiced/voiceless distinction, of which 11 are relevant to word-final position. 4 of these are non-durational. It is well known that spectral and amplitude distinctions are as important as, if not more easily perceivable than, durational distinctions. Scott (1984) shows that non-durational cues are critical to the resolution of the incompletely neutralized t/d contrast in American English. Consequently, measurements of durational distinctions is sufficient to establish that a putative neutralization is incomplete, but is not sufficient to show that neutralization was complete! The remaining critical experiment, J&R 1, employed randomized test stimuli, rather than permitting subjects to make same-different decisions on devoiced vs. voiceless stimuli. While randomization is relevant during collection of the data, to avoid explicit contrastive effects in the cues, it is not necessary in administering the test stimuli. In fact, a phonetician wishing to check a pair of words to determine whether a particular distinction is perceptible or not is at liberty to explicitly focus on the two words, played over and over again many times, before forming a judgement. The experiment was thus much harder than necessary for the purposes of validating or refuting the incomplete neutralization effect. --- John Coleman -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-867. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-868. Fri 06 Nov 1992. Lines: 98 Subject: 3.868 Conferences: Poetics, CLS 29 Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: 04 Nov 1992 11:45:21 +0200 (EET) From: JSMEDS@finabo.abo.fi Subject: conference 2) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 92 12:37:40 CST From: Chicago Linguistic Society Subject: CLS 29 Call for Papers -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: 04 Nov 1992 11:45:21 +0200 (EET) From: JSMEDS@finabo.abo.fi Subject: conference The 1993 Conference of the Poetics and Linguistics Association will be at Abo Akademi University from 2nd to 5th August. The main theme is: `Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Teaching of Language and Literature at All Levels'. Details from: Prof. Roger D. Sell, English Department, Abo Akademi University, 20500 Abo, Finland. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 92 12:37:40 CST From: Chicago Linguistic Society Subject: CLS 29 Call for Papers ANNOUNCING THE 29th REGIONAL MEETING OF THE CHICAGO LINGUISTIC SOCIETY April 22-24, 1993 General Session April 22-23 We invite original, unpublished work on any topic of general linguistic interest. Parasession April 23-24 "What We Think, What We Mean, and How We Say It: The Role of Conceptual Representation in Language" We invite original unpublished work on the relationship between conceptual, (and/or semantic) representations and grammar. Among the questions which could be addressed are: Can/should the study of language encompass the study of conceptual represen- tation? Is conceptual representation distinct from semantics? Can the same types of structures and primitives be used for conceptual/ semantic representation and more concrete levels (syntax, morphology, phonology)? If not, what is the relation between conceptual/semantic categories and syntactic/morphological ones? Where should such matters as scope relations and thematic roles be dealt with? Does any level wholly or partially determine the nature of the others (e.g. in a Whorfian sense)? What role does iconicity play in language? What kind of evidence (linguistic, psycholinguistic, anthropological, acquisitional, etc.) is there which bears on any o the above questions? ABSTRACTS (for either general or parasession): Please submit ten copies of a one-page, 500-word, anonymous abstract (for a 25-minute paper), along with a 3x5" card with your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, title of paper, and indication of whether the paper is intended for the main session or the parasession. The abstract should clearly indicate the data covered, outline the arguments presented, and include any broader implications of the work. If necessary, append a page of data and/or references. An individual may present at most one single and one co-authored paper. DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF ABSTRACTS IS FEBRUARY 12th, 1993 Send Abstracts To: Chicago Linguistic Society 1010 E. 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637 For more information, or to get on our e-mail list: cls@sapir.uchicago.edu (312) 702-8529 INVITED SPEAKERS TO BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-868. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-869. Fri 06 Nov 1992. Lines: 162 Subject: 3.869 Announcements: SLRF Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1992 14:35:14 +1100 From: Catherine.Doughty@linguistics.su.edu.au (Catherine Doughty) Subject: Proposals to Host PacSLRF 2) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 13:41 EST From: MLDST9@PITTVMS.bitnet Subject: Second Language Research Forum (proposals and address list) -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1992 14:35:14 +1100 From: Catherine.Doughty@linguistics.su.edu.au (Catherine Doughty) Subject: Proposals to Host PacSLRF FINAL NOTICE ============ The International Organising Committee for PacSLRF (Pacific Second Language Research Forum) INVITES PROPOSALS TO HOST PacSLRF '94 The aims of PacSLRF are to provide a forum for Second Language Acquisition researchers, teachers and postgraduate students in the Pacific and South East Asian region and to encourage further research into second language acquisition/use in both naturalistic and formal settings. The inaugural Pacific Second Language Research Forum was held between July 13-16 1992 at the University of Sydney in Australia and was attended by some 150 participants from around the world. The Organising Committee is now seeking proposals from institutions that would like to host the next PacSLRF which has been scheduled for 1994. Applications are particularly encouraged from institutions in the Pacific region outside of Australia. The deadline for submissions is 31st December 1992 ================================================== Submissions should address (at least) the following issues: Proposed conference dates; proposed theme/s of the conference; organisational details; personnel commitments; costs such as registration, accommodation, food & entertainment etc; conference site; proposed publicity; potential conference participants in the area; costs of airfare from Asian-Pacific region to conference site, location of site/accommodation in relation to airport; any other details which support your application. The proposal should be approximately 3 pages in length. Submissions should be sent to Alison Mackey LARC Transient Building (F12), Fisher Road, University of Sydney,Sydney NSW 2006, Australia Fax (02) 660 7554 Email Alison.Mackey@Larc.su.edu.au In order to give the successful institution sufficient planning time, a final decision on a site for PacSLRF '94 will be made by the 31st January 1993. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 13:41 EST From: MLDST9@PITTVMS.bitnet Subject: Second Language Research Forum (proposals and address list) This message actually has two aims: (1) to remind any interested parties that the deadline for proposals for SLRF 1994 and SLRF 1995 is coming up, and (2) to ask for your help in updating the SLRF mailing list. CALL FOR PROPOSALS--SLRF 1994 AND SLRF 1995 The Second Language Research Forum (SLRF) is an annual conference sponsored by individual universities. In the past, SLRF conferences have been held at UCLA, USC, University of Hawaii, University of Oregon, and Michigan State University.In 1993, SLRF will be in Pittsburgh, jointly hosted by the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie-Mellon University; proposals to host the 14th and 15th annual SLRF conferences are now being sought. In writing a proposal, please address the following questions: 1. What dates do you propose for the conference? SLRF has typically been held in the late winter/early spring, but this is negotiable. 2. What would be the theme of the conference, if any? 3. Would there be any special subsections? 4. Who would be involved in organization: students, faculty, or both? If you have an organizing committee at this point, list names. 5. Will there be institutional seed money available? 6. Are there funds to cover possible deficits? 7. Where will the conference be held: a campus conference center, classrooms, a hotel? 8. What registration fees would be charged for pre- and on-site registration, for students and non-students? 9. What kind of housing is available and what is the approximate cost of such housing? How far is housing from the conference site? 10. Are there affordable places to eat within walking distance of the conference site? 11. What publicity will be undertaken? 12. Are there other universities nearby from which to draw conference participants? 13. Is the site serviced by a major airport? If not, how does one get to the conference site? 14. What organized social events would you plan? If you are interested in submitting a proposal for SLRF 1994 or 1995, send all materials no later than DECEMBER 1, 1992. Proposals should be directed to ROBERT DeKEYSER PHONE: (412) 624-5921 2816 CATHEDRAL OF LEARNING FAX: (412) 624-6130 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH E-MAIL: rdk1@pittvms.bitnet PITTSBURGH PA 15260 rdk1@vms.cis.pitt.edu SLRF MAILING LIST UPDATE We are currently in the process of trying to update the SLRF mailing list by adding new names, correcting addresses for those people already on the list, and adding a database of e-mail addresses. If you are not on the list, and would like to be put on it in time for the mailing of SLRF 1993 registration materials, send us your mailing address AND your e-mail address as soon as possible. This year's conference will be held March 19-21 of 1993, and the plenary speakers are Brain MacWhinney, Barry McLaughlin and Jacqueline Schachter. If you are on the list, and know that we have the wrong address for you, or if you are sure that we don't have your e-mail address, please contact us also. You can send all your addresses, or direct any questions about SLRF 1993, to MARION DELARCHE & DAWN McCORMICK PHONE: (412) 624-5387 SLRF CONFERENCE CO-CHAIRS FAX: (412) 624-6130 2816 CATHEDRAL OF LEARNING E-MAIL: mldst9@pittvms.bitnet UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH mldst9@vms.cis.pitt.edu PITTSBURGH PA 15260 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-869. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-870. Fri 06 Nov 1992. Lines: 77 Subject: 3.870 Conference: PALA Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: 04 Nov 1992 11:40:05 +0200 (EET) From: JSMEDS@finabo.abo.fi Subject: conference -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: 04 Nov 1992 11:40:05 +0200 (EET) From: JSMEDS@finabo.abo.fi Subject: conference [Moderators' note: additional information relevant to this posting is available on the server. To get the file, send a message to: listserv@tamvm1.tamu.edu (if you are on the Internet) OR listserv@tamvm1 (if you are on the Bitnet) The message should consist of the single line: get poetics text linguist You will then receive the complete file.] SECOND CIRCULAR, CALL FOR PAPERS, REGISTRATION As part of the programme for the 75th Anniversary of Abo Akademi University the English Department will be hosting the 1993 Conference of The Poetics and Linguistics Association on INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO THE TEACHING OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE AT ALL LEVELS from 2nd to 5th August, 1993 The Poetics and Linguistics Association The Poetics and Linguistics Association (PALA) is an international organization which aims to represent the interests of those who work in stylistics, poetics, and associated fields of language and linguistics, including scholars who are concerned with pragmatic interrelationships between instances of language use, literary or otherwise, and historical contexts of use. Specific interests of PALA members include: narratology; literariness; the analysis of literary and non-literary texts; the relationship between literature and language teaching; language, ideology and critical practice; critical linguistics; translation studies; the language and semiotics of drama; applied linguistics; rhetoric; discourse stylistics; literary pragmatics; linguistics and cultural studies. PALA publishes Language and Literature: Journal of the Poetics and Linguistics Association (Longman) and is associated with the Interface Series (Routledge). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-870. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-871. Sat 07 Nov 1992. Lines: 249 Subject: 3.871 Objectionable Words Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 15:17 EST From: KROVETZ@cs.umass.EDU Subject: objectionable words 2) Date: Fri, 06 Nov 1992 17:53:59 PST From: "Don W." Subject: Democrat(ic) 3) Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 18:29:38 CST From: marc346@austin.relay.ucm.org Subject: 3.866 Objectionable Words 4) Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 11:00:03 EST From: peter@sug.org (Peter Salus) Subject: Re: 3.866 Objectionable Words 5) Date: Fri, 06 Nov 92 12:29:02 EST From: "Ellen F. Prince" Subject: Re: 3.866 Objectionable Words 6) Date: 6 Nov 92 11:29:11 GMT-7 From: "Jane H. Hill" Subject: Re: 3.866 Objectionable Words 7) Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 10:21:23 -0600 From: mfleck@caesar.cs.uiowa.edu (Margaret M. Fleck) Subject: Objectionable Words -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 15:17 EST From: KROVETZ@cs.umass.EDU Subject: objectionable words What about the case of `colored people' (offensive) vs. `people of color' (acceptable) ? Are there other examples where a different word order changes the acceptability of the phrase? Bob krovetz@cs.umass.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Fri, 06 Nov 1992 17:53:59 PST From: "Don W." Subject: Democrat(ic) A historical note on the following. The issue may well be addressed to the History list; someone there may have an answer... >From: MINER@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu >Subject: objectionable words > >At least two people have cited the use by Republicans of "Democrat" >rather than "Democratic" as an adjective (in expressions like >"Democrat proposal," "Democrat congressman," etc.) supposedly in order >to demean the opposition. > >I have always assumed that this usage was motivated by a desire to >avoid the unwanted connotations of lower-case "democratic" in a >context where the political party is being referred to. In the spoken >language "Democrat congressman" is unambiguous; "Democratic >congressman" is not. > >This more charitable interpretation would however not be available for >"Democrat party" if that is indeed in use; I don't recall having seen >or heard it myself. > >-Ken The term "Democrat party" has been in use since it was first introduced, I believe, by Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, in the 1950's. One would have to ask someone other than a Democrat whether this deformation is still being used in the spirit in which it was originally intended. Don W. (DonWebb@CSUS.EDU) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 18:29:38 CST From: marc346@austin.relay.ucm.org Subject: 3.866 Objectionable Words thanx!! personally i find it perjorative, although i agree most don't....i like either hebrew or 'red sea pedestrian' :) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 11:00:03 EST From: peter@sug.org (Peter Salus) Subject: Re: 3.866 Objectionable Words Last week I visited my octogenarian aunt in her geriatric condo. Born in Austria, she plays bridge every Sunday with a group of elderly German speaking emigre(e)s. One woman began a sentence with "Aber wir Juden..." This is, I admit, not conclusive, but it's good evidence. [The context was the fact that my aunt stated that she had filed an absentee ballot for Bush, but that the recent Contragate revelations had made her uneasy. "Wir Juden," it was asserted, were for Clinton.] Peter H. Salus -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) Date: Fri, 06 Nov 92 12:29:02 EST From: "Ellen F. Prince" Subject: Re: 3.866 Objectionable Words >From: HASPELMATH@philologie.fu-berlin.dbp.de >Subject: objectionable words >The different connotations of "Jew" vs. "jewish" are not restricted to >English. In German, especially speakers of the older generation prefer >"juedische Menschen" to "Juden" in some contexts. For me (b. 1963, gentile) >this sounds strange, because I grew up in an environment that totally lacked >jews or antisemitism, but when my mother (b. 1929) uses the word "Jude", >she probably still has the association both of "normal" antisemitism in >Poland of the 1930s (where she grew up) and of Nazi state terrorism against >the Jews. it's far more understandable to me that german _jude_ has negative connotations for that generation, since this was the life-threatening word that was stamped on Jewish passports and other official documents (and on some of the yellow stars on Jews' chests) during the 3rd reich. people would pay their life savings to get a forged passport that lacked those four little letters. same of course for french _juif_ under the occupation, tho obviously on a smaller (briefer) scale. in a similar tho nonlinguistic vein, my aunt's kibbutz in israel would never use numbers to identify kibbutz members (e.g. equivalent of social security numbers), simply because of the bad taste many members have of being identified by the number still tattooed on their arm--it's not an 'anti-numerical' stance--they have nothing against numbers and no problem with arithmetic--just a traumatic association. i wonder if this is changing... free association wrt _juif_: one of the chants in the streets of paris during the may 1968 'evenements' was 'nous sommes tous des juifs allemands,' in solidarity with daniel cohn-bendit, the young franco-german jew who was crucially involved in starting the whole thing, and with oppressed underdogs in general. i think there was also a certain shock value intended by the choice of terms. martin: mon dieu, you were 5 years old... how time flies. -------------------------------------------------- >From: "Lynn S. Messing" >Subject: Re: 3.855 Objectionable Words > > I have been reading with interest the discussion concerning "Jew" vs. >"Jewish". Where does "Hebrew," as a synonym for "Jew" fit into the picture? it's not surprising that a person in their 80s would choose _hebrew_ as the euphemism. consider _ym/ywha_ = young men's/young women's hebrew association, the adaptation of ymca, and _hias_ = hebrew immigrant aid society, to name two that have stuck to this day (sort of like the _naacp_). i would suspect that the person you heard is gentile only because one would think jews would have noticed that _hebrew_ had fallen out of style since then, but it clearly was the term favored by jews in the public domain in the 1920s. --------------------------------------------------- >From: benji wald >Subject: Re: 3.855 Objectionable Words >Lloyd's 2) should be "I am a Chinaman", which is offensive. Also, at >least in California, "Oriental" is offensive, "Asian" is not. not only in california, benji. penn has just ended a long and bitter battle over the name of the (erstwhile) oriental studies dept. much against their will they have finally changed it to the asian and middle eastern studies dept. (the dept covers everything from semitic to japanese, except the modern lgs of the indian subcontinent, which broke away years ago and formed the south asia dept.) (irrelevant trivia: it's the dept where zellig harris got his ba and phd and where noam chomsky got his ba.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) Date: 6 Nov 92 11:29:11 GMT-7 From: "Jane H. Hill" Subject: Re: 3.866 Objectionable Words Benji Wald raised the question of Hispanic/Latino/Chicano. My own preliminary and very informal observations suggest that "Latino" is coming mainly from Caribbean-origin folks in the East and Midwest, that is Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, etc. In Arizona some "Chicanos" consider "Latino" to be a word for "some kind of stuck-up Cuban" (to quote a personal communication). Those who identify with the movement for "La Raza" may prefer Chicano. However more conservative people prefer Hispanic as "dignified" and emphasizing the Spanish heritage ("Hispano" is used often in New Mexico, although "Mexicano" is used there as well and I haven't sorted out the social significance of these usages. People who prefer "Latino" (and some of the kinds of people indicated above are pushing it as a universal designation) or "Chicano" (these people are NOT pushing it as universal -- only for Mexican-Americans) will say that "Hispanic" is a racist term emanating from the U.S. Census and its focus on "races" of people in contrast with "Blacks", "Whites," etc. -- that "Hispanic" neglects the diversity of the referred-to population, the Native American and African background of some, etc. Among "Anglos" in the Southwest one still hears often "Mexicans" and this is definitely considered pejorative by Chicanos/Hispanics. Jane H. Hill, University of Arizona -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 10:21:23 -0600 From: mfleck@caesar.cs.uiowa.edu (Margaret M. Fleck) Subject: Objectionable Words > From: benji wald > I've also known people to avoid the word "Black", and not necessarily > because they were consciously bigotted. Seems like African American > is now the noun. ... Of course, this in turn bugs recent immigrants from Africa, not all of whom are black. It can get quite bizarre explaining to a (white) African or African-American why he should check the "European/European-American" box, while some of his (black) European friends should check the "African/African-American" box. I imagine similar problems occur with the term "Hispanic." The last time I read an official government-type definition, it included (a) Maya and other indians and (b) the South American Welsh community, but not (c) immigrants from Spain. I wouldn't be surprized if one of these three groups found this situation annoying. Margaret Fleck (mfleck@cs.uiowa.edu) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-871. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-872. Sat 07 Nov 1992. Lines: 142 Subject: 3.872 Probabilistic Reasoning Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 02 Nov 92 20:27:15 EST From: Don Ringe Subject: probabilistic analysis of language comparison 2) Date: Thu, 05 Nov 92 19:52:31 EST Subject: probabilities: six languages compared From: Don Ringe 3) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 18:06 PST From: GOLLAV@axe.humboldt.edu Subject: Probabilistic Reasoning in Linguistics -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 02 Nov 92 20:27:15 EST From: Don Ringe Subject: probabilistic analysis of language comparison Dear Colleagues on the Linguist List-- I hope that those of you who are interested in language comparison and probabilities will take a look at a monograph by Don Ringe (that's me), called *On Calculating the Factor of Chance in Language Comparison*, published this year as Vol. 82, part 1, of the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. The math in it is extremely primitive, and that's part of the point: it doesn't take much mathematical sophistication to cope with chance resemblances--but it *does* take more than was recently exhibited in Scientific American. (I should also warn you, if you are not already familiar with the problem, that fn. 57a of the monograph is incorrect; I apologize for not catching that before it went to press.) --Don Ringe -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Thu, 05 Nov 92 19:52:31 EST Subject: probabilities: six languages compared From: Don Ringe John Coleman points out that in their *SA* article Greenberg & Ruhlen compute the probability that a certain type of peculiarity will appear in words translating each other in six languages by chance. This makes their findings look impressive at first. But their argument is valid only if *exactly* six languages are being compared; as the number of languages being compared increases, the probability that a given peculiarity in a word of given meaning will show up in *some* six of the languages also rises dramatically. Here is an example. Suppose the probability of some phonological characteristic appearing in a particular word in each language is .1 (which is realistically small for some types of cases). If only six languages are being compared, the probability that that characteristic will appear in "the same" word in all six is .1 to the 6th power, or .000001. But if twenty languages are being compared, the probability that that characteristic will show up in a given word in some six of the twenty is .1 to the 6th power (for the languages in which it appears), multiplied by .9 to the 14th power (for the languages in which it does not appear), multiplied by 38,760 (because there are 38,760 *different* configurations in which six such words can be distributed over twenty different languages--six "x's" in the twenty columns, so to speak), which comes to about .008867 (if I've done the arithmetic correctly). Note that the latter probability is more than *8,000* times as great as the former--and we're talking about *only* twenty languages!! Greenberg and Ruhlen compared many more. Greenberg and Ruhlen certainly have *not* demonstrated that the similarities they're finding could not be the result of chance. --Don Ringe -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 18:06 PST From: GOLLAV@axe.humboldt.edu Subject: Probabilistic Reasoning in Linguistics Bruce Nevin has asked that I post the full text of a short notice I wrote for the current SSILA NEWSLETTER (11(2), October 1992, p.9) on Don Ringe's recent monograph on the role of chance resemblances in comparative linguistics. I join with Bruce in urging that everyone who is interested in the statistical reasoning (or lack of it) behind claims that "(such-and-such a degree of lexical resemblance) can be no accident" take a look at Don Ringe's very lucid presentation of the statistical realities that must be dealt with. ********************* *On Calculating the Factor of Chance in Linguistic Comparison*. Donald A. Ringe, Jr. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 82, Part 1, 1992. 110 pp. $16. This is a readable and accessible demonstration that chance resemblances can be more frequent than some people think and that multilateral comparison further increases their frequency. Using only "the elementary mathematics of probabilities," R. shows that "a non-negligible number of fortuitous similarities" can be found between every pair of languages. R.'s argument may be briefly summarized: Since the distribution of sounds in vocabulary lists is effectively random, resemblances in sound between synonymous words in of different languages arise by chance according to the general laws of probability. Investigation of real-language examples shows that resemblances between the basic vocabu- laries of languages commonly believed to be demonstrably related occur with clearly greater-than-chance frequency (a fact unaffected by the use of longer wordlists and/or word-comparisons which are not semantically exact), while resemblances between languages not commonly believed to be related do not occur with greater-than-chance frequency. Comparison of the vocabularies of several languages at once yields a pervasive pattern of systematic similarities which are the result of random chance, indicating that the results of the multilateral comparison must be treated with extreme caution. Since the burden of proof is always on those who claim to have demonstrated a previously undemonstrated linguistic relationship, it is very surprising that those who have recently tried to demonstrate connections between far- flung language families have not even addressed the question of chance resemblances. This omission calls their entire enterprise into question. This will be unwelcome news to "Long Rangers," and will surely be challenged by them. But R. makes a convincing case that "it is urgently necessary to subject all controversial 'demonstrations' of language relationship to investigation by the probabilistic method." [Order from: American Philosophical Society, P.O. Box 40098, Philadelphia, PA 19106 (tel: 215/444-3400). Postage free on prepaid orders.] ****************************************************************************** * THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF THE INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES OF THE AMERICAS * * * * Victor Golla Dept. of Ethnic Studies * * Secretary-Treasurer Humboldt State University * * Arcata, CA 95521 USA * * * ****************************************************************************** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-872. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-873. Sat 07 Nov 1992. Lines: 126 Subject: 3.873 Last Posting: Phoneticians Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 27 Oct 92 22:16:28 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: 3.839 Final Devoicing (Previous topic was 'Phoneticians' -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 27 Oct 92 22:16:28 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: 3.839 Final Devoicing (Previous topic was 'Phoneticians' Regarding the issue of final devoicing (or the absence thereof) in German, Polish, Russian, and Catalan, LINGUISTs will perhaps remember that the discussion started with a query I posted some time ago asking if there is any literature documenting the idea that even the best phoneticians systematically miss and hence mistranscribe important phonetic phenomena which can be shown to exist by the use of instruments. I suggested that the fricative pronunciation of intervocalic 'k' and 'g' in English is one possible example, and I also noted that there has been a whole literature in recent years which claims that final devoicing in German, Polish, Russian, and Catalan is not a 100% neutralization rule, but that small but measurable differences exist between underlyingly voiced and underlyingly voiceless finals in these languages, even though, as far as I knew, no phonetician had ever heard any difference. In the ensuing discussion, I asked for any references that might indicate that I was wrong; and a list of references was recently posted by John Local. However, upon reading several of them, I discovered that they actually agree with me, and that such phoneticians as Sweet, Jespersen, and Vietor specifically refer to final devoicing in German. Today, John Coleman posted a message saying that he would like to add some new items "to the references which John Local recently posted in refutation of Alexis's claim". (I, of course, assert that the references so far SUPPORT my claim.) Almost all the new references are references to the literature on the alleged instrumental evidence for the existence of these small differences in German, Catalan, Polish, and Russian (the literature which I talked about at the beginning). This literature, as I have already noted on LINGUIST, claims to have found instrumental evidence for something which phoneticians had not previously reported (and hence supports my position). (I should perhaps qualify this: the Chen article on Russian does not say anything about the earlier literature, and hence is neutral.) It is true, as Coleman notes, that one of these papers, "Port and O'Dell (1985:455) state: "Furthermore, in a listening test, German listeners were able to distinguish the voiced and voiceless pairs with about 60% accuracy --- significantly better than chance." However, this result does not show that any phonetician had ever heard, and reported hearing, the distinction in question. It only shows that speakers can distinguish things with better than chance accuracy on a forced-choice task, which has nothing to do with what phoneticians can hear. In fact, this may actually confirm my point, since here is another experimental technique which seems to be capable of demonstrating a contrast that phoneticians cannot hear! John also refers to Malmberg, B. (1963) Phonetics. Dover Publications, New York, where it says on p. 52n: "in the latter languages, the voiced types are always fully voiced, while in English, German, etc., they are often only half-voiced or even voiceless without becoming fortes. So a solid distinction between the series is retained." Now, I have not recently reread Malmberg, and I do not recall the context of this passage, but I am willing to predict that, if anyone examines the context, they will find that it does not refer to any alleged lack of final neutralization, but to the fact that in non- neutralizing environments, speakers of languages like these use half-voiced or even voiceless lenes instead of voiced sounds. The fact that he mentions English (which does NOT have final neutralization) and German (which does) together would tend to confirm this. John then goes on to state: I was taught in class that for some speakers and dialects at least Final Obstruent Devoicing in German is NOT absolute neutralization. . . . But, as I have pointed out before, it is well-known that there are German dialects without final devoicing--BUT THESE ARE NOT THE DIALECTS UNDER DISCUSSION. (I might add that, in addition to dialects, there may be certain other cases where there is no final devoicing in some of these languages, e.g., the colloquial vocatives of diminutives in -a in Russian, such as 'Volod,' [d, = palatalized d], the vocative of 'Volodya'. But, again, these are irrelevant, since here the voiced nature of the final consonant is easily heard.) Having said all this, I repeat that many of the world's finest phoneticians have given us detailed descriptions of German, Russian, and Polish (Jones, Sweet, Jespersen, Vietor, Shcherba, Rozwadowski, Benni, Jassem, those are just a handful of the names that leap to mind). Neither they nor anybody in the recent literature which claims the existence of small measurable differences between underlying voiced and voiceless finals in these languages has transcribed such a difference (again, with the irrelevant exception of certain dialects and other well known special cases). Even the existence of these small measurable differences is itself at issue, so it is entirely possible that THERE IS NOTHING THERE TO HEAR in the first place. And if there is nothing to hear, then it would be puzzling if "most ear-trained phoneticians in the Ellis/Bell/Sweet/Jones tradition" had learned it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-873. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-874. Sat 07 Nov 1992. Lines: 87 Subject: 3.874 Queries: Proximity; Ladinic; Crystal Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu REMINDER [We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is then strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list. This policy was instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate.] -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 17:19:06 +0100 From: lingdisp@et.kuleuven.ac.be Subject: Proximity 2) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 18:31:49 EST From: R0735@VMCMS.CSUOHIO.EDU Subject: query on ladinic 3) Date: Thu, 05 Nov 92 09:56 CST From: Subject: Crystal address -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 17:19:06 +0100 From: lingdisp@et.kuleuven.ac.be Subject: Proximity Dear Linguist Reader, I'm looking for references to work on: i/ 'Proximity' or 'co-occurrence' statistics of words in technical texts. ii/ The possibilities to filter semantic networks from these data. iii/ The use and application of networks obtained in that way. In the volume by Boguraev & Briscoe (Computational Lexicography for Natural Language Processing, Longman 1989), co-occurrence statistics and networks are derived for the definition fields of the LDOCE (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English). I would like to know if any other work been carried out along the same lines or if anyone has used the data obtained in such a way in an NLP application? I will make a summary for linguist and for anyone interested. Jan Provoost Centre for Computational Linguistics Tel: +32-16-285085 Maria-Theresiastraat, 21 E-mail: jan@et.kuleuven.ac.be B-3000 Leuven (Belgium) Fax: +32-16-285025 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 18:31:49 EST From: R0735@VMCMS.CSUOHIO.EDU Subject: query on ladinic I have a student seeking references on a Rheto-romance language called Ladinic, spoken in the Dolomites. Any help would be appreciated! Please reply via e-mail to R0735 @ VMCMS.CSUOHIO.EDU Thanks! Laura Martin, Cleveland State University, Cleveland OH 44115 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Thu, 05 Nov 92 09:56 CST From: Subject: Crystal address Does anyone have an e/mail address for David Crystal, or, failing that a current s/mail address? Thanks in advance. Robert S. Wachal Internet: robert-wachal@uiowa.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-874. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-875. Sun 08 Nov 1992. Lines: 335 Subject: 3.875 Conferences: Systemic; Text Analysis Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 23:42:16 PST From: BERNARD.MOHAN@mtsg.ubc.ca Subject: ISFC 1993 Conference Announcement 2) Date: Fri, 06 Nov 92 15:53:17 MEZ From: "David M. W. Powers" Subject: ecml.nll: workshop on Machine Learning and Text Analysis -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 23:42:16 PST From: BERNARD.MOHAN@mtsg.ubc.ca Subject: ISFC 1993 Conference Announcement ISFC93 20th International Systemic Functional Congress 19-23 July 1993 Call for Papers & Registration Information Victoria University Victoria, British Columbia Canada ISFC 93: Call for Papers & Registration Information The 20th International Systemic Functional Congress will be held from 19-23 July 1993 at Victoria University, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Daytime sessions will include section papers, with allowance made for workshops, where possible. If feasible and appropriate, papers will be grouped under themes. Evening sessions will include panels and other interactive activities. Call for Papers: Abstracts Please send your abstracts to: Bernard Mohan, ISFC93, Department of Language Education, University of British Columbia, 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver B.C., Canada V6T 1Z5 Fax Number (Canada)(604 natl.) 822-3154 E-mail: usermoha@ubcmtsg.bitnet *** Abstract deadline: To arrive by DECEMBER 1, 1992 *** + Abstracts should be camera ready and include a heading with: the title of the paper; the name(s) of the author(s); and the authors' institution(s). + Abstracts should not exceed one page (21.75cm x 28cm). This includes references. + Please use wide margins - minimally 3 cm left and right, and minimally 4 cm at top and bottom. All papers will be given a 40 minute time slot. With your abstract, please send us also a separate sheet with the following information: a) Your name, the title of your paper, and the address to which we should send out our reply. If possible, please add your fax number and your e-mail address. b) Whether your paper is "General" or falls under one of the following themes: 1)Computational Linguistics 2)Educational and Clinical Linguistics 3)Lexicogrammar and Semantics 4)Text and Discourse 5)Other (specify). c) Whether or not you require early acceptance for funding purposes. d) The title and brief description of any workshop you would like to offer. e) Any equipment (projectors, audio or video facilities, etc. you will need for your paper and workshop. Specify the two separately). f) the type of workshop you would like to participate in (to help us decide which workshops might be viable). g) any helpful biographical information, if you have not presented at an International Systemics Congress before. Pre-conference courses. Pre-conference courses reviewing systemic approaches are planned July 5-16, 1993 at University of British Columbia, Vancouver B.C., CANADA. Details are given below. Registration To register, complete the form below and send it to: Gordon Fulton, ISFC93, Dept. of English, University of Victoria, Box 3045 Victoria, B.C., Canada V8W 3P4 Fax No: (Canada) (604 natl.) 721-7212 E-mail: FULTON@UVVM.bitnet Name _________________________________ Address_______________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ____________fax & e-mail______________ Payment should be made in Canadian or US dollars. Please make your cheque payable to ISFC93 and show below what you are paying for. Registration Can$120 [ ] $.......... Accommodation at Univ. of Victoria bed & breakfast Can$40 per person/night Arrival date July _____ 1993 Departure date July _____ 1993 ____ persons for ____ nights $.......... Conference Dinner (Thursday July 22) Can$35 [ ] $.......... TOTAL Can$.......... *********************** Pre-conference courses in Systemic-Functional Linguistics July 5 - 16, 1993 University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. An Outline of Systemic Functional Grammar (Time: mornings) M. A. K. Halliday & Ruqaiya Hasan Description: Historical introduction: origins in European functional linguistics; other sources; developments 1960-1990; interplay between theory and application. General principles: strata, metafunctions, context; paradigmatic base; system and structure, rank, delicacy; realisation and instantiation. Theoretical orientation: grammar as construing experience, enacting social process; comprehensiveness and depth; language as dynamic open system. Descriptive principles: lexicogrammar, discourse semantics, context, phonology. Motives and methods of text analysis. Examples of systemic research on language in its socio- historical context. Michael Halliday is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics, University of Sydney, Australia. Ruqaiya Hasan holds a personal chair in Linguistics at Macquarie University in Sydney. Register/genre theory in the classroom (Time: afternoons) Jim Martin & Robert Veel Description: This course will give teachers a thorough introduction to the theory and practice of register/genre theory, which has had a dramatic impact on language teaching in Australia. The course consists of lectures and workshops in the following areas: an introduction to register/genre theory and its use in the classroom; an examination of school programs based on register/genre theory; introduction to and discussion of teaching strategies for reading and writing based on functional grammar and register/genre theory; practical sessions in the diagnostic analysis of student writing, text books etc. using functional grammar and register/genre theory; the use of functional grammar in assessing student writing competence and performance; the Disadvantaged Schools Program and the development of student literacy, particularly for socio- economically disadvantaged students and students from language backgrounds other than English. Note: No prior knowledge of functional grammar or register theory is assumed. The course is designed to complement the "Outline of Systemic Functional Grammar" course. Participants and encouraged to enrol in both courses in order to gain the most from the program. Jim Martin is Associate Professor of Linguistics, University of Sydney. Robert Veel is Senior Research Officer, Disadvantaged Schools Program, Sydney. Registration information Fees: Canadian students - Canadian$200 approx. per course International students - Canadian$500 approx. per course Registration: Early registration is advised. You should COMPLETE your registration BEFORE THE END OF MAY 1993. Credit and University Admission: If you wish to take these courses for credit (each course is worth 3 credits), you must be admitted to the University of British Columbia, for a fee of $35 approx. Begin this process no later than MARCH 1993. The process takes about 2 months and needs to be completed before course registration. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Dr. Kelvin Beckett, Distance Education, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia, 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver , B.C. Canada V6T 1Z4. Tel: 604-822-2031 Fax: 604-822-6501 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Fri, 06 Nov 92 15:53:17 MEZ From: "David M. W. Powers" Subject: ecml.nll: workshop on Machine Learning and Text Analysis CALL FOR PAPERS ECML'93 Workshop on ML techniques and Text Analysis (European Conference on Machine Learning) Vienna - 8th April 1993 Keywords: Machine Learning, Natural Language, Text Analysis Focus of the workshop Although the ideal of a completely transparent natural language interface to a computer is still way out of reach, there is an abundance of interesting applications of ML techniques to text analysis. Note that people are producing more and more texts at increasing speed. It is impossible to read everything. Therefore the need for automatic text analysis is growing rapidly. One of the reasons interesting NL applications are still out of reach is the knowledge acquisition bottleneck in the definition of grammars and lexicons. ML techniques are beginning to be used to alleviate this problem. Examples of interesting projects are: Semantic and syntactic disambiguation of texts Text Search algorithms for free text databases Automated document classification Automatic creation of dictionaries Automatic creation of indexes Self-learning parsers Therefore we are organizing a workshop devoted to syntactic and semantic analysis of natural languages using machine learning techniques. The workshop will focus on the analysis of textual information, either supervised or unsupervised. Motivation The field of machine learning of language has witnessed substantial growth in interest and results in the past few years. Machine Learning techniques are in principle very useful in the context of language learning. Yet language learning has special problems of its own, that are not in the focus of interest of most researchers in the ML community, e.g.: - The special algebraic structure of linguistic samples - The highly structured and complex nature of language, and in particular the supposed irregularities, synonyms, metaphors etc. - The complex interplay between the partial information about syntax and the lack of definition in the semantics of the samples. - Special biases concerning the `cooperativeness' of the author or speaker These aspects call for another approach incorporating different algorithms, different complexity measures and different sampling techniques. At the moment contributions to this field tend to be scattered over various conferences (ML, AI, linguistics, psychology etc.). It is the aim of this workshop to bring researchers in this area together. Contributions Particularly welcome are contributions that describe practical solutions to existing problems. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: Syntactic Learning Semantic Learning Lexical Disambiguation Linguistic Pattern Matching Statistical Techniques applied to NL Lexical Acquisition Automatic analysis of bi-lingual corpora Complexity measures for texts New ML techniques geared to NL Information theoretic results and measures Text analysis and existing ML techniques Connectionism Genetic Algorithms Explanation based Learning Statistical inference Inductive Logic Programming Case-based and Memory-based Learning Form of the workshop 1 day, Presentations, Discussion, workshop proceedings. A position paper in the conference proceedings of ECML-93. The workshop will be held after the ECML-93 main conference, on 8 April 1993. Submitted papers should be 10-20 pages in length in the format for the ECML conference. People wishing to attend the workshop but not present a paper need only send a short research description. Submissions by electronic mail are preferred, and should be sent to the chair and one other committee member (either in plain ASCII or standard LaTeX article format). Hardcopy submissions must be sent in triplicate to the chair at the address below. Submissions must ARRIVE by 18 January 1992. Committee: Walter Daelemans walter@kub.nl David Powers powers@dfki.uni-kl.de Von-Wun Soo soo@cs.nthu.edu.tw Larry Reeker reeker@ida.org Pieter Adriaans (chair) pieter@syllogic.nl Coordinator's Address: Pieter Adriaans Syllogic B.V. Houten The Netherlands SUMMARY OF DATES: January 18 - Papers and research dscriptions due February 1 - Acceptance notification February 22 - Final version of papers due -- Dr David M. W. Powers +49-631-13786 (GMT+1) E xtraction Auf der Vogelweide 1 +49-631-205-3210 (FAX) O f SHOE W-6750 KAISERSLAUTERN FRG powers@dfki.uni-kl.de H ierarchical S tructure for Machine Learning of Natural Language and Ontology -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-875. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-876. Mon 09 Nov 1992. Lines: 153 Subject: 3.876 Jobs: Computational; Applied; Hebrew Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 09:48:28 -0500 From: Graeme Hirst Subject: Faculty position in computational linguistics (Toronto) 2) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 15:17 EST From: Subject: Applied/TESOL 3) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 21:58:12 EST From: bro@elm.circa.ufl.edu (John Bro) Subject: Hebrew -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 09:48:28 -0500 From: Graeme Hirst Subject: Faculty position in computational linguistics (Toronto) DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO The Department invites applications for a tenure-track position in any area of Computer Science. Priority will be given to applicants with expertise in computational linguistics or software engineering. Salary and rank will be determined according to the successful applicant's experience and qualifications. The appointment is to commence July 1st, 1993. Duties will consist of research, graduate student supervision, and teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Apply in writing to: Professor Allan B. Borodin, Acting Chairman Department of Computer Science University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario Canada M5S 1A4 together with curriculum vitae, and the names of at least three references. Deadline for application is January 31st, 1993. In accordance with Canadian immigration regulations, priority will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada. The University of Toronto encourages both women and men to apply for positions. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 15:17 EST From: Subject: Applied/TESOL POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT The Department of Linguistics of Queens College of the City University of New York is seeking to fill a tenure track position at the Assistant Professor or Associate Professor level, starting September 1993. We are looking for a specialist in Applied Linguistics/TESOL (second language acquisition, methods and materials, testing, supervising student teaching) to teach courses at the undergraduate and master's levels. The ability to teach courses in General Linguistics is also desirable. A serious commitment to research is essential. Ph.D. by September 1, 1993 is required. Applications must be received by January 15, 1993. Please send a letter of application, curriculum vitae, and the names and addresses of three references to: Prof. Robert Vago, Chair, Department of Linguistics, Queens College of CUNY, 65-30 Kissena Boulevard, Flushing, New York 11367-0904. Telephone: (718) 520 7161; E- mail: VAGO@QCVAXA.BITNET or VAGO@QCVAXA.ACC.QC.EDU. Queens College is an EO/AA employer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 21:58:12 EST From: bro@elm.circa.ufl.edu (John Bro) Subject: Hebrew The UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA Dept. of AFRICAN & ASIAN LANGUAGES announces a job opening for 1993 in: HEBREW LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS Assistant Professor (tenure track) Minimum requirements: 1. PhD (Linguistics) - in hand at time of application, or concrete evidence that it will be at time of appointment. 2. Native or near native fluency in modern Hebrew 3. Interest in teaching Hebrew at all levels essential, and experience desirable. Effective: August of 1993. Salary: $30-35K Deadline (postmarked): JANUARY 15, 1993. Address inquiries to: Chair, Hebrew Search Dept. of African & Asian Languages & Literatures 470 Grinter Hall University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611-2037 tel (904) 392-4829 fax (904) 392-1443 The Dept. of African and Asian Languages and Literatures has been authorized to undertake a search at the Assistant Professor level (tenure track) for an individual whose Ph.D. is in Linguistics with a concentration on Hebrew language. The position will become effective in August 1993. The salary range is $30,000 minimum to $35,000 maximum. The exact figure wil be negotiated on the basis of the selected candidate's qualifications and the university's budgetary constraints at the time. The selected individual will be a budgeted member of our department but will be expected to participate in an affiliate capacity in the instructional, research and extra-curricular activities of the Program in Linguistics (PIL) and the Center for Jewish Studies (CJS) Both programs are well developed at UF with good library collections. CJS is particularly noted for its Judaica (Price) collection. Program information will be sent to all prospective applicants upon request. The University of Florida is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. The Search Committee, on behalf of the Department, the College, and the University at large, would like to encourage and is eager to receive application from qualified women and minorities who meet the eligibility requirements. Applicants who complete their application files by December 1 or January 1 may be asked to appear for a preliminary interview at the BJS or LSA conferences respectively. A complete application file must include: 1) a cover letter by the applicant, 2) a curriculum vitae, 3) 3 to 5 letters of evaluation sent directly to the above address, and 4) a copy of the dissertation for recent Ph.D.'s, or copies of relevant publications for others. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-876. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-877. Mon 09 Nov 1992. Lines: 72 Subject: 3.877 Queries: Tone; First Names; Mac Bibliography Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu REMINDER [We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is then strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list. This policy was instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate.] -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 06 Nov 92 14:32:08 EST From: Ronnie Wilbur Subject: Lexical Storage and Retrieval in Tone Languages 2) Date: Sun, 08 Nov 92 07:51:22 EST From: Geoffrey Russom Subject: Re: 3.874 Queries: First Names 3) Date: Sun, 08 Nov 92 10:43:12 EST From: Michael Newman Subject: Mac Bibliography -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 06 Nov 92 14:32:08 EST From: Ronnie Wilbur Subject: Lexical Storage and Retrieval in Tone Languages A student of mine would appreciate information on research relating to lexical storage and retrieval in tone languages. particularly the effects, if any, of the tones themselves. Also, if there's any information on word finding problems related to tone (mono or bilingual), we'd appreciate that as well. Reply to wilbur@vm.cc.purdue.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Sun, 08 Nov 92 07:51:22 EST From: Geoffrey Russom Subject: Re: 3.874 Queries: First Names I'm looking for sociolinguistic work dealing specifically with first names chosen by Americans of non-Western-European ethnicity. Please reply privately to EL403015&BROWNVM. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Sun, 08 Nov 92 10:43:12 EST From: Michael Newman Subject: Mac Bibliography If anyone is aware of a Mac database program (one based on hypercard might be good) that can be used to record bibliographic and language material along the lines of the MLA on CD-ROM, please tell me about it. I would like to do key word searches, store summaries of contents and list via subject. The closest thing I've seen is Procite, but that is so complicated, cumbersome, and inflex- ible. It cannot be used for data on language characteristics, for example. Help Michael -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-877. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-878. Mon 09 Nov 1992. Lines: 95 Subject: 3.878 Queries: Word; Which Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu REMINDER [We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is then strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list. This policy was instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate.] -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 09 Nov 92 15:45:26 CET From: Hilger Martin Dr. Subject: Archive with WinWord-documents 2) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 10:01:48 -0500 (EST) From: mai kuha Subject: WHICH-poll -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 09 Nov 92 15:45:26 CET From: Hilger Martin Dr. Subject: Archive with WinWord-documents Hi folks, Does anybody know of a tool (it should be no Word-macro) that can be used for the following purpose: I'd like to put just the plain text of Word-documents (WinWord) together with the name and the location of the document into a full-text-database where I can do very fast searches. As a database we use PROGRESS version 6 running as an NLM and we'll use version 7 in spring (?). It should work like a gateway or the like. We're working on a 200 user NetWare 3.11 and could also use Novell queues for that purpose. Please answer to my address as I'm not a member of your list. Any help appreciated!! Thank you very much in advance. Martin -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 10:01:48 -0500 (EST) From: mai kuha Subject: WHICH-poll I am interested in the following use of WHICH: There are usually more handwritten assignments to prepare you for the exit exam, which you can't bring the computer for that. When I went over there, they were clowning around, which I didn't really care, until I found out they had lost my file. The Reagan Democrats, which I used to be one, [didn't do such-and-such] I would like to find out whether this use of WHICH is sociolinguistically significant. Any intuitions would be welcome! Please e-mail your comments to mkuha@silver.ucs.indiana.edu I am especially interested in answers to the following: 1. Are the above sentences grammatical in your dialect? 2. Do you know other people who use this construction? 3. If you answered YES to 1 or 2, how would you characterize users of this construction in terms of socioeconomic and educational background and geographic area? Thank you! Mai Kuha Indiana University, Bloomington -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-878. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-879. Tue 10 Nov 1992. Lines: 115 Subject: 3.879 Queries: Greek; Word lists; Gender; Mandarin Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu REMINDER [We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is then strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list. This policy was instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate.] -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 15:59:41 +0100 From: HASPELMATH@philologie.fu-berlin.dbp.de Subject: query: transcription of Modern Greek 2) Date: 09 Nov 1992 14:16:00 -0500 (CDT) From: Mike Maxwell 6369 Subject: Word lists wanted 3) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 11:11:56 EST From: Ron Smyth Subject: Re: 3.875 Conferences: Systemic; Text Analysis 4) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 12:28 MET From: JEROEN WIEDENHOF Subject: Mandarin _da4-ge0-da4_ 'portable telephone' -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 15:59:41 +0100 From: HASPELMATH@philologie.fu-berlin.dbp.de Subject: query: transcription of Modern Greek A query to specialists in Modern Greek: Is there a standard transcription of Modern Greek for the purposes of syntactic studies (i.e., I mean not IPA, which is impractical when dealing with syntax)? In the case of most standardized languages, a standard transcription system is of course based on the standard orthography, but that is also impractical in the case of Modern Greek, because the spelling is so different from the pronunciation. And a phonological transcription depends on a phonological analysis, of which there seem to be quite a few rather different ones. Can anyone give me advice on what kind of system I should choose? Martin Haspelmath, Free University of Berlin -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: 09 Nov 1992 14:16:00 -0500 (CDT) From: Mike Maxwell 6369 Subject: Word lists wanted For a paper I'm planning to write about phonological parsing, I need word lists from several languages, preferably Turkish, Spanish and German. (A vowel harmony language other than Turkish would be acceptable, if someone could point me to a phonological sketch of the language.) The word lists need to be fairly complete (preferably as complete as would be needed to build a spell checker); but if there is a problem with proprietary-ness, a section of a list would be acceptable (e.g. all words beginning with the letters "d" or "e"). The words may be inflection-bearing or roots. It would be nice if they came with glosses, but that is not necessary, nor is any further information (grammatical category etc.). Unless there is an overwhelming objection, I don't plan to post a summary to the list. So if anyone else is interested in seeing the results, please email me. Thanks! Mike Maxwell maxwell@jaars.sil.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 11:11:56 EST From: Ron Smyth Subject: Re: 3.875 Conferences: Systemic; Text Analysis I am writing on behalf of a student who iworking on language and gender issues. She is looking for ethnographic studs of gender differences along the lines of Abu's 'Veiled Sentiments'. I happen to recall a CBC radio broadcast a few months back concerning 'secret' poetry writing in China. Does anyone remember which programme this was on, who was being interviewed, etc.? Other references on this topic will be appreciated. Ron Smyth smyth@lake.scar.utoronto.ca -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 12:28 MET From: JEROEN WIEDENHOF Subject: Mandarin _da4-ge0-da4_ 'portable telephone' A colleague who just returned from Peking reports the wide-spread use of _da4-ge0-da4_ (or _da4-ge1-da4_?) for 'portable telephone'. Can anyone help trace the origin of this term? Jeroen Wiedenhof (jmwiedenhof@rulcri.leidenuniv.nl) Leiden University, Holland -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-879. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-880. Tue 10 Nov 1992. Lines: 112 Subject: 3.880 Review: Adobe typemanager Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 20:41 MET From: KAHREL@alf.let.uva.nl Subject: review -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 20:41 MET From: KAHREL@alf.let.uva.nl Subject: review WordPerfect and phonetic characters. Since a few weeks, Adobe offers a font generator that is very interesting for linguists. It's called "Adobe Typemanager for WordPerfect" (ATM for WP). In America, ATM for WP is sold under the name PrimeType. Apart from the names, the programs are identical. With ATM for WP, you can print documents on virtually any printer (LaserJets and clones, DeskJets, matrix printers, PostScript). The program is comparable with familiar font generators like Facelift, Publishers's Powerpak, Lines Letters &c, Glyphix, etc. However, ATM for WP has a number of advantages over similar programs. I'll mention a few. Firstly, ATM for WP prints PostScript Type 1 fonts on virtually any printer. This is good news, since Adobe offer a number of phonetic fonts: IPA and Alternate, available in Times, Stone Serif and Stone Sans. IPA contains most of the characters and symbols defined in the IPA character set, while the Alternate character set contains a number of other phonetic characters. In all, most characters defined and described in Pullum and Ladusaw's "Phonetic Symbol Guide" and by Ladefoged (1990, "The revised International Phonetic Alphabet", Language 66, 3) are represented in Adobe's character sets. And if you miss characters, such as the barred b (a b with a slash through it), in many (if not most) cases you can make it using WP's overstrike function. And if you're really desperate you can use a font editor like Fontographer or Fontmonger to make your own characters. Apart from Adobe's phonetic fonts, other non-Latin Type 1 fonts are available, such as Cyrillic from Adobe, Monotype, and Cassidy & Green, and Japanese from Adobe. And there are numerous other Type 1 fonts available on Compuserve (see Mendelson's review in PC Magazine Vol. 11, no. 18, October 1992). Secondly, ATM for WP includes a DOS and a Windows version, unlike any other font generator. For example, Facelift is available in two non-compatible versions: one for WP for DOS, and one as a general Windows font generator. ATM is available for WP DOS and WP for Windows. Using WP's own printer drivers in Windows, this means that documents created in WP for DOS can be retrieved in WP for Windows without losing any formatting. Thirdly, since ATM for Windows uses Type 1 fonts to print to any printer, you can print preliminary versions of an article on your laser, inkjet, or matrixprinter at home. When you're ready to print the final version, you take it to a high resolution printer or any other PostScript device (Linotype, for example). Apart from print quality, the printed text will look the same: all formatting is preserved. And finally, and this appeals to me very much: the program is completely open. By this I mean that you can determine how fonts are installed, which is very pleasant. For example, you can determine yourself where characters are installed in the WP printer driver. I used this feature as follows. In the past, I have been using the eng character (in WP, character 211 in character set 1) and the underdot (character 0 in character set 2). I have always taken for granted that these characters, since they were not present in the fonts I had been using, were printed graphically by WP. This was far from perfect, but I could (and, like many others, had to) live with it. Now, Adobe put their phonetic characters in character set 12. Rather than modifying all my files to replace the codes for the eng and underdot to their Adobe codes, I just added a few lines to the installation file that ATM uses to install fonts. Specifically, I added a line that instructs ATM to install the eng in position 1,211, and a line to insert the underdot in position 2,0. The result is that both the underdot and the eng occur twice in the character maps in my printer driver: in their "Adobe" position, so to speak, and in their standard WP position. For good measure I also remapped the barred h and barred d to their WordPerfect positions in character set 1. I think Adobe could have taken the trouble to remap the relevant characters to the WP positions. But the point I want to make here is that ATM allows you to influence the installation process to a very large extent. This is a feature not offered by any other font generator. (Well, this is not entirely true: you can also remap characters using the Type Director program. But remapping in Type Director is not documented, and Type Director does not know Type 1, so it won't give you phonetics.) In conclusion, I think that ATM for WP DOS is an extremely useful program. Peter Kahrel University of Amsterdam kahrel@alf.let.uva.nl -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-880. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-881. Tue 10 Nov 1992. Lines: 143 Subject: 3.881 Conferences: Clitics; Romance Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 23:06:16 EST From: Aaron L. Halpern Subject: Call for papers: second position workshop 2) Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 10:50 CST From: TC0MLM1@NIU.bitnet Subject: LSRL XXIII -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 23:06:16 EST From: Aaron L. Halpern Subject: Call for papers: second position workshop FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS: Workshop on Second Position Clitics July 10, 11 1993. The Ohio State University A workshop on second position clitics will be held on Saturday July 10th (and possibly Sunday the 11th) as a supplementary event to the Linguistic Institute held in Columbus, Ohio. The organizers (Arnold Zwicky and Aaron Halpern) are soliciting papers that combine a theoretical approach to some aspect of second position with a relatively detailed description of a language. The proposed format of the workshop is to have around ten papers, 30 minutes in length, with 10 minutes for discussion. It is expected that the papers will be collected into a volume; written responses by workshop participants will be invited (and published along with the main papers). If you want to take part in this workshop, send a version of your proposed paper (suitable for presentation within half an hour), or an extended abstract, to the organizers at the address below. Submissions should reflect a knowledge of previous work on (second position) clitics. DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: March 20, 1993 Some topics of interest to theoretical linguistics are given below. (This list is not intended to be exhaustive, just indicative.) - The nature of the principles or mechanisms for ensuring that material is located in second position (syntactic, prosodic, morphological) - Accounts of the variation from language to language as to what counts as second position (e.g., after the first word, after the first syntactic constituent) and how the variants are related - Why particular constructions don't allow clitics after the first word of a clause in a language in which this position is otherwise available - Fronted phrases, and whether they count as first or are skipped - Comparisons of 2P clitics with different functions (pronominal, (auxiliary) verb, adverbial/particle) - Relationships between 2P and V2 (second position clitics and verb-second constructions)S - Relationships between second position clitics and head-located clitics (attached to verbs). - Relationships between scrambling (giving either free constituent order or free word order) and second position for clitics. ............................. Send two copies of proposed papers to: Aaron Halpern / Arnold Zwicky Linguistics - 222 Oxley Hall 1712 Neil Ave. Columbus OH 43210-1298 Questions or comments about the workshop can be directed to us by e-mail: halpern@ling.ohio-state.edu and/or zwicky@ling.ohio-state.edu. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 10:50 CST From: TC0MLM1@NIU.bitnet Subject: LSRL XXIII SECOND POSTING C A L L F O R P A P E R S LINGUISTIC SYMPOSIUM ON ROMANCE LANGUAGES XXIII DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS: DECEMBER 1, 1992 DATES OF SYMPOSIUM: APRIL 1 - 4, 1993 ABSTRACTS ARE INVITED FOR 20 MINUTE PAPERS. SEND SIX COPIES OF AN ANONYMOUS ONE-PAGE ABSTRACT. ENCLOSE A 3 X 5 CARD WITH YOUR NAME, ADDRESS, TELEPHONE NUMBER, E-MAIL ADDRESS, AFFILIA- TION, AND TITLE OF PAPER. ABSTRACTS TAKING ANY LINGUISTIC APPROACH TO ROMANCE LANGUAGES ARE WELCOME. ADDRESS ABSTRACTS AND INQUIRIES TO: LSRL XXIII, DEPT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, DEKALB, IL 60115-2854; OR CALL (815)753-6446; E-MAIL TC0MLM1@NIU.BITNET. INVITED SPEAKERS MARIO SALTARELLI, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA "VOICE IN LATIN IN ROMANCE" IRENE VOGEL, UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE "PHONOLOGICAL INTERFACES IN ITALIAN" KAREN ZAGONA, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON-SEATTLE "OVERT AND IMPLICIT TEMPORAL ARGUMENTS" JURGEN KLAUSENBURGER, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON-SEATTLE PANEL MODERATOR: "FRENCH PHONOLOGY SINCE 1967" NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY HAS EASY ACCESS FROM CHICAGO BY CAR. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS WILL BE MADE TO PICK UP PARTICI- PANTS THREE TIMES PER DAY AT O'HARE. REASONABLE HOTEL ARRANGEMENTS IN HOLMES STUDENT CENTER IN MIDDLE OF CAMPUS. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-881. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-882. Tue 10 Nov 1992. Lines: 85 Subject: 3.882 Summary: Taboo Words Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 13:28:54 EST From: mark Subject: Summary of replies to 3.553: Taboo words -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 13:28:54 EST From: mark Subject: Summary of replies to 3.553: Taboo words Back in June or July I posted to this list a request for lists of taboo and offensive words (not slang per se), which I was seeking for research purposes. A number of people replied helpfully; here is an edited compilation of their replies, with some comments on the outcome of suggestions. I also got _The New Dictionary of American Slang_, by Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D., 1986, Harper & Row, (based on Wentworth & Flexner's _Dict. of Amer. Slang_). My thanks to all the people who answered my request. Bob Wachal: The editor of MALEDICTA is the most likely person to know of an electronic list. For printed sources, I recommend two out of many: WICKED WORDS by Hugh Rawson (Crown, 1989) and SLANG AND EUPHEMISM by Richard A. Spears (Jonathan David, 1981) lots of what you want scatterd among non-taboo slang. >>> [I know Reinhold Aman, the editor of MALEDICTA, of old by mail, and I should have thought of him myself. The reference desk of the local library located MALEDICTA for me, out in California, but he wasn't answering his phone the times I called. - MAM] Sheri Wells: As an ESL teacher, I hear this question a lot ... just from a slightly different angle. Allow me to suggest Alizebeth Claire's book "Dangerous English". It's not complete, but it's fairly good. I think the vocabulary part would be scannable. It's also got some fascinating pictures. Good luck. You can order this from Delta Systems in Chicago. John Cowan: Contact your congresscritter and senators. Both the Senate and the House maintain lists of "unparliamentary language" -- anybody using one of the forbidden words on the floor is squelched for the rest of the day. ("Here the other guinea-pig cheered, and was suppressed.") I don't know whether the list is available in machine-readable form, but it couldn't hurt to try. Emphasize your status as "researcher on language". >>> [This hint eventually put me in contact with Sen. Ted Kennedy's System Administrator, Chris Casey. He was extremely accommodating, but all he could turn up was a report on Unparliamentary Language in the House, dealing with "unseemly language, language which maligns another Member or impugns his motives, and language which disparages a Senator or the Senate as a body." None of the language here was taboo as such. A typical example: "And one of the adversaries, one of the people that from my perspective and view of the world like the fact that America is vulnerable..." - MAM] GBILLS@bootes.unm.edu (mundane name not given): You might be interested in the following book that provides a surprisingly large (comprehensive?) list of all kinds of taboo words: Richard A. Spears. 1990. Forbidden American English: A serious compilation of taboo American English. Lincolnwood, IL: Passport Books (NTC). Mark A. Mandel Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200 320 Nevada St. : Newton, Mass. 02160, USA Tlhingan khol daghojbe'chugh vaj bikhegh. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-882. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-883. Tue 10 Nov 1992. Lines: 78 Subject: 3.883 Objectionable Words: Last Posting Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 7 Nov 92 11:09:33 MST From: BIASCA DEBRA HALPERIN Subject: Re: 3.871 Objectionable Words 2) Date: 7 November 92, 14:39:26 EST From: David.Bergdahl.BERGDAHL.at.OUACCVMB@tamvm1.tamu.edu 3) Date: Sat, 7 Nov 92 15:19 EST From: NMILLER@vax1.cc.trincoll.edu Subject: Re: 3.871 Objectionable Words -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 7 Nov 92 11:09:33 MST From: BIASCA DEBRA HALPERIN Subject: Re: 3.871 Objectionable Words I offer the following as an interesting and expensive consequence of a local ski resort's failure to be aware of the pejorative aspects of language in designing its ski-trails and naming them. When the additional trails were forged, the new area was named "China Bowl." The runs were each given cutesy names in keeping with the theme of China. One of them was initially named "no tickee-no laundry." The skimaps were already printed up for the up-coming ski season when the administrators of the company realized the gravity of the error. They had to reprint them at some (unknown to me) great expense. It was a tremendous embarrassment. Debra Halperin Biasca University of Colorado -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: 7 November 92, 14:39:26 EST From: David.Bergdahl.BERGDAHL.at.OUACCVMB@tamvm1.tamu.edu RE: Objectionable words In the choice of "Jewish" over "Jew" [both capitalized--lower case is also cnsidered an insult, hence "Negro," &c.], the--to me--obvious reason for avoiding "Jew" is that "dirty Jewish person" is a nonstarter. (I am not Jewish but several of my children are.) David Bergdahl Ohio University/Athens BERGDAHL @ OUACCVMB -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Sat, 7 Nov 92 15:19 EST From: NMILLER@vax1.cc.trincoll.edu Subject: Re: 3.871 Objectionable Words To judge from the way we pussyfoot around or rant against the word Jew, it's got to be one of the most high-affect terms in Western cultures. To the collection of euphemisms employed by Jews themselves (Hebrews, Americans of Mosaic persuasion, etc.), I'd like to add a distinct decibel drop when Jews say the word to other Jews in public. Not so much among the young perhaps but still among those of a certain age. Norman Miller -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-883. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-884. Tue 10 Nov 1992. Lines: 129 Subject: 3.884 Publications: Chicago, Hong Kong Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 09:35:25 GMT-0600 From: gldsmth@bloomfield.uchicago.edu (John Goldsmith) Subject: University of Chicago Occasional Papers 2) Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 11:05 +0800 From: MATTHEWS@HKUCC.bitnet Subject: Hong Kong Linguistics Publications -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 09:35:25 GMT-0600 From: gldsmth@bloomfield.uchicago.edu (John Goldsmith) Subject: University of Chicago Occasional Papers The Department of Linguistics at the University of Chicago has initiated distribution of a number of recent dissertations. Available at present are : Syllabification and Rule Application in Harmonic Phonology, by Caroline Wiltshire (August 1992) Theoretical Foundations of American Sign Language Phonology, by Diane Brentari (August 1990) These can be obtained for $14, to cover production and mailing costs, from: Occasional Papers, Department of Linguistics, 1010 East 59th Street, Chicago IL 60637. Several others will be available shortly, and we will post notices as we have them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 11:05 +0800 From: MATTHEWS@HKUCC.bitnet Subject: Hong Kong Linguistics Publications The Linguistic Society of Hong Kong wishes to announce the publication of two volumes: a) Research on Chinese Linguistics in Hong Kong (ISBN 962-7578-01-0; 200 pages) edited by Thomas Hun-tak LEE It contains the following articles: CHEN Ping: The Reflexive 'Ziji' in Chinese: functional vs formal approaches CHEUNG Kwan Hin: IPA Transcription of the so-called 'Apical Vowels' in Pekinese (in Chinese) Thomas Hun-tak LEE: The Inadequacy of Processing Heuristics: evidence from Relative Clause Acquisition in Mandarin Chinese SIN Kingkui: The Translatability of Law Colleen WONG: Cantonese-speaking Children's Understanding of Anaphora YAU Shun Chiu: The King & I- Artefacts as Motivating Factors in the Formation of Chinese Archaic Ideographs (in Chinese) Virginia YIP and Stephen MATTHEWS: 'Tough' Movement in Chinese/English Interlanguage: Contrastive Analysis and Learnability b) Into the Twenty First Century: Issues of Language in Education in Hong Kong (ISBN 962-7578-02-9; 190 pages) edited by LUKE Kang-kwong It contains the following articles: MAO Junnian: Hong Kong's Language Problems- the view from the Basic Law (in Chinese) YAU Shun Chiu: Language Policies in Post-1997 Hong Kong Thomas Hun-tak LEE: A Look at Language in Education Policies in Hong Kong in the context of two language education reports in the United Kingdom (in Chinese) YAU Man Siu: Issues in the Language of Instruction and British Colonial Policy (in Chinese) Daniel SO: Language-based Bifurcation of Secondary Education in Hong Kong: Past, Present and Future HO Kwok Keung: The Practice of Mother-tongue Education in Hong Kong (in Chinese) -with an bibliography of empirical research in mother-tongue education in Hong Kong (in English) LUKE Kang-kwong: Mixed Codes and Bilingual Instruction (in Chinese) Peter TUNG: Learning from the West: Choosing a medium of instruction in Hong Kong Amy TSUI: Using English as a Medium of Instruction and English Language Acquisition WONG Pui Kwong: A Proposal for Innovations in the Teaching of Chinese (in Chinese) Linguistic Society of Hong Kong: A Blueprint for Linguistic Chaos: a critique of the Report of the Working Group Set up to Review Language Improvement Measures Linguistic Society of Hong Kong: A Response to the Education Commission Report No. 4 The price of each volume is US$ 10 or 6 pounds Sterling (including First Class airmail postage). Overseas orders must be prepaid with bank drafts or money orders made out to "The Linguistic Society of Hong Kong". No personal checks will be accepted. Please send all orders to: T. Lee, Dept. of English Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong. For inquiries, please email: B076769@vax.csc.cuhk.hk fax: (852)-603-5270 Stephen Matthews, President Linguistic Society of Hong Kong -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-884. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-885. Tue 10 Nov 1992. Lines: 56 Subject: 3.885 Korean Alphabet Day Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 16:36:36 +0100 From: HASPELMATH@philologie.fu-berlin.dbp.de Subject: Korean Alphabet Day: October 9th -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 16:36:36 +0100 From: HASPELMATH@philologie.fu-berlin.dbp.de Subject: Korean Alphabet Day: October 9th Thanks to all of you who responded to my query about the Korean Alphabet Day. Here is a summary of the information I got: Korean Alphabet Day (Hangul Nal in Korean) is on October 9th. It commemorates the publication of the Korean national alphabet, which was invented in 1443 and published in 1446 by King Sejong (Yi dynasty) and a group of scholars that he entrusted with this task ("Institute of Correct Sounds"). The unique feature of the Korean alphabet is that it is directly iconic. The basic shapes of the consonants are based on the shapes of the speech organs when the sounds are being pronounced. Even distinctive features were recognized. It is thus a superb achievement of linguistic science, anticipating modern phonology by several centuries. Since the Korean alphabet is so much easier to learn than the Chinese characters that had been the only writing system before, The Korean alphabet (Hangul) also had the effect of democratizing writing. Hangul Day was observed as a national holiday in Korea for several decades, but, deplorably, it was abolished last year by the authorities. In Chicago, Hangul Day is an important event for the linguistics community, because Jim McCawley holds a Hangul Day party every year, with lots of Korean, Japanese and Chinese food. Wouldn't it be a good idea to follow the example of Chicago and make Hangul Day the (so to speak) World Linguistics Day? (A colleague of mine here in Berlin has been celebrating Pentecost as the "linguists' holiday", but I think that's much less appropriate, because (i) Pentecost is a Christian and therefore not universal holiday, and (ii) it is more properly the holiday of polyglots than the holiday of linguists.) Thanks again to Ho Han, Beom-mo Kang, Lori Piper, Dave Kathman, Stephen Spackman, injacho@brahms.udel.edu, doconnel@irlearn.ucd.ie. Martin Haspelmath, Free University of Berlin -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-885. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-886. Tue 10 Nov 1992. Lines: 105 Subject: 3.886 Probabilistic Reasoning Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sun, 08 Nov 92 17:21:33 EST From: Don Ringe Subject: explanation of a recent statement regarding probabilities 2) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 13:51:52 -0500 From: "Paul Purdom" Subject: Re: 3.872 Probabilistic Reasoning -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sun, 08 Nov 92 17:21:33 EST From: Don Ringe Subject: explanation of a recent statement regarding probabilities Sooner or later, I guess, someone will find it utterly incredible that 6 objects can be fitted into a row of 20 slots no less than 38,760 different ways (as I asserted in a recent posting). If that person is you, the least I can do is show you my calculations. The calculation proceeds in two parts. FIRST PART. Imagine that we are actually sitting before a row of twenty holes, with six actual objects to put into them. In placing the first object we have 20 choices (since at that point all the slots are empty). *No matter which choice we make*, we then have another 19 choices for the second object (since at that point 19 slots are still empty); in other words, *each* of the 20 choices for the first object must be multiplied by 19 for the second (20 x 19). So also for the third, except that now we have only 18 slots open (20 x 19 x 18), and so on; and since we have 6 objects overall, we must multiply 20 x 19 x 18 x 17 x 16 x 15 = 27,907,200. But of course that's *much* too large, for the following reason. The way I've set the problem up, it makes a difference what order we follow in filling the slots; for example, putting the first object in slot 3 and the second in slot 17 is reckoned as different from putting the first object in slot 17 and the second in slot 3. But that's no good for our purposes, because all we care about is whether both slot 3 and slot 17 are filled (in this example); 3-then- 17 and 17-then-3 are duplications of the same thing. So we have to remove *all* the duplicates from the above result, and that's done in the SECOND PART. Suppose we had only two objects instead of six. In that case removing the duplicates would be easy: there'd be only two orders in which the two slots could be filled, and all we'd have to do is divide the number calculated above by 2. Very well: mark two objects a and b, and add a third. For the two marked objects, the same two possibilities exist. For the third there are *three* possibilities relative to a and b (or b and a, as the case may be): to count the third object before the two marked, or between the two marked, or after the two marked; so we'd have to multiply the two possibilities for a and b by 3 for the third object (2 x 3). Now mark the third object c and add a fourth. For a, b, and c we have the same 6 (2 x 3) possibilities, multiplied by four for the fourth (2 x 3 x 4; you can work out for yourself why that's so). And so on; so that the duplications for *6* objects are given by 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 = 720. So we divide 27,907,200 by 720 to remove the duplications, and we get 38,760. This answer is *wildly* counterintuitive, but correct. (This is a standard way of calculating, or so I understand; I learned it from John Allen Paulos' book *Innumeracy*, pp. 22-23.) Such a counterintuitive answer is TYPICAL. In general, intuitions are the worst guide I can think of in trying to deal with probabilities or any related area of mathematics--so bad, in fact, that it's actually worth asking whether genuinely random guessing (determined by coin-tossing, for example) might not actually give better results. More seriously, there's just no alternative to actually doing the math. --Don Ringe -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 13:51:52 -0500 From: "Paul Purdom" Subject: Re: 3.872 Probabilistic Reasoning I have been following with interest the Scientific American article by Greenberg and Ruhlen and the discussion that it has caused. I am not a linguist, but I do make extensive use of statistics in my computer science research. There have been many criticisms of Greenberg and Ruhlen's statistical arguments. I would characterize these arguments as correct in detail but misleading overall. The critics correctly point out that there are a lot of languages and a lot of words that are available for comparison. These factors make the conclusions less reliable by several powers of 1000 than would be suggested by the simplified calculations in Scientific American. On the other hand, the authors have noticed these effects in more than one word, and each word improves the statistical argument by a power of a million or so. It seems pretty clear to me that Greenberg and his followers have indeed noticed things in their statistics that need explanation. I will leave it to the linguists to argue about what the explanation is. Surely with time the statistical arguments will be refined. I would expect that a lot of work will be needed to develop statistical techniques that clearly separate instances of word borrowing from cases where two languages develop from the same parent, but it seems that it should be possible to do so. Paul Purdom, Professor of Computer Science, Indiana University. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-886. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-887. Tue 10 Nov 1992. Lines: 85 Subject: 3.887 Japanese Pronouns; Gender-Marking Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 06 Nov 92 09:45:27 EST From: mark Subject: 3.860 Pronouns 2) Date: Sun, 08 Nov 92 10:01:04 EST From: Michael Newman Subject: Re: 3.871 Objectionable Words -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 06 Nov 92 09:45:27 EST From: mark Subject: 3.860 Pronouns In # 3.860, Makoto SHIMIZU writes > 3) As far as I know, when you modify the English personal pronouns > with adjectives, you'll get highly marked expressions such as; > > ?the beautiful I > > But in Japanese, the equivalent is totally unmarked; > > utsukushii watashi The "subjective" or "nominative" pronouns in modern English are generally replaced in non-subject position by the "objective" forms. (Warning: This formulation is sloppy and inadequate.) This change produces a much more acceptable construction: Oh, beautiful me! Clever him! I find these forms slightly odd, and Shimizu's "the beautiful I" nearly or totally unacceptable. Of course, this has no bearing on Shimizu's argument that such Japanese words as "watashi" and "boku" should be considered (members of the large general class of) nominals rather than (members of a highly specialized subset called) pronouns. Mark A. Mandel Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200 320 Nevada St. : Newton, Mass. 02160, USA Tlhingan khol daghojbe'chugh vaj bikhegh. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Sun, 08 Nov 92 10:01:04 EST From: Michael Newman Subject: Re: 3.871 Objectionable Words Has anyone noticed the irony in the fact that just as almost all female ending morphemes have disappeared (waitress is most resistent) from professions and nationalities (ie., the decline and fall of HOSTESS, POETESS, and JEWESS) for a mix of political and social reasons; all of sudden we have LATINO/A. That seems to be the most pc way to refer to Iberian-language speaking Americans, at least in NY. It seems that the peculiar sporadic English propensity to import foreign morphology along with a loan word is threatening to reimport via the back door just the sort of gender marking on one word that would be consi- dered totally out of place on another. Furthermore, o/a distinction remains presumably because it is found on the word in the original language and there- fore is, presumably, considered correct in the same way that CORPORA & INDICES are. Yet would we be willing to also import the plural for a group of Latin American containing members of both sexes: ie.the masc. pl. LATINOS, and there- by reimport the highly un-pc unmarked masculine? I don't think so. Michael -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-887. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-888. Tue 10 Nov 1992. Lines: 156 Subject: 3.888 Negatives Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 07 Nov 92 14:57:53 EST From: John Dingley Subject: NE exple'tif 2) Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 11:36:29 CST From: (Dennis Baron) Subject: so don't I not 3) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 11:32:44 CST From: (Dennis Baron) Subject: I don't think, not 4) Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 10:31:22 CST From: (Dennis Baron) Subject: I don't think anymore -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 07 Nov 92 14:57:53 EST From: John Dingley Subject: NE exple'tif Pascal Amsili (Vol-3-861) is not quite right in stating that the NE exple'tif has never had an accompanying PAS. In "propositions corre'latives", although PAS today is always absent in Standard French (as indeed is NE more often than not), e.g. "Paris e'tait alors plus aimable qu'il N'est aujourd'hui" (A. France, VIE EN FLEUR), formerly, and even today in some regional varieties of French, e.g. Que'bec, NE ... PAS could and can be found, e.g. "Vous avez plus faim que vous NE pensez PAS (Molie`re, ETOURDI). For further details, see Grevisse's LE BON USAGE (12th ed.), pp. 1494-1495. John Dingley -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 11:36:29 CST From: (Dennis Baron) Subject: so don't I not I just came across the usage note cited below in Scott & Denny, *Elementary English Composition* (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1906), p. 254. It suggests an early analogue of *so don't I* and post- sentential not, and an early controversy over the issue that I was unaware of. Clearly *I don't think* was common enough at the time to provoke the following comment: *I don't think.* A prejudice has arisen against this harmless form of speech because of its misuse in such sentences as, "I shan't go to town to-day, I don't think." It is also used ironically in the slang expression, "Oh, he's all right, I don't think." But such expressions as "I don't think I shall go to town," "I don't think he is all right," are unobjectionable. Dennis Dennis Baron debaron@uiuc.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 11:32:44 CST From: (Dennis Baron) Subject: I don't think, not I was reading P.G. Wodehouse last night and came across the following example of the slang "I don't think." It's from "Buried Treasure," in the collection *The Crime Wave at Blandings* (NY: Book League of America, 1937), pp. 197-98. Learning of his beloved Muriel's engagement to another, Brancepeth says, "A nice surprise that was to spring on a chap, was it not? A jolly way of saying `Welcome to Rumpling Hall,' I don't think." Mencken identifies this use of "I don't think" as slang in *The American Language* 4e, p. 566, and in Supp. ii, 643; 645. It is the kind of phrase, he says, that lasts but four or five years. The reference does not occur in 3e, 2e, or 1e, so it was obviously in use in the mid 1930s. But it was evanescent slang, I don't think. In addition to the cite from Scott and Denny I posted earlier (1906), I managed to turn up the following letter from Fred Newton Scott in *Nation* 65 (1897):12-- Scott reports here that his students at Michigan had been taught earlier that "I don't think" is always incorrect. He says, "Asked what is wrong with the expression, they reply, in one unvarying formula: "If I do think, I mustn't say I *don't* think." Scott connects this prejudice to the slang "I don't think" as in "He will get there, I don't think," which he notes is sometimes abbreviated "I.d.t.", and with the "ungrammatical" use, as in "He isn't handsome, I don't think." It seems that an attempt to make language logical also comes into play. All this evidence suggests not only a thriving if limited use of "I don't think" in the late 19th c., but also a division of usage into three strands: unobjectionable, slang, and ungrammatical. The persistance of the usage into the 1930s suggests it is not *evanescent* slang, and that it is related to today's postsentential *not.* *So don't I* suggests the "ungrammatical" *I don't think* is also idiomatic and of long enough duration. Dennis Dennis Baron (\ debaron@uiuc.edu Dept. of English \'\ office: 217-333-2392 University of Illinois \'\ ________ fax: 217-333-4321 608 S. Wright St / '| ()_______) Urbana IL 61801 \ '/ \~~~~~~ \ \ \~~~~~~ \ ==). \_______\ (__) ()_______) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 10:31:22 CST From: (Dennis Baron) Subject: I don't think anymore Here's probably my last post on *I don't think*: OED 2e, s.v. *think*, III.9.b. labels this slang, "used after an ironical statement, to indicate that the reverse is intended." cites from Dickens (Pickwick) 1837: "You're a amiably-disposed young man, sir, I don't think," resumed Mr. Weller, in a tone of moral reproof." Other cites from 1853, 1857, 1911. It's curious that the OED2 misses the 1930s cite from P.G. Wodehouse, or the reference in Mencken. No one seems to pick up on Fred Newton Scott's observation that objection to the slang and "ungrammatical" uses of the phrase interfere with its normal use as well. Dennis Dennis Baron (\ debaron@uiuc.edu Dept. of English \'\ office: 217-333-2392 University of Illinois \'\ ________ fax: 217-333-4321 608 S. Wright St / '| ()_______) Urbana IL 61801 \ '/ \~~~~~~ \ \ \~~~~~~ \ ==). \_______\ (__) ()_______) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-888. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-889. Thu 12 Nov 1992. Lines: 98 Subject: 3.889 Conferences: LSP; Clinical Phonetics Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 13:15:14 +0200 From: jpe@bacall.uwasa.fi (Jari Perkiomaki) Subject: SYMPOSIUM: LSP and the Computer 2) Date: 11 Nov 1992 11:05:26 +0200 (EET) From: AULANKO@cc.helsinki.fi Subject: Clinical Phonetics & Linguistics Congress -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 13:15:14 +0200 From: jpe@bacall.uwasa.fi (Jari Perkiomaki) Subject: SYMPOSIUM: LSP and the Computer VAKKI -- Research Group for LSP and Theory of Translation University of Vaasa CALL FOR PAPERS 13th VAKKI Symposium on LSP and Theory of Translation with the special theme LSP and the Computer 13-14 February 1993 in V|yri, Finland The purpose of the VAKKI Symposium is to function as an international and multilingual forum for scholars who are engaged in research into special language theory, translation theory and into related fields of study. Although this time we focus on LSP research and the computer, we welcome all papers on special language research and translation theory research. Among our guests will be Professor Dr. Walther von Hahn from the University of Hamburg. He will present a plenary paper on the main theme. There will also be a workshop on multimedial communication, and a workshop on translation and interpreting. The participation fee, 700 FIM, includes in addition to accommodation in double rooms, meals, transportation Vaasa-V|yri-Vaasa and a copy of the proceedings. The proceedings will be worked out in consultation with a special editorial board. Deadline for registration: 1 December 1992; for abstracts: 31 December 1992. For further information, please contact Henrik Nikula, tel: +358 61 3248 110 fax: +358 61 3248 131 or Merja Koskela, tel: +358 61 3248 157; e-mail: koskela@gado.uwasa.fi 20 October 1992, Vaasa, Finland Henrik Nikula Antero Niemikorpi Outi J{rvi Merja Koskela Detlef Wilske -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: 11 Nov 1992 11:05:26 +0200 (EET) From: AULANKO@cc.helsinki.fi Subject: Clinical Phonetics & Linguistics Congress THIRD CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CLINICAL PHONETICS AND LINGUISTICS ASSOCIATION 9-11 August 1993 Helsinki, Finland The Department of Phonetics, University of Helsinki, will organise the Third ICPLA Congress as a sequel to the previous ones held in Cardiff (1991) and in London (1992). The topics will again include all areas of phonetic and linguistic research that have a bearing on the investigation of the clinical aspects of human speech and language behaviour. To receive further information on the congress, please complete and return the form below as soon as possible. More detailed information will be sent in January 1993. Return address: 3rd ICPLA Congress Department of Phonetics, University of Helsinki Vironkatu 1 B, 00170 Helsinki Finland --------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-889. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-890. Thu 12 Nov 1992. Lines: 94 Subject: 3.890 Summary: Translation Software Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: 12 Nov 1992 15:02:15 +0100 (MET) From: "Ederveen D." Subject: Software for helping translators: summary of responses -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: 12 Nov 1992 15:02:15 +0100 (MET) From: "Ederveen D." Subject: Software for helping translators: summary of responses A few weeks ago, I inquired about existing software for helping translators to do their job. Below, I have copied most of the responses; thanks to everyone who responded! A short summary: ==================================================================== From: greissl@vnet.ibm.com Translation Manager/2; half-automatic translation software (OS/2) From: Jock McNaught LEXPERTISE (dictionary management), EUROLANG MT (suite of translation tools) From: Patrick John Coppock Word v. 5.0 thesaurus/spell checker (Mac/IBMPC), Grammatik Mac From: Ken_Beesley.PARC@xerox.com ALPNET translation environment (workstation); automatic translation program, giving idea of what document is about; automatic morphological analysis and dictionary lookup of on-line Arabic words; Logos (automatic translation); DP/Translator (ancient Weidner system, automatic translation); spelling checking, spelling correction, electronic dictionaries, thesauri; comparing two versions of a document From: "Dr. M.R. Scott" MicroConcord, concordancer (IBMPC) From: pinax5@garnet.berkeley.edu Morpheus, Attic Greek spell checker (Mac) From: P Hellander EURODICAUTOM, multilingual online dictionary; article on multilingual text production on the Mac From: Colin Brace newsletter LANGUAGE INDUSTRY MONITOR ==================================================================== From: greissl@vnet.ibm.com Subject: Your query for software for helping translators Date: 22 Oct 1992 11:04:35 +0100 (CET) category: half-automatic translation software name: Translation Manager/2 purpose: aid translators in translating from 19 source languages into all languages supported by OS/2. platform: OS/2 1.3 or OS/2 2.0 system requirements: PS/2 or compatible system with 386 processor or greater at least 8 MB of main memory, and at least 15 MB of hard disk space available short description: - full-featured editor adapted to translations - Translation Memory facility for automatic detection and reuse of previously translated material - facility to create and update dictionaries - support project specific dictionaries and terminology lists - spell checker for all 19 languages supported - word count utility price indication: about $5000 for single installation address: Any IBM branche office or Peter Greissl IBM Deutschland GmbH German Software Development Laboratory Hanns-Klemm-Stra~e 45 D-7030 Boeblingen Federal Republic of Germany Peter Greissl -------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-890. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-891. Thu 12 Nov 1992. Lines: 140 Subject: 3.891 Jobs: Sociolinguistics; Lexicography; No Specialization Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 12:39:59 EST From: Judith Parker Subject: Sociolinguistics Position Available 2) Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 18:10:46 EST Subject: Job Posting --- French/Spanish Lexicography From: Eric_Nyberg@KIEV.MT.CS.CMU.EDU 3) Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 02:12:56 CST From: Philip Davis Subject: Position in Linguistics -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 12:39:59 EST From: Judith Parker Subject: Sociolinguistics Position Available POSITION AVAILABLE Entry-level, tenure-track position for Sociolinguist (interest in discourse analysis preferred) to begin Fall '93. 12-hour teaching load includes lower- and upper-level linguistics courses and lower-level literature and composition courses. Ph.D. required in hand by date of employment. Mary Washington College is deeply committed to Affirmative Action and urges women and minorities to apply. The College is a selective, public, co-educational, liberal arts college emphasizing excellent teaching. Send a CV, letter of application, and list of graduate course work to: Search Committee F 0289 [Linguist], Department of English, Linguistics, and Speech, Box 615, Mary Washington College, Fredericksburg VA 22401-5358. Our firm deadline for receiving applications is November 16, 1992. Telephone inquiries to Susan J. Hanna, Chair (703) 899-4386. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 18:10:46 EST Subject: Job Posting --- French/Spanish Lexicography From: Eric_Nyberg@KIEV.MT.CS.CMU.EDU Lexicographers with French and Spanish Skills Wanted For Machine Translation Project The Center for Machine Translation (CMT) at Carnegie Mellon University is seeking qualified individuals to work on system development for English-to-French and English-to-Spanish translation. Chosen applicants will participate in the creation and deployment of computational lexicons for French and Spanish to be used in a large-scale practical machine translation system for heavy machinery manuals. Required Skills: * Native or near-native fluency in French and/or Spanish * Experience with lexicography, translation, machine translation * Experience with or willingness to learn text editing software Preferred Skills: * Programming experience (C, LISP) * Familiarity with UNIX * Considerable experience in lexicography * Experience with machine translation Salary will be commensurate with experience and skill level. For more information, please contact: Eric Nyberg Center for Machine Translation Carnegie Mellon University 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Tel: (412) 268-7281 The Center for Machine Translation is a research center within the School of Computer Science. Founded in 1986, the CMT presently includes about 45 faculty, staff, graduate students and visiting researchers. The CMT conducts basic and applied research in machine translation, natural language processing, text extraction, and computer-aided language instruction. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 02:12:56 CST From: Philip Davis Subject: Position in Linguistics Assistant Professor of Linguistics Rice University The Department of Linguistics & Semiotics, Rice University, is seeking to fill a tenure track position in linguistics at the level of assistant professor beginning fall, 1993. The Ph.D. is required. Rice University is a small institution with undergraduate and graduate strengths in science, engineering, the social sciences and the humanities. Excellence in classroom teaching is an imperative. Rice University also places strong emphasis on research, and evidence of a developing personal program of research is expected from applicants. The Department of Linguistics & Semiotics takes an integrative approach to language which is sensitive to functional, cognitive, and non-formal aspects of the problem, and we expect applicants generally to share this orientation. Fieldwork on non-Indo-European languages is a plus. The normal course load is six hours per semester, and the successful candidate will be expected to assume responsibility for the introductory courses in linguistics and in phonology, as well as a graduate seminar in phonology. Rice University is committed to affirmative action and equal opportunity in education and employment. Rice does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual preference, national or ethnic origin, age, disability or veteran status. Interviews will be held at the winter meeting ofthe LSA in Los Angeles, CA. To be eligible for these interviews, completed applications (including three letters of recommendation) must be received by December 1, 1992. Applicants reply to: Faculty Search, Department of Linguistics and Semiotics, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251. E-mail: ling@ricevm1.rice.edu. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-891. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-892. Thu 12 Nov 1992. Lines: 106 Subject: 3.892 Articles in Geographical Names Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 06 Nov 1992 21:11:20 PST From: "Don W." Subject: Articles in geographical names 2) Date: Fri, 06 Nov 92 17:23:01 BS3 From: Luiz Arthur Pagani Subject: Re: 3.838 Place-Names and Articles 3) Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 8:48:26 CST From: dberkley@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Deborah Berkley) Subject: Re: 3.861 Negation, -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 06 Nov 1992 21:11:20 PST From: "Don W." Subject: Articles in geographical names In connection with the very interesting discussion by... >Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy >Subject: Re: Place-Names and Articles > >A curious feature of all varieties of English (so far as I know) is >the discrepancy between river and sea names on the one hand (which >need the article) and mountain and lake names on the other (which >reject it). What is current English usage concerning "the" Sudan? Has it become simply "Sudan" in American while retaining the article in British? Are there similar discrepancies between U.S. and British usage? "The" Lebanon comes to mind, as well, where the definite article does not appear in the U.S. form of the name. Was the definite article more frequent in, say, the 18th and 19th centuries in the U.S.? And another very interesting discussion... >Date: Mon, 2 Nov 92 11:45:22 -0500 >Subject: seeking references on control language and inanimate objects >From: Sean Boisen > >I'm looking for references relevant to the topic of how people use or >might use language for controlling semi-intelligent real-world >objects. For example, imagine a smart kitchen with speech >understanding technology, so that I could have the ability to request I don't know whether this qualifies as an empirical study, but on Star Trek, the crew addresses the computer somewhat peremptorily, for example: "Computer! Analyze the usage of definite articles in English place-names from 1701 to 2350!" Whereupon it cranks out a report immediately, of course.. :-) However, the turbo-lift does not rate a name. The passengers simply say, "Deck 8" or "Halt" or "Resume." Presumably the turbo-lift knows when it's being addressed, or has only a limited vocabulary that the crew studiously avoids while engaged in their private elevator conversations. We may need input from TIMETRAVEL-L on this one... Cheerfully, Don W. (DonWebb@CSUS.EDU) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Fri, 06 Nov 92 17:23:01 BS3 From: Luiz Arthur Pagani Subject: Re: 3.838 Place-Names and Articles I'm not quite sure if "el " in Spanish could be an Arabic influence. Also Portugal was influenced by Arabians but in Portuguese it is not regular to use article plus city names, althought it could be possible in some specific contexts, none of them (that I could remember) on toponimics. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 8:48:26 CST From: dberkley@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Deborah Berkley) Subject: Re: 3.861 Negation, The discussion of the English place name meaning 'hill hill hill' reminded me of some name trivia from the Los Angeles area. One concerns 'The La Brea Tar Pits'. I'm told 'La Brea' means 'the tar' in Spanish; if so, this name is actually 'the the tar tar pits'. And when the Angels baseball team was 'The Los Angeles Angels,' it was literally called 'the the angels angels.' Deborah Milam Berkley -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-892. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-893. Thu 12 Nov 1992. Lines: 92 Subject: 3.893 Summary: French Orthography Reform Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 18:27:00 PST From: Ken_Beesley.PARC@xerox.com Subject: French Orthographical Reform Summary -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 18:27:00 PST From: Ken_Beesley.PARC@xerox.com Subject: French Orthographical Reform Summary Thanks to all those who responded to my query on the status of French Orthographical Reform. This is a summary of those responses with a few of my comments in square brackets. DOCUMENTS: The official document describing the reform (Rectifications de l'orthographe) was the Journal Officiel de la Republique Francaise, 1990, no.100, 6 de'cembre, 1990, a publication of the Conseil supe'rieur de la langue franc,aise. The most complete record of the Conseil's report is a document entitled "Rapport du Groupe de travail sur les rectifications de l'orthographe" (Hotel de Matignon, 19 juin 1990). GENERALLY NEGATIVE REPORTS: Officially, the proposed reforms were accepted by the government, and by the all-knowing Academie Francaise, so they should have been implemented. However, public opinion strongly opposed the report, especially since the reforms didn't really "simplify" things very much: there were still lots of arbitrary rules, and arbitrary exceptions to them. ... The final blow, I gather, came when most editors of newspapers, magazines and publishing houses announced that they would simply not apply the reforms. [Several other messages refer to the reforms being "rescinded," "killed," "knocked back," "turned to indifference," and "lost steam and died." ] REFORM SPELLINGS NOW OPTIONAL: [It seems that the reform spellings are not completely dead but remain as optional variants.] -L'Academie francaise est revenue sur sa decision d'accepter ces rectifications et a sa seance du 17 janvier 1991, elle a preconise que les nouvelles graphies soient "soumises a l'epreuve du temps" avant d'etre imposees par l'Education n ationale. Si, apres cinq ans les modifications avaient ete adoptees dans la pra tique, elles seraient confirmees, sinon elles deviendraient caduques. Bernard Cerquiglini, the Delegue General a la Langue Francaise, in the French Prime Minister's cabinet, was a week-long visitor here last year. He was a key player in the attempted spelling reform. According to what he told us, the reforms (or "rectifications) have indeed become official, but are optional. In any case, proponents left adults the choice of using the new or the old orthography, but wanted the new rules to be taught in schools. As far as I know, that's not happening. THE MOST POSITIVE REPORT: Yes indeed, the french have adopted spelling reform to some extent. (My little brother is being taught to write "photograph" with an 'f'). The reforms don't seem to affect the population at large other than the fact that these new spellings are increasingly prevalent. The old spellings are always an option and are still widely used. QUEBEC: [As an interesting sidelight, it seems that there was a successful reform in Quebec.] For the Quebec reform, you should consult the Office de la langue francaise of the Governement of the province of Quebec in Canada. (819) 820-3707 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-893. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-894. Thu 12 Nov 1992. Lines: 85 Subject: 3.894 Queries: Fillmore; Spanish; Chinese TeX Fonts; NLP Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 10:33:09 +1100 From: bert peeters Subject: Fillmore 2) Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 01:52:09 EST From: Ron Smyth Subject: Spanish: Generic Masculine 3) Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 12:04:20 GMT From: L Ching Subject: Chinese Fonts for TeX 4) Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 09:47 CST From: Subject: Request for graduate school information -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 10:33:09 +1100 From: bert peeters Subject: Fillmore My impression may be the wrong one, but it seems to me that people usually discuss either Fillmore's case for case model or his scene-and-frames semantics but never both at once. Are they totally unrelated? I'd like to check other people's impressions, and to get pointers to any work that does relate both. Thanks! --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 01:52:09 EST From: Ron Smyth Subject: Spanish: Generic Masculine Does the generic masculine issue arise in Spanish? That is, do p.c. or other writers use -os/-as? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 12:04:20 GMT From: L Ching Subject: Chinese Fonts for TeX Does anybody know where can I find the Chinese Fonts for TeX please? Thanks, Lily Ching University of Edinburgh -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 09:47 CST From: Subject: Request for graduate school information Dear List, I am a Computer Science student with an interest in Linguistics getting ready to graduate and I am looking around for a graduate school to apply to. I am interested in Natural Language Processing. If any one has any information or suggestions for me I would appreciate it. Thank you. -Dan Williamson Internet: acc_dtw@exodus.valpo.edu Bitnet : acc_dtw@valpo.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-894. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-895. Thu 12 Nov 1992. Lines: 86 Subject: 3.895 Probabilistic Reasoning; Language Preservation Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 11:53:25 -0600 From: mfleck@caesar.cs.uiowa.edu (Margaret M. Fleck) Subject: 3.886 Probabilistic Reasoning 2) Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 11:35:54 EDT From: Mark_Turnbull@iegate.mitre.org (Mark Turnbull) Subject: language preservation -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 11:53:25 -0600 From: mfleck@caesar.cs.uiowa.edu (Margaret M. Fleck) Subject: 3.886 Probabilistic Reasoning Don Ringe recently posted a detailed calculation for how many ways 6 objects can be fitted into 20 positions. Having recently taught this material myself, let me add three remarks: (1) There are canned formulas for these sorts of problems. The standard advice is to look in statistics texts, but these are often threatening to even to people from the "hard" sciences. Instead, look at textbooks for undergraduate "Discrete Math" courses in computer science (NOT similarly titled courses in math), preferably a text that the CS types consider "gentle." These cover this ground in a more accessible way. (Some CS majors have less math than many linguists.) (2) Don may have sounded unsure of his method. Let me strengthen his statement slightly: reasoning of the sort he gave is THE STANDARD method of explaining (e.g. to students) why the formulas work. Or of reconstructing a formula if you have forgotten it or can't remember which one is correct. (3) One reason why some statistical results may seem counter-intuitive is that non-mathematicians typically underestimate the size of "x to the yth power" or "x factorial = (x*(x-1)*(x-2)*...*2*1)." Remember, a couple years back, the judge who imposed a fine on some stubborn city council which doubled every day? In the end, another judge capped the fine, because it only took a few days to get larger than the entire city budget. The national TV news spent a long time explaining the math, because they were so fascinated by how it could get so big so fast, particularly when the first several powers of two are so small. Margaret Fleck -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 11:35:54 EDT From: Mark_Turnbull@iegate.mitre.org (Mark Turnbull) Subject: language preservation REGARDING language preservation Ken Hale of MIT recently spoke at the 17th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development on the subject of "Resisting Language Loss: The Human Value of Local Languages." His main points included: 1. The current type of language loss is unprecedented. 2. The current rate of language loss is precipitous. 3. When a local language goes, cultural wealth goes with it. 4. A necessary precondition for the successful participation of linguists in language preservation is the appropriate institutional support. I would be happy to email a copy of my notes to anyone interested. Mark Turnbull turnbull@cns.bu.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-895. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-896. Thu 12 Nov 1992. Lines: 119 Subject: 3.896 Calls for Papers: Chinese Acquisition; Language & Society Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 21:06 EST From: GURT@guvax.acc.georgetown.edu Subject: Call for Papers: Chinese Acquisition 2) Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 21:28:39 -0600 From: rustyb@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (rusty barrett) Subject: CALL FOR PAPERS -- SALSA -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 21:06 EST From: GURT@guvax.acc.georgetown.edu Subject: Call for Papers: Chinese Acquisition (Please direct any questions to the addresses below rather than to the header of this posting. Thanks.) ******** C A L L F O R P A P E R S ******** Linguistic, Cultural, and Pedagogical Issues in Chinese Acquisition: Pre-session of the Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics 1993 (March 9-13, 1993), Washington, DC. Papers dealing with various aspects of teaching, learning, and testing Chinese are invited. Please send an abstract to the organizer by December 15, 1992. For more information, please contact: Dr. Weiping Wu Department of Chinese and Japanese Georgetown University Washington, DC 20057-1042 Telephone: (202) 687-5918 (W) (703) 525-4594 e-mail: wu@guvax.bitnet (or) wu@guvax.georgetown.edu This pre-session will be held on Wednesday, March 10, 1993 in the Intercultural Center, Georgetown University, Washington, DC. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 21:28:39 -0600 From: rustyb@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (rusty barrett) Subject: CALL FOR PAPERS -- SALSA ************************* S A L S A ************************* CALL FOR PAPERS The Symposium About Language and Society-Austin is pleased to announce its First Annual Meeting to be held April 16-18, 1993 at the University of Texas at Austin. Abstracts are invited on topics concerning the relationship between language, culture and society. These include but are not limited to: Linguistic Anthropology Variation and Social Networks Natural Discourse Ethnography of Communication Speech Play, Verbal Art, and Poetics Discourse-based Approaches to Language and Culture Papers delivered at the conference will be published in a special edition of the Texas Linguistic Forum. Speakers will be allowed 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for discussion. Please submit six copies of an anonymous proposal which may not exceed 1 page (unreduced) to the address below. The abstract* should include a specific statement of the topic or issue, a brief description of the relevant data and the conclusions. Abstracts should be accompanied by a 3x5 card with the following information: 1) The title of the paper 2) Author's name(s) 3) Author's affiliation 4) Address and phone number at which the author wishes to be notified. Abstracts must be received by January 19. 1993. Late abstracts will not be accepted, and we can not accept papers which are to be published elsewhere. Notification of acceptance or rejection will be sent in early February, 1993. Registration fees will be $15 for students and $25 for non-students. Papers must be received by May 3, 1993 to be included in the published proceedings. Send all correspondence to: SALSA Department of Linguistics UT Austin Austin, TX. 78712-1196. email: robinq@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu. *Note: We can not accept abstracts sent via email. ATDT 471-9400 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-896. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-897. Thu 12 Nov 1992. Lines: 48 Subject: 3.897 FYI: Indiana Linguistic Society Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 13:21:12 EST From: IULC@ucs.indiana.edu Subject: Correction to posting sent for IULC -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 13:21:12 EST From: IULC@ucs.indiana.edu Subject: Correction to posting sent for IULC *ANNOUNCEMENT* The Indiana University Linguistics Club (IULC) Publications, a nonprofit student-run organization, is celebrating 25 years of distributing at a reasonable cost new monographs and theses in all areas of linguistics and allied disciplines. We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to our many customers over the years, and to announce a new e-mail address for the IULC: iulc@iubacs (bitnet) or iulc@ucs.indiana.edu (internet). To contact the editor directly: hardison@iubacs or hardison@ucs.indiana.edu A current publications list is available which includes titles in such areas as acquisition, phonetics, phonology, semantics, pragmatics, syntax, computational and psycholinguistics, and African linguistics. Debra M. Hardison, Managing Editor IULC Publications 720 E. Atwater Bloomington IN 47401-3634 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-897. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-898. Fri 13 Nov 1992. Lines: 101 Subject: 3.898 Jobs: Thailand; French Linguistics Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 15:46:28 +0700 (THA) From: Kingkarn Thepkanjana Subject: Thailand 2) Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 10:49:12 -0600 From: birdsong@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (david birdsong) Subject: Job Announcement-French -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 15:46:28 +0700 (THA) From: Kingkarn Thepkanjana Subject: Thailand JOB ANNOUNCEMENT The Department of Linguistics, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, annouces one open position for a full-time lecturer, with an appointment beginning no later than June, 1993. Applicants must be Thai nationals, not older than 35, have or show a significant progress towards obtaining a PhD in linguistics and preferably have a number of publications. Applicants are required to send 1)applications, 2)CVs, 3)transcripts, 4)dissertation abstracts, and 5)selected (published) papers, to the Head of the Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Phayathai Road, Bangkok 10330, Thailand. Please make sure that the following information is included in the CV. -Age and marital status -Academic background -Specialization(s) and research area(s) -Language(s) that have been intensively worked on -Work experience -Annotated bibliography of research papers -Names and addresses of two references The deadline for applications is January 1993. Further details may be obtained from Dr.Kingkarn Thepkanjana. Email address: kingkarn@chulkn.chula.ac.th Fax:66-2-2154804 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 10:49:12 -0600 From: birdsong@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (david birdsong) Subject: Job Announcement-French The Department of French and Italian at the University of Texas, Austin announces one, possibly two, Assistant Professor positions in French, tenure track, one of the two positions contingent upon authorization. We seek: (1) A generalist in French linguistics, preferably with a specialization in semantics and the lexicon. Applicants should be prepared to teach at all levels, e.g., graduate core courses (structure, history of the language, an occasional specialized topic), undergraduate courses at the upper-division level (an introduction to French linguistics, phonetics, composition, or translation), and lower-division language courses. (2) A specialist in Foreigh Language Pedagogy and Methodology. Must have a solid grounding in language teaching methods. Should expect to teach courses at all levels of French language, upper- division applied linguistics and phonetics courses, and supervise a multi-section intermediate-level course. Applicants should have a record of teaching excellence and scholarly potential. Native or near-native proficiency in both French and English required. PhD degree required prior to employment, no exceptions. Minority candidates are encouraged to apply. Applications will be acknowledged if they conform to the job descriptions. Interviews will be conducted at the January 1993 LSA Meeting in Los Angeles and at the December 1992 MLA Convention in New York. Send application with complete dossier before December 7 to: Jean-Pierre Cauvin, Chair, Department of French & Italian, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712-1197. (EE/AAE) The Department's program in French Linguistics is one of the strongest in the nation. Together with Romance Linguistics, it has a graduate enrollment of about 20-25 degree candidates at any given time, with an average of five new students each year. Graduate students take additional coursework in the Department of Linguistics. Prof. Cauvin's e-mail address: fhjpg@utxdp.bitnet -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-898. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-899. Fri 13 Nov 1992. Lines: 43 Subject: 3.899 Morphemization Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 12:58:54 EST From: "Bruce E. Nevin" Subject: morphemization -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 12:58:54 EST From: "Bruce E. Nevin" Subject: morphemization In e.g. "the La Brea tar pits" the spanish phrase is treated as a name. Names have the peculiarity that they need not be analyzable, any pronounceable string can be designated a name. Embedded archaisms (Pendle Hill etc.) are a special case of the more general phenomenon by which a morpheme sequence becomes dissociated from its original analytical meaning and comes to be treated as a single morpheme with perhaps shifted meaning. Shirley Silver calls this "morphemization" in her contribution to the 1970 Hokan Conference (proceedings published by Mouton in 1976 as _Hokan Studies_) and it is a most pervasive bedevilment for comparativists in the Americas--something of which Greenberg is apparently blissfully unaware. I realize that the term has been given a different meaning in Generativist studies of derivation. Bruce Nevin bn@bbn.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-899. ________________________________________________________________ Linguist List: Vol-3-900. Fri 13 Nov 1992. Lines: 93 Subject: 3.900 FYI: Mystery Language; Correction: Bergen Corpora List Moderators: Anthony Aristar: Texas A&M University Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan University Assistant Editor: Brian Wallace: bwallace@emunix.emich.edu -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 14 Nov 1992 05:30:41 +1100 From: Jason Johnston Subject: Queries - identification of language 2) Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 12:30:46 +0000 From: Patrick John Coppock Subject: Re: CORPORA booboo!! -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 14 Nov 1992 05:30:41 +1100 From: Jason Johnston Subject: Queries - identification of language A few weeks ago I sought help in the identification of the language of a text (a letter) which began _Mot Ron_. Thank you to everyone who replied, with suggestions including Vlach, Limousin, a hybrid French-Dutch dialect, an attempt to write a French-based African creole, an artificial language, and others. It seems the "mystery text" has us all stumped, as I haven't yet received a positive identification, and the replies have petered off. If any more info about it turns up in the future, I'll let the list know. (It also remains unidentified at the New South Wales Ethnic Interpreting Service, from which it was passed on to me.) My bet is that we have stumbled on to the private language of the international drug-smuggling cartels :-) ------------------------- Jason Johnston Dept of Linguistics, F12 University of Sydney NSW 2006 AUSTRALIA email: jcj@extro.ucc.su.oz.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 12:30:46 +0000 From: Patrick John Coppock Subject: Re: CORPORA booboo!! it seems i made an unfortunate blunder in providing information about the CORPORA list in Bergen Norway. i include therefore a note to me from the list owner in Bergen, Knut Hofland............. Here it comes....: I read you message on Linguist concerning the Corpora list. But you did not give the correct address to contact. The address for administrative requests (addition, deletion etc.) is: corpora-request@nora.hd.uib.no This is the usual naming for non-listserv lists. If the list itself has a name like corpora@.... then administrative mail should be sent to corpora-request@..... For listserv lists the messages to a list are sent to listname@.... and adm. messages to listserv@.... giving listname as a parameter to the commands to listserv. Best regards Knut Hofland hope my little (well-meant) message did not foul up the works too much. V B W patrick coppock multimedialaboratoriet university of trondheim avh n-7055 dragvoll norway -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linguist List: Vol-3-900.