________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-951. Fri 12 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 82 Subject: 4.951 International Philosophical Preprint Exchange Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 12 Nov 93 20:10:04 +0900 From: phil-preprints-admin@cogsci.l.chiba-u.ac.jp Subject: International Philosophical Preprint Exchange -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 12 Nov 93 20:10:04 +0900 From: phil-preprints-admin@cogsci.l.chiba-u.ac.jp Subject: International Philosophical Preprint Exchange We are pleased to report that the International Philosophical Preprint Exchange continues to serve upwards of 150 users per day, and that submissions continue to arrive steadily. We are also glad to report that we shall soon be able to announce several exciting new services on the IPPE, which devolve from cooperative ventures between the IPPE and journal editors and conference organizers. (We encourage the editors of scholarly journals, and the organizers of philosophical conferences, to contact us regarding the possibility such ventures.) We are also involved in establishing a North American mirror archive, which will maintain a copy of the IPPE's holdings at a location with better and faster connectivity to our largest user population. Despite the high level of activity, we have considerable resources which remain unused. Not only do we have large amounts of online storage still available, but we have been able to hold the time required for review of submissions to only a few days. Thus we remain able to offer philosophers a means of bringing a working paper to the attention of colleagues almost immediately. We encourage the submission of working papers in all areas of philosophy. Papers are subjected to a process of "minimal refereeing", designed to assure only that they meet the standard of being "of interest to contemporary academic philosophers". (Thus far, we have been fortunate in receiving fewer than a dozen unacceptable papers.) If you wish to submit a working paper to the IPPE, please contact Carolyn Burke, who will be pleased to assist you. Carolyn can be reached by email at the address cburke@nexus.yorku.ca, and by telephone at (416) 736-5113, or from outside North America +1 (416) 736-5113. If you are in a hurry and are familiar with Internet file transfer techniques, just read the instructions available in the README file in the submissions directory on the IPPE; or mail a diskette (MSDOS or Macintosh format) containing your paper (in any well-known wordprocessor format) to: IPPE IPPE, c/o Syun Tutiya Dept. of Philosophy Dept. of Philosophy York University or Faculty of Letters 4700 Keele St. Chiba University Toronto, Ontario 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba M3J 1P3 Canada 263 JAPAN In either case, please provide a separate file containing a 150 word abstract of your paper, in the format used for abstracts on the IPPE. Accessing the International Philosophical Preprint Exchange: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By ftp: "ftp Phil-Preprints.L.Chiba-U.ac.jp". By gopher: "gopher apa.oxy.edu" or "gopher kasey.umkc.edu". By email: "mail phil-preprints-service@Phil-Preprints.L.Chiba-U.ac.jp". Questions: "mail phil-preprints-admin@Phil-Preprints.L.Chiba-U.ac.jp". To upload a paper or comment: see pub/submissions/README. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-951. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-952. Fri 12 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 256 Subject: 4.952 Psycholinguistic evidence in linguistics Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 10 Nov 93 17:14:23 SST From: Anjum Saleemi Subject: Re: 4.934 Psycholinguistics 2) Date: Thu, 11 Nov 93 12:18:09 EST From: pesetsk@MIT.EDU Subject: Re: 4.934 Psycholinguistics 3) Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1993 13:52:55 +0800 From: fcosws@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Steven Schaufele) Subject: linguistics as psychology, as anthropology, as ... ? -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 10 Nov 93 17:14:23 SST From: Anjum Saleemi Subject: Re: 4.934 Psycholinguistics I'd like to contribute once again to the discussion that (I think) was started by Mike Hammond's comments about the increasingly greater acceptance of experimental results in mainstream linguistics. It seems to me that my earlier remarks about the validity of introspective/intuitive judgements of grammaticality have been partly misunderstood, as some of the responses to those remarks (those sent to me directly as well as those sent to LINGUIST) obviously indicate. Below I'll make an effort to respond to some of the reactions. (a) Re Esa Itkonen's remarks: I'm well aware that the debate regarding the relationship between linguistics and psychology is not new; the debate, however, remains unresolved, and therefore, deserves to be reopened. By the way, it's not a question of the new generation reinventing the wheel, as no wheel was invented in the first place: the best we can do, as I said earlier, is to reopen the debate, probably in terms not quite the same as those prevalent in the seventies, since so much water has flown under the bridge. (b) The distinction between "internal" and "external" evidence (Wendy Sandler, Arnold Zwicky cited by Vicky Fromkin) is not quite clear to me. I think ALL evidence is external, whether introspective, experimental or naturalistic, as they're all based on performance (as Fromkin points out), though one type of evidence might be less biased, less affected by the various confounding factors than the other types; so Mike Maxwell (direct response) argues that intuitive judgements constitute better linguistic evidence than the other varieties of such data. Now if experimental "psycholinguistic" (i.e related to processing) and naturalsitic (e.g. some acquisitional) evidence are inferior to introspective data, there is still no guarantee that the latter is the best type of evidence we can ever get: if the typical psycholinguistic evidence is not too reliable, and introspective data are indeed more reliable, then that doesn't mean that EVEN BETTER data can't be obtained by means of some other (possibly new) techniques for the verification of facts. (c) To use a concrete example: Hindi-Urdu has split agreement, and in some cases object-verb agreement is possible. Some recent studies (e.g. the very insightful work of Mahajan) claims that object-verb agreement is forced by specific interpretation, i.e. the object agrees with the verb only if it has a specific referent. Now many speakers of the language, including myself, don't get the specificity effect at all! Is it there, or not there? Is it there for some speakers, and not for others? The problem is that an analysis such as the one I have mentioned assumes that the specifity effect is universal, so the individual variation shouldn't exist. But it does! How do we know that what we're encountering is a case of I-language variation, and not the result of someone's theory colouring his judgements of grammaticality? The point I'm trying to make is that so long as robust data are concerned, the question of employing any non-introspective evidence is not very relevant, but the moment we begin to handle non-robust data, problems arise, and one would like to know if any different techniques for the verification of facts (I mean other than the "psycholinguistic" and introspective ones) are available that would help one settle the issues one way or another. In this context, it appears to me that us linguists have done very little to improve our methodology: if the tools that we borrowed from behavioural psyhcology don't work, we're happy to declare that the best method is still the good old intuitive method, and nothing better will ever be devised. (d) Re Edith Moravcsik's comments: I don't I disagree with her all, though probably something I said made her think that she had to disagree with me. To be more specific, I never said that "the more traditional structural approach" should be or can be replaced by what are presumably the less traditional non-structural methods; in fact I have no trouble with accepting that the two approaches must be held to be "complementary," or that structural analysis provides "a necesary basis for the psychological study of language." What does bother one, of course, is the fact that non-structural evidence is often readily accepted by structural linguists (as Fromkin points out) if it confirms their results, but is conveniently ignored otherwise, providing support to the claim (re Sam Wang) that the competence-performence distinction is often used as "an easy escape from counter-evidence in experimental results." (Wang) Let me point out, before concluding, that I'm NOT and experimental (psycho)linguist, and therefore have no axe to grind. Anjum Saleemi National University of Singapore ellaps@nusvm.bitnet OR ellaps@leonis.nus.sg -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Thu, 11 Nov 93 12:18:09 EST From: pesetsk@MIT.EDU Subject: Re: 4.934 Psycholinguistics The current discussion of psycholinguistics contains a near concensus on the idea that it is wrong for a linguist to accept evidence from psycholinguistic experimentation only when it supports his/her theory. The appropriate anecdote here concerns the apocryphal student who objected to a professor's theory by shouting "But this theory of yours -- it's unfalsifiable!" To which the professor replied "Well I certainly hope so!" All in all, the professor had, I think, the right attitude. If we had some psycholinguistic paradigm P whose interpretation in terms of property-of-human-language-use L were not in doubt, then it would be irresponsible of a linguist presenting a theory about L to ignore data from P. But I don't know of any such paradigm at the moment. Instead, we have the more usual situation in science, where results from a variety of domains are converging in various places (in a quite exciting fashion), but without an absolutely perfect fit. One valid program of research is to continue to work on results in the individual areas, taking comfort from convergence when it is evident, and putting aside divergence when it looks irrelevant to present tasks. That's what we always do when we have more data floating around us than we can handle with our theories -- internal to traditional linguistics or in the broader world of language sciences. Another valid program of research is to study the divergences directly, and perhaps ultimately develop the Holy Grail P described above. A good example of the latter approach, in my view, is the recent discussion in the acquisition literature of whether (Guilfoyle, Radford et al.) child grammar circa age 2 involves phrase structures without functional categories. This view leads to a divergence between results from acquisition work and adult theoretical syntax, given the crucial role of functional elements as case-theoretic and morphological glue in many theories of the syntax of adult speech. Here, work on this divergence has yielded an alternative theory (Wexler and Poeppel et al.), according to whivh the phrase structures of this period are actually adult like (w.r.t. functional elements), with some other factor accounting for the facts that lead to the no-functional category view. As for work going in the other direction, results on obedience and non-obedience of children to Principle(B) may favor one view on coreference in syntax (Reinhart's) over the more popular view, thus deciding a linguistics question. A good example of success in the former approach (again, my view only) was the unwillingness of some linguists in the 1970s to be persuaded by the lack of easy psycholinguistic evidence for filler-gap effects with A-movement into abandoning the hypothesis that A-movement/A-trace represents a real phenomenon. Otherwise, we would not have the results on A-movement in, for example, Rizzi's "Chain Formation" paper, Miyagawa's discussion of numeric quantifier stranding in Japanese, and much else. These are results we have today only because certain psycholinguistic data were not interpreted as falsifications of a hypothesis from theoretical linguistics. (The opposite response, of course, was made by Bresnan in her "Realistic Grammar" paper, which also yielded an important program of research.) In this domain, there still may be a divergence problem (late-1980s work by MacDonald, Bever and others on priming by A-trace might narrow the divergence considerably), but we also know a lot more about the character of the divergence than we would have known if we had been too quick to cry "falsified" in the face of divergence problem. -David Pesetsky -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1993 13:52:55 +0800 From: fcosws@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Steven Schaufele) Subject: linguistics as psychology, as anthropology, as ... ? In LINGUIST 4.934 Esa Itkonen raises the question 'Is linguistics just a subbranch of psychology?', and mentions three possible alternatives: (1) linguists who 'systematize the intuitive notion of "grammatical (and meaningful) sentence" while paying no attention to, and even going against, any reasonable hypotheses about psychological structures and/or processes and who, nevertheless, achieve exemplary results.' (2) linguists who claim 'to be doing psychological/psycholinguistic research' but are actually pursuing research programs analogous to those of the first type. (3) linguists 'who both claim to be doing and are in fact doing psycholinguistic (= preferably experimental) research.' I'm not sure this covers all of us. For one thing, i'm not at all sure where i fit into this typology. Perhaps this is the time to remind everybody that, historically, the discipline of linguistics in Europe (and, as far as i know, elsewhere in the 'Old World') developed out of such disciplines as classics, liturgics, and literary studies -- basically humanistic (in a rather broad sense) type stuff. Here in North America, on the other hand, linguistics as an academic discipline developed in connection with anthropology; consider Boaz, Bloomfield, etc. Granted, in the 19th century we had some American linguists trained in the philological traditions of European linguistics, e.g. Whitney, but academic linguistics really took off here in the early 20th century with Boaz, Bloomfield, and that whole school of anthropological linguistics directed towards the study of 'indigenous'=non-Indo-European languages. The notion of linguistics as a branch of psychology is simply another point of view ('aspect' in the literal sense) on the study of human language. As far as i know, it is relatively new -- a product of the 'generative enterprise'. In any case it is an enrichment of our field, but i don't think it should be allowed to supplant the older aspects (in this respect i am in complete agreement with Edith A Moravcsik 's remarks in the same LINGUIST posting). Now, personally, i subscribe wholeheartedly to the generative agenda as far as the goals of linguistics are concerned: i view our purpose as illuminating an important part of human cognitive ability. In this respect, when i am asked 'What is linguistics?' or 'What do linguists do?' or 'What is linguistics good for?' i tend to give an answer that implies that linguistics is a branch of psychology or, at least, that it is primarily a 'cognitive' science. But i find, coming down to brass tacks, that when i am actually doing research i am functioning more like an anthropologist: collecting linguistic-behavioural data from a variety of sources that vary along a set of axes such as ethnicity, geographical location, chronology (both biological age and location in time, as distinct from space), social status/function, etc. and trying to relate the observed variation in linguistic behaviour to these extra-linguistic variables in the manner of an anthropologist. I suppose one could start from the same origin and address the whole business from a sociological point of view, but it's the anthropological parallel that seems to work best for me. Note that literary studies haven't been mentioned here, even though at the moment i am primarily involved in the study of literary corpora; i may be looking at the same sort of data a literary scholar might study, but i'm treating it the way i imagine an anthropologist treats the behaviour hann observes in the field. So although i am prepared to recognize linguistics as certainly related to psychology, and even individual linguists as, in a sense, basically psychologists whose area of research and expertise happens to be human language, i have trouble seeing myself in that mold. I am fascinated by what linguistics can tell us about human psychology and cognition, but that's not the way i pursue linguistic research. Perhaps this is what Esa meant by the 'HINT: accept the existence of dissimilar objectives, but reject contradiction between words and deeds'? Best, Steven ------ Dr. Steven Schaufele 217-344-8240 712 West Washington Ave. fcosws@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu Urbana, IL 61801 *** O syntagmata linguarum liberemini humanarum! *** **** Nihil vestris privari nisi obicibus potestis! **** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-952. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-953. Fri 12 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 33 Subject: 4.953 Where to find corpora Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 11 Nov 93 11:36:55 -0800 From: ervin-tr@cogsci.Berkeley.EDU (Susan Ervin-Tripp) Subject: corpora -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 11 Nov 93 11:36:55 -0800 From: ervin-tr@cogsci.Berkeley.EDU (Susan Ervin-Tripp) Subject: corpora Yet another request for information about corpora has been posted. There is a list of existing electronic corpora, including French, German, Italian and a number of other languages, in the appendix of Jane Edwards and Martin Lampert's Talking Data: Transcription and coding in discourse research (Erlbaum 1993), so a look there might satisfy these and other potential text seekers. Susan Ervin-Tripp -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-953. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-954. Fri 12 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 65 Subject: 4.954 Ritual Insults Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1993 10:24:45 -0600 (UTC -06:00) From: FIONA@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu Subject: Re: 4.931 Qs: /ai/-Raising, Black English, Stranded Prepositions 2) Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1993 11:09:29 -0400 (AST) From: "Terry Pratt, UPEI" Subject: Re: 4.931 Qs: /ai/-Raising, Black English, Stranded Prepositions -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1993 10:24:45 -0600 (UTC -06:00) From: FIONA@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu Subject: Re: 4.931 Qs: /ai/-Raising, Black English, Stranded Prepositions In response to Scott Baxter's query about the existence of ritual insults outside black America, the phenomenon exists in several West African cultures, including Wolof, Tukulor, Serer, and Diola in Senegal and Gambia. Ritual insults are used in very specific contexts and their social function appears to be the diffusion of tension. No one is allowed to get angry when such insults are exchanged, because they are only allowed in certain contexts. Those allowed to exchange ritual insults or teasing are of two general groups: 1) ethnic groups who have a formalized teasing relationship based on a (legendary?) claim of kinship; i.e. between the Tukulor and the Serer. These types of insults are of the kind "You're a Serer and I'm a Tukulor, so you're my slave." The second type involves a teasing relationship between last names, such as Ndiaye and Diop. A typical exchange would look something like this: A: Your name is Diop? Your last name is awful." B: 'Your name is Ndiaye? All you do is eat rice' (the impli- cation is that this is a greedy person). etc. These insults seem rather tame when compared to the kind of data Labov and Smitherson have, but nonetheless they are an important part of Senegalese culture, and can go on for sustained periods of time. I don't know of any references per se to this phenomenon, but one place to start might be: Abdoulaye Bara-Diop 'La Societe Wolof' Fiona Mc laughlin University of Kansas -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1993 11:09:29 -0400 (AST) From: "Terry Pratt, UPEI" Subject: Re: 4.931 Qs: /ai/-Raising, Black English, Stranded Prepositions The phenomenon of ritual insult does indeed exist in cultures other than those of Black English. Known as 'flyting' it exists in medieval Scots and aboriginal Australian, among no doubt many other cultures. See Geoffrey Hughes, SWEARING: A SOCIAL HISTORY OF FOUL LANGUAGE, OATHS AND PROFANITY IN ENGLISH (Blackwell, 1991). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-954. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-955. Sun 14 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 142 Subject: 4.955 Sum: Bibliography of Korean Fortition Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sun, 14 Nov 1993 18:04:07 +0900 From: g44409a@nucc.cc.nagoya-u.ac.jp Subject: Summary: Bibliography of Korean fortition -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sun, 14 Nov 1993 18:04:07 +0900 From: g44409a@nucc.cc.nagoya-u.ac.jp Subject: Summary: Bibliography of Korean fortition About two months ago, I posted a query about Korean fortition. Thank you very much for all who responded to me: David Sylva, Satoshi Uehara, and yuko@ling.edinburgh.ac.uk. I obtained the following bibliographical information. (The following include articles/books which are not directly concerned with Korean fortition but with Korean phonology and phonetics in general.) ********************************************* Ahn, S-C. 1985. The Interplay of Phonology and Morphology in Korean. Seoul: Hanshin Publishing Company. Cho, Y-M. Y. 1987. Phrasal phonology of Korean. Harvard Studies in Korean Linguistics II (S. Kuno, I-H Lee, J. Whitman, S-Y Bak, and Y-S Kang, editors), 328-340. Cambridge, MA: Dept. of Linguistics, Harvard University. Cho, Y-M. Y. 1990a. Syntax and phrasing in Korean. The Phonology-Syntax Connection (S. Inkelas and D. Zec, editors), 47-62. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Cho, Y-M. Y. 1990b. Parameters of Consonantal Assimilation. Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University. Choi, E-Y. 1990. Postlexical Phonology in Korean. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Washington. Dart, S. 1987. An aerodynamic study of Korean stop consonants: Measurements and modeling. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 81.1, 138-147. Han, H-S. 1987. The Configurational Structure of the Korean Language. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas at Austin. Han, J-I. 1992. On the Korean tensed consonants and tensification. Paper presented at the 28th meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society. (To appear in Proceedings of CLS 28.) Han, M. S. and R. S. Weitzman. 1965. Acoustic characteristics of Korean stop consonants. Studies in the Phonology of Asian Languages III. Los Angeles, CA: University of Southern California, Acoustic Phonetics Research Laboratory. Han, M. S. and R. S. Weitzman. 1967. Acoustic features in the manner differentiation of Korean stop consonants. Studies in the Phonology of Asian Languages V. Los Angeles, CA: University of Southern California, Acoustic Phonetics Research Laboratory. Hirose, H., C. Y. Lee, T. Ushijima. 1974. Laryngeal control in Korean stop production. Journal of Phonetics 2, 145-152. Hume, E. V. 1989. Front vowels, palatal consonants and the rule of umlaut in Korean. Paper presented at NELS 20, Carnegie Mellon University. Ito, Junko. 1986. The Phonology of Voicing in Japanese. Lingusitic Inquiry vol.17. Iverson, G. and K-H. Kim. 1987. Underspecification and hierarchical feature representation in Korean consonantal phonology. CLS 23, 182-198. Chicago, IL: Chicago Linguistics Society. Jun, S-A. 1989. The accentual pattern and prosody of the Chonnam dialect of Korea. Harvard Studies in Korean Linguistics III (S. Kuno et al., editors), 89-100. Cambridge, MA: Dept. of Linguistics, Harvard University. Jun, S-A. 1990. The prosodic structure of Korean --- in terms of voicing. ICKL 7: Papers for the Seventh International Conference on Korean Linguistics (E-J Baek, editor), 87-104. Toronto: International Circle of Korean Linguists and Osaka University of Economics and Law (University of Toronto Press). Jun, S-A. To appear. The domains of laryngeal feature lenition effects in Chonnam Korean. Working Papers in Linguistics 40. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University. Kagaya, R. 1974. A fiberscopic and acoustic study of the Korean stops, affricates, and fricatives. Journal of Phonetics 2, 161-180. Kang, O. 1990. A prosodic hierarchy analysis of aspiration and consonant mutation in Korean. ICKL 7: Papers for the Seventh International Conference on Korean Linguistics (E-J Baek, editor), 105-120. Toronto: International Circle of Korean Linguists and Osaka University of Economics and Law (University of Toronto Press). Kim, K-H. 1987. The Phonological Representation of Distinctive Features: Korean Consonantal Phonology. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Iowa. (Published by Hanshin Publishing Co., Seoul.) Kim-Renaud, Y-K. 1974. Korean Consonantal Phonology. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Hawaii. Kohler, K. J. 1984. Phonetic explanation in phonology: the feature fortis/lenis. Phonetica 41, 150-174. Silva, D. J. 1989. Determining the domain for intervocalic stop voicing in Korean. Harvard Studies in Korean Linguistics III (S. Kuno et al., editors), 177-188. Cambridge, MA: Dept. of Linguistics, Harvard University. Silva, D. J. 1992. Aspects of the phonetics and phonology of lenis stop voicing in Korean. Japanese/Korean Linguistics II, P. Clancy (editor), 164-174. Stanford, CA: SLI. Silva, D. J. 1992. The Phonetics and Phonology of Stop Lenition in Korean. Ithaca: Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics, Cornell University. Whitman, J. 1985. Korean clusters. Harvard Studies in Korean Linguistics (S. Kuno, I-H Lee, J. Whitman, S-Y Bak, and Y-S Kang, editors), 280-290. Cambridge, MA: Dept. of Linguistics, Harvard University. ------------------- Sincerely, Naohiro Takizawa Nagoya University, JAPAN [g44409a@nucc.cc.nagoya-u.ac.jp] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-955. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-956. Sun 14 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 82 Subject: 4.956 Qs: E-mail as speech, Shaggy dog stories, Dell Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck 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, 9 Nov 93 22:34:50 CST From: "George North" Subject: Back Issues 2) Date: Sat, 13 Nov 93 21:53:58 CST From: "Geoffrey S. Nathan" Subject: Not shaggy dog stories. 3) Date: Sun, 14 Nov 93 09:01:50 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Q: Francois Dell -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 9 Nov 93 22:34:50 CST From: "George North" Subject: Back Issues Hi, everyone. I am a new to your news group and new to the Internet. Over the next three weeks, I will be writting a paper with the general topic of 'E-Mail as a form of speech'. Any comments and/or suggestions for reading in this area is appreciated. Responces by E-mail would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. George -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Sat, 13 Nov 93 21:53:58 CST From: "Geoffrey S. Nathan" Subject: Not shaggy dog stories. There is a class of jokes that consist of long stories whose punch line is a saying containing a spoonerism--Don't hatchet your counts before they chicken; Boyfoot bear with teak of Chan, and so on. The class of jokes have several names. Some people call them shaggy dog stories, but we think that that name refers to any long, long story with a very poor punchline. So what is the proper name for this kind of joke? Please reply to me, and I will summarize for the list. Many thanks, Geoffrey S. Nathan GA3662@SIUCVMB.SIU.EDU Department of Linguistics Southern Illinois University Carbondale, IL, 62901 USA Phone: (618) 453-3421 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Sun, 14 Nov 93 09:01:50 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Q: Francois Dell Does anybody know an email address for the French phonologist Francois Dell? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-956. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-957. Wed 17 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 137 Subject: 4.957 Jobs: Spanish, Lang acquisition, Syntax Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1993 13:36:43 -0500 (EST) From: Robert D Hoberman Subject: Job announcement: Spanish linguistics 2) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1993 14:51:21 +0000 (GMT) From: Brigitte.Burger@let.ruu.nl Subject: Job announcement 3) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 93 16:34:10 EST From: NAME Subject: Job Announcement: Please Post -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1993 13:36:43 -0500 (EST) From: Robert D Hoberman Subject: Job announcement: Spanish linguistics State University of New York at Stony Brook Stony Brook, NY 11794-3355 Robert Hoberman Comparative Studies Dept. 516-632-7462, -7460 15-Nov-1993 01:26pm EDT STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT STONY BROOK The Department of Hispanic Languages and Literature seeks an ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF SPANISH LINGUISTICS. This is a tenure-track position to begin Fall 1994. Ph.D. required. Primary teaching and research responsibilities in Hispanic linguistics, but some coordination of elementary Spanish courses required. Successful candidate will teach all levels of graduate and undergraduate linguistics and show evidence of good undergraduate teaching. Native or near-native fluency and scholarly potential also required. Stony Brook is an AA/EEO employer. Send application and dossier by December 10, 1993 to: M. K. Read, Chair, Hispanic Languages and Literature, SUNY, Stony Brook, NY 11794-3371. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1993 14:51:21 +0000 (GMT) From: Brigitte.Burger@let.ruu.nl Subject: Job announcement Job announcement The Research Institute for Language and Speech (OTS) of Utrecht University has a position for a POST DOC researcher in Language acquisition Starting 1 February 1994. In principle for two years; possibility of a one-year extension, depending on budgetary approval. The position has been created by OTS in joint effort with the Max Planck Institute for Pyscholinguistics in the wider context of the National Graduate School of Linguistics (LOT). Financial support for this position has been provided for a proposal entiteld "Anaphora, quantification and acquisition". An English summary of this project proposal can be obtained from the OTS. Qualifications: Applicants should have a PhD in Linguistics or a related field; interest and working experience in the area of research described in the proposal; knowledge of recent developments in syntactic theory, and experience in testing hypotheses originating from this theoretical work. The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to the PhD Programme of the National Graduate School. Salary indication: within the range of 33500 DFL - 63000 DFL, depending on experience. Further information can be obtained from Eric Reuland, Peter Coopmans, or Martin Everaert. by phone: (+31)- (0)30-536006; by email: ots@let.ruu.nl Candidates should submit a letter of application, curriculum vitae, representative publications, and the names and addresses for at least two references to: Search Committee Language Acquisition Research Institute for Language and Speech (OTS) Utrecht University Trans 10 3512 JK UTRECHT The deadline for receipt of application is December 10, 1993. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 93 16:34:10 EST From: NAME Subject: Job Announcement: Please Post The Department Linguistics, Indiana University, seeks to appoint a tenure-track assistant professor in theoretical syntax, starting August, 1994. Familiarity with more than one theoretical framework, clear promise of distinction in theoretical research, and excellence in teaching are required. A Ph.D. in hand by June, 1994 is a must and some publications are preferred. Please send a letter of interest, a curriculum vitae, a concise description of one's research program, three letters of recommendation, and a maximum of two samples of written work to: Syntax Search Committee Department of Linguistics Indiana University Bloomington, IN 47405 Applications received by January 21, 1994 are assured of consideration. Note that interviews may be conducted at the LSA meeting in Boston. Indiana University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-957. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-958. Wed 17 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 107 Subject: 4.958 Qs: E-mail, Inuit dictionaries, Diminutives, Graduate work Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck 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, 15 Nov 93 12:36:17 +1100 From: mdr412@coombs.anu.edu.au (Malcolm Ross) Subject: e-mail addresses 2) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 93 12:22:29 CET From: stefan geissler Subject: Query: Inuit dictionaries? 3) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1993 16:46:58 +0100 From: ursula.doleschal@wu-wien.ac.at (ursula.doleschal) Subject: query: womens and diminutives 4) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 93 10:36:49 EST From: Joachim Knuf Subject: Graduate work on dialects/language varieties -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 93 12:36:17 +1100 From: mdr412@coombs.anu.edu.au (Malcolm Ross) Subject: e-mail addresses Does anyone know of e-mail addresses for the following linguists, urgently needed (if they exist) by a colleague? Beatrice Garza Cuaron, Mexico Jean Perrot, France Adolfo Constenla, Puerto Rico Juha Janhunen, Helsinki A Rodriguez, Bolivia Charles Li, Santa Barbara Many thanks. Malcolm Ross. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 93 12:22:29 CET From: stefan geissler Subject: Query: Inuit dictionaries? Hi, does anyone know about dictionaries of (Greenlandic) Inuit? I found references to a dictionary 'Inuit-Danish' but English or German would be much more helpful. Any hint, even to unpublished lists of words or expressions, is welcome. Please reply to stefan at dhdibm1.bitnet Thanks a lot, --stefan -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1993 16:46:58 +0100 From: ursula.doleschal@wu-wien.ac.at (ursula.doleschal) Subject: query: womens and diminutives I have got a query on women's use of diminutives and on the other hand diminutives being used to address/describe/name etc. women. I sort of dimly remember that their have been studies on the frequency of diminutives under both aspects, but now can just remember Robin Lakoff's book. Can anyone point me to empirical studies of the problem and if possible at the same time tell me the results? Please answer to me privately, I will report to the list later on. Ursula Doleschal Institut f. Slawische Sprachen Wirtschaftsuniv. Wien Augasse 9, 1090 Wien Tel.: ++43-1-31336 4115 Fax: ++43-1-31336 744 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 93 10:36:49 EST From: Joachim Knuf Subject: Graduate work on dialects/language varieties I have a student who is interested in graduate work on dialects or language variety. Any ideas for good MA programs? Thanks for the help. Joachim Knuf, Communication, University of Kentucky, JKNUF@ukcc.uky.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-958. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-959. Wed 17 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 162 Subject: 4.959 Qs: Winnebago, Candlin, Diasystem, Next week Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck 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, 15 Nov 93 13:57 CDT From: Sheila M Shigley Subject: Winnebago Materials 2) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1993 21:14:07 +0100 From: Patrick John Coppock Subject: Request for e-mail address: Chris Candlin 3) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 93 00:11:35 GMT From: enric@cogsci.edinburgh.ac.uk Subject: diasystem 4) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 93 13:03:37 -0500 From: bnevin@BBN.COM Subject: query: next week -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 93 13:57 CDT From: Sheila M Shigley Subject: Winnebago Materials Hello All... I am looking for any and all Winnebago language materials (Winnebago is a Siouan language spoken in Wisconsin and Nebraska)...books, papers, articles, tapes, videos, stray scraps of paper with someone's notes, anything! :) I thought I had found all there was to find until I logged onto the university library system in Chicago and found a dictionary that apparently had gone undetected even by the most avid Winnebago researchers. I decided I'd better launch one more search before becoming complacent with the relatively small collection I have amassed. So, if anyone has "seen this language," and you have time, I'd appreciate it if you could drop me an e-line telling where you saw it. Thank you much, in advance. Sheila "Freezing in Wisconsin But At Least the Packers WON!" Shigley shigley@macc.wisc.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1993 21:14:07 +0100 From: Patrick John Coppock Subject: Request for e-mail address: Chris Candlin Here in Trondheim we have some students who are doing a term project around "Hello Australia", an interactive video English language teaching program produced at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. We would very much like to get in touch with Chris Candlin by e-mail. Does anyone have his e-mail address? Please reply to: pat coppock the university of trondheim faculty of arts and science dept. of applied linguistics the multimedia lab n-7055 dragvoll norway but, of course, by e-mail......... e-mail address: patCoppock@avh.unit.no In advance: thanks!!! pat -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 93 00:11:35 GMT From: enric@cogsci.edinburgh.ac.uk Subject: diasystem Does anyone know in which framework, if any, the term "diasystem" is used? I have seen it used (not in English) to refer to the system of dialects and sociolects spoken in a particular speech community (or greater cultural group). Any pointers to relevant literature will be appreciated. Please mail replies directly to me. Thanks. Enric Vallduvi enric@cogsci.ed.ac.uk Centre for Cognitive Science University of Edinburgh Scotland/Alba ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 93 13:03:37 -0500 From: bnevin@BBN.COM Subject: query: next week This is an English dialect question, under the rubric of temporal semantics. The conversation takes place on Monday, November 8. Thanksgiving (U.S.) is Thursday, November 25. A fellow commuter says "we'll have a long weekend next week." She means the Thanksgiving weekend. November 1993 S M Tu W Th F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 <== Present week 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 <== "Next week" 28 29 30 The meaning seems to be "the week after the ensuing complete week". In my dialect, "next week" is the week after the current week, however far we presently are through the current week. November 1993 S M Tu W Th F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 <== Present week 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 <== Next week 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 <== Week after next 28 29 30 Three questions: What is the distribution of this difference? For "complete week intervening" speakers, what happens on Sunday? Or at the Saturday/Sunday midnight? Or on Monday, if that is conceived as the first day of the week in practice? Does this apply to "next month" or "next year"? (I think not.) Bruce Nevin bn@bbn.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-959. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-960. Wed 17 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 143 Subject: 4.960 Calls: L.A. Great Britain April '94, Student anthropology Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: 15 Nov 93 24:27 From: P.Rowlett@mod-lang.salford.ac.uk Subject: Linguistics Association of Great Britain, Salford, April 94 2) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 93 18:17:06 -0500 From: "r. valentine" Subject: Call for papers for student anthropology journal -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: 15 Nov 93 24:27 From: P.Rowlett@mod-lang.salford.ac.uk Subject: Linguistics Association of Great Britain, Salford, April 94 LINGUISTICS ASSOCIATION OF GREAT BRITAIN Spring Meeting 1994: University of Salford GENERAL INFORMATION AND CALL FOR PAPERS The 1994 Spring Meeting will be held from Tuesday 5 April to Thursday 7 April at the University of Salford. The Meeting will be hosted by the European Studies Research Institute and the Department of Modern Languages. The University of Salford stands one mile to the west of Manchester's cosmopolitan city centre. Manchester, England's third largest city, provides excellent cultural, leisure, shopping and sporting facilities. Manchester is easily accessible by air, road and rail, and the University of Salford has a railway station adjacent to the campus. The Linguistics Association 1994 Lecture on the Tuesday evening will be delivered by Professor Ray Jackendoff of Brandeis University, and is entitled `Lexical Insertion in a Post-Minimalist Theory of Grammar'. Professor Jackendoff will also be participating in a workshop on the topic of `Lexical Semantics: current perspectives' on Tuesday afternoon. Other contributors to the workshop are Alan Cruse (Manchester), Sue Atkins (OUP) and Antonio Sanfilippo (Sharp Laboratories, Oxford). On the Wednesday evening there will be a Parasession on `Sign Languages from a Linguistic Perspective', organised by Bencie Woll, with two invited speakers. BSL interpreters will be available. Papers on sign language are also particularly invited for the general session. On the Thursday afternoon there will be a Parasession on `Topics in Phonological Theory' with contributions from Jacques Durand (Salford), Francis Katamba (Lancaster), Andrew Spencer (Essex) and Phil Carr & Noel Burton-Roberts (Newcastle). Kirsten Burrell (ESRC Psychology, Education and Linguistics Research Support team) will be present at the conference. Enquiries about the LAGB Meeting should be addressed to: Dr M. O. Tallerman, Dept of Linguistics, University of Durham, Elvet Riverside, Durham, DH1 3JT. (maggie.tallerman@durham.ac.uk) Full details of the programme and a booking form will be available in January. CALL FOR PAPERS Members and non-members are invited to offer papers for the Meeting. Abstracts must arrive by MONDAY 10 JANUARY 1994 and should be addressed to: The President, LAGB, Research Centre for English and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge, Keynes House, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1QA. Papers are selected by the LAGB committee on the basis of the (anonymous) abstracts only. Abstracts must be presented as follows: submit SEVEN anonymous copies of the abstract plus ONE with title, name and affiliation, i.e., CAMERA-READY. The complete abstract containing your title and your name must be no longer that ONE A4 page with margins of at least 25mm on all sides. You may use single line spacing (no more than six lines to the inch) and type must be no smaller than 12 characters per inch. Type uniformly in black (near letter quality on a word processor) and make any additions in black. It is preferable to print out the abstracts using a laser printer since accepted abstracts will be photocopied and distributed to participants. WRITE YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE ON THE BACK OF THE ABSTRACT WHICH HAS YOUR NAME ON IT. In the abstract, you should (a) state briefly the purpose or topic of the paper, (b) give critical examples of any linguistic material you analyse, (c) relate your ideas to past work and/or the future development of the field. If you come to controversial conclusions, summarise your arguments. The normal length for LAGB papers is 25 mins + 15 mins discussion. Offers of squibs (10 mins) or longer papers (40 mins) will also be considered. Please explain why your papers needs more or less time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 93 18:17:06 -0500 From: "r. valentine" Subject: Call for papers for student anthropology journal **** Call For Papers **** For Totem: the University of Western Ontario Student Journal of Anthropology. Undergraduate and graduate papers in all areas of anthropology (in- cluding linguistic anthropology) and philosophy of social science are invited. Papers should be a maximum of 7500 words in length and may be submitted in printed form or on floppy disk (Microsoft Word or Word Perfect for Macintosh or I.B.M. compatible). Deadline for Submissions: January 30,1994 Send Submissions to: Anthropology Student Union Department of Anthropology Social Science Centre University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5C2 Email correspondence may be directed to Rik Logtenberg at address 2546166@sscl.uwo.ca -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-960. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-961. Fri 19 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 176 Subject: 4.961 Psycholinguistics Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 12 Nov 93 18:22:50 PST From: jurafsky@ICSI.Berkeley.EDU (Daniel S. Jurafsky) Subject: Re: 4.952 Psycholinguistic evidence in linguistics 2) Date: Sat, 13 Nov 93 19:54:50 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: 4.952 Psycholinguistic evidence in linguistics 3) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1993 13:48:24 +0100 From: HASPELMATH@philologie.fu-berlin.d400.de Subject: psycholinguistics 4) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1993 13:17:17 -0600 (CST) From: Joseph P Stemberger-1 Subject: Re: 4.952 Psycholinguistic evidence in linguistics -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 12 Nov 93 18:22:50 PST From: jurafsky@ICSI.Berkeley.EDU (Daniel S. Jurafsky) Subject: Re: 4.952 Psycholinguistic evidence in linguistics I thought I'd mention that many of us working on models of parsing or interpretation for linguistic theory do consider psycholinguistic evidence as essential in building a processing model, and in addition consider our models to directly instantiate the structures or principles countenanced by our respective linguistic theories. A number of researchers, (Ford, Bresnan, and Kaplan (1982), Gibson (1991), Jurafsky(1992) and others), following Chomsky's Competence Hypothesis and Bresnan and Kaplan's Strong Competence Hypothesis, have been building models based on the assumption that there is some tight relationship between some internal psychological model of the knowledge of linguistic structure (competence) and some model of linguistic processing (performance). While this is certainly not necessarily true (as researchers like Berwick and Abney have argued), I believe it may very well be true, and that it is a good and useful working hypothesis. In particular, it seems to me that assuming that the structural relations we derive from our linguistic theories play the role of the structural ingredients in our models of linguistic processing (and hence available to psycholinguistic experiments) is a stronger hypothesis than the contrary (that there is no necessary relation between the two). The vast array of recent psycholinguistic work on sentence processing is a testimony to the health of the field, and the importance with which this data is being taken. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Sat, 13 Nov 93 19:54:50 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: 4.952 Psycholinguistic evidence in linguistics Just a thought re: David Pesetsky's defense of what I, like many others I think, consider to be indefensible: the way in which psycholinguistic evidence (or what passes for such) is frequently used in ling. but only when it fits, and the way it is dismissed as irrelevant the moment it does not fit. Or actually two thoughts: First, I think that purely "internal" linguistic data is often treated this way too. Whole areas of fact, which were supposedly crucial one day, suddenly become irrelevant. Two, while he is right that there is not an agreed-upon methodology for using such data in linguistics, that is precisely what makes its casual use so irresponsible. Those who use such data should, I think, commit themselves to at least some degree to some kind of methodology, and, moreover, should be willing to engage in serious discussion of said methodology. But claiming crucial support for your theory so long as the data seem to work and then refuse to acknowledge that they seem to support somebody else's theory when they turn out the other way is not any kind of methodology. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1993 13:48:24 +0100 From: HASPELMATH@philologie.fu-berlin.d400.de Subject: psycholinguistics Steven Schaufele puts the psycholinguistics question into a historical perspective in an interesting way, but I think it is not sufficient to say that linguistics in Europe developed out of humanistic disciplines like classics and philology, while in America it developed from anthropology and psychology came in only with Chomsky. Linguistics has been cognitively oriented long before psychology itself was an academically established discipline. The somewhat speculative grammaire raisonnee tradition was cognitively oriented, and so was Wilhelm von Humboldt's linguistics (which focused much more on empirically observed cross-linguistic data). The psycholinguistics of the psychologist Wilhelm Wundt was widely noticed among linguists. The Neogrammarians had a clear cognitive orientation, and so did the European structuralism of Trubetzkoy and Jakobson (note that Jakobson 1944 was one of the first linguists to bring together data from aphasia and linguistic theory). The only influential anti-cognitivist, anti-psychological school was Bloomfield and the post-Bloomfieldians. This does not mean that those earlier linguists necessarily paid a lot of attention to research in psychology (though some did), but I think that many of them would have accepted the view that what they were doing was part of a larger attempt to understand the human mind (at least among other things; why should there be a contradiction in saying that linguistics is both a branch of psychology and a branch of sociology?). Martin Haspelmath, Free University of Berlin -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1993 13:17:17 -0600 (CST) From: Joseph P Stemberger-1 Subject: Re: 4.952 Psycholinguistic evidence in linguistics Just a reminder about comments that various people have been making about "falsification" of linguistic concepts based on psycholinguistic evidence. First of all, you get "falsification" of linguistic concepts using only internal evidence as well. And sometimes it turns out that the concepts weren't really falsified at all. Pesetsky points out the trace stuff in syntax, where early psycholinguistic work suggested that the idea was wrong, but some recent work has shown that it might be a useful concept, using both linguistic & psycholinguistic data. I can think of cases in linguistics where linguistic data was used to reject a hypothesis (such as that most phonological rule ordering can be derived through simulateous rule applications), which then went unexplored for years, until it surfaced again in a new guise that people get excited about (this time with simultaneous constraint satisfaction). "Falsification" is always a tricky business. Second, to falsify something, you must be very clear on what the predictions of the concept are, and on how easy it will be to spot. Suppose I have a syntactic theory that predicts a difference in the amount of time that it will take to comprehend construction A vs. construction B. And suppose that I do the experiments and find no differences. Well, how BIG a difference was predicted? The theory probably will not be very specific; the difference could be 500 msec or only 2 msec. And the smaller the actual differences, the harder it will be to detect. Failing to find a predicted difference is an instance not of negative results, but of null results, and it's hard to interpret. Sameness is in principle impossible to demonstrate. On the other hand, if the theory says that two things will be the same, and psycholinguistic evidence says that they're different, then the theory has some explaining to do. Differences can in principle be demonstrated. But this is the way it is with internal evidence as well. We can always say that there's no need to distinguish between A & B, that they have identical representations. But the next issue of LI may prove that A & B must have quite different representations, because of properties that had not been previously known. I think that the value of psycholinguistic evidence is that it gives us an additional source of evidence, often of a fairly different nature, to test the same hypotheses that we've been looking at with internal evidence. the more different sources of evidence we have that argues for a conclusion, the more confidence we have that the conclusion is right. And the more different sources of evidence conflict, the more nervous we should be. ---joe stemberger -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-961. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-962. Sat 20 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 128 Subject: 4.962 Qs: Mora, Language/dialect, Neurolinguistics, Malagasy Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck 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, 17 Nov 1993 20:46:33 +0500 (EST) From: Robert Howren Subject: mora conservation 2) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 93 10:47:02 CST From: david@utafll.uta.edu (David Silva) Subject: Language vs. Dialect 3) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 14:51:32 -0500 (EST) From: Kathryn Joy Nelson Subject: neurolinguistics 4) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 93 15:03 GMT From: TRW4@vax.york.ac.uk Subject: Malagasy -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1993 20:46:33 +0500 (EST) From: Robert Howren Subject: mora conservation In Yucatec Maya, certain categories of verb exhibit an alternation between long and short vowels under the following circumstances: When the sole suffix is one of the two consonantal ones, /-l/ and /-k/, a short copy of the root vowel appears in the suffix-- /wen+l/ --> wenel "sleep" /wen+k/ --> wenek "might sleep" /?ok+l/ --> ?okol "enter" /?ok+k/ --> ?okok "might enter" --but when the suffix is syllabic or the suffixes are syllabifiable, the root vowel shows up as long and low-toned, as in ween+s+ik "put to sleep" ?ook+en "Enter!" High-toned roots do not alternate in this way: /(H)luub+l/ --> (H)luubul "fall" (H)luub+s+ik "fell (causative)". My current analysis of the Yucatec pattern is to posit an underlying low-toned root with long vowel for verbs like [wenel, weensik] and a redistribution of the root moras just in case the suffix consonant is otherwise unsyllabifiable. (The other side of the coin from compensatory lengthening.) I would appreciate any data suggesting similar patterns in other languages. If this request produces a substantial number of comments or other examples, I'll post a summary later. Thanks. Bob Howren, Dept. of Linguistics, UNC, Chapel Hill r_howren@unc.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 93 10:47:02 CST From: david@utafll.uta.edu (David Silva) Subject: Language vs. Dialect Somewhere I've encountered the following expression: "A language is a dialect with an army." Is this an accurate rendition of this saying? And does anybody know to whom it can be attributed? ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ___________ David J Silva \ /\ /\ / Program in Linguistics \ . . / Univeristy of Texas at Arlington \ - / email: david@ling.uta edu \ U / \ / "S/he who has not a dog goes hunting with a cat" (Portuguese Proverb) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 14:51:32 -0500 (EST) From: Kathryn Joy Nelson Subject: neurolinguistics I'm doing research on the brain and language and would appreciate any information on recent research, mostly in regards to child language acquisition. Is there any new info. on hemispheric specialization corresponding to gender, bilinguals, or literacy? Thank you Kathy -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 93 15:03 GMT From: TRW4@vax.york.ac.uk Subject: Malagasy Hello all! I am looking for a bibliography of Malagasy. Absolutely anything written onthe language, articles, books... Are there any areas of special interest which are unique to it? Having spoken it in childhood but now switched to English, I'm having a re-vival of interest in this language. More urgently, anything written on the semantics of Malagasy would be most useful. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-962. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-963. Sat 20 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 133 Subject: 4.963 Qs: Sterling professor, Admirative, Code-switching, Database Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck 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, 16 Nov 93 19:16:42 MET From: savino@coli.uni-sb.de (Elina Savino) Subject: Query:Sterling professor 2) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 93 14:49:46 CST From: karchung@ccms.ntu.edu.tw (Karen S. Chung) Subject: Admirative mood 3) Date: 17 Nov 93 15:55:22 +0200 (SAST) From: Rodrik Wade Subject: Codeswitching references wanted 4) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 93 21:35 BST From: NAME William Marslen-Wilson Subject: Query about language databases -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 93 19:16:42 MET From: savino@coli.uni-sb.de (Elina Savino) Subject: Query:Sterling professor Dear linguist netters, I have heard that Bloomfield was Sterling Professor of Linguistics at Yale University. Could you please explain me what the title "Sterling Professor" exactly means? Thank you very much in advance. Elina Savino University of Saarland - Saarbruecken Germany -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 93 14:49:46 CST From: karchung@ccms.ntu.edu.tw (Karen S. Chung) Subject: Admirative mood Can someone please explain to me what the ADMIRATIVE MODD is, e.g. in Albanian? I found the term in one English-Chinese linguistics dictionary, in which it was translated as the equivalent of the 'sudden form'--whatever that is! My students and I are all on the edge of our seats on this one! The term appears in the outline of Albanian in Campbell's _Compendium of the world's languages_. Many thanks! Karen Steffen Chung National Taiwan University karchung@ccms.ntu.edu.tw P.S. In case anybody has written and gotten mail returned, please indulge the fragile and fallible NTU system and try again! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: 17 Nov 93 15:55:22 +0200 (SAST) From: Rodrik Wade Subject: Codeswitching references wanted I am posting this request on behalf of a colleague, Ralph Adendorff. Ralph is in the process of developing an MA course in Applied Linguistics here at the University of Natal and is looking for any references on codeswitching. He would particularly appreciate any references you may have to codeswitching in educational contexts. Please send references or comments to my email address below and I will pass them on. Thanks in advance Rodrik Wade email: wade@mtb.und.ac.za PGP key available on request -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 93 21:35 BST From: NAME William Marslen-Wilson Subject: Query about language databases I have been asked by someone who is not on e-mail to inquire about the availability of lexical databases (computer-readable dictionaries) for the following languages: Hebrew, Arabic, Coptic, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, Persian, Sanskrit, Japanese, and Chinese. In each case (where appropriate) information about these languages at any stage of their historical development would be appreciated. I have the uneasy feeling that there have been some recent postings about general information-sources for resources of this type. If so, it would be helpful if someone could post me a copy. Please send all responses to me directly: ubjta38@cu.bbk.ac.uk Many thanks! William Marslen-Wilson Center for Speech and Language Birkbeck College Malet St London WC1E 7HX Tel: 44-(0)71-631-6585 Fax: 44-(0)71-631-6587 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-963. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-964. Sat 20 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 129 Subject: 4.964 Qs: Computational morphology, Jakobson quote, Sasse, MAC Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck 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, 19 Nov 1993 22:01:59 +0000 (GMT) From: Flann Horgan <8805482@ul.ie> Subject: Q: Morphological Analysis Systems 2) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 19:53:41 -0500 From: Becky Passonneau Subject: Latin phrase attributed to Jakobson 3) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1993 22:09:39 -0700 (MST) From: HONGSH@CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: query 4) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 93 18:22:53 -0800 From: ervin-tr@cogsci.Berkeley.EDU (Susan Ervin-Tripp) Subject: mac software -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1993 22:01:59 +0000 (GMT) From: Flann Horgan <8805482@ul.ie> Subject: Q: Morphological Analysis Systems I am about to embark on a study of Computational Morphology [English language]. I would be interested to hear any opinions which may be out there concerning the relative merits of different approaches. I am especially interested in the building of morphological lexicons. I have been looking at Koskenniemi's two-level approach and the PC-KIMMO implementation of it. I also have the University of Pennsylvania morphological lexicon and X-based management tools. This is, to a large extent, based on the PC-KIMMO system. I would like to know what people think of the above systems and what alternative systems/models are available. Thanks in advance. Flann Horgan. ============================================================================ Flann Horgan <8805482@ul.ie> Undergraduate, Department of Computer Science & Information Systems University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland. ============================================================================ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 19:53:41 -0500 From: Becky Passonneau Subject: Latin phrase attributed to Jakobson I had a query from a student about the meaning of a phrase attributed to Roman Jakobson. Can anyone tell me the translation, and anything regading the accuracy of the attribution? "Linguista sum: linguistici nihil a me alienum puto." Becky Passonneau -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1993 22:09:39 -0700 (MST) From: HONGSH@CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: query Hello -- Does anyone know of e-mail address of 'Hans-J|rgen Sasse'? He published two papers on Galab (Geleb or Dasenech, a Cushtic language spoken in Ethiopia according to his description) in the early seventies. Any information about him, or any other published/unpublished source of Galab, would be very appreciated. Please reply to 'hongsh@ccit.arizona.edu'. Thanks a lot. hong -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 93 18:22:53 -0800 From: ervin-tr@cogsci.Berkeley.EDU (Susan Ervin-Tripp) Subject: mac software Does there exist a MAC search program which has the following features necessary for the study of natural conversations? -- can work on any ASCII text. -- preserves the source text format, i.e. does not line up the target forms in a column unlike keyword-in-context concordances. -- allows some option in window size for the number of lines above and below the target form which will be retained in the result file to allow context analysis. -- allows an option in restricting or not the upper or lower case of the target form, or in reading or overlooking the diacritics or punctuation in a search. -- allows the option of searching for discontinuous patterns, e.g. `look X up' could be retrieved with `look up' . Susan Ervin-Tripp Psychology University of California, Berkeley -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-964. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-965. Sat 20 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 90 Subject: 4.965 Conf: SCIL 1994 Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 93 09:24:24 EST From: Chris Giordano Subject: SCIL - Student Conference in Linguistics -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 93 09:24:24 EST From: Chris Giordano Subject: SCIL - Student Conference in Linguistics Please post SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE STUDENT CONFERENCE IN LINGUISTICS SCIL 1994 CALL FOR PAPERS University of Rochester, Rochester, New York. May 8-9, 1994 (Immediately following the "Semantics and Linguistic Theory" (SALT) conference) Abstracts are invited for 30-minute talks (+10 minutes discussion) in all areas of theoretical linguistics, including psycholinguistics and computational linguistics. Abstracts on the linguistics of signed languages are particularly welcomed. The conference will be interpreted in ASL. There will also be a poster session in the same areas. Inquiries may be addressed via e-mail to: scil@uhura.cc.rochester.edu Requirements: Submission is limited to students. Any student may submit one individual and one joint abstract. Abstracts will be accepted either for a talk or for a poster presentation. Abstracts must be no more than 700 words, on one standard page, single-spaced (a separate sheet for data and references is acceptable). Five copies of the abstract should be submitted. Abstracts should be anonymous, and they should be accompanied by a 3x5 card containing: 1. the author's name 2. title of the paper 3. the author's address and affiliation (incl. phone number) 4. the author's e-mail address (if available) 5. a brief indication of the specific area of linguistics the abstract is meant to contribute to (e.g. "Germanic syntax", "ASL phonology") 6. an optional indication of whether the abstract should be considered only for the talk or only for the poster session (by default, abstracts will be considered for both) E-mail submission in ASCII format will be accepted as well. In this case, information about the author, title, affiliation, etc. should precede the body of the abstract and be separated by 5 blank lines. The body of the abstract must contain a maximum of 700 words, excluding references. Abstracts must be received by: February 1, 1994. Papers presented in the talk format will be published in the MIT Working Papers in Linguistics. Abstracts sent by regular mail should be submitted to: SCIL 1994 Department of Linguistics Hylan Building University of Rochester River Campus Rochester, NY 14627 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-965. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-966. Sat 20 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 130 Subject: 4.966 Conf: NLP Techniques in Assessment and Education Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 93 10:34:38 -0500 From: Jill C Burstein -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 93 10:34:38 -0500 From: Jill C Burstein This revised conference announcement contains a list of "confirmed" speakers. Another announcement will be sent at a later date with the complete list of speakers. * ---------------------------------------------------------------- * ***************************************************** * * * The Educational Testing Service * * Conference on Natural Language Processing * * Techniques in Assessment and Education * * * ***************************************************** Dates: May 18th - 19th, 1994 Location: Chauncey Conference Center Educational Testing Service Rosedale Road Princeton, New Jersey 08541 Conference Purpose: Natural Language Processing Techniques have been found to be increasingly useful in the domains of assessment and education. The purpose of this conference is to bring together researchers from both the NLP, and assessment and education communities and to share ideas about how NLP techniques can be implemented to aid in tasks for assessment and education. Speakers are being invited from industry and academia to discuss their research and applications of NLP in assessment and education. We anticipate that the conference will encourage on-going discussion between the NLP, and assessment and education communities. Speakers include: Karen Kukich (Bellcore) George Miller (Princeton University) Lisa Rau (General Electric-Corporate Research and Development) Thomas Landauer (Bellcore) Louis Gomez (Northwestern University) Steve Clyman (National Board of Medical Examiners) Ana Bersky (National Council of State Boards of Nursing) Linda Suri (Educational Testing Service) Topics: * NLP Techniques for Assessment of Natural Language Responses to Test Items * Computer-Aided Design in Education * Automatic Spelling Correction for Automated Scoring of Natural Language Responses * Intelligent Tutors The conference will be held at the Chauncey Conference Center on ETS' Princeton campus. Chauncey Conference Center has rooms for conference guests who choose to stay overnight. The price of the conference varies depending on the type of accommodations requested. Prices for DAY GUESTS and OVERNIGHT GUESTS are the following. DAY GUESTS: OVERNIGHT GUESTS: (1-DAY Complete Package) $60.00 includes: $225/single Continental Breakfast $170/twin Lunch --------------------------- Coffee Break Dinner Meeting Overnight Dinner ($28.00 extra) Continental Breakfast Lunch Coffee Break Meeting COSTS FOR ENTIRE CONFERENCE: DAY GUEST: $120: 2 Days OVERNIGHT GUEST: $285 (single): 1-DAY COMPLETE MEETING PACKAGE + 1 DAY $230 (twin): 1-DAY COMPLETE MEETING PACKAGE + 1 DAY Registration is limited. Please return Reply Form and address inquiries to either Corrine Cohen, Eleanore DeYoung or Jill Burstein at the following addresses: Corrine Cohen Mailstop 16-R Educational Testing Service Rosedale Road Princeton, NJ 08541 phone: (609) 734-1108 Eleanore DeYoung Mailstop 17-R Educational Testing Service Rosedale Rd. Princeton, NJ 08541 e-mail: edeyoung@rosedale.org phone: (609) 734-5834 Jill Burstein Mailstop 11-R Educational Testing Service Rosedale Rd. Princeton, NJ 08541 e-mail: jburstein@rosedale.org phone: (609) 734-5823 (Not available between November 8, 1993 - February 1, 1994) ------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-966. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-967. Sun 21 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 207 Subject: 4.967 Linguistics as psychology Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1993 11:48:30 -0600 From: fcosws@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu.\d (Steven Sch\dufele) Subject: linguistics as psychology, linguistics as anthropology, linguistics as ... ? 2) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 93 17:03:30 PST From: Richard Wojcik Subject: Re: 4.961 Psycholinguistics 3) Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1993 11:45:34 -0800 From: koenig@garnet.berkeley.edu -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1993 11:48:30 -0600 From: fcosws@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu.\d (Steven Sch\dufele) Subject: linguistics as psychology, linguistics as anthropology, linguistics as ... ? In LINGUIST 4.934 Esa Itkonen raises the question 'Is linguistics just a subbranch of psychology?', and mentions three possible alternatives: (1) linguists who 'systematize the intuitive notion of "grammatical (and meaningful) sentence" while paying no attention to, and even going against, any reasonable hypotheses about psychological structures and/or processes and who, nevertheless, achieve exemplary results.' (2) linguists who claim 'to be doing psychological/psycholinguistic research' but are actually pursuing research programs analogous to those of the first type. (3) linguists 'who both claim to be doing and are in fact doing psycholinguistic (= preferably experimental) research.' I'm not sure this covers all of us. For one thing, i'm not at all sure where i fit into this typology. Perhaps this is the time to remind everybody that, historically, the discipline of linguistics in Europe (and, as far as i know, elsewhere in the 'Old World') developed out of such disciplines as classics, liturgics, and literary studies -- basically humanistic (in a rather broad sense) type stuff. Here in North America, on the other hand, linguistics as an academic discipline developed in connection with anthropology; consider Boaz, Bloomfield, etc. Granted, in the 19th century we had some American linguists trained in the philological traditions of European linguistics, e.g. Whitney, but academic linguistics really took off here in the early 20th century with Boaz, Bloomfield, and that whole school of anthropological linguistics directed towards the study of 'indigenous'=non-Indo-European languages. The notion of linguistics as a branch of psychology is simply another point of view ('aspect' in the literal sense) on the study of human language. As far as i know, it is relatively new -- a product of the 'generative enterprise'. In any case it is an enrichment of our field, but i don't think it should be allowed to supplant the older aspects (in this respect i am in complete agreement with Edith A Moravcsik 's remarks in the same LINGUIST posting). Now, personally, i subscribe wholeheartedly to the generative agenda as far as the goals of linguistics are concerned: i view our purpose as illuminating an important part of human cognitive ability. In this respect, when i am asked 'What is linguistics?' or 'What do linguists do?' or 'What is linguistics good for?' i tend to give an answer that implies that linguistics is a branch of psychology or, at least, that it is primarily a 'cognitive' science. But i find, coming down to brass tacks, that when i am actually doing research i am functioning more like an anthropologist: collecting linguistic-behavioural data from a variety of sources that vary along a set of axes such as ethnicity, geographical location, chronology (both biological age and location in time, as distinct from space), social status/function, etc. and trying to relate the observed variation in linguistic behaviour to these extra-linguistic variables in the manner of an anthropologist. I suppose one could start from the same origin and address the whole business from a sociological point of view, but it's the anthropological parallel that seems to work best for me. Note that literary studies haven't been mentioned here, even though at the moment i am primarily involved in the study of literary corpora; i may be looking at the same sort of data a literary scholar might study, but i'm treating it the way i imagine an anthropologist treats the behaviour hann observes in the field. So although i am prepared to recognize linguistics as certainly related to psychology, and even individual linguists as, in a sense, basically psychologists whose area of research and expertise happens to be human language, i have trouble seeing myself in that mold. I am fascinated by what linguistics can tell us about human psychology and cognition, but that's not the way i pursue linguistic research. Perhaps this is what Esa meant by the 'HINT: accept the existence of dissimilar objectives, but reject contradiction between words and deeds'? Best, Steven ------ Dr. Steven Schdufele 217-344-8240 712 West Washington Ave. fcosws@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu Urbana, IL 61801 *** O syntagmata linguarum liberemini humanarum! *** **** Nihil vestris privari nisi obicibus potestis! **** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 93 17:03:30 PST From: Richard Wojcik Subject: Re: 4.961 Psycholinguistics Martin Haspelmath has argued (correctly IMHO) that the cognitive/psychological tradition in linguistics has strong historical roots (contra Schaufele). I want to comment on the following remarks made by Haspelmath: >... > The Neogrammarians had a clear cognitive orientation, and so did the > European structuralism of Trubetzkoy and Jakobson (note that Jakobson > 1944 was one of the first linguists to bring together data from aphasia > and linguistic theory). > The only influential anti-cognitivist, anti-psychological school was > Bloomfield and the post-Bloomfieldians... Although Trubetzkoy and (more especially) Jakobson had much to say about the psychological effects of grammar, I think a case can be made that they were in the forefront of their contemporaries in rejecting psychologism. First of all, both linguists were products of Fortunatov's Moscow Formalists, arch-rivals of St. Petersburg's more cognitive-oriented view of language. When Trubetzkoy and Jakobson joined other Russian linguists in adopting Baudouin de Courtenay's psychological theory of phonemics--a theory that relied heavily on the intertwining of phonology with linguistic perception and production--they sought to redefine the phoneme in structural, rather than psychological, terms. Trubetzkoy even dismissed Baudouin in passing in his textbook. I would say that structuralism had very strong roots in formalism, and that it was generally anti-cognitivist in flavor. Although the post- Bloomfieldians represented a rather extreme anti-cognitivist position, one cannot simply say that Trubetzkoy and Jakobson were pro-cognitive simply because of their differences with extremists. They were all structuralists, after all. The Prague Schoolers weren't even alone in their rejection of psychologism. The Moscow School of Phonology, which arose in parallel with the Prague School, was not structuralist. They didn't follow in Saussure's wake. But, true to Fortunatov's memory, they came to divorce Baudouin's theory from its foundation in language behavior (while continuing to talk about its relevance to linguistic behavior--just like Jakobson). They wanted to define linguistic systems in more "objective" terms. I think that the competence/performance dichotomy, along with its necessary distinction between internal and external evidence, has served one main purpose in the history of linguistics: to get structuralists thinking again about the psychological underpinnings of the grammar. But the dichotomy rests on the shaky assumption that the brain has a specialized function for introspection about linguistic behavior. I think that humans are able to introspect about everything they do. Intuitive judgments are tied to a general cognitive ability, and linguistic "systems" exist for other purposes--to instruct people on how to produce (and comprehend) linguistic messages. So it isn't surprising to me that linguists keep batting their eyelashes at psychologists. They belong together. :-) --- Disclaimer: Opinions expressed above are not those of my employer. Rick Wojcik (rwojcik@boeing.com) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1993 11:45:34 -0800 From: koenig@garnet.berkeley.edu re psycholinguistics/aphasia evidence. A good example of the difficulty of interpreting the bearing of external evidence on linguistic theories is given by Vicku Fromkin's example of this brain damaged patient that could not identify a cow or a horse when presented pictures of the animals but could, when the pictures were of a cow kicking the horse (or the reverse) could use syntax to point out at the cow or horse. She concludes: " Thus any theory of grammar which does not separate syntax from semantics is unable to account for such data" I'm not sure what exactly Vicki Fromkin had in mind here, but, if I understand correctly the experiment, I don't know of any theory of grammar on the market that would not explain the result. 1. Presumably, the patient understands the semantics of "kick" including how to distinguish the kick-er and the kick-ee 2. The patient has some idea of "subcategorization" and how to relate subcategorized for arguments to surface syntax (however this is accomplished in your favorite theory: theta-criterion and Case theory, Subcategorization Principle Completeness and Coherence, elaboration sites...) 3. THe patient therefore knows how to identify the kicker and the kickee from a combination of his/her knowledge of the meaning of "kick" and his/her knowledge of point 2. ANY theory I know of, whatever their stance on the syntax/semantics interface has the equivalent of subcategorization and, to simplify, the theta-criterion. So, the experiment does not help us decide any contested point of linguistic theory, which, by the way, is a very positive result. It means that all linguists agree that in form or another, the notion of subcategorization and its relation to surface syntax is a crucial aspect of the language faculty. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-967. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-968. Sun 21 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 130 Subject: 4.968 Ritual insults Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sun, 14 Nov 93 17:35:59 EST From: TTHONUS@ucs.indiana.edu Subject: RE: 4.954 Ritual Insults 2) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1993 08:38:49 -0500 (EST) From: 00hfstahlke@leo.bsuvc.bsu.edu Subject: Re: 4.954 Ritual Insults 3) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 14:24:52 +0200 From: Subject: ritual insults -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sun, 14 Nov 93 17:35:59 EST From: TTHONUS@ucs.indiana.edu Subject: RE: 4.954 Ritual Insults Brazilian Portuguese bantering often includes ritual insults of the other's mother, as in: A: Sua boba! B: A boba e' a senhora sua mae! (A: You idiot! B: The idiot is your mother!) Thomas Kochman notes this as a typical type of insult in Black English, and, from other sourcs, I've heard of its wide distribution in other Romance languages. Terese Thonus -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1993 08:38:49 -0500 (EST) From: 00hfstahlke@leo.bsuvc.bsu.edu Subject: Re: 4.954 Ritual Insults In reading _A sorrow in our heart : the life of Tecumseh_ by Allan W. Eckert (New York: Bantam, c1992), I noted some discussion and several at least two instances of ritual insult among the Shawnee in which friends would insult each other's fetish, or _opawaka_. One incident took place at a formal banquet hosted by American officials and caused some consternation among the hosts because of the feigned vehemence of the exchange taking place in Shawnee. Perhaps there are other examples of ritual insult among Native American groups. Herb Stahlke Herbert F. W. Stahlke, Ph.D., Associate Director (317) 285-1843 Consulting and Planning Services (317) 285-1797 (fax) University Computing Services 00hfstahlke@bsuvc.bsu.edu Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306 hstahlke@bsu.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 14:24:52 +0200 From: Subject: ritual insults In reply to the query pertaining to ritual forms of hostile verbal interaction, I thought I might well draw attention to certain types of verbal dualing in historical context. First I may, perhaps, mention my own work with respect to traditions that existed in Northwestern Europe during the medieval period, notably: Marcel Bax, Rules for Ritual Challenges: a Speech Convention among Medieval Knights. Journal of Pragmatics 5 (1981): 423-444 Marcel Bax and Tineke Padmos, Two Types of Verbal Dueling in Old Icelandic: the Interactional Structure of the Senna and the Mannjafnadr in Harbardsljod. Scandinavian Studies 55 (1983): 149-174 (also see my contributions to P. Pulsiano, Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia. New York and London (Garland) 1993, s.v. Harbardsljod and Senna-Mannjafnadr) Marcel Bax, Die lebendige Dimension toter Sprachen. Zur pragmatischen Analyse von Sprachgebrauch in historischen Kontexten. Zeitschrift fuer germanistische Linguistik 11 (1983): 1-21 Marcel Bax, Historische Pragmatik (..) Diachrone Untersuchungen zu pragmatischen Aspekten ritueller Herausforderungen in Texten mittelalterlicher Literatur. In: D. Busse, ed. Diachrone Sematik und Pragmatik. Tuebingen (Niemeyer Verlag) 1991 Of related interest are: G.J. Reinink and H.L.J. van Stiphout, eds., Dispute Poems and Dialogues in the Ancient and Medieval Near East. Orientalia Lovaniensia Lecta. Leuven 1990; W. Parks, Verbal Dualing in Heroic Narrative (1990?); two books by Karen Swenson about the Old Icelandic flyting tradition; and two learned articles by Carol J. Clover on the Germanic context of the flyting in Beowulf (in Speculum 1980), and on the flyting in Harbardsljod (in Scandinavian Studies 1979). All these studies can be viewed as shedding some light on the 'roots' of present day conventions to settle conflicts by way of a verbal match, or to establish intra group relations on the basis of verbal dominance proclaiming behaviour. Moreover, they present data and analyses that support the claim that verbal dueling is among the interactional primitives of mankind - and a rather persistent one, indeed -, and they directly or indirectly evidence the ethological substratum of this type of human communication. E-mail reactions must thus be forwarded: BAX@.LET.RUG.NL Dr M.M.H. Bax Vakgroep Taal en Communicatie (afdeling Taalbeheersing) Onderzoekcentrum voor Taal en Cognitie (CLCG) Faculteit der Letteren Oude Kijk in 't Jatstraat 26 N-9712 EK Groningen tel.: 050-636118 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-968. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-969. Sun 21 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 89 Subject: 4.969 Call for commentators: learning Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 23 Oct 93 20:50:29 EDT From: "Stevan Harnad" Subject: Learning - Implicit vs. Explicit: BBS Call for Commentators -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 23 Oct 93 20:50:29 EDT From: "Stevan Harnad" Subject: Learning - Implicit vs. Explicit: BBS Call for Commentators Below is the abstract of a forthcoming target article by D.R. SHANKS and M.F. ST. JOHN on IMPLICIT VS. EXPLICIT LEARNING that has been accepted for publication in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS), an international, interdisciplinary journal providing Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current research in the biobehavioral and cognitive sciences. Commentators must be current BBS Associates or nominated by a current BBS Associate. To be considered as a commentator for this article, to suggest other appropriate commentators, or for information about how to become a BBS Associate, please send email to: harnad@clarity.princeton.edu or harnad@pucc.bitnet or write to: BBS, 20 Nassau Street, #240, Princeton NJ 08542 [tel: 609-921-7771] To help us put together a balanced list of commentators, please give some indication of the aspects of the topic on which you would bring your areas of expertise to bear if you were selected as a commentator. An electronic draft of the full text is available for inspection by anonymous ftp according to the instructions that follow after the abstract. ____________________________________________________________________ CHARACTERISTICS OF DISSOCIABLE HUMAN LEARNING SYSTEMS David R. Shanks Department of Psychology University College London London WC1E 6BT, England david.shanks@psychol.ucl.ac.uk Mark F. St. John Department of Cognitive Science University of California at San Diego La Jolla, CA 92093 mstjohn@cogsci.ucsd.edu KEYWORDS: learning; memory; consciousness; explicit/implicit processes; rules; instances; unconscious processes ABSTRACT: The proposal that there exist independent explicit and implicit learning systems is based on two further distinctions: (i) learning that takes place with versus without concurrent awareness, and (ii) learning that involves the encoding of instances (or fragments) versus the induction of abstract rules or hypotheses. Implicit learning is assumed to involve unconscious rule learning. We examine the implicit learning evidence from subliminal learning, conditioning, artificial grammar learning, instrumental learning, and reaction times in sequence learning. Unconscious learning has not been satisfactorily established in any of these areas. The assumption that learning in some of these tasks (e.g., artificial grammar learning) is predominantly based on rule abstraction is questionable. When subjects cannot report the "implicitly learned" rules that govern stimulus selection, this is often because their knowledge consists of instances or fragments of the training stimuli rather than rules. In contrast to the distinction between conscious and unconscious learning, the distinction between instance and rule learning is a sound and meaningful way of taxonomizing human learning. We discuss various computational models of these two forms of learning. -------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-969. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-970. Sun 21 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 97 Subject: 4.970 New Books: phonology, syntax, semantics, morphology Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------- Note ------------------------------------------ Additional information on the following books, as well as a short backlist of the publisher's titles, may be available from the Listserv for some of the publishers listed here. To get this information, simply send a message to: Listserv@tamvm1.tamu.edu (Internet) or Listserv@tamvm1 (Bitnet) The message should consist of the single line: get publishername lst linguist For example, to get more information on a book published by Mouton de Gruyter, send the message: get mouton lst linguist At the moment, the following lists are available: benjamin lst (John Benjamin) kluwer lst (Kluwer Academic Publishers) mouton lst (Mouton de Gruyter) oup lst (Oxford University Press) sil lst (Summer Institute of Linguistics) ucp lst (University of Chicago Press) uma-glsa lst (U. of Massachusetts Graduate Linguistics Association) ------------------------------New Books------------------------------ PHONOLOGY UMOP 16; University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers in Linguistics, vol 16: Phonological Representations (1993); T. Sherer (ed.); Pb.; $15; Graduate Linguistic Student Association (GLSA), University of Massachusetts, Amherst. glsa@linguist.umass.edu UMOP 16 includes papers in phonology by J. N. Beckman; A. E. Gnanadesikan; J. Kingston; J. J. McCarthy; B. Rohrbacker; S. Rosenthall; J. Runner; A. J. Schafer; T. D. Sherer; R. Thorburn; S. C. Urbanczyk; L. J. Walsh. SYNTAX/SEMANTICS Bittner, Maria; Rutgers Un; Case, Scope, and Binding; HB 0-7923-26490; 202 pp; Kluwer Academic Publishers; Email vanderLinden@wkap.nl; This book investigates the relation between syntax and semantics. It is argued that case, reflexive binding, as well as minimum scopes, are all determined by the syntactic relations which hold at s-structure. Cross-linguistic variation with respect to these phenomena is due to corresponding variations at the s-structure level. A novel theory of case and semantics is proposed and tested against the typologically unusual facts of Inuit (Eskimo-Aleut family). Guasti, Maria Teresa CAUSATIVE AND PERCEPTION VERBS. A COMPARATIVE STUDY. 1993. 194 pp. Paperbound. ISBN 88-7011-556-9 Lit.45.000; approx. US $ 27 Rosenberg & Sellier via Andrea Doria 14, I-10123 Torino (Italy) The book deals with causative and perception verbs in Italian and French, with important extensions to Germanic and Balcanic languages. Elaborating on Baker's (1988) work on incorporation, the author pro- poses that languages may vary according to whether incorporation occurs at lexical or sublexical level. SEMANTICS Zucchi, Alessandro; Un. of Illinois; The Language of Propositions and Events; HB 0-7923-24374; 281 pp; Kluwer Academic, vanderLinden@wkap.nl; 'The Language of Propositions and Events' offers a comprehensive theory of the relation between noun meaning and verb meaning. The book addresses, moreover, the issue of the argument structure of nominals and offers an analysis of the puzzling distribution of 'infinito sostantivato' in Italian. MORPHOLOGY David G. Lockwood MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS AND DESCRIPTION: A realizational approach. 1993 450 pp. Paper ISBN 4-87718-001-X International Language Science Publishers, Tokyo and Taipei $39.95 >Internet: academic.books@sil.org Morphology Realizational Textbook Introduction to morphology, providing large amount of data from widely different languages. Introduces concepts of morphology, techniques of analysis, and preparation of precise grammatical descriptions. Excercises provided in separate pamphlet. Mainstream relational/stratificational. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-970. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-971. Sun 21 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 83 Subject: 4.971 New Books: Language acquisition, psycholinguistics Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------- Note ------------------------------------------ Additional information on the following books, as well as a short backlist of the publisher's titles, may be available from the Listserv for some of the publishers listed here. To get this information, simply send a message to: Listserv@tamvm1.tamu.edu (Internet) or Listserv@tamvm1 (Bitnet) The message should consist of the single line: get publishername lst linguist For example, to get more information on a book published by Mouton de Gruyter, send the message: get mouton lst linguist At the moment, the following lists are available: benjamin lst (John Benjamin) kluwer lst (Kluwer Academic Publishers) mouton lst (Mouton de Gruyter) oup lst (Oxford University Press) sil lst (Summer Institute of Linguistics) ucp lst (University of Chicago Press) uma-glsa lst (U. of Massachusetts Graduate Linguistics Association) ------------------------------New Books------------------------------ CHILD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Tager-Flusberg, Helen (University of Massachusetts, Boston); Constraints on Language Acquisition: Studies of Atypical Children; 0-8058-0667-9 [cloth] $49.95 ($29.95 special prepaid offer); 228pp. Erlbaum. This edited volume examines the course of language acquisition under exceptional circumstances including brain injury, deafness, autism, and mental retardation. Each section contributes insight on how the biological substrate for language interacts with cognitive and social factors. Email: orders@leahq.mhs.compuserve.com PSYCHOLINGUISTICS Klei, Elaine C.; Queens College & City Un. of New York; Toward Second Language Acquisition; HB 0-7923-2463-3; 289 pp.; Kluwer Academic, Email vanderLinden@wkap.nl This book uniquely illustrates how second language acquisition (SLA) data can instigate exploration and help inform linguistic and acquisition theory in crucial ways. It also offers new perspectives toward our understanding of the relationship between first and second language acquisition, Universal Grammar (UG), and the target input language. Packard, Jerome L.; Un. of Illinois at Urbana; A Linguistic Investigation of Aphasic Chinese Speech; HB 0-7923-2466-8; 324 pp.; Kluwer Academic, Email vanderLinden@wkap.nl This book provides the first detailed linguistic analysis of a large body of aphasic Chinese natural speech data. It describes how the major aphasia syndromes are manifest in Chinese, a language which differs significantly from languages upon which traditional aphasia theory is based. The complete corpora of 4 aphasic Chinese speakers are presented in an appendix. Archibald, John; Un. of Calgary; Language Learnability and L2 Phonology; ISBN 0-7923-2486; 199 pp Hardbound; Kluwer Academic Publishers; Email vanderLinden@wkap.nl This book describes two studies conducted within a parametric framework in the area of second language acquisition. The studies are designed to investigate the acquisition of English stress patterns (via both production and perception tasks) by adult speakers of Polish and Hungarian. This is one of the few attempts to investigate the acquisition of L2 phonology within a UG framework. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-971. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-972. Mon 22 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 121 Subject: 4.972 Conf: The Morphology-Syntax Connection Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 20 Nov 93 17:00:45 EST From: a goofy newfie Subject: Conf: Morphology-Syntax Connection Schedule -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 20 Nov 93 17:00:45 EST From: a goofy newfie Subject: Conf: Morphology-Syntax Connection Schedule The Morphology-Syntax Connection MIT 4th-5th January, 1994 Shortly before the 1994 Linguistic Society of America meeting in Boston, on January 4th-5th, 1994, the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT will host a workshop on the connection between morphology and syntax. Questions? Contact Heidi Harley (hharley@mit.edu) or Colin Phillips (cphill@mit.edu). SCHEDULE OF TALKS: Tuesday 4th January 9:00-9:30 Breakfast & Registration 9:30-10:10 Keren Rice, Toronto & Leslie Saxon, UVic "The Subject Position in Athapaskan Languages 10:10-10:50 Tracy Holloway-King, Indiana "SpecAGR and Case: Evidence from Georgian 10:50-11:10 Break 11:10-11:50 Lea Nash, Universite de Paris VIII "Unergative `be' and Unaccusative `have'" 11:50-12:30 Robin Schafer, UCSC "On the derivation of `have' predication and its impli- cations for the syntax of the perfective in Breton" 12:30-2:00 Lunch 2:00-2:40 Jinqui Fu, Amherst & Thomas Roeper, UMass "The VP within Nominalizations: Evidence from Adverbs and `Do so'" 2:40-3:20 Ke Zou, USC "Resultative V-V Compounds 3:20-4:00 Johan Rooryck, HIL "On Two Types of Syntactic Underspecification 4:00-4:30 Break 4:30-5:10 Kumiko Murasugi, McGill "Constraints on the Feature Specification of AGR 5:10-5:50 Erika Mitchell, Stonehill College "When AgrO is fused to AgrS: What Morphology can tell us about the Functional Categories 5:50-6:30 Jonathan D. Bobaljik, MIT "What does Adjacency Do?" Wednesday 5th January 3:30-4:10 Jerold Sadock, Chicago "Syntactic Activity and Inertness in West Greenlandic Derivational Morphology" 4:10-4:50 James Yoon, UIUC "Korean Verbal Inflection and Checking Theory" 4:50-5:05 Break 5:05-5:45 Eulalia Bonet, Barcelona "The Person-Case Constraint: Morphology or Syntax?" 5:45-6:25 Koji Fujita, Osaka "Middle, Ergative & Passive in English, a Minimalist Perspective" 6:25-6:40 Break 6:40-7:20 Mark C. Baker, CASBS & McGill "On Differences between Case & Agreement" 7:20-8:00 Sarah Cummins & Yves Roberge, Toronto "French Inflectional Morphology In and Out of Syntax" 8:00-??? Food & Fun - i.e. plan to stay! ============================================================ Lodging in the Boston/Cambridge area 1. Harvard Manor House, 110 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. (617)-864-5200, or toll-free 1-800-458-5886.Special conference rate available: $80 per room per night. Please quote the name of the conference when making reservations. Right in Harvard Square. Easy access to conference by subway. Parking available. _Make reservations by **Dec 4th**, 1993_. 2. Marriott Hotel, 2 Cambridge Center, Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02139.(617)-494-6600 or toll-free 1-800-458-5886 Special MIT rate available: $129 per room per night. Please specify (non)-smoking, king-size/2 double beds and mention that you are attending an MIT conference when making reservations. Very close to conference venue. Right next to subway stop, easy access to downtown Boston and Harvard Square. 3. Howard Johnson's Cambridge, 777 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02139.(617)-492-7777 Sort of special conference rate available : $75/room/night singles or doubles; make reservations by Dec. 18, mention Morphology/Syntax Connection when reserving rooms. Free Parking. Close to MIT. 4. "A Bed & Breakfast Above the Rest", 50 Boatswain Way, Suite 105, Boston, MA 02150. 1-800-677-2262; (617)-277-2292; (617)-884-7748; FAX (617)-884-1544. Reservations service for accommodations in private homes in Brookline, Boston, and Cambridge. Average rate: single $40-55; double $50-65 and up.5. Beacon Inn & Guest Houses, 248 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116.(617)-266-7276. One block from Prudential Center between Copley & Hynes subway stations. No parking available. Rate: single $55, double $70. Prepaid reservations required. 6. Brookline Manor Guest House, 32 Centre Street, Brookline, MA 02146.(617)-232-0003. Call ASAP as they fill up quickly. One block from MBTA Coolidge Corner stop, free parking. Rate: single or double $45-60, private and shared baths, continental breakfast included. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-972. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-973. Mon 22 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 104 Subject: 4.973 Conf: Round Table on Computer Applications in Historical Ling Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1993 17:27:01 -0800 From: jblowe@garnet.berkeley.edu (John Brandon Lowe) Subject: Round Table Program -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1993 17:27:01 -0800 From: jblowe@garnet.berkeley.edu (John Brandon Lowe) Subject: Round Table Program ********************************************************************* * Round Table on Computer Applications in Historical Linguistics * * * * Third and final announcement and tentative program * * * * December 8, 1993 10h00 to 18h00 * * Professor's Lounge, Universite Libre, Brussels, Belguim * ********************************************************************* The first in a series of round tables to discuss the application of computers in historical linguistics will be held in conjunction with the 1993 Annual Conference of the Linguistic Society of Belgium, devoted this year to "Sound Change", to be held in Brussels from December 9-11, 1993. For information about the conference itself, please contact Dr. D. Demolin (ddemoli@ulb.ac.be). If you are interested in attending the round table or wish to continue to receive (or not receive) email about it and perhaps other mailings about computational historical linguistics, please contact either: John B. Lowe Martine Mazaudon University of California C.N.R.S. Berkeley Paris jblowe@garnet.berkeley.edu ULTO006%FRORS31.bitnet 1-510 643-9910 (voice) 33.1.45.80.96.73 (voice) 1-510 643-9911 (fax) 33.1.45.80.59.83 (fax) For the first such *informal* one-day gathering we invite anyone interested in any aspect of this broad topic to attend. The list of presentations and demonstrations is tentative. While the participants listed below are all "confirmed", there may still be revisions or additions. There is still time for other presentations, though we would be able to confirm any time slots until the round table itself. We look forward to see you in Brussels! PRESENTATIONS AND DEMONSTRATIONS 10h00 to 12h30 and 13h30 to 16h30 (approx.) (Presenters: please plan to bring whatever software you have to demonstrate, and let us know what hardware and presentation equipment you need.) Lee Hartman: IBM-compatible based program for testing sound change models, and a discussion of questions of notation. John Hewson: A computer-generated dictionary of Proto-Algonquian. Jean-Marie Hombert and Joel Brogniart: ALFA, Atlas Linguistique Fang -- a multi-media multi-media Macintosh database for linguistic atlas maps -- applied to Fang, Bantu, Cameroon. John Lowe and Martine Mazaudon: The Reconstruction Engine (RE), a program for checking correspondance rules and assembling cognate sets from individual dictionaries. John Lowe: Two etymological database projects: STEDT (the Sino- Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus) and CBOLD: (the Comparative Bantu Online Dictionary). Boyd Michailovsky: Using LEXWARE on a comparative database -- application to Kiranti, Nepal. Ann Marynissen: Corpus-based research on noun inflexion in 13th century Middle Dutch. Robert Nicolai: MARIAMA, a data base for historical comparative linguistics, currently applied to Nilo-Saharan. Marc Thouvenot: GENOR, a spelling generator -- a means to retrieve lexical items with non standardized spelling from texts. Annelies Wouters: "An Atlas of Old-Netherlandic," an electronic database of Dutch place-names before 1225 A.D. ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION 17h00 to 18h00 (approx.) All interested parties are invited to discuss the day's events, to speculate about future developments, and to otherwise exchange ideas. In particular, the discussion will focus on desiderata for software in historical research. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-973. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-974. Mon 22 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 115 Subject: 4.974 Conf: Going Romance 1993 Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 14:57:54 +0000 (GMT) From: Frank.A.Drijkoningen@let.ruu.nl Subject: conference program -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 14:57:54 +0000 (GMT) From: Frank.A.Drijkoningen@let.ruu.nl Subject: conference program GOING ROMANCE 1993 The Seventh "Going Romance" Conference on Romance Languages and Linguistics, organized by the Research Institute for Language and Speech, the Holland Institute of Generative Linguistics and the Department of Romance Languages of Utrecht University will be held in Utrecht, December 10 & 11 Program: December 10, morning session: 9.00 - 9.30 Registration 9.30 - 10.30 Guglielmo Cinque (Venezia, invited speaker): Romance pas= t participle movement and clause structure 10-30 - 11.10 Gloria Cocchi (Firenze): An explanation of the split in the choice of perfect auxiliaries 11.30 - 12.10: Cristina Schmitt (Maryland): Participial Absolutes and accusative clitic doubling 12.10 - 12.50: Aafke Hulk & Verheugd, Els (Amsterdam): Agreement and Quantification December 10, afternoon session: 14.20 - 15.20: Christine Tellier (Universit=82 de Montr=82al, invited speaker): Predication in copular and inalienable constructions 15.20 - 16.00: Ana Maria Martins (Lisboa): Enclisis, VP-deletion and the nature of Sigma 16.20 - 17.00: Nigel Duffield (McGill, Montreal): Negative Polarity & Quantifier Scope: the Case of French infinitives 17.00 - 17.40: Enric Vallduv=A1 (Edinburgh): Polarity items, n-words,= and minimizers in Catalan and Spanish 18.00 - 19.00: Ignacio Bosque (Universidad Complutense, Madrid, invit= ed speaker): Degree estimatives and modal operators in Spanish December 11, morning session: 9.00 - 10.00: Juan Uriagereka (Maryland, invited speaker): Why do clitics move where?=20 10.00 - 10.40: Manuela Ambar (Lisboa): A Comp feature and some of its effects 11.00 - 11.40: Ana Maria Madeira (UC London): Inflected Infinitival clauses in Portuguese 11.40 - 12.20: Josep Fontana (Ohio): Types of Verb-fronting in Old Romance 12.20 - 13.00:M. Rita Manzini (London/Firenze): On the (Romance) subjunctive December 11, afternoon session: 14.30 - 15.30: Anne Zribi-Hertz (Paris-8, invited speaker): The synta= x of nominative clitics in standard and advanced French 15.30 - 16.10: Jose Bonneau (McGill, Montreal): Theoretical Implicati= ons of the Analysis of Quantifier Climbing in Romance 16.30 - 17.10: Johan Rooryck (Leiden): On the difference between syntactic alfa- and 0-underspecification 17.10 - 17.50: Anna Maria Di Sciullo (UQAM): Prefixes and the geometr= y of the Event Alternates: Frank Drijkoningen (Utrecht): Quantitive clitics, L-marking and Head- Movement Monique Dufresne & Dupuis, Fernande (UQAM): Modularity and the Reanalysis of the French subject pronoun Rose-Marie D=82chaine (Leiden): Predicate Ellipsis in English and Fre= nch Location: Room 2.02 at Achter de Dom 22, Utrecht Registration: The registration fee will be fl. 10.-- Registration at the conference site The Organizing Committee:=20 Aafke Hulk Ellen-Petra Kester Manuela Pinto Jan Schroten Frank Drijkoningen Phone: ++31-30-536400 Fax: ++31-30-536167 Email: drijkoningen@let.ruu.nl Postal address: Research Institute for Language and Speech (OTS), Trans 10, 3512 JK Utrecht (The Netherlands) =1A -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-974. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-975. Mon 22 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 128 Subject: 4.975 Qs: Preposition, Analysis, Anthropologist, Russian Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck 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, 20 Nov 1993 14:10:27 -0800 (PST) From: Frederick Newmeyer Subject: Preposition stranding (part 2) 2) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1993 23:46:06 -0500 (EST) From: Paul T Kershaw Subject: Q: Comments on analysis 3) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 93 13:09:30 -0500 From: hassellle%lavc1.dnet@sb.com (Lew Hassell -- x6380 -- MS L331) Subject: anthropologist s/w 4) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1993 17:43 -0500 (EST) From: mike.maxwell@SIL.ORG Subject: Russian yers -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1993 14:10:27 -0800 (PST) From: Frederick Newmeyer Subject: Preposition stranding (part 2) Does anybody know of a language that does not allow stranded prepositions, but was known to have them at an earlier stage in its history? Or, alternatively, a language that has them now, with evidence that at an earlier stage it did not have them? Fritz Newmeyer fjn@u.washington.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1993 23:46:06 -0500 (EST) From: Paul T Kershaw Subject: Q: Comments on analysis I have a foreign officemate who asks me questions about English syntax (mostly grammaticality judgments; she's still learning). Today she came up with an interesting pair of sentences, to wit: (1) a. Not until we lose our health do we know its value. b. Until we lose our health we don't know its value. It seems to me that the Aux (to use old terminology; I'll switch in a second) in (1a) MUST be moved, and that in (1b) CAN'T. That is, the examples in (2) seem ill-formed: (2) a. *Not until we lose our health we know its value. b. *Until we lose our health don't we know its value. The question, of course, is why? The analysis I gave is roughly this. First of all, it's fairly obvious, assuming that the AdvP "Until we lose our health" has the same function and similar relation in (1a) and (1b), that it is the negation in initial position in (1a) that triggers the inversion (speaking more modernly, the movement of the agreement features in Infl, perhaps already attached to "do", to Comp). This suggests (to me) that the Neg element has moved from its position with I" (perhaps within an NegP daughter of I') into Spec of C". My manifold question is this: Has data like (1) been treated at length anywhere? What do the syntacticians out there think? Are there major problems with my analysis (probably), and if so, how should we analyze (1a)? Reply to me, and if there's interest, I'll post a summary. Queryingly yours, Paul Kershaw, Michigan State University, KershawP@Student.MSU.Edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 93 13:09:30 -0500 From: hassellle%lavc1.dnet@sb.com (Lew Hassell -- x6380 -- MS L331) Subject: anthropologist s/w Some time back I seem to remember talk about one or more field note organizers specifically for the sorts of notes an anthropologist would take. Am I crazy? (Don't answer that.) Does anyone know of such software? Thanks Lew ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1993 17:43 -0500 (EST) From: mike.maxwell@SIL.ORG Subject: Russian yers Can someone familar with Russian either answer the following question, or direct me to the appropriate references? In Phonologica 1988 (= Proc 6th Intl Phonology Mtg), Jonathan Kaye describes the behavior of yers (underlyingly high, probably lax vowels) in Russian as follows (pg. 149): (1) Yers are nonhigh...before a syllable whose head vowel is a yer. (2) Yers are deleted. The second statement refers to a yer which hasn't undergone lowering. My understanding of this process is that in any sequence of two or more yers (with no other vowels intervening), all but the first yer would disappear; the description in Spencer's "Morphological Theory" (pg. 102-3) seems to confirm this. I would like to know whether my understanding is correct. What happens when three or more yers appear in sequence (in stems and/or suffixes, but not in prefixes, since the latter introduce complications that I won't go into here)? Concrete examples would be helpful. BTW, Kaye refers to a then (1988) unpublished work by Morris Halle entitled "On the Phonology-Morphology Interface," which might answer my question. Does anyone know if this has since been published? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-975. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-976. Tue 23 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 122 Subject: 4.976 Qs: Women, French, Modality, Lapsus Corpora Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck 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, 22 Nov 1993 09:35:33 +0100 From: ursula.doleschal@wu-wien.ac.at (ursula.doleschal) Subject: women again 2) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 93 10:53:42 EST From: Ron Smyth Subject: French dislocations 3) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 93 16:37:46 EDT From: sjhan@lcl.cmu.edu Subject: Q: modality in NLP 4) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 93 14:10 EST From: Aleksander Murzaku <0006353692@mcimail.com> Subject: Lapsus Corpora -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1993 09:35:33 +0100 From: ursula.doleschal@wu-wien.ac.at (ursula.doleschal) Subject: women again I would like to remail this urgent query, since I have received only 2 answers (possibly because of the header Diminutives which made all the Women experts skip the query): I have got a query on women's use of diminutives and on the other hand diminutives being used to address/describe/name etc. women. I sort of dimly remember that their have been studies on the frequency of diminutives under both aspects, but now can just remember Robin Lakoff's book. Can anyone point me to empirical studies of the problem and if possible at the same time tell me the results? Please answer to me privately, I will report to the list later on. Ursula Doleschal Ursula Doleschal Institut f. Slawische Sprachen Wirtschaftsuniv. Wien Augasse 9, 1090 Wien Tel.: ++43-1-31336 4115 Fax: ++43-1-31336 744 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 93 10:53:42 EST From: Ron Smyth Subject: French dislocations Can anyone direct me to frequency data on subject and other dislocations in *spoken* French? Ron Smyth smyth@lake.scar.utoronto.ca -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 93 16:37:46 EDT From: sjhan@lcl.cmu.edu Subject: Q: modality in NLP Does anyone out there know of researches and/or papers on modality in natural language processing? peace, sungjin han philosophy department carnegie mellon university pittsburgh, pa 15213-3890 phones : (412) 422-2005 (home) 268-5086 (office) fax : (412) 268-1440, Lab for Computational Linguistics e-mail : sjhan@lcl.cmu.edu sh4z@andrew.cmu.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 93 14:10 EST From: Aleksander Murzaku <0006353692@mcimail.com> Subject: Lapsus Corpora Dear Linguist List: I should be very interested to know about studies, papers and especially corpora on writting errors. At the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, we have a similar corpus containing Italian lapsi linguae but I would be more interested about lapsi calami. The corpora can be in any language but I would prefere English, French, German, Finnish, Italian, Spanish (both European and American), Portuguese (both). If somebody has that information, please let me know if they are available and if they can be sent by e-mail, floppy or paper. If I have interesting answers, I'll post the results to the list. Thank you in advance, Aleksander Murzaku (murzaku@ux1sns.sns.it or amurzaku@mcimail.com or 6353692@mcimail.com) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-976. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-977. Tue 23 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 123 Subject: 4.977 Sum: Preposition Stranding Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1993 15:58:36 -0800 (PST) From: Frederick Newmeyer Subject: Summary: Preposition stranding -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1993 15:58:36 -0800 (PST) From: Frederick Newmeyer Subject: Summary: Preposition stranding I would like to thank the following people for responding to my queries about preposition stranding: Karin Stromswold, Randy LaPolla, Bob Beard, Wendy Wilkins, Taylor Roberts, Margaret Winters, Dominique Estival, Lindsay Whaley, David Denison, Robert Van Valin, Yves Roberge, Joan Maling, Cathy Ball, and Paul Deane. Here are some references: Allen, Cynthia. 1980. Topics in diachronic English syntax. New York: Garland. Chomsky, Noam. 1981. Lectures on government and binding. (Studies in generative grammar, 9). Dordrecht: Foris, pp. 292f. Chomsky, Noam. 1986. Barriers. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 80f. Christensen, Kristi. 1986. Complex passives, reanalysis, and word formation. Nordic Journal of Linguistics 9.135-162. Cinque, Guglielmo. 1990. Types of A-bar dependencies. (Linguistic Inquiry Monograph Series, 17). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 48-51. Culicover, Peter W., and Wendy Wilkins. 1984. Locality in linguistic theory. New York: Academic Press, pp 180-184. Davison, Alice. 1980. Peculiar passives. Language 56.42-66. Deane, Paul. 1992. Grammar in mind and brain: explorations in cognitive syntax. The Hague: Mouton. Denison, David. 1993. English historical syntax: verbal constructions. London: Longman, Chapter 7. Erteschik-Shir, Nomi. 1981. More on extractibility from quasi-NPs. Linguistic Inquiry 12.665-670. Estival, Dominique . 1986. The passive in English: A case of syntactic change. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania. Herslund, Michael. 1984. Particles, prefixes and preposition stranding. In F. Snilrensen (ed.), Topics in Danish Syntax, (Nydanske Studier & Almen Kommunikationsteori 14), pp. 34-71. Akademisk Forlag. Hornstein, Norbert, and Weinberg, Amy. 1981. Case theory and preposition stranding. Linguistic Inquiry 12.55-92. Kayne, Richard S. 1984. Connectedness and binary branching. (Studies in Generative Grammar, 16). Dordrecht: Foris, esp, Ch 5. King, Ruth, and Yves Roberge. 1990. Preposition stranding in Prince Edward Island French. Probus 351-369. Kuno, Susumu. 1987. Functional syntax: anaphora, discourse, and empathy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Lodrup, Helge. 1991. The Norwegian pseudopassive in lexical theory. Working Papers in Scandinavian Syntax 47.118-129. Maling, Joan, and Zaenen, Annie. 1985. Preposition-stranding and passive. Nordic Journal of Linguistics 8.197-209. Maling, Joan, and Zaenen, Annie.1985. Preposition-stranding and oblique case. Cornell Working Papers in Linguistics 7.149-161. Maling, Joan. 1977. A typology of preposition stranding. Unpublished GLOW paper. Stromswold, Karin. 1988. The acquisitional implications of Kayne's theory of prepositions. Unpublished ms., MIT. Stromswold, Karin. 1989. Using naturalistic data: methodological and theoretical issues (or how to lie with naturalistic data. Paper presented at the14th Annual Boston University Child Language Conference, October 13-15, 1989. Suzuki, Norio. 1991. Focus and conditions on representation. Lingua 83.183-248. Takami, Ken-ichi. 1992? Preposition stranding. The Hague: Mouton. Takami, Ken-ichi.1988. Preposition stranding: arguments against syntactic analyses and an alternative functional explanation. Lingua 76.299-335. Traugott, Elizabeth. 1972. The history of English syntax. New York: Holt Rinehart Winston. Van Riemsdijk, Henk. 1978. A case study in syntactic markedness: the binding nature of prepositional phrases. (Studies in Generative Grammar, 4). Dordrecht: Foris. Van Valin, Robert D. 1993. A synopsis of role and reference grammar. Advances in role and reference grammar, ed. by Robert D. Van Valin, 1-164. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 99-100. Whaley, Lindsay J. . 1993. The status of obliques in linguistic theory. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, State University of New York at Buffalo. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-977. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-978. Tue 23 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 154 Subject: 4.978 Computational Workshop, African Conference, ALS Bibliography Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1993 18:34:27 -0500 From: Judith Klavans Subject: follow-up on Workshop on Computational Linguistics 2) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 93 08:55:04 RSA From: 140ROCKS@witsvma.wits.ac.za Subject: Conference: African Linguistics 3) Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1993 17:17:07 +0000 From: zeitlyn@vax.ox.ac.uk Subject: Digitised transcript available via gopher 4) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1993 10:39:44 -0700 (MST) From: parkinsonD@yvax.byu.edu Subject: ALS Bibliography -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1993 18:34:27 -0500 From: Judith Klavans Subject: follow-up on Workshop on Computational Linguistics I received over a dozen messages asking when and where the workshop will be held. My assumption that readers of LINGUIST would know what LSA is an acronym for, and that readers of LINGUIST would know that the annual meeting was in Boston this year, was obviously wrong. So let me be clearer: The Workshop "Perspectives on Computational Linguistics" will be held under the auspices of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) at the Annual Meeting. This year's meeting is from Jan 6-9, 1994, at the Sheraton Boston Hotel. For those readers of LINGUIST who are not members of the LSA, let me strongly recommend it. It is the most established organization in our field. You can get information from: zzlsa%gallua.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu Judith Klavans -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 93 08:55:04 RSA From: 140ROCKS@witsvma.wits.ac.za Subject: Conference: African Linguistics 1st World Congress of African Linguistics The Organisers of the 1st World Congress of African Linguistics have agreed to the relocation of this conference from Johannesburg to the University of Swaziland, Kwaluseni. The change of venue has been motivated by overseas concerns about future stability in South Africa. The Congress will be jointly hosted by the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Swaziland. The dates of the World Congress have been changed to 18-22 July 1994 (a postponement of one week) so that it will no longer coincide with the Khoisan conference in Munich. In light of the above changes, the deadline for preliminary registrations and the submission of abstracts has been extended to 1 December 1993. For further information, contact 140rocks@witsvma.wits.ac.za or fax Department of African Languages, University of the Witwatersrand at (RSA) + (11) + 716-8030. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1993 17:17:07 +0000 From: zeitlyn@vax.ox.ac.uk Subject: Digitised transcript available via gopher Announcement. An electronic version of a transcript from a paper that appeared in the anthropology journal Man earlier this year has been placed in the archives of Yale Anthropology and is available via Gopher. This includes a digitised version of the original sound recordings as voice annotations (in MS Word 5.1 format for Macintosh) so the transcript can be read alongside the original recording which is an extract of a court room dispute in a village in Cameroon. The language spoken is Mambila, a (Niger Congo) Mambiloid language. The purpose of doing this is to make more of my data available. I trust that this will be of interest to linguists as well as to anthropologists. The file will be found in Anthropology and Archaeology Archives at Yale University within the directory called Menu for Anthropological Resources. the file is called Digitised article from Man -- David Zeitlyn In order to protect the copyright of the RAI (the journal publishers) only the transcript is being made. The full reference to the article is: David Zeitlyn, 1993. Reconstructing Kinship or the pragmatics of kin talk. Man (n.s.) 28(2), 199-224. David Zeitlyn British Academy Research Fellow, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, 51 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6PF, UK. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1993 10:39:44 -0700 (MST) From: parkinsonD@yvax.byu.edu Subject: ALS Bibliography The Arabic Linguistic Society Electronic Bibliography project was established several years ago to create an electronic bibliography of sources on Arabic linguistics published after the last Bakalla volume. Based on contributions from members and some computer searches of large bibliographical databases, we now have well over 2000 entries in the bibliography. This is continually updated as members send in references. It is in Endnote format; this is a program that works both on the PC and the MAC, so it is fairly flexible, and it can export to PROCITE and other formats when necessary. It also allows quite complex Boolean searches. Salman Al-Ani has done some work with the Indiana University Linguistics Club and they have agreed in principle to bring out a hard copy version of this bibliography. This will be neither indexed nor organized by topic or key word, but it will still be a useful list that people can use to find recent references. (People who need indexing and topic searching can use the electronic version, of course.) Before the publication of the hard copy, therefore, we are making a final plea for you to send in to us references of your own recent articles related to any area of Arabic linguistics, and those which you are aware of and think we may have missed. Send them by e-mail to me, or by hard copy to 4072 JKHB-BYU, Provo, Utah 84602. Thanks for helping us make this product as useful as possible. Dilworth B. Parkinson -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-978. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-979. Tue 23 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 144 Subject: 4.979 Jobs: Research scientist, Correction, Assistant professor Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 93 11:44:10 EST From: rohini@cs.buffalo.edu (Rohini Srihari) Subject: job announcement 2) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 21:57:49 -0600 From: Knud Lambrecht Subject: JOB AT UT AUSTIN: CORRECTION 3) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1993 18:40:35 -0800 From: gerdts@sfu.ca Subject: Please post -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 93 11:44:10 EST From: rohini@cs.buffalo.edu (Rohini Srihari) Subject: job announcement ************************************************************* RESEARCH POSITION - Computational Linguist Center of Excellence for Document Analysis and Recognition (CEDAR) State University of New York at Buffalo ************************************************************* A Research Scientist position is available immediately to work on an NSF-funded project where statistical models of language (English) are used in recognizing (i.e., reading) handwritten text. CEDAR conducts research and development work on all aspects of document recognition/understanding and is situated on the campus of SUNY at Buffalo. REQUIRED BACKGROUND: Computational Linguistics Experience in statistical methods for NLP (e.g., part-of-speech tagging, stochastic parsing) Experience in corpus-based linguistic analysis for English Experience in OCR or speech recognition highly desirable C Programming Good written and verbal skills EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE A Ph.D. or M.S. with expertise in Computational Linguistics Artificial Intelligence or Computer Science is required. In the case of M.S., 2-3 years work experience in the above areas is required. JOB DESCRIPTION To work on a project which integrates statistical NLP techniques with handwriting recognition for both on-line (pen-based) and off-line (paper-based) systems. Specific tasks include the development of a corpus of informal language, development of suitable lexicons for the task, development of syntactic and semantic techniques to improve handwritten sentence/phrase recognition. Will be working with a small team (3-4) of other researchers. SALARY Will be based upon qualifications and relevant experience. Interested applicants should send a CV (including 3 references) along with a letter describing background and research interests to: Rohini K. Srihari CEDAR/UB Commons 520 Lee Entrance, Suite 202 Buffalo, NY 14228-2567 e-mail: rohini@cs.buffalo.edu Fax: (716)-645-6176 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 21:57:49 -0600 From: Knud Lambrecht Subject: JOB AT UT AUSTIN: CORRECTION UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, AUSTIN DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH AND ITALIAN The search for a generalist in French linguistics at the Assistant professor rank has been SUSPENDED. If a decision is made next year to resume the search, an announcement will be made accordingly. To those who have applied or are in the process of doing so, many thanks (and sincere regrets for the inconvenience). Please be assured that your application will in any case be kept on file. Jean-Pierre Cauvin Chairman -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1993 18:40:35 -0800 From: gerdts@sfu.ca Subject: Please post Tenure-Track Position in Applied Linguistics, Simon Fraser University Applications are being accepted for a tenure-track position in Linguistics starting September 1, 1994, subject to approval of funding. Appointment will be made at the assistant professor rank. A primary specialization in applied linguistics and a strong secondary field of expertise within Linguistics are required for this position. The successful candidate will be assigned primary responsibilities in the department's programs for teachers of English as a Second Language. Teaching duties will include courses on Teaching English as a Second Language and other applied linguistics courses, as well as a range of other linguistics courses at various levels. Candidates should hold a Ph. D. in Linguistics or other field with a linguistics specialization, show strong promise as a researcher, be prepared to become active in the development and management of undergraduate programs, particularly in the TESL area, and to accept graduate supervision duties. Send a letter of application, curriculum vitae, and sample publications (by January 15, 1994) to: Dr. T. Perry, Chair, Linguistics Department, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B. C. V5A 1S6, Canada [phone: (604) 291-3554, FAX: (604) 291-5659, e-mail: perry@sfu.ca]. Candidates should arrange for three letters of recommendation to be sent to the Department by the deadline. In accordance with Canadian Immigration requirements, this advertisement is directed to Canadian citizens and permanent residents. SFU offers equal employment opportunities to qualified applicants. ------------------------------------------------ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-979. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-980. Tue 23 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 102 Subject: 4.980 Conf: 8th Annual Conference on Pragmatics and Language Learning Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 93 18:40:06 -0600 From: LISTSERV@TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 93 18:40:06 -0600 From: LISTSERV@TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU 8th Annual Conference on Pragmatics and Language Learning and its Parasession on Pragmatics Research March 31 - April, 1994 The following description is designed to provide a more comprehensive descrip- topm of the Parasession on Pragmatics Research to be held at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Campus) in conjunction with the 8th Annual International Conference on Pragmatics and Language Learning from March 31 through Aporil 2, with the parasession continuing for the first two of those three days and the conference continuing on through the third. The parasession will begin at 9:00AM Thursday, March 31. There will be 4 plen- ary presentations - two in the morning and two in the afternoon: 9:00 - Georgia Green on Data Gathering and Analysis; 10:15 - coffee break; 10:45 - Gabrielle Kasper on Research on Speech Acts; 12:00 - Lunch; 1:30 - Yamuna Kachru on Cross Cultural Research; 2:45 - Ulla Conners on Pragmatic Research in Written English 4:00 - Panel Discussions (1st session); 5:30 - Dinner; 7:30 - Panel Discussion (2nd Session). Friday morning: 9:00 - Panel Discussions (3rd Session); and 11:00 - Panel Dis- cussion (4th Session). Exactly how we organize the panels - how many to run at one time, how many talks per session and how to organize the discussion of the different presentations by panel members, etc., has been left to panel chairs to some extent and decisions in that line will have to await the final proposal from each chair as to how they want things to work. When we have those answers we will send out the schedule that evolves to all those who are interested. The final facet of the parasession will come on Friday night from 7:30 - 10:00 and will involve Bruce Fraser as keynote speaker on the topic of Pragmatic Re- search - The State of the Art (or something like that). His talk will be fol- lowed by 20 minute presentations by two commentators (Jerry Morgan and Pat Car- rell) and then by discussion from the floor. There will be a break between the plenary and the commentators in this case, so as to give people a chance to flex their muscles, etc. The conference itself will begin on Friday and runs like any other conference, with sessions of 60-90 minutes built around papers on the same basic topic to the extent that that is possible. How many parallel sessions there are depends on the number of acceptable abstracts we get, but usually there will be 3 or 4. Finally, there is one last plenary speaker on Saturday at 11:00, who will talk on some facet of the general topic *Pragmatics and Language Learning* - with the emphasis in this case falling on the latter term of the two. The conference itself accepts papers related to the twin topics of pragmatics and language learning in any way. We are particularly interested in papers in the following areas of interest: 1. The contribution of pragmatics competence to overall language proficiency 2. Descriptions of specific facets of discourse in English or other languages 3. Contrastive pragmatics/discourse analysis 4. Developments in pragmatic research methodology 5. Integrating pragmatics into the language program ... and related topics. The registration fee for the conference and the parasession (Mar. 31 - Apr. 2) will be... Preregistration On Site Registration Daily Students $25 $30 $20 per day Others $50 $60 $10 per day ABSTRACT DEADLINE: December 15, 1993 Submission by email, FAX or regular mail equally acceptable. If you have specific questions that this description does not answer, please let me know. Larry Bouton Conference Coordinator DEIL UIUC 3070 FLB 707 South Mathews Urbana, IL 61801 FAX (217) 244-3050 larbout@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-980. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-981. Tue 23 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 140 Subject: 4.981 Shoecabbage update Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1993 16:11:18 -0800 (PST) From: "Reinhard (Ron) F. Hahn" Subject: Shoecabbage update -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1993 16:11:18 -0800 (PST) From: "Reinhard (Ron) F. Hahn" Subject: Shoecabbage update A book sets sail with an idea from one person, but it stays afloat with the help of others. Many networking linguists have offered and provided help to bring my "shoecabbage"* project closer to fruition: Donald Frantz (Blackfoot), Patricia Lunn (Spanish, Catalan), Mireille Langenbach (Dutch), Karen Wallace (Crow), Kathy Mitchell (Indonesian), Dale Russell (Cheyenne), J. Randolph Valentine (Ojibwa), J. H. Connolly (Welsh), Hana Skoumalova', Vladimi'r Petkevic^, Jaroslav Peregrin and Alexandr Rosen (Czech), Mike MacKenzie (Kisi, Chichewa), Seamus Cooney (Thai), Karen Steffen Chung (Mandarin, Taiwanese, Cantonese), G. Aaron Broadwell (Choctaw), Suzanne Fleischman (Hebrew), David Gil (Hebrew), George Fowler (Hungarian, Russian), Erika Mitchell (Finnish, Indonesian), Robert Westmoreland (Japanese), Norvin Richards (Tagalog), Judith N. Levi (Hebrew), Josep Sau (Catalan), and Don L. F. Nilsen of the International Society for Humor Studies (Spanish). Special thanks also to Reinhard F. Hahn for his creative energy, his numerous contributions and his help. Here, as a thank-you (or as bait for even more shoecabbages!), a preview--a very small sample (a drop in the bucket, really) of the fun stuff in store for young readers of all ages: ___________________________________________________________________________ * A "shoecabbage" is a word in another language (any language) with the same sound as a word in English, or with a very similar sound, but with a different meaning. This book about shoecabbages is being compiled for children and is intended to provide an enjoyable and entertaining introduction to languages other than English. ___________________________________________________________________________ LANGUAGE: STANDARD AMERICAN MEANING: ENGLISH SOUND-ALIKE: Estonian "sink" ham Greek "Emma" heart Lowlands German "ant" duck Lakota (Sioux) "wee" sun, moon Tshimshian "yak" earthquake Uyghur "toy" celebration, wedding Hungarian "egg" sky Passamaquoddy, Maliseet "meow" exactly, just the same Somali "moose" banana Yakut "moose" ice Sesotho "moosey" smoke Turkish "Phil" elephant Cahuilla "pool" medicine man Blackfoot "mean" berry Amharic "lamb" cow Uzbek "inn" hole, nest Basque "moon" kiss (esp. on a priest's hand) Sibe "mice" wheat Choctaw, Chickasaw "funny" squirrel Ponapean "ah" shark mullet Romanian "stoop" beehive Gitksan "bunny" my stomach Hawaiian "pony" purple Czech "hut" serpent Catalan "cell" heaven, sky Wintu "sea" tooth, teeth, seeds, pits Waray "sea sea" oyster Salar "Jill" tongue Thai "wow" kite Highlands German "lime" glue Albanian "pots" pelican Slave "show" feather Palauan "well" turtle Luxembourgish "ribbon" turnips Quileute "boats" short Qirghiz "jar" friend, sweetheart Hualapai "niece" spider Upper Sorbian "key" stick, club Tigrinya "Bonnie" bread Osage "hoe" fish Chinese (Mandarin) "shoe" book Sariquli "pork" leaf Marshallese "Joe" goatfish, muddy Bemba "coffee" spitting copra Ingar (Eastern Yughur) "June" hundred Tagalog "yellow" ice Lower Sorbian "coin" horse Inuktitut "Minnie" drizzle, gentle rain Bengali "noon" salt Sater Frisian "socks" scissors Navajo "chin" dirt, grime Kwakiutl "yo-yo" hello! hello! Nepali "boot" ghost Gaam "tie" giraffe Serbo-Croatian "cello" forehead Yoruba "E.G." tornado, hurricane Persian, Tajik "Suzanne" sewing needle Malay, Indonesian "Bobby" pig Welsh "toe" roof Sinhalese "wee" rice Woleaian "fa" string, cord, band, lace Arabic "la" no! Icelandic "mi" (me) mosquitoes Japanese "mimi" (me me) ears, sense of hearing Ahtna "zoo" beautiful Yughur (Western) "Derek" tree Dutch "steak" sting, Napoleon-style hat Kashmiri "Al" pumpkin Haida "gnu" octopus Maguindanaon "gnu gnu" termitarium ____________ - Note the acceptability of "doubled" words, personal names (incl. initials), interjections, onomatopoeia, musical notes, and, yes!, "baby talk." - The correct spelling, native Script (or ideogram) will be included in the final work ____________ If you respond, kindly include your postal mailing address. Thank you. Teresa Dowlatshahi c/o "rhahn@u.washington.edu" -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-981. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-982. Tue 23 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 513 Subject: 4.982 Sum: Gender-specific and gender-neutral pronouns Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 93 10:21:01 -0800 From: bhelm@majestix.cs.uoregon.eduS Subject: Summary: Gender-specific and gender-neutral pronouns -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 93 10:21:01 -0800 From: bhelm@majestix.cs.uoregon.eduS Subject: Summary: Gender-specific and gender-neutral pronouns GENDER-NEUTRAL PRONOUNS: A summary Thanks to everyone who replied to my query about gender-neutral pronouns. Here is a selection of replies giving data from languages other than Esperanto. My question also sparked some suggestions for resolving the gender question in Esperanto. I have relegated these replies to a separate summary. My original query: > People on the Esperanto mailing lists are talking about purging their > language of sexism. One aspect of this is a search for a sex-neutral > third-person singular pronoun. I am curious: what pronoun systems > mark sex, but that also incorporate a neutral pronoun for persons? To summarize the responses: 1. A couple of languages were mentioned that apparently have both gender-specific and gender-neutral pronouns. However, this appears to be rare. Many more languages jettison gender altogether in the pronouns. Greville Corbett's book describes some solutions adopted to get around the gender problem in other languages. For Esperanto, the most relevant languages discussed are English (whose gender system most closely resembles Esperanto) and Polish (a language well-known to Esperanto's founder, Zamenhof). Not surprisingly, the Polish solution (use of a neuter pronoun) is the one Zamenhof suggested for Esperanto originally. 2. Several people corrected my misconceptions about other languages, particularly about the geographic distribution of "they" as a singular pronoun. Several also noted errors in my Esperanto table of pronouns. 3. Some replies described languages that are even more "sexy" than Esperanto :-) -- B. Robert HELM Email: Department of Computer and Information Science, bhelm@cs.uoregon.edu University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 (U. S. A.) Tel: +01 (503) 346-1382 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Languages with gender-neutral pronouns and other solutions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 11 Oct 93 20:07:03 -0700 From: donh@netcom.com (Don Harlow) I am told that Hungarian uses a gender-neutral pronoun. Spoken putonghua has a gender-neutral pronoun in the third person (_ta_); but the written form uses different second radicals for men and women. -- Don Harlow donh@netcom.com Esperanto League (Info only) (800)828-5944 or elna@netcom.com Turnig^as la Rado de la Tempo, kaj postlasas multajn vojkadavretojn. (Lau^ Robert Jordan) ----- From: ursula.doleschal@wu-wien.ac.at (ursula.doleschal) Date: Wed, 13 Oct 93 10:44:34 +0100 There is what appears to be a sex-neutral pronoun alongside with sex-differentiating ones in the African language Zande, as described by Ulrike Claudi in "Zur Entstehung von Genussystemen" Hamburg: Buske 1985. But there are other descriptions of the language by Tucker and Gore and Santandrea, I cannot tell you the exact references now. Ursula Doleschal ----- From: Prof Greville G Corbett Date: Wed, 13 Oct 93 12:42:13 BST Dear Rob I saw your message on the Linguist list. I gathered information on how languages tackle the problem in: Greville G. Corbett 1991 Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pages 218-223. ----- Date: Tue, 12 Oct 93 14:26:02 +0100 From: Colin Fine All the languages I can think of that distinguish grammatical gender have distinct masculine and feminine third-person pronouns in the singular, and occasionally in the plural. (The languages in question are almost all the Indo-European languages, plus Hebrew and Arabic. I don't know whether other Afro-Asiatic languages meet this description or not). Even Indo-European languages that have all but lost the masculine/feminine grammatical distinction (English, modern Scandinavian languages, and - I think? - Farsi) retain this distinction in the pronouns. I do not know of an example which has both these distinct pronouns and a common one. Colin Fine ----- Date: Tue, 12 Oct 93 23:25:39 +0100 From: dan@atldbs.dbsoftware.com (Dan McGinn-Combs) Colin Fine writes: (English, modern Scandinavian languages, and - I think? - Farsi) retain this distinction in the pronouns. In Farsi, the pronoun catagorizes, but slightly differently. While marking either male or female (or neither male nor female) with the single pronoun "u," there is a distinction between animate (and sentient) beings and non-living (or non-sentient) things ("an" or in the plural, "anha"). "An" and "anha" are the singular and plural forms of the word for "that." And this from an Indo-European language, influenced heavily by Arabic! ----- From: EZ-as-pi@cup.portal.com (Bruce Robert Gilson) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 93 18:15:23 PDT There may not be natural languages that have masculine, feminine, indifferent pronouns, but way back in the 1920's Otto Jespersen created Novial, which does. As is typical of all nouns that denote persons, the 3rd person pronoun takes the threefold ending -o/-a/-e; lo = he, la = she, le = he/she (and in addition lum = it, to complete the set). ----- From: prin0013@gold.tc.umn.edu (Gregory S Prince-1) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1993 15:44:35 GMT I can understand some resistance to the utilization of "it" in reference to people. ;) Actually, Italian has found something of a way around this, at least in colloquial speech when the pronoun is to serve as the subject. Quite simply, they leave the pronouns out. The verb conjugation is sufficient to identify it as third person singular (or actually, any person singular or plural). Only in the subjunctive do the forms overlap, and even there, pronouns are frequently considered optional if the meaning is clear from the context. Of course, this would perhaps be more problematic in Esperanto? greg ----- Date: Tue, 12 Oct 93 22:20:55 CDT From: CLEMENTS@ucs.indiana.edu Although I doubt whether it's possible, one pronoun could be used for both "he" and "she", as in some languages. E.g. Korlai Portuguese el = s/he elo = they. For what it's worth. Clancy Clements Indiana Univ. ----- From: fedya@Dartmouth.EDU (Ted Schuerzinger) Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1993 03:29:40 GMT I've been told that in Finnish, people are often referred to by the pronoun "se", which means "it". However, Finnish does have a pronoun 'h"an', which can mean either he or she depending on the gender of the person in question. --Ted Schuerzinger Finance Director, Dartmouth Broadcasting fedya@Dartmouth.EDU "Apostrophe's [sic] are not used for plural's [sic]." -- Anonymous ----- From: simon@fsinfo.cs.uni-sb.de (Julia Simon) Date: 15 Oct 1993 14:58:19 GMT fedya@Dartmouth.EDU (Ted Schuerzinger) writes: > I've been told that in Finnish, people are often referred to by the > pronoun "se", which means "it". However, Finnish does have a pronoun > 'h"an', which can mean either he or she depending on the gender of the > person in question. And it doesn't have two separate pronouns meaning "she" and "he", but only this one "h"an". (As far as I know, Finnish doesn't have any grammatical gender at all.) Julia 8-) ----- From: prin0013@gold.tc.umn.edu (Gregory S Prince-1) Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1993 16:44:33 GMT In article fedya@Dartmouth.EDU (Ted Schuerzinger) writes: >In article >prin0013@gold.tc.umn.edu (Gregory S Prince-1) writes: > >> I can understand some resistance to the utilization of "it" in reference >> to people. ;) > >I've been told that in Finnish, people are often referred to by the >pronoun "se", which means "it". However, Finnish does have a pronoun >'h"an', which can mean either he or she depending on the gender of the >person in question. Interesting. Along those lines, it's interesting to note that in Old High German, the plural third person defaults to neuter, unless the group is composed exclusively of one gender. Most languages would default masculine. Use of "se" in Finnish might be practical, but I doubt it would pass the acid test..."it" tends to classify as an object rather than a person. greg ----- From: lingnost@hum.aau.dk (Norbert Strade) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1993 16:49:32 GMT In article prin0013@gold.tc.umn.edu (Gregory S Prince-1) writes: > Use of "se" in Finnish might be practical, but I doubt it would pass the> > acid test..."it" tends to classify as an object rather than a person. As I wrote earlier in this discussion, Finnish has *only* gender-neutral pronouns (it totally lacks grammatical gender). It distinguishes however between *persons* and *things*. 3.sg. person: h n 3.sg. thing: se plural: he ne Modern slang mostly uses "se" for both persons and things, thus slowly forgetting about "h n". Colloquial Finnish has this use quite often. Only the written language will always make the distinction. So, "se" = "it" and "h n" = "he, she" pass the acid test. Finnish is not an indo-european language. Languages of the Uralic family do not mark gender, and there are other groups that don't either. Regards Norbert ----- From: silvonen@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Mikko Silvonen) Date: 15 Oct 1993 12:15:37 +0200 In lingnost@hum.aau.dk (Norbert Strade) writes: >Modern slang mostly uses "se" for both persons and things, thus slowly >forgetting about "hdn". >Colloquial Finnish has this use quite often. >Only the written language will always make the distinction. Actually, "se" was used for "he", "she" and "it" long before the days of modern slang. In most Finnish dialects, "hdn" was used in contexts like: He said that he was ... Se sanoi ettd hdn oli ... I don't know why this is not the case in the written language. -- Mikko Silvonen ! Puhu lyhyesti ja harkitse sanasi University of Helsinki, Finland ! Vihollinen kuuntelee Department of Computer Science ! Kirjoita selvdsti Kdytd lyhenteitd ----- From: hartmut@ruc.dk (Hartmut Haberland) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1993 23:42:35 +0100 (MET) You should have a look at Finnish which has ha:n (i.e. a: = a-umlaut) 'he, she', plural he 'they', but neuter se 'it', plural ne 'they'. (Finnish nouns don't have gender.) But se/ne can also be he, she, they, so I'm a bit confused. try to enlist a native speaker of Finnish. Danish has a system with han 'he', hun 'she' which refers to biological gender (I guess this must be the p.c. term) while den 'NONNEUTER', det 'it' refers to grammatical gender. (Plural is invariably de 'they' for all genders.) Danish nouns do distinguish nonneuter and neuter, but there is no masculine or feminine in the standard language any more. I don't know if this helps. Ask me more if you feel like it. Regards, Hartmut Haberland ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Corrections ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ah514@Freenet.carleton.ca (Manuel M Campagna) pointed out some errors and omissions in my table of Esperanto's third person pronouns. The corrected table is below. Person THIRD _____________|________________ | | Reflexivity NON-REFLEXIVE REFLEXIVE ___|______________ | | | 'si' Specificity SPECIFIC NON-SPECIFIC (himself, herself, | | itself, onesself, __|_________ 'oni' (one) themselves) | | Number SINGULAR PLURAL | | | 'ili' (they) | __|________________________________ | | Personification PERSON NON-PERSON | | ___________|___________________ 'gxi' (it) | | | Sex MALE FEMALE UNKNOWN/IRRELEVANT | | | 'li' (he) 'sxi' (she) ????? ----- Date: Tue, 12 Oct 93 23:53:59 BST From: caoimhin@sabhal-mor-ostaig.ac.uk (Caoimhin P. ODonnaile) bhelm@cs.uoregon.edu (B. Robert Helm) writes: > Colloquially, speakers of > English in the United States (and perhaps elsewhere) have adopted > "they" for this purpose. Not just the US. Use of "they" in this manner is very common in Britain. Kevin Donnelly ----- From: craig@festival.ed.ac.uk (Craig Cockburn) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1993 10:31:01 GMT Whenever I have discussed this subject, it seems to be people in the US who argue against using "they" as the third person singular pronoun. In the UK, the usage seems quite widespread, and for me to use "he/she" seems alien. There are many examples of the use of "they" as a single person pronoun throughout the last 500+ years, including Shakespeare. Perhaps it was a British construction which is only recently gaining hold in the US due to "political correctness". Craig (Edinburgh, Scotland) ----- From: martyb@vnet.ibm.COM (Martin R. Bartels) Date: 20 Oct 93 19:48:04 GMT Craig writes: > Whenever I have discussed this subject, it seems to be people in the US > who argue against using "they" as the third person singular pronoun. In > the UK, the usage seems quite widespread, and for me to use "he/she" > seems alien. There are many examples of the use of "they" as a single > person pronoun throughout the last 500+ years, including Shakespeare. > Perhaps it was a British construction which is only recently gaining > hold in the US due to "political correctness". Actually, on rare occation, someone will write about this in syndicated articles in the newspaper. Personally, I prefer "they" to he/she or s/he, as a singular. I've pointed out to people here that it dates back to prior to the establishment of the US - but the "politically correct" folks often don't want to this, they want "s/he" or "he/she", which is slightly awkward in writting, and silly in speach. The politically correct contingent seems to ignore the origins of the "American" language, and wants to go its own way. "Speak English the way it should be, the American way" (intended completely sarcastically, I'm not anti-UK English at all!). The interesting thing to me, is that "they" does resolve the sexism issue, without inventing a new construct (I can't call "s/he" or "he/she" a "word"), yet people seem to resist (here in the states) anyway. Oh well... Can't have a singular verb with a "plural" pronoun, I guess... :-( ---Marty ----- From: sburke1@huey.csun.edu (sean burke) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1993 06:27:47 GMT In article craig@festival.ed.ac.uk (Craig Cockburn) writes: >bhelm@cs.uoregon.edu (B. Robert Helm) writes: [...] >>objects and persons ('tiu') as a pronoun. Colloquially, speakers of >>English in the United States (and perhaps elsewhere) have adopted >>"they" for this purpose. >Whenever I have discussed this subject, it seems to be people in the US >who argue against using "they" as the third person singular pronoun. In >the UK, the usage seems quite widespread, and for me to use "he/she" >seems alien. There are many examples of the use of "they" as a single >person pronoun throughout the last 500+ years, including Shakespeare. Well, I hope you're not looking toward the US as a source for mature attitudes toward prescriptive grammar! (Flame-retardant: read my sig) >Perhaps it was a British construction which is only recently gaining >hold in the US due to "political correctness". It has /never/ occurred to me that the indefinite "they" is British, or perceived as such by anyone. | Sean Burke / Email: sburke1@huey.csun.edu | Departments of Linguistics and of Foreign Languages and Literatures, | California State University, Northridge. ----- From: simmons@bosun1.informatik.uni-hamburg.de (Geoffrey Simmons) Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1993 16:44:28 GMT bhelm@cs.uoregon.edu (B. Robert Helm) writes: >In languages like German, there is a neuter grammatical gender, but >this is different: the neuter pronoun "es" can have a referent whose >sex is known to be (for instance) female. This is only correct if the antecedent of the pronoun is grammatically neuter, and even then, "es" is often only used for a brief time. For example, "das Maedchen" (girl) and "das Frauelein" (young, unmarried woman) both have female referents but are grammatically neuter. German speakers will generally use "es" within one or two sentences after these words are used, but often go over to "sie" (the feminine pronoun) in a longer discourse. > Also [in German], the masculine and >feminine genders apply to non-persons. Again, this is only if the antecedent is grammatically masculine or feminine. Geoff ----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Sexy languages ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 12 Oct 93 14:26:02 +0100 From: Colin Fine The problem is even greater in a language like Hebrew which in many cases marks the gender of the subject in the verb! Colin Fine ----- From: bthurman@uncavx Date: 13 Oct 93 09:19:12 EDT did i pick up on this too late for the note that those who want to purge gender indications from pronouns may want to treat hebrew first, since all the pronouns (and inflected suffixes of verbs) except so-called 'first person' have gender indication? p.s. 1st person must be termed 'so-called', because 1st person plural proves practically non-existent. it's one more figment of grammatical imagination. note from bearded bill of asheville ----- From: jbm@tardis.trl.OZ.AU (Jacques Guy) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1993 22:02:35 GMT bthurman@uncavx writes: >did i pick up on this too late for the note that those who want to >purge gender indications from pronouns may want to treat hebrew >first, since all the pronouns (and inflected suffixes of verbs) except >so-called 'first person' have gender indication? >note from bearded bill of asheville Indeed, Hebrew is a dire villain. Not only most of its pronouns are "sexy", but so are its numerals! Further, its grammar encourages disgraceful promiscuity: male nouns take female numerals and vice versa. So does Arabic, by the way, but, if memory serves, Arab grammarians restored a semblance of morals by calling male numerals female, female numerals male, and having the female of the species wear a chador, and the male a beard, or at least a moustache. We should all model our respective languages on those of the Chinese and the Klingons. ----- From: LUCAS@VORTEX.UFRGS.BR (Arthur G. Lucas) Date: 14 Oct 93 22:36:59 GMT In portuguese (my national language - I'm Brazilian) EVERYTHING have sex! Yes, everything: a pen is feminine, while a pencil is masculine! It is impossible think about anything like a "neutral" pronoun! Professor Arthur G. Lucas - Lucas@vortex.ufrgs.br - Lucas@brufrgs.bitnet | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-982. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-983. Tue 23 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 356 Subject: 4.983 Sum: Next Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 93 12:29:00 -0500 From: bnevin@BBN.COM Subject: next week -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 93 12:29:00 -0500 From: bnevin@BBN.COM Subject: next week In digest 4:959 (Wed 17 Nov 1993) I asked about two different usages for "next" in the phrase "next week" and in other temporal expressions, as follows: Next = after this one "Next" w/ complete week intervening November 1993 S M Tu W Th F S S M Tu W Th F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 <== Present wk 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 <== Present wk 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 <== Next wk 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 <== Coming wk 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 <== Wk after next 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 <== Next wk 28 29 30 28 29 30 <== Wk after next Three questions: 1. What is the distribution of this difference? 2. For "complete week intervening" speakers, what happens on Sunday? Or at the Saturday/Sunday midnight? Or on Monday, if that is conceived as the first day of the week in practice? 3. Does this apply to "next month" or "next year"? (I think not.) Summary: -=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=- 0. Preliminary. The conversation took place on Monday, November 8. Thanksgiving (U.S.) is Thursday, November 25. A fellow commuter said "we'll have a long weekend next week," referring to the Thanksgiving weekend. But (as I would say it) that was not "next week" but rather "the week after next." Three of my respondants asked if I were sure she realized the date. In my query, I did not report the continuation of the conversation. When she said "next week," I asked my usual sort of question in the face of this sort of confusion: "Do you mean the week coming up or ...". She answered "No, I mean next week, not this coming week." I thought that covered it. But after working up this summary I was not so sure. So, when I saw her last night, and again this morning, I asked again, and she said she must have made a mistake. Perhaps an additional confusion was that she was thinking "next weekend" as opposed to "this coming weekend," even though what she actually said was "a long weekend next week." All is not lost. Responses showed considerable interest in the question, and brought into focus kindred expressions like "next weekend" and "next Tuesday," where there do appear to be dialectal differences. Some respondents indicated that they had run into the problem with "next week", so evidence even for that may still turn up. -=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=- 1. What is the distribution of this difference? Light is shed on the dialect question really only by the following from Laurie Bauer: >There is an English versus Scottish divide on the use of 'Next Tuesday' as >spoken on, say Thursday. In Scotland, 'Tuesday first' is the very next one >to arrive, and 'Next Tuesday' is the Tuesday of the following week. In >England, 'Next Tuesday' is the next one we come to. In New Zealand both >co-exist, to the confusion of restauranteurs taking bookings and such >people. You have to give a date. Since I was brought up in England with >one parent of Scottish descent and have lived in Scotalnd and New Zealand I >no longer know what I say or what it means, but I think on Thurs 'next >Tues' for me would be five days later. English system. Respondants were as follows: northern California Kansas: "the whole state of Kansas" Canada (Toronto?): "Canadians" (problems arise w/ US spkrs) Canada (Calgary?) Michigan, primarily (cites wife too) Indiana/northeast US: "I grew up in Southern Indiana and have lived in the northeast since I was 18 (1989). I've never heard [the `complete week intervening' sense]." Midwest US: central Ohio, central Ill, and Chicago area NY/New England: middle-age female, born NY, school in NE, adult life in Miami Great Britain (Surrey?) Great Britain (Middlesex, "[A] small county which has now been swallowed up by London. I remember this as a linguistic confusion of childhood. I have now lived in the north of England for a dozen years; I don't know whether there is more or less confusion on the subject up here, but I do know that northern and southern British English have variations of a similar sort (e.g. in the south 'dinner' is eaten in the evening; in the north 'dinner' means lunch)" Cape Town, South Africa, 3 yrs USA (UI) Unspecified US (Schaufele) 'the week beginning on the closest future Sunday' Unspecified US (Detrich, Nathan, Shetzer, Browne, Lee, Coleman) A number of respondants were incredulous that the "whole week intervening" usage could be possible. Some respondants did not indicate which usage they follow. -=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=- 2. What happens on Sunday? Or at the Saturday/Sunday midnight? Or on Monday, if that is conceived as the first day of the week in practice? [Kansas] On saturday and sunday, 'next week' can mean either the week that starts 1/2 days hence, or the following week (the one beginnign 8/9 days hence). In this case, it is not at all unheard of to ask which weeks the speaker means--ie do you mean the one starting this coming monday, or the week that starts a week after that. [So. Africa] But on Saturday, for e[xample], "next week" already means the week after next. It somehow "needs" to be about a week away. The immediately following week is already "this week" as in "Are you going to town this week?" Sometimes it's "this coming week". On Friday, "next week" could still be the following calendar week, I think. [Great Britain (Middlesex)] 'Next week' to me always means the week immeadiately after the current one - until I get to Sunday. That is, on Saturday 'next week' begins 48 hours later. On Sunday 'next week' begins to be confusing to denote the week immediately ahead; but 'this week' is even more confusing - and I speak as one who has always regarded the week as beginning on Monday. [Unspecified US (Detrich)] I believe that I ignore the beginning or ending of a week. On a Sunday "next Friday" is five days hence. It may also simply be Friday. Three days hence is simply Wednesday. On Sunday "next Sunday is definitely seven days hence." [Midwest US: central Ohio, central Ill, and Chicago area] "Next week" usually starts with Sunday, unless referring to school or work when it starts on Monday. [A number of respondants indicated that they avoid the potential pitfall by substituting other expressions. I do that, as suggested in my comment under "other expressions," below. The following provides a good example.] [US Unspecified (Makrakis)] The main ambiguity for me is when the week starts. In school, we were told it started on Sunday. Most people seem to consider it starts on Monday. [...] "Next weekend" is even worse. Spoken on a Monday, it probably means the immediately following weekend. ("This weekend" must mean "this past weekend", but perhaps it's disambiguated by tense.) But spoken on a Friday, it probably means the weekend a week from Friday. [US unspecified (Nathan)] I too have noticed the potential ambiguity of the phrase. I normally cannot use 'next week' except M-F of the preceding week to refer to the immediately following week. On Sat or Sun of the weekend immediately before a week I cannot say 'next week', but must use 'this coming week'. I can't think of any circumstances when I would refer to a week more than seven days away as 'next week'--that would have to be 'the week after next'. [US unspecified (Lee)] I say "this week" when I mean any time up to the end of this week which for me is up to the end of Sunday. Others regard Sunday as the first day of the week. -=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=- 3. Does this apply to other temporal expressions? [I have restated the question in the broader form that the responses assume.] [For another example, see the quote from Laurie Bauer above under question 1. -- BN] [So. Africa] I have the most problems with "this X" and "next X", where X is the name of a weekday. Speaking on a Tuesday, "this Thursday" means the coming Thursday in the same week, "this Tuesday" means the following Tuesday, i.e. in the next calendar week (perhaps this is normal). Still on the Tuesday, I'm often confused when Americans say "next Thursday", meaning the following Tuesday. I tend to reserve "this Tuesday" for the coming one, and "next Tuesday" for the one after that, although there is some overlap (I think "this Tuesday" can be "next Tuesday" sometimes), but Americans tend to say "next Friday" (still speaking on a Tues), which for me can ONLY be the Friday of the NEXT calendar week, NOT the Friday to follow in a few days, i.e. "this Friday". [Canada] My dialect is similar to yours. If it's Tuesday, the next week starts in five days, not 12, and so for next month and next year etc. BTW, 'next month' has the same ambiguity on the margins: if it's October 31, then 'next month' need clarification. Partly it's a matter of second-guessing your interlocutor's knowledge of the exact date!! [Michigan] Another interesting variation is in "next summer". Say a conversation takes place in January, and a friend says "We're going to Barbados next summer." Do they means four months from now, or sixteen? Move the conversation to December; move it to April. Opinion seems to vary greatly. (Even more troublesome: again, it's January. Which are well-formed, if not both: "We went to Barbados this summer." = six months ago; "We're going to Barbados this summer." = four months from now). (Of course, it seems to work for seasons and academic years, although I'm not sure it works for calendar years). [Calif?] In May I sometimes say "the coming summer", instead of "next summer" because the latter would seem in principle to be able to cover either summer and to be vague. In September, of course, the preference would shift to "next summer", and "the coming summer" would sound strange. [Great Britain (Surrey?)] In our family we have trouble with the days of the week - I didn't realize the problem carried over to larger time intervals. If on Monday 1st someone says 'next Friday', for me that it Friday 5th, and for my wife it is Friday 12th. However, 'next Tuesday' would hardly be Tuesday 2nd, that would have to be 'tomorrow', so 'next Tuesday' would be Tuesday 9th. 'Next Wednesday' would be a problem. [Unspecified US (Detrich)] The problem does not seem to present itself spacially. On the highway if the sign says "Albany Next Exit", no one bypasses the subsequent exit. [Midwest US: central Ohio, central Ill, and Chicago area] For me, the references of "next month" and "next year" can be determined by checking a calendar and finding the current month or year and then incrementing by one. However, "next Thursday" is ambiguous except on a Thursday and especially on a Wednesday. It may mean the next Thursday we get to or it may mean Thursday of next week. I usually avoid "next Thursday" in favor of "Thursday" or "this coming Thursday" and "Thursday of next week" or "a week from Thursday". A related problem seems to be the traffic signs near Herndon Va which say "Lee Highway next intersection" 50 ft from a traffic light. I can't tell from the sign and don't remember whether that means "this light that you'll be through before you comprehend this sign" or "the next light after the light you passed through as you comprehended the sign", I just remember we guessed wrong. [NB: this does not necessarily contradict the preceding comment, the confusion may have been due to the sign being too close &/or traffic too fast for adequate processing. -- BN] [Canada (Calgary?)] For me, particularly around this time of year (Nov-Feb?), "this summer" can refer to either the summer of '93 or the summer of '94. There are clearly ways of disambiguating: "I'll do it this summer" vs. "I did it this summer". Without being systematic about it, I expect that the same thing happens with the other seasons, and I know that I have had conversations where people have asked what year was involved. I think the same thing happens with days of the week: on the weekend, "this Tuesday" is ambiguous until some temporal indication arrives. [Unspecified US (Shetzer)] I believe that the analysis of the construction next week should consider constructions such as next month, next year...etc. This of course, deals with the time in relation to the day you're talking about. What makes you think they wouldn't apply to each other? [Answer: I don't assume that they apply or don't apply in someone else's speech. (I know what the relation is in my own speech.) That's why I tried to make the question unassuming. -- BN] [Unspecified US (Lee)] I have quite often had misunderstandings with people who apparently don't accept my usage when I refer to particular days. For instance I say "this Wednesday" and "next Wed" and am often misunderstood. "This wed" means this one coming and "next wed" means the one that will come next week. I often have to clarify. Apparently other people can say "next wed" when they mean the one coming in two days' time. I can't. -=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=- Other questions: [Canada (Smyth)] - 'week' is ambiguous: does one count calendar weeks, starting with Sunday, or work weeks, starting with Monday? - what day is 'today' if it's 12:22 a.m.? Is it the day we woke up to, or, more technically, the 'real' date because it's after midnight? - it seems that the closer one is to the time period under discussion, the less likely that 'next' will mean 'the one immediately following'. So if it's Saturday night, does 'next week' include tomorrow, Sunday? By the same token, if it's December 31, does 'next year' mean 1994 (i.e. New Year's Day), or 1995? [Great Britain (Middlesex)] Any takers for 'next Friday'? Said on a Monday is it a) four days ahead or b) 11 days ahead? Said on a Thursday is it a) the following day or b) 8 days ahead? And what about 'this Friday'? Said on a Monday it seems unambiguous; it is four days ahead. Said on a Saturday is it a) the previous day or b) 6 days ahead? [Unspecified US (Detrich)] You might include in the query the correlation of "last Friday" with regard to Sunday. Is it two or nine days previous? -=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=- Other languages: Though I cannot offer you some more data on English [...] I have some interesting info on Telugu[, ...] a Dravidian language spoken by 70 million people in South India. It is my mother tongue. Suppose today is Wednesday. You can say 'yester day - Monday ' as a compound to mean the monday in that week. To refer to the monday of last week you will say last-monday (literally 'below - monday'). To refer to the saturday of this week, you will say 'tomorrow - Saturday' again as a compound. For the saturday in the next week, it will be 'coming saturday' (literally 'coming Saturday'). The point is we use the equivalents of 'yesterday' and 'tomorrow' to refer to days in the current week. [T]here is a similar problem in Danish, not with weeks, months or years, but with weekdays. In my speech, 'p} n{ste torsdag' ("on next thursday") refers to the thursday after the present or coming one, i.e. if it is said on a thursday it refers to a day one week away, while on a friday it is almost two weeks away. 'p} torsdag' ("on thursday") refers to the coming thursday. In fact, I think the two expressions are coreferential on thursdays, or maybe "p} torsdag" is avoided on thursdays. For some speakers the two expressions appear to refer to the same thursday, but I have a feeling that "p} n{ste torsdag" is used only if that thursday is some time away. Anyway, it does cause some confusion at times. -=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=- Thanks to: Stavros Macrakis N. Keshav David Schneider Ron Smyth Steven Schaufele Paul T Kershaw Peri Bhaskararao Ole Ravnholt Jane A. Edwards Prof Greville G Corbett Mr Tom Barney E. Dean Detrich <22743MGR@msu.edu> Scott Kiesling Douglas C. Walker Heidi Shetzer Wayles Browne Penny Lee BPEARSON@umiami.ir.miami.edu Laurie Bauer Linda Coleman Disclaimer: I have no plans for these data. They are in the public domain and anyone may do with them as they will. My piqued curiosity is well served. Bruce Nevin bn@bbn.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-983. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-984. Tue 23 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 371 Subject: 4.984 Report on 2nd Comparative Workshop: Nostratic Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 9 Nov 93 20:10:38 EST From: Iren.Hegedus@um.cc.umich.edu Subject: Report on Comp. Workshop -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 9 Nov 93 20:10:38 EST From: Iren.Hegedus@um.cc.umich.edu Subject: Report on Comp. Workshop Report on: Second Workshop on Comparative Linguistics: The Status of Nostratic: Evidence and Evaluation Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti October 21-22, 1993 The workshop opened with welcoming remarks from Marcia Dalbey, Head of the Department of English, EMU. The discussion of the Nostratic enterprize, moderated by Joe Salmons (Univ. of Wisconsin/Purdue U.), started with "The Insider's View of Nostratic" presented by Mark Kaiser and it continued with Alexis Manaster-Ramer's presentation of "The Outsider's View of Nostratic". Mark Kaiser (Souther Illinois U.) stated that no substantive criticism of Nostratic has been put forward yet and only the principle of Nostratic has been rejected. He criticized Greenberg's mass comparison and Bomhard's 1984 binary approach [though we know that Bomhard's Nostratic is not binary any longer], he also mentioned examples where Bomhard truncated roots to make them match or where his phonological reconstruction is not correct. Classical Nostratic undergoes changes: data treatment is constantly refined, new (groups of) languages are included, others are discarded; for the time being the inclusion of further languages is a moot question in his opinion. Afroasiatic may indeed turn out to be a sister family (AA entities are to be revised). Basic principles should be maintained like: working strictly in accordance with established regular sound correspondences, borrowings should be distinguished, multilateral comparison is preferred to binary comparison in order to avoid chance correspondences. Alexis Manaster-Ramer (Wayne State U.) sounded evidently supportive of Nostratic although his was an outsider's approach to the theory. He surveyed the various attitudes toward the Nostratic hypothesis ranging from deprecative allusions (Watkins' Nostratosphere) to constructive criticism; the latter, by the way, was well demonstrated by his presentation. He cited examples where the explanatory power of the Nostratic theory becomes quite obvious (IE triune velars and vocalism, IE st, sk clusters in initial position only), proposed a feasible alternative for the reconstruction of Nostratic affricates and, last but not least, pointed out weaknesses like deglottalization of *q treated as a normal process in the neighborhood of *p' in Afroasiatic which is assumed on the basis of a handful of examples and at the same time, non-deglottalized variants are attested as well, plus there are sporadic instances of deglottalization in other environments. The case of Nostratic *sV- 'causative-desiderative' morpheme was also questioned due to the inconsistency that it is supposed to yield desiderative reflexes in IE and Altaic but causative reflexes in Dravidian and AA. Not to mention the unclear case of Dravidian voiced geminate stops that have very few cognates outside Dravidian and many examples show alternations with sonorant + stop clusters, thus the proposed Nostratic origin (stop+H) seems to be implausible. The above two papers were then discussed by Brent Vine (Princeton U.), who considers himself an interested onlooker. He raised questions like "who is competent to do Nostratics?" since it is such a vast field that it evidently has to be a collaborative enterprise. He thinks that long-rangers often use Pokorny's material uncritically ("fishing expeditions in Pokorny's") although it is considered to be dated in many respects by the modern state of Indo-European studies. The reconstruction of Nostratic is lexically based, the reconstruction of morphology has its limitations since in the case of two-segment morphemes the element of chance is high. [Let me note here, that in the reconstruction of PIE two-segment and single-segment morphemes are also established with a high degree of certainty, furthermore in the case of Nostratic there are several cases where a two-segment morpheme is reconstructed on the basis of evidence from 5 or 6 language families in accordance with regular sound correspondences and complete functional /semantic/ correspondence.] The Nostratic solution to the puzzle of IE gutturals in Vine's opinion is considered redundant since the gutturals no longer pose a problem to Indo-Europeanists. [I wonder if there are Indo Europeanists out there who are still bothered about the status of gutturals and would be pleased to see the Nostratic background if they knew that there is such. Yes, I am fishing for comments from experts who were not present at the workshop!] The afternoon session, moderated by Brian Joseph (Ohio State U.), was devoted to historical and methodological questions. Vitaly Shevoroshkin (Univ. of Michigan) gave a survey of the history and evolution of Nostratic ideas, noting that already Holger Pedersen, who coined the term and first proposed the Nostratic hypothesis, anticipated the danger of mass comparison. And indeed in the adolescent period (Trombetti, Moeller, Cuny) produced an enormous amount of mistakes. With the publications of Collinder, Menges and Poppe, however, a period of comparisons based on regular sound correspondences set in. Nostratic studies became really intensive with the research launched by Illich Svitych, Dolgopol'skij and other scholars at the Moscow Academy and it has been gaining supporters in European countries (Yugoslavia, Czech Rep., Hungary, France) and in the US too. He called attention to the rigorous nature of the work carried out by Illich-Svitych and pointed out that actually the first two volumes of his Nostratic Dictionary should be treated separately from the first fascicle of the 3rd volume, since the latter is a collective work of the Moscow linguists who decided to publish the dictionary after the author's premature death. He also remarked that - despite several attempts - the publication of the English translation of the dictionary completed by Mark Kaiser is still in a limbo. Joseph Greenberg's paper on "The Convergence of Nostratic and Eurasiatic" was read by Keith Denning. The title comprises the basic tenet that the significant changes in the views of Nostraticists in recent years as to what language families should be classified as Nostratic have reduced the difference between Nostratic and Greenberg's Eurasiatic. [N.B. this is only regarding the question of membership! I do not see much convergence otherwise.] There is still some incongruence even in respect of membership, because Greenberg still does not include Dravidian and Kartvelian. He considers AA to be a sister superstock to Nostratic. At the same time it is intriguing that Greenberg, referring to Blazek's investigations, emphasizes that Kartvelian is connected to AA by a significantly larger number of etymologies than to any other Nostratic branch. [Actually Blazek mentions 65 etyma (max. 108 including less certain comparisons) that connect Kartvelian with AA, but this is hardly more than what he gives e.g. for Kartvelian-IE (62, max. 100). Besides, Blazek also called attention to the remarkable reserves of Dravidian-AA comparisons.] In his forthcoming book Greenberg will list 63 grammatical elements as well to support his hypothesis. Mark Hale (Harvard U.) in his discussion outlined four criteria that govern a scholar whether to pursue a hypothesis or not: 1. significance to others or other topics, 2. likelihood, 3. feasibility of yielding results, 4. independence of scholar (running risks). [If a hypothesis catches on (as it is seen happening to Nostratic) in any scientific field there is more to it than just that more scholars will be positive at the end of considering the four criteria outlined above. There is a bulk of disquieting FACTS (!) that keep pushing a hypothesis toward the center of attention in professional circles.] Mark Hale's opinion supported Brent Vine's concerning the reliability of Pokorny's dictionary and also the status of the guttural problem in IE studies; his idea that it is impossible and useless to write an etymological dictionary raised the objection of the audience. The second day started with papers investigating the role of chance which is indeed a crucial point in establishing true correspondences, the moderator was Martha Ratliff (Wayne State U.). Robert Oswalt (California Indian Language Center) presented a talk on "The Probabilistic Evaluation of Similarities among Very Dissimilar Languages". For over 25 years he has been developing computer aided procedures to enable a statistical determination of greater-than-chance similarity between languages of the world. He carried out intrastock and extrastock comparisons on the basis of the 100-word list. He also examined the effect of requiring 3 consonant matches and the effect of having two alternative words in each semantic slot. His calculations suggested that the branches of Altaic are distant, furthermore, the Altaic-Uralic comparison yields no significant resemblances, at least the basic vocabulary does not reveal affinity between them. It is still surprising though that a comparison between Armenian and Hungarian yielded a relatively high index in the range of 4 out of 5 or 5 out of 5 required number of matches in the manner of articulation. Such a relatively high index is easy to explain in the case of German and Finnish by language contacts. The factor of geographical position is decisive in many cases as proximity can create affinity (IE neighboring branches show a higher degree of correlation). Don Ringe (Univ. of Pennsylvania) provoked probably the most fervent debate with his paper entitled "A Probabilistic Evaluation of Indo Uralic". His aim was to devise a test to discard chance phenomena, to find a point beyond which it is not likely that similarities between two (groups of) languages are not random phenomena. Although he opened by commenting that PIE and PU appear to be the best candidates in the Nostratic group because the probability of their relatedness is 1:47 or 1:48 which looks better than random but is still not reliable. Actually his final conclusion was that PIE-PU is only one item above the threshold but doubted that a single item could justify their relatedness. His further assumptions were that chance similarity increases with multilateral comparison and mathematically demonstrated its disastrous failure. Most of the criticism of Ringe's investigation was directed at the linguistic data that were used as input for the calculations. This is indicative of the fact that mathematical approaches to languages are highly input sensitive, and if linguists do not agree with the selection of the input data there is no way to convince them that the result of the investigation is correct. It was indeed strange that the calculations were based on the comparison of PIE and Proto-Fenno-Ugric rather than PIE and PUralic, and available cognates were missing from the basic list. William Baxter in his discussion of the session expressed his approval of mathematical methods since they increase objectivity but he added that it is better to use them for testing rather than for solving problems. On Oswald's paper he commented that it presented not the traditional way a linguist would find matches but the method is sound as far as looking for similarities in the world's languages. Concerning Ringe's paper he asserted that establishing a criterion derived from the distribution of consonants within the 100-word list may induce circularity of reasoning. To this Ringe added that circularity can be avoided since any size of word list can be used as input. Baxter then concluded that it is not a mathematical truth that multilateral comparison fails in all cases, especially if you find always 3 matches from 4 languages. Mark Hale found the construction of the initial list a problem because there is no formal way of resolving the semantic issues and added that the linguistic approach has always been more productive in finding real equations. The afternoon session concentrated on family specific connections, Anthony Aristar (Texas A&M U.) acted as moderator. Carlton Hodge surveyed "Implications of Lislakh for Nostratic". Lislakh unites Lisramic (Afroasiatic) and Indo-European but Hodge's comparisons seem to significantly differ from the concept of Nostratic. He analyzed non-conformist consonant sets in Semitic, then compared core vocabulary sets from the Afroasiatic branches and Indo European to arrive at a table of sound correspondences between AA branches and IE. His resulting system of stops is strangely uniform unlike the sophisticated set of correspondences postulated by the Nostratic hypothesis. Hodge also surveyed cases of Lislakh consonants occurring with accompanying features like aspiration and nasalization. Consonant ablaut is of special significance in Hodge's reconstructions and he finds that prothetic alif can account for the presence of both CVC(C) and CCV(C) patterns of the same root in Lislakh. Alexander Vovin (Univ. of Michigan) represented another outsider's opinion with his paper "Nostratic and Altaic: The Level of Relationship". He discussed some of the inadequacies of Nostratic from the Altaic point of view. Altaic personal pronouns do not show regular correspondence with Nostratic. The Altaic forms with initial m- (1pers.sg.) are obviously secondary, the PA form can be reconstructed as *bV(-n-) 'I'. The 2pers.sg. with initial t- is attested only in Mongolian and Proto-Mong. *t- does not correspond to Proto Manchu-Tung., PJapanese and PTurkic *s-, the initial consonant of the 2pers.sg. pronoun. The sound correspondence is also broken in the case of the direct object suffix, which can be reconstructed for PA as * ba/*-bd and thus cannot be derived from PN *-mA. Then Vovin examined PA, PU and PIE lexical correspondences [Dravidian, Kartvelian and Afroasiatic were not his concern here, though he does not discard the possibility of their affiliation with Nostratic]. He thinks that Altaic is still a stronger case for Nostratic than Dravidian or AA. He treated the lexical correspondences with a deliberate ultraconservative approach [with an eye to achieving greater reliability of results], i.e. accepted only the comparisons that had straightforward semantics and that were supported by attested forms from more than one branch of the same family. Thus he found the following distribution of convincing correspondences: PA- PU 47, PA-PIE 44, PIE-PU 47. To account for these as sheer chance resemblances is impossible, at the same time, borrowing (from PIE via PU to PA) is unlikely because then we would be faced with a phonetic development rather difficult to explain: PIE C[+voice] > PU C[-voice] > PA C[+voice] or PIE C[+stop] > PU C[-stop] > PA C[+stop]. His final conclusion was that Altaic is related both to PIE and to PU but for lack of the common personal pronouns it is better not to include it in Nostratic but to consider it a separate related family. In the discussion William Rozycki (Indiana U.) pointed out that Illich-Svitych was correct in positing PA initial *p- and *k'- and the postulation that "r" is primary and "z" is a secondary development in Altaic can also be supported, although specialists in the wake of Clauson would reject these ideas. Evidently Illich-Svitych had a thorough comparativist's approach and his Nostratic hypothesis managed to come to correct conclusions in several respects. Numerous comments were made by the above mentioned participants, Eric Hamp and the group of graduate students present at the workshop which was concluded with a panel discussion followed by a pleasant party at Helen Arsitar-Dry's house. To sum up, I would say that it is very promising that the number of interested onlookers is increasing. It is even more promising that the interested onlookers take the effort and point out fallacies of Nostratic reconstructions. And it is more than promising that interested onlookers take the courage and point out the merits of the Nostratic theory. And did we enjoy the intellectual wrestling we all were part of during those two days? For that thanks are due to the organizing committee: Helen Dry, Keith Denning, Brian Joseph, Alexis Manaster-Ramer, Martha Ratliff, Joe Salmons. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-984. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-985. Tue 23 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 110 Subject: 4.985 Qs: Malinke, Latin American, Korean, Albanian Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck 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, 23 Nov 93 07:33:54 -0500 From: Yael=Van=Everbroeck%users%LW@cc3.kuleuven.ac.be Subject: Malinke 2) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 07:09:09 -0600 (CST) From: Fran Karttunen Subject: Latin American language contact 3) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 08:51:44 -0500 (EST) From: MARC PICARD Subject: Korean tense stops 4) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 09:20:44 -0500 (EST) From: "Robert D. Rachlin" Subject: College Albanian -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 93 07:33:54 -0500 From: Yael=Van=Everbroeck%users%LW@cc3.kuleuven.ac.be Subject: Malinke As I intend to spend some time in the mid-eastern part of guinee-conakry (dabola), i would like to come across some linguistic literature, particularly on malinke or on any of the other languages there being spoken. could any of the linguist readers help me in finding references, as well as the location of those books (preferably in belgium). thanks in advance, yael anne van everbroeck regastraat 4 b-3000 leuven belgium e-mail: yael=van=everbroeck%users%lw@cc3.kuleuven.ac.be -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 07:09:09 -0600 (CST) From: Fran Karttunen Subject: Latin American language contact I would appreciate bibliographical references for the effects of Spanish and Portuguese language contact on indigenous languages in Latin America. Frances Karttunen -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 08:51:44 -0500 (EST) From: MARC PICARD Subject: Korean tense stops As many of you probably know, Korean has three series of voiceless stops: lax unaspirated (T), (tense) aspirated (Th) and tense unaspirated (T*). I have a couple of questions concerning the nature and history of the latter: (1) does anybody know anything about the evolution of these stops, i.e. what they could have developed from; (2) do they have anything in common articulatorily with ejectives, and is there any evidence (dialectal or other) that they could be evolving to D in some environments or across the board? Marc Picard picard@vax2.concordia.ca -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 09:20:44 -0500 (EST) From: "Robert D. Rachlin" Subject: College Albanian Is anyone aware of any college or university of the U.S. or Canada which offers instruction in Albanian? Rgds. ________________________________________________________________________ | Robert D. Rachlin Downs Rachlin & Martin Burlington, VT 05402-0190 | | rachlin@panix.com Compuserve: 72420,3350 MCI: 583-3818 | |................Tel: 802 863 2375 Fax: 802 863 2573..................| -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-985. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-986. Tue 23 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 138 Subject: 4.986 Qs: Hungarian, IRC, NLP, near Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck 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: 23 Nov 1993 18:27:53 +1300 From: ling003@cantva.canterbury.ac.nz Subject: Query: Hungarian 2) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 09:28:22 -0600 (UTC -06:00) From: Ken Miner Subject: IRC 3) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 93 13:43:24 GMT From: csc2u2ap@sun.leeds.ac.uk Subject: 3rd Yr Proj in NLP 4) Date: Sun, 21 Nov 93 08:59:00 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Chest -> Near Again -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: 23 Nov 1993 18:27:53 +1300 From: ling003@cantva.canterbury.ac.nz Subject: Query: Hungarian Query: Hungarian noun inflection Among Hungarian nouns with back vowel harmony, there are some which take a low 'link vowel' (/a/) and some which take a mid link vowel (/o/). Also, some nouns take /a/ as the 3 sg possessive suffix, while others take /a/. Are these choices made entirely independently or not? In principle there could be four classes of nouns, so far as these suffixal choices are concerned: Class 1: link /a/ and possessive /a/ Class 2: link /a/ and possessive /ja/ Class 3: link /o/ and possessive /a/ Class 4: link /o/ and possessive /ja/. Classes 1, 2 and 4 certainly have members, but I have the impression that Class 3 may be unstable in that its members can also show up in Class 4. Can any Hungarian expert shed light on this? A similar question could be posed about front-vowel nouns in respect of non-standard dialects which distinguish mid /e/ from low /E/ as link vowels. I believe that suffix choice interacts with stem allomorphy in certain ways. If there are clearcut patterns I'd be glad to hear about them, too. Thanks in anticipation. I'll post a summary if there are interesting replies. Andrew Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy Department of Linguistics, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand Phone +64-3-364 2211; home phone +64-3-355 5108 Fax +64-3-364 2065 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 09:28:22 -0600 (UTC -06:00) From: Ken Miner Subject: IRC Would anyone working on the pragmatics of IRC (Internet Relay Chat) communications please get in touch with me? Bibliographic items, if such exist, also welcome. Ken Miner miner@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 93 13:43:24 GMT From: csc2u2ap@sun.leeds.ac.uk Subject: 3rd Yr Proj in NLP I am a final year Computer Science student undertaking a project in natural language processing at the University of Leeds. My aim is to construct frequency models of two- and three-letter combinations in different languages using corpus material, so that the models could be used to identify which language a piece of unknown text is in. I am hoping to extend the project so that the model could be used to disambiguate between a set of alternative letters in a word, obtained from an OCR or handwriting recognition unit. Please mail me if you know of any work in this area (useful texts, references, or manufacturers of OCR/Handwriting recognition devices) using linguistic models to improve recognition performance. If you have any suggestions as to the usefulness of this project, please be in touch. Thanks, Gavin Churcher. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Sun, 21 Nov 93 08:59:00 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Chest -> Near Again John Limber has brought to my attention an 1885 publication by Brinton of an even earlier ms. by Humboldt which says: In Maya TAN means in, toward, among; but it is also the breast or front of the body... I was wondering if any Mayanists out there could confirm or deny, or emend this. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-986. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-987. Tue 23 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 110 Subject: 4.987 Graduate Research Traineeships: Cognitive Science at Arizona Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 93 13:21:58 MST From: Terry Langendoen Subject: Graduate Research Traineeships: Cognitive Science at Arizona -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 93 13:21:58 MST From: Terry Langendoen Subject: Graduate Research Traineeships: Cognitive Science at Arizona THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA COGNITIVE SCIENCE PROGRAM ANNOUNCES A COMPETITION FOR GRADUATE TRAINEESHIPS IN LANGUAGE AND COGNITION DESCRIPTION. The Cognitive Science Program at The University of Arizona has received an award from the National Science Foundation for the support of five graduate trainees, beginning in August 1994. Each trainee will receive a grounding in formal, computational, and experimental approaches to language study, and will systematically bring that training to bear on research problems that connect language to other major classes of cognitive study such as human inference, object recognition processes, spatial orientation and navigation, brain and behavior relations and the development of cognitive systems. Each trainee will be admitted as a Ph.D. student in one of three departments that participate in the Cognitive Science Program: Linguistics, Philosophy and Psychology. Each trainee's program will include a core curriculum of specific course work in formal and computational models of language structure and in language processing, as well as courses and seminars in areas suited to the particular disciplinary major and research interest of the trainee. ELIGIBILITY. Applicants should have received a Bachelor's degree in an area that would prepare them for graduate study in cognitive science by August 1994. Only U.S. citizens or permanent residents are eligible for traineeship appointments. We especially encourage application by minority and handicapped students. STIPEND. Each award carries a stipend of $14,000 for each year of study, plus tuition and fees, up to five years, assuming continuation of the grant by NSF. Funds will also be provided for the trainees' travel to conferences and workshops. APPLICATION FOR STUDY. Persons interested in applying to the University of Arizona Cognitive Science traineeship program for fall 1994 should contact the Graduate Admissions Officer of one of the participating departments at The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (see below for remainder of addresses, telephone and fax numbers and e-mail addresses), and mention interest in the traineeship program. The deadline for completed applications for all three departments is FEBRUARY 1, 1994. Dept of Linguistics, Douglass 200E; phone: (602) 621-6897; fax: 621-9424; e-mail: emery@ccit.arizona.edu Dept of Philosophy, Social Sciences 213; phone: (602) 621-3120; fax: 621-9559; e-mail: owen@ccit.arizona.edu Dept of Psychology, Psychology 312; phone: (602) 621-7447; fax: 621-9306; e-mail: kforster@ccit.arizona.edu For more information about the traineeship program, you may contact: Merrill Garrett, Director, Cognitive Science Program, Psychology 312, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721; phone: (602) 621-2177; e-mail: garrett@ccit.arizona.edu. PARTICIPATING FACULTY: Diana Archangeli (PhD MIT), Assoc Prof, Linguistics: Phonology Andrew Barss (PhD MIT), Asst Prof, Linguistics: Syntax, semantics Paul Bloom (PhD MIT), Asst Prof, Psychology: Cognitive and linguistic development Kenneth Forster (PhD U Illinois), Prof, Psychology: Language comprehension; word recognition Merrill Garrett (PhD U Illinois), Prof, Psychology: Language production, speech perception Alvin Goldman (PhD Princeton U), Prof, Philosophy: Epistemology Kerry Green (PhD Northeastern U), Asst Prof, Psychology: Speech perception Michael Hammond (PhD UCLA), Assoc Prof, Linguistics: Phonology, morphology, psychophonology Robert M. Harnish (PhD MIT), Prof, Philosophy: Pragmatics, philosophy of language D. Terence Langendoen (PhD MIT), Prof, Linguistics: Syntax, computational linguistics Lynn Nadel (PhD McGill U), Prof, Psychology: Behavioral neuroscience, memory systems Janet Nicol (PhD MIT), Asst Prof, Psychology and Linguistics: Language comprehension, aphasia Richard T. Oehrle (PhD MIT), Assoc Prof, Linguistics: Semantics, syntax Mary Peterson (PhD Columbia U), Assoc Prof, Psychology: Visual perception John Pollock (PhD UC Berkeley), Prof, Philosophy: Reasoning, artificial intelligence Susan Steele (PhD UC San Diego), Prof, Linguistics: Syntax, morphology Cyma Van Petten (PhD UC San Diego), Asst Prof, Psychology: Cognitive neuropsychology Karen Wynn (PhD MIT), Asst Prof, Psychology: Cognitive development -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-987. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-988. Tue 23 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 145 Subject: 4.988 Conf: International Congress Of Phonetic Sciences Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 93 09:52:23 +0100 From: Bjorn Granstrom Subject: ICPhs 95 -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 93 09:52:23 +0100 From: Bjorn Granstrom Subject: ICPhs 95 XIIIth INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF PHONETIC SCIENCES (ICPhS 95) Stockholm, Sweden, August 13-19, 1995 FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT - please respond (see end of mail) - please post/distribute Dear Colleagues, It is our pleasure to invite you to the XIIIth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, ICPhS 95. It will be held in Stockholm, Sweden, August 13-19, 1995.The congress is a joint venture of our two departments, but with organisational and scientific support from the entire Swedish phonetics community. As usual, the congress will invite contributions from all aspects of the phonetic sciences in thebroadest sense. With four years between congresses in this series, we look forward to intense discussion and exchange of new results in phonetics. We believe that Stockholm, in August 1995, will be a good setting for this. The weather in Stockholm in August is often very comfortable, with long daylight and daily high temperatures around 20: C. The Stockholm Water Festival will most likely take place immediately preceding ICPhS 95. We are also pleased to report that the recent economic changes have made prices of accommodation and food in Sweden very reasonable for most visitors. Our two departments, the Swedish phonetics community and the Congrex congress bureau will do our best to make your stay both enjoyable and scientifically rewarding. Welcome to Stockholm in 1995! Bjorn Granstrom Olle Engstrand President Secretary General Speech Communication Linguistics and Music Acoustics Stockholm University KTH VENUE The congress will take place on the campus of Stockholm University, conveniently located near an underground station, a few stops from the city centre. SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME The format of the congress will follow the pattern of earlier ICPhS meetings with a mixed format of plenary and semi-plenary lectures, topical workshops and symposia, poster sessions and parallel oral sessions. We invite participants to suggest topics forsuch events (see reply slip). SOCIAL PROGRAMME A reception at the Stockholm City Hall and a congress banquet will be included in the programme. Wednesday, August 16, will be a free day, with the possibility of visiting the many attractions of Stockholm and its vicinity. Post-congress tours will be offered through the congress bureau, Congrex. EXHIBITIONS Technical exhibitions and book exhibitions will be arranged as part of the congress PUBLICATION The proceedings will be available at the time of the congress. ACCOMMODATION A wide range of accommodation alternatives will be offered, from first class hotels to on-campus student accommodation and youth hostels. LANGUAGE The official language of the congress will be English. PRELIMINARY DATES AND DEADLINES September 1994 Call for participation/abstracts November 1994 Deadline for submission of abstracts January 1995 Notification of acceptance. Preregistration deadline for lower fees April 1995 Deadline for full paper May 1995 Distribution of congress programme August 13-19 1995 Congress CONGRESS SECRETARIAT ICPhS 95, c/o Congrex P.O. Box 5619 S-114 86 Stockholm Sweden Phone: +46-8-612 69 00, Fax: +46-8-612 62 92, Email: congrex@ask.se SCIENTIFIC SECRETARIAT ICPhS 95, Department of Linguistics Stockholm University S-106 91 Stockholm Sweden* Phone: +46-8-16 23 47, Fax: +46-8-15 53 89, Email: icphs95@speech.kth.se --------------- REPLY SLIP (mail NOW to: congrex@ask.se ICPhS 95 Stockholm, Sweden August 13-19, 1995 * I would like to receive further information about ICPhS 95 * I preliminarily intend to submit a paper on the following topic: ............................................................................... .............................................................. ... * I would like to suggest the following topic(s) for a workshop/special session (all ideas are welcome, including suggestions on session organisers or invited participants): ................................................... ................................................... ................................................... ................................................... Name: ................................................... Affiliation: ................................................... Address: ................................................... ................................................... Country: ................................................... Phone: ................................................... Fax: ................................................... Email: ................................................... Please mail, fax or email this information to ICPhS 95, Congrex, as soon as possible to guarantee that we reach you with further information about the congress. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-988. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-989. Tue 23 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 104 Subject: 4.989 Qs: Typing errors, Chinese, Children's speech Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck 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, 23 Nov 1993 12:01:15 -0500 (EST) From: J_LIMBER@UNHH.UNH.EDU (JOHN LIMBER) Subject: Typing Errors 2) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 14:17:04 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Covington Subject: Chinese linguist needed 3) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 14:12:07 -0800 (PST) From: Ashley Marie Williams Subject: Children's speech & gender -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 12:01:15 -0500 (EST) From: J_LIMBER@UNHH.UNH.EDU (JOHN LIMBER) Subject: Typing Errors Questions of E-mail as "speech" and "writing errors" again raises a topic I have been working on for a while--errors in creative (non-copying) typing. Many of my examples come from E-mail messages--others from my own and students' writing. In brief, these are a species of error MUCH less like normal speech errors and much more like speech in so-called agrammatic aphasia. These errors include loss of inflections and function words, substituting more common for less common forms, and a general reduction in length. Obviously these are not independent of one another. Just like in the speech error data, there are some serious production/collection bias problems here. Just like the agrammatical cases, it is not easy to distinguish substitution from omission in many cases. Do these data inform us at all about the writing process? They certainly don't do anything for theories of agrammatism based on loss of linguistic structure! Below are summary tables of these data. Any comments and new examples would be appreciated. John Limber, Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham NH USA Table 1 Examples of typing errors (Substitutions and/or omissions) ______________________________________________________________________________ Error type Example ______________________________________________________________________________ contraction I* like a copy. modifier I unexpected* spent a day.. nominal This can be seen by first look* at the F-values verbal the ownership of the red hat is not know*. omit they all [*have] the familiar "graceful degradation" properties. substitution ..there will be a file in your direction*.[directory] reduplication ..that you are writing this as a guide to* to your presentation -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 14:17:04 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Covington Subject: Chinese linguist needed I am in need of a brief consultation with one or more linguists who know Mandarin Chinese, with regard to some evaluation I need to do (whose details I cannot post publicly). I'd like to hear from anyone who can give me some very brief assistance by email. The most relevant area of linguistics is syntax, but detailed knowledge of any particular linguistic theory is not needed. Thanks. -- < Michael A. Covington, Assc Rsch Scientist, Artificial Intelligence Programs > < The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30606-7415 USA mcovingt@ai.uga.edu > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 14:12:07 -0800 (PST) From: Ashley Marie Williams Subject: Children's speech & gender I'm interested in finding information on children's speech, with a particular focus on gender. Specifically, what work been done on investigating how a child's gender could possibly affect his/her usage of language and the structure of his/her conversations. I'm looking for anything - books, articles, empirical or theoretical, and cross-linguistic - to give me a better idea of what's out there so that I can focus my thoughts on this issue. Thanks, Ashley Williams awilliam@reed.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-989. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-990. Wed 24 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 194 Subject: 4.990 Conf: 9th Comparative Germanic Syntax Workshop Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 93 11:13:24 -0500 From: epstein@husc.harvard.edu Subject: CGSW9 -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 93 11:13:24 -0500 From: epstein@husc.harvard.edu Subject: CGSW9 > > 9TH COMPARATIVE GERMANIC SYNTAX WORKSHOP > > > > Department of Linguistics > > Harvard University > > January 5-6, 1994 > > > > > > PRELIMINARY PROGRAM > > > > Tuesday January 4: > > > > 7:00pm-10.00pm Pre-registration and informal reception. > > Department of Linguistics, Grays Hall Basement. > > > > > Wednesday January 5: > > > > 8:30-9:30 Registration, Sever Hall, First Floor. > > 9:30-9:40 Welcome address. > > 9:40-10:20 Paul Kiparsky, Stanford University: > > "The Shift to Head-Initial VP in English and > > Scandinavian." > > > > 10:20-10:40 - COFFEE BREAK - > > > > 10:40-11:20 Cynthia Allen, Australian National University: > > "A Change in Structural Case Marking in Early Middle > > English." > > 11:20-12:00 Th'orhallur Eyth'orsson, Cornell University: > > "Functional Categories, Cliticization, and Verb > > Movement in the Early Germanic Languages." > > > > 12:00-2:00 - LUNCH BREAK - > > > > 2:00-2:40 Ian Roberts, University of Wales: > > "Cliticisation and Word Order in the History of English > > (and French)." > > 2:40-3:20 Christer Platzack, University of Lund: > > "Small pro, Weak AGR and Syntactic Differences in > > Scandinavian." > > > > 3:20-3:40 - COFFEE BREAK - > > > > 3:40-4:20 Gereon Mueller, University of Tuebingen: > > "A Constraint on Remnant Movement." > > 4:20-5:00 Liliane Haegeman, University of Geneva: > > "Object Clitics in West Flemish and the Identification > > of A/A' Positions." > > > > > > Thursday January 6: > > > > 9:00-9:40 Anna Cardinaletti, University of Venice & Michal > > Starke, University of Geneva: > > "The Typology of Pronouns." > > 9:40-10:20 Anders Holmberg & Goerel Sandstroem, University of > > Umeaa: > > "Adjective Incorporation and the Syntax of the > > Scandinavian Noun Phrase." > > > > 10:20-10:40 - COFFEE BREAK - > > > > 10:40-11:20 Marcel den Dikken, Free University of Amsterdam & > > C. Jan-Wouter Zwart, University of Groningen: > > "Very Exceptional Case-Marking." > > 11:20-12:00 Johan Rooryck, University of Leiden: > > "Prepositions, Functional Projections and Minimalist > > Case-Assignment." > > > > 12:00-2:00 - LUNCH BREAK - > > > > 2:00-2:40 Karen Lattewitz, University of Groningen: > > "A Minimalist View on Verb Raising." > > 2:40-3:20 C. Jan-Wouter Zwart, University of Groningen: > > "N-Feature Checking in Germanic Verb Second > > Configurations." > > > > 3:20-3:40 - COFFEE BREAK - > > > > 3:40-4:20 Gertjan Postma, University of Leiden: > > "The Interaction Between Argument Structure and Perfect > > Tense." > > 4:20-5:00 Tor A. Aafarli, University of Trondheim: > > "A Promotion Analysis of Restrictive Relative Clauses." > > 5:00-5:40 Molly Diesing, Cornell University: > > "Semantic Variables and Object Shift." > > 5:40-6.00 Meeting of Organizers and Speakers. > > > > 8:00pm-11:30pm - PARTY - Location: TBA > > >====================================================================== > > CGSW9 > > Information and Pre-Registration Form > > > > The 9th Workshop on Comparative Germanic Syntax will be held at > > Harvard University on January 5-6. (This is just prior to the > > annual meeting of the Linguistics Society of America which will > > take place in Boston this year.) The organizing committee can be > > reached by telephone (617-495-4006) or by e-mail > > (epstein@husc.harvard.edu). > > > > Hotel Accomodations: > > The Hyatt Regency Cambridge (tel. (617) 492-1234) > has reserved a certain number of rooms > at special rates of $70 per night, single or double occupancy, > for those attending CGSW9. These rates obtain > > Tuesday, January 4th through Sunday, January 9th (check-out time > > 12 noon). When making your reservation, be sure to mention the > > special rates and provide the Group Name (The Linguistic Society) > > and the Function Name (Germanic Syntax Workshop). Reservations > > must be made by December 15, 1993. > > "---------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > Pre-Registration Form > > > > Pre-registration Deadline: December 15, 1993. > > All those who register in advance will be sent a registration > > packet with the final program and paper abstracts. The > > conference fee includes a registration packet, entrance to all > > sessions, refreshments, and admission to the CGSW9 party. > > > > Name: > > ________________________________________________________________ > > > > Address: > > ______________________________________________________________ > > > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > > > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > > > > Telephone: __________________ E-mail:____________________ > > > > Registration fees: > > > Student _______ $15 (on-site $20) > Non-student _______ $25 (on-site $30) > > > Make checks payable in U.S. dollars to Department of Linguistics, > > Harvard. > > > > Please return to: > CGSW9 > > Department of Linguistics > > Grays Hall > > Harvard University > > Cambridge, MA 02138 > > > > > > > -- 9th Workshop on Comparative Germanic Syntax Phone: (617) 495-4006 (Hoski) Department of Linguistics, Grays Hall Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 e-mail: epstein@husc.harvard.edu --- Best Hoski Thrainsson -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-990. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-991. Wed 24 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 133 Subject: 4.991 Qs: One-verb objects, Book, IRC pragmatics, Age-area hypothesis Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck 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, 23 Nov 93 23:17:08 CET From: Guido Milanese Subject: Lexical Functions 2) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 93 21:30:56 CST From: george@utafll.uta.edu (George Huttar) Subject: phonology book sought 3) Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1993 09:49:51 +0000 (GMT) From: J.Wright@mcs.surrey.ac.uk Subject: Pragmatics in Internet communication 4) Date: 24 Nov 1993 12:02:11 GMT From: "A.T.C.Fox" Subject: Age-area hypothesis -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 93 23:17:08 CET From: Guido Milanese Subject: Lexical Functions subject: One-verb objects Some weeks ago, Nathalie Ferrero posted a note concerning one-verb objects. Many members of the list posted contributions giving examples, but apparently Ferrero's 2nd question ("do any rules govern these usages?") has received no real answer. This subject has been deeply studied by I.A. Mel'c^uk (sorry for this funny spelling, but I can't reproduce the real spelling) in some works in Russian. He calls this particular structures "lexical functions". If one can't read Russian: (1) see "Lexical Functions in Lexicographic Description", in _Proceedings of the 8th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistic Society_, Berkely 1982, pp. 427-44; (2) there is an Italian translation of some works of this linguist, with an excellent introduction to his works: see Maria Cristina Gatti, _Dalla semantica alla lessicologia. Introduzione al modello senso <-> testo di I.A. Mel'c^uk_, Brescia, La Scuola Ed., 1992, pp. 210, with extensive bibliography of both primary and secundary sources. (3) I know that Professor Mel'c^uk (born 1n 1932) lives now in Canada (Montreal). ================================================================= Guido Milanese Universita' Cattolica Internet: mc1194@mclink.it Ist. di Filologia Classica smail: Largo Gemelli 1 +39.2.72342-750 Fax -740 I-20123 Milano MI -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 93 21:30:56 CST From: george@utafll.uta.edu (George Huttar) Subject: phonology book sought Anybody got a copy of Robert King's 1969 book, _Historical Linguistics & Generative Grammar_ for sale? Thanks. George Huttar george@utafll.uta.edu huttar@sil.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1993 09:49:51 +0000 (GMT) From: J.Wright@mcs.surrey.ac.uk Subject: Pragmatics in Internet communication Just a general query... I noticed that somebody requested information/references on work relating to pragmatics in IRC (Internet Relay Chat). For general interest, has much work been undertaken on discourse analysis or pragmatics in relation to one-to-one or conf. communication over the Internet? It strikes me that such communication, unable to rely on the usual visual feedback, proxemic information and so on, would be an interesting topic of study. There would be many places to obtain suitable data, i.e. simply by logging the on-line session to a MUD, MOO or IRC service. A typical one would be the LambdaMOO at Xerox Parc (telnet lambda.parc.xerox.com 8888). ============================================================================= JOHN WRIGHT | | Tel (day-time): Artificial Intelligence Group (Room 13AA20) | +44 483 300800 ext 3161 Department of Mathematical and Computing Sciences | University of Surrey | Tel (evening): GUILDFORD GU2 5XH | +44 483 893337 United Kingdom | ---------------------------------------------------+------------------------- 4) Date: 24 Nov 1993 12:02:11 GMT From: "A.T.C.Fox" Subject: Age-area hypothesis Could anyone provide me with references on the 'age-area hypothesis' which uses patterns of language distribution in determining language relationships? Explanations in the standard manuals of historical linguistics are confused and confusing. Please reply to me at: lnp6atcf@lucs-mac.novell.leeds.ac.uk Thanks, Tony Fox -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-991. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-992. Wed 24 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 156 Subject: 4.992 Qs: ESL/EFL, Algonquian inverse, Japanese adj., Dialect drift Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck 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, 24 Nov 93 17:51:52 MET From: Mireia Trenchs Subject: Language Teaching and learning "language + literature" 2) Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1993 05:53:57 +1030 From: mcconvell_p@uncl04.ntu.edu.au Subject: Query:Algonquian inverse 3) Date: Wed, 24 Nov 93 19:32:47 GMT From: Andrew Simpson Subject: Japanese adjectives 4) Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1993 13:57:09 -0800 From: farrar@cogsci.UCSD.EDU (Scott Farrar) Subject: References on Dialect Drift -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 24 Nov 93 17:51:52 MET From: Mireia Trenchs Subject: Language Teaching and learning "language + literature" I am interested in getting in touch with linguists and educators who are doing research in the area of using literature as a means of promoting language learning and communicative competence. I am basically interested in research dealing with non-native speakers of a language who are using "authentic" literature in their classes. I would be interested in hearing from both the ESL and the EFL perspective. I would also be interested in getting in contact with educators, especially at college level, who are teaching "language/literature" courses with this approach. Although the language of my interest is English, I would love to hear from people who work in this field, even if they are working with other foreign languages. Mireia Trenchs Facultat d'Humanitats Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, Spain. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1993 05:53:57 +1030 From: mcconvell_p@uncl04.ntu.edu.au Subject: Query:Algonquian inverse I am working on a group of Australian Aboriginal languages which has something like inverse marking in the morphology. It looks especially like Algonquian because 2nd person appears to be top of the hierarchy. I have been trying to get hold of a comparison of inverse marking in Algonquian /Algonquian-Ritwan. I have a few grammars but the ones I have do not show much variation; I have also obtained some historical- comparative material, which deals with reconstruction including brief mention of reconstructability of an inverse marker but not much mention of range of functions of inverse, different hierarchies etc. in different languages. One correspondent put me on to a nice article by Bernard Comrie which compares inverse marking in Siberian languages which compares the languages as to how the inverse system works in each. I am looking for something comparable for Alngonquian. I am not an American Indian specialistand as you can imagine this material is very hard to obtain in Australia, so going through all the grammars (including the rare old stuff) is not practical for me. Can anyone help? Ideas on analysis of inverse systems also gratefully received. Patrick McConvell Anthropology PO Box 40146 Casuarina NT 0811 Australia (Northern Territory University, Darwin) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Wed, 24 Nov 93 19:32:47 GMT From: Andrew Simpson Subject: Japanese adjectives If anyone is aware of an analysis of adjectives in Japanese in a recent framework, preferrably Chomskyan, could you please send me any references you have - theses/articles etc. I am particularly interested in a treatment of adjectives which compares them with verbs and discusses the issue of tense/the head of the clause/sentence. Many thanks in advance for any help, Andrew Simpson -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1993 13:57:09 -0800 From: farrar@cogsci.UCSD.EDU (Scott Farrar) Subject: References on Dialect Drift Greetings, This message is a request for references on dialect drift. In particular, I am looking for references which investigate or discuss the reasons or mechanisms behind dialect drift -- especially the role social connectedness plays in influencing the rate or kinds of drift that occur in a speaking community (phonological, morphological, etc). (Thomason and Kaufman, 1989) discuss a theory of how language contact can be one one source of pressure for language change; I am looking for studies and theories of how language change might result from pressures internal to the language community. I've discovered a couple of references that touch on the topic, listed below. If you know of any others that address this topic, or touch on it in an important way, I'd appreciate it if you could send me the reference. If I receive many references, I'll post them back on this mailing list for everyone. Thank You for your help, Scott Farrar UCSD Cognitive Science ............................................................................. References (so far...) Bailey, C. "The patterning of language variation." Varieties of Present-Day English. Bailey and Robinson eds. Macmillan. 1973. Labov, W. "Language change as a form of communication." Human Communication: Theoretical Explanations. Silverstein ed. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 1974. Labov, W. "Social Origins of Sound Change." Dialect and Language Variation. Allen, et. al. eds. Academic Press. 1986. Thomason, S., Kaufman, T. Language Contact, Creolization, and Genetic Linguistics. University of California Press. 1989. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-992. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-993. Wed 24 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 122 Subject: 4.993 Varia: Ferdinand Feghoot, Ritual insults, Cake Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 93 11:13:11 CST From: "Geoffrey S. Nathan" Subject: In memoriam Ferdinand Feghoot 2) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 93 13:06:15 MET From: Mireia Trenchs Subject: Ritual insults 3) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 93 11:12:07 CST From: "Geoffrey S. Nathan" Subject: WZ Cake -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 93 11:13:11 CST From: "Geoffrey S. Nathan" Subject: In memoriam Ferdinand Feghoot In Memoriam Ferdinand Feghoot Many thanks to those who wrote to tell me the name of the long stories with plays on words as a punchline. Fewer thanks to those who deluged me with punchlines. Fewest to those who got the punchlines WRONG|| ;-) Quite a few people came up with the name 'feghoot', which was best explained as follows: Galaxy magazine ran them every so often, attributing them to "Grendel Briarton" which is an anagram of the author's real name (which, unfortunately, escapes me). They ran upwards of 1/2 page in the Galaxy layout, and were titled (from memory) "Through Time and Space With Ferdinand Feghoot." (Guy Haas). There were several references to Isaac Asimov as well, and to his Science Fiction magazine. Many disagreed with me, and said that the punchlines were not so bad. Which reminds me of what may actually BE the original Shaggy Dog story. Someone was looking for the shaggiest dog in the world. He travelled the whole world over. He journeyed to the Himalayas ..hours of story omitted..! On being shown the dog, he said, 'That's not so shaggy.' Thanks to : Ron Smyth , David Stampe, Debbie Berkley, Larry Horn, jewett+@pitt.edu, Karen Schaffer, Randy Tillery, Ian MacKay , Lynne Hewitt, David Solnit, Julia E. Schult, Aaron Broadwell, Guy K. Haas, George Gale, Michael Kac, Stephen P Spackman, Bruce Nevin, Erica Grevemeyer, Henry Churchyard, David Powers, Patricia Donegan (with apologies to those whom I may have forgotten) Geoffrey S. Nathan GA3662@SIUCVMB.SIU.EDU Department of Linguistics Southern Illinois University Carbondale, IL, 62901 USA Phone: (618) 453-3421 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 93 13:06:15 MET From: Mireia Trenchs Subject: Ritual insults Therese Tones just mentioned how in Brazilian Portuguese there is a spread use of insults referring to other's mother. This also happens in, at least, two other Romance languages: Spanish and Catalan (spoken in Catalunya --Mediterranean coast of Spain, off-coast Balearic islands, and South of France--). The insult might also refer to the other's father: Example in Catalan: A: "Ets un imbecil!" (You are an idiot!) B: "L'imbecil ho sera ton pare!" (The one who is an idiot is your father) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 93 11:12:07 CST From: "Geoffrey S. Nathan" Subject: WZ Cake Months ago I asked the list about the Polish cake called WZ /vuze't/. Several people wrote to speculate, and two provided what appears to be the correct answer. When a new road connecting east and west Warsaw was built, it was called Wschod-Zachod (`East-West'). It became a trendy street, with trendy restaurants. One of the restaurants invented a cake, and named it after the road. Sometimes it acquires a diminutive (WUZETKA). One of my corresondents thoughtfully provided a diagram, herewith appended: (blob of whipped cream) (chocolate sauce) (chocolate cake) (whipped cream and jam) (chocolate cake) ________plate__________ With thanks to Alexis Manaster Ramer, Bob Hvitfeldt, Brian F. White, John E. Koontz, Jonathan Z. Ludwig. Geoffrey S. Nathan GA3662@SIUCVMB.SIU.EDU Department of Linguistics Southern Illinois University Carbondale, IL, 62901 USA Phone: (618) 453-3421 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-993. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-994. Wed 24 Nov 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 165 Subject: 4.994 Varia: Linguistics as psychology, Canadian raising, Implicature Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sun, 21 Nov 93 10:59 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Re: 4.967 Linguistics as psychology 2) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 93 22:49:42 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: "Canadian" Raising 3) Date: Sat, 13 Nov 93 12:59:03 EST From: rstainto@ccs.carleton.ca (Rob Stainton) Subject: Literal Meaning and Implicatures -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sun, 21 Nov 93 10:59 PST From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Re: 4.967 Linguistics as psychology re Koenig's comments on the aphasic patient. It is not true that all linguistic theories and or processing models distinguish between syntactic and semantic aspects of the grammar. See for example some recent papers on connectionist theories of processing which specifically deny such a distinction in comprehension. And it is interesting that it is not necessary to know the meaning of 'kick' nor of the agent/patient, in order to determine who did what to whom when the syntax makes this clear. However, it is true that this patient studied by Saffran and Breedin does not provide evidence for or against a particular theory which does make this distinction in the syntactic assignment of thematic roles. re the original question which started this whole discussion -- is linguistics a subbranch of pyschology? Does it really matter? If we wish to lump all areas of inquiry concerning the nature of the mind and cognition as subbranches of psych then fine. But it seems to me that what is more important are the questions one is interested in and how one views linguistic acquisition and representation and processing. The processing aspects or linguistic knowledge in use (i.e. production and comprehension) must involve psychological mechanisms. The question which divides many in the field is what those mechanisms access. Some of us believe that underlying all linguistic processing (or performance) there is a real mental grammar and a major area of linguistic research is to determine the nature of this grammar, what the universal constraints are which to some of us are genetically determined, and the extent to which there is an interaction in production and comprehension between the grammar and other aspects of cognition including non-linguistic conceptual knowledge, and general mechanisms which may not be specifically linguistic. Vicki Fromkin -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 93 22:49:42 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: "Canadian" Raising David Wigtil is mistaken, I think, in the same way that a whole generation of phonologists (incl. Chomsky and Postal) were about the so-called Canadian Raising phenomenon being the same thing as the slight lengthening of vowels before voiced obstruents esp. in monosyllables (or shortening before voiceless ones, I guess). Canadian Raising involves, depending on dialect, only /ai/ or both /ai/ and /au/ and typically produces lexical (or if you prefer the term, phonemic) contrasts, whereas the lengthening (shortening) rule applies to all vowels and produces no contrasts. Using @ to represent a vowel higher than [a], there are speakers who have a contrast between the noun and verb 'hide', one being /haid/, the other /h@id/, for example. I believe this occurs in many speakers from Chicago, and perhaps nowhere else. Now, as far as I can tell, the /@i/ in /h@id/ is longer than the /@i/ in /h@it/ 'height', the same way that the /ae/ in 'fat' is shorter than the /ae/ in 'fad'. Likewise, there are speakers who contrast the verb and adverb 'like', using /ai/ in one and /@i/ in the other, and again, the /ai/ in /laik/ will be short, like the /ae/ in 'lack' as opposed to in 'lag'. (I cannot at the moment recollect which is which in these minimal pairs. That's why I have phrased things the way I have above. Sorry.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Sat, 13 Nov 93 12:59:03 EST From: rstainto@ccs.carleton.ca (Rob Stainton) Subject: Literal Meaning and Implicatures John Lawler's note about "God, I love people of who signal" reminded me of two other interesting examples of "non-literal" speech. I. First Example Many people -- myself included -- are tempted by the idea that "non-literal meanings" are properties of *utterances*, not of expressions. (Let's call this "Donald Davidson's view", for lack of a better name.) So, for example, on "Donald Davidson's view" the *sentence* (1) has only a single reading. (A reading on which it is evidently false). (1) Jim is a bulldozer But speakers can use (1) to communicate something which is true. However, goes this line of thought, what speakers communicate is no part of the meaning of the *sentence*. Here, however, is an example which is at least puzzling given such a view. (2) Is anyone seated here? Given "Donald Davidson's view", it might seem necessary to claim that (2) has only a single meaning (whose answer is inevitably "no", because it's *obvious* that no one is currently occupying the seat). But, the story would go, (2) can be used by speakers to ask a perfectly reasonable question, namely: (3) Can I sit here? The difficulty is that the *standard use* of (2) (in so far as there is such a thing) is to ask (3). Hence the claim that (3) is not part of the meaning of (2) is not immediately plausible. I find this example interesting because of the issue it raises with respect to conventions of usage and conventions of meaning. There certainly seems to be some sort of convention governing the use of (2) to ask (3). But does this convention contribute to the *literal meaning* of (2)? Ah, there's the rub! II. Example Two The standard line on conversational implicatures seems to be that a speaker must at least appear to be violating a maxim in order for a conversational implicature to kick in. (Whether this was Grice's view is another question...) But consider the following case. I was talking with one of my undergraduates, saying that I really enjoyed playing bridge. He replied: (4) My grandparents play bridge His saying this gave rise to certain implicatures. (E.g. "Only old people play bridge".) But, at first glance, he didn't even *appear* to violate any maxims. After all, telling me that his grandparents play bridge is a perfectly cooperative step in a conversation about bridge. How, then, does the implicature arise? (I suspect it has something to do with *degrees of relevance*. Cf. Sperber and Wilson) Anyway, neat examples to chew on this rainy Saturday afternoon. Best, Rob Stainton -- Robert Stainton -- Philosophy -- Carleton University rstainto@ccs.carleton.ca -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-994. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-995. Sun 28 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 111 Subject: 4.995 Qs: Language prejudice, Before Babel, Russian _li_, Harris Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck 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, 25 Nov 1993 00:25:10 -0700 (MST) From: stephen ryberg Subject: experiences w/language prejudice 2) Date: Thu, 25 Nov 93 11:12 BST From: SENAJ@taff.cf.ac.uk Subject: Before Babel 3) Date: Fri, 26 Nov 93 13:32:46 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Query: Analyses of Russian li 'Q' 4) Date: Fri, 26 Nov 93 13:36:30 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Q: Zelig Harris on free word order -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1993 00:25:10 -0700 (MST) From: stephen ryberg Subject: experiences w/language prejudice For an ongoing project of mine, I'm collecting the stories of multilingual/ multidialectal people who have at one time or another experienced negative social behavior as a direct result of using one of their languages/dialects. The most typical examples so far have involved rudeness or poor service in restaurants, shops, or over the telephone, while others have described situations where use of a particular language/dialect is widely looked down upon or even prohibited by law. I'm particularly interested in presenting the voices of those who have had such experiences themselves, but stories about friends/relatives are also welcome. If you have such a story to relate, I'd appreciate it if you'd forward it to me. Please send them to me directly at the address below. Thanks very much. Stephen Ryberg rybergs@gas.uug.arizona.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Thu, 25 Nov 93 11:12 BST From: SENAJ@taff.cf.ac.uk Subject: Before Babel I have been asked to post the following message by a colleage who is not a subscriber to LINGUIST. Please direct all the replies to her. Adam Jaworski Desperately seeking video: proposed secreening to students of Horizon (1992) programme BEFORE BABEL is threatened by a series of mishaps resulting in unavailability of video (on proto-language and universals) Anyone willing to lend a copy for a few days will be rewarded with a chocaholic's dream and/or a free lunch in Bloomsbury. Please reply post haste to Desperate Penelope Gardner-Chloros Department of Applied Linguistics Birkbeck College 43 Gordon Square London WC1H OPD or put me out of my misery by phone (071-631-6115). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Fri, 26 Nov 93 13:32:46 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Query: Analyses of Russian li 'Q' Does anybody know any analyses, either transformational or structuralist of the Russian _li_, the yes/no question marker which appears infixed in the clause, or indeed of any similar pattern in another language? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Fri, 26 Nov 93 13:36:30 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Q: Zelig Harris on free word order Does anybody know of any work by Harris dating to before 1956 in which he describes or remarks on free word order? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-995. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-996. Sun 28 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 88 Subject: 4.996 Qs: Chomsky, Voice/action nominals, Coordination, Biographies Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck 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, 26 Nov 93 13:37:24 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Q: Reviews of Syntactic Structures and Aspects 2) Date: Fri, 26 Nov 93 13:38:44 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Q: Pretransformational analyses of voice and nominalizations 3) Date: Fri, 26 Nov 93 15:00:00 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Q: Treatments of Unbounded Branching in Coordination 4) Date: Fri, 26 Nov 93 15:00:46 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Q: Biographies of Famous Linguists and Philosophers -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 26 Nov 93 13:37:24 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Q: Reviews of Syntactic Structures and Aspects Does anybody know if there is a more or less complete list of published reviews of Chomsky's Syntactic Structures and Aspects anywhere? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Fri, 26 Nov 93 13:38:44 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Q: Pretransformational analyses of voice and nominalizations Does anybody have any references for pretransformational (pre-56) analyses of voice or action nominalizations? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Fri, 26 Nov 93 15:00:00 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Q: Treatments of Unbounded Branching in Coordination I am looking for references to (a) Any work of Zelling Harris before 1956 which deals with coordinate structures with an unbounded number of conjuncts. (B) The history of transformational analyses of coordination. In particular, it seems to me that the rules in Syntactic Structures only will produce binary coordinate structures, even though Chomsky argued that coordination requires unbounded branching. (C) The history of transformational analyses of free word order. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Fri, 26 Nov 93 15:00:46 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Q: Biographies of Famous Linguists and Philosophers I am looking for references to any works that detail the lives of Bloomfield, Sapir, Bloch, and Harris, as well as biographic material on Chomsky, Victor Yngve, and G. Harman. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-996. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-997. Sun 28 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 110 Subject: 4.997 Qs: Ambiguity, Crossclassification, Aboriginal, Japanese Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck 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, 26 Nov 93 15:08:10 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Q: The shooting of the hunters 2) Date: Fri, 26 Nov 93 15:10:00 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Q: Aristotle on Cross-classification 3) Date: Fri, 26 Nov 93 16:14:30 -0500 From: raha@watarts.uwaterloo.ca (Randy Allen Harris) Subject: Query: aboriginal/caucasian miscommunication 4) Date: Sun, 28 Nov 93 10:53:43 JST From: James Magnuson Subject: Japanese word/phoneme frequency -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 26 Nov 93 15:08:10 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Q: The shooting of the hunters When Chomsky first called attention to the ambiguity of phrases like _the shooting of the hunters_, he analyzed them as being derived (in two different ways) from actives. But the objective reading could also be derived from the passive (_The hunters are being shot_). Is there any literature on this? Also, does anybody know good references to pretransformational literature on this ambiguity? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Fri, 26 Nov 93 15:10:00 EST From: Alexis_Manaster_Ramer@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu Subject: Q: Aristotle on Cross-classification Is there anybody out there who is knowledgeable about Aristotle's theory of categories? My reading of the same is that he explicitly denied the possibility of crossclassification of categories of any kind. If so,, this would be of great interest to linguists, I think, who seem to have been the first people to explicitly talk about the need for recognizing crossclassification. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Fri, 26 Nov 93 16:14:30 -0500 From: raha@watarts.uwaterloo.ca (Randy Allen Harris) Subject: Query: aboriginal/caucasian miscommunication For a course I am teaching, I would be very grateful for references to crossed communication between aboriginals (including, especially, Native Americans) and Caucasians (including, especially, North American English speakers). I would also appreciate any work relating to aboriginals and literacy. If there is sufficient response, I will post a summary. Many thanks. -------======= * =======------- Randy Allen Harris raha@watarts.uwaterloo.ca Rhetoric and Professional Writing, Department of English, University of Waterloo, Waterloo ON N2L 3G1, CANADA; 519 885-1211, x5362; FAX: 519 884-8995 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Sun, 28 Nov 93 10:53:43 JST From: James Magnuson Subject: Japanese word/phoneme frequency Hello -- Can anyone recommend a source for Japanese word and/or phoneme frequency data? Or to 'romaji' or phonemically-transcribed Japanese texts? Thanks, Jim Magnuson ATR Human Information Processing Labs Kyoto magnuson@hip.atr.co.jp -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-997. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-998. Sun 28 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 117 Subject: 4.998 Jobs: English language, English/Linguistics/Applied Linguistics Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 93 12:49:34 GMT From: E S Atwell Subject: Lectureship in English Language at Leeds 2) Date: Sun, 28 Nov 93 13:06:57 IST From: RHLE702@UVM.HAIFA.AC.IL Subject: English/Linguistics/Applied Linguistics -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 93 12:49:34 GMT From: E S Atwell Subject: Lectureship in English Language at Leeds Please forward the following job advert to anyone likely to be interested (in particular, please pass on hardcopy to your local English Dept for non-email-readers!). NOTE that detailed enquiries about the School of English should be made to Tony Cowie or Jonathan Hope (j.r.hope@leeds.ac.uk); but as the Personnel Office is just upstairs from my office, overseas readers can email me their NAME AND FULL POSTAL ADDRESS and I will pass this upstairs so they can send you Further Particulars by SwiftAir. Regards, Eric &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Eric Steven Atwell National Coordinator, Higher Education Funding Councils' KBS Initiative Director, Centre for Computer Analysis of Language And Speech (CCALAS) Artificial Intelligence Division, School of Computer Studies phone: +44 532 335761 Leeds University FAX: +44 532 335468 Leeds LS2 9JT Email: eric@scs.leeds.ac.uk England &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& ****************************************************************************** THE UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS SCHOOL OF ENGLISH LECTURER IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE Applications are invited for the above post available from 1 February 1994 for a fixed period of three years. Applicants should have a higher degree in English Language or Linguistics, and teaching and research interests in one or more of the following: Discourse Analysis, Language Acquistion, the Phonology of English, International Englishes. Informal enquiries may be made to Mr A P Cowie, tel: 0532 334740. Previous applicants do not need to re-apply. Salary will be on the scale for Lecturer Grade A (#13,601 - #18,855) according to qualifications and relevant experience. Application forms and further particulars may be obtained from the Personnel Office (Academic Section), The University, Leeds LS2 9JT, England, tel 0532 335771 quoting reference number 3/58. Closing date for applications: 10 December 1993. The University of Leeds promotes an equal opportunities policy. **************************************************************************** Leeds University has over 17,500 students and 2,000 academic and research staff, making it one of the largest in Britain. Leeds is half-way between London and Edinburgh, linked by rail, motorway and air to the rest of the UK and Europe. It is the 20th largest city in the European Community, with the excellent arts, sport and other social facilites expected of a growing, multi-cultural metropolis; but it is also close to four National Parks. More background information on the School of English, the University, and Leeds and its environs can be found in the Further Particulars from the Personnel Office. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Sun, 28 Nov 93 13:06:57 IST From: RHLE702@UVM.HAIFA.AC.IL Subject: English/Linguistics/Applied Linguistics PLEASE POST Lectureship in English/Linguistics/Applied Linguistics Tenure track position, beginning October 1994, 8 - hour teaching load per week, primarily in Semantics, or Sociolinguistics, with ability to teach in one or more of the following, in addition to courses in your field: Applied Linguistics, Multilingualism, History of English. Applicants should have a Ph.D. in English, Linguistics, or Applied Linguistics and a research record. Experience in teaching at the university level is desirable. Rank: depending on applicant's credentials. Applicants should submit a CV, 3 letters of recommendation and copies of 3 recent publications, or diss. chapter to: Dr. Sarah Gilead Department of English Language and Literature University of Haifa Haifa 31905 ISRAEL FAX 972-4-240128 (Att. Dr. Sarah Gilead) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-998. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-999. Sun 28 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 149 Subject: 4.999 FYI: Tamil software, CELEX Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1993 13:04:24 -0700 (PDT) From: Vasu Renganathan Subject: Experimental NLP Software for Tamil 2) Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1993 19:58 +0100 (MET) From: Richard Piepenbrock Subject: CELEX lexical CD-ROM -- updated information -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1993 13:04:24 -0700 (PDT) From: Vasu Renganathan Subject: Experimental NLP Software for Tamil Content-Length: 2948 Experimental NLP Software for Tamil I would like to announce that there is an experimental NLP software package for Tamil available in the following ftp cite. Cite name: wuarchive.wustl.edu Sub directory: /doc/misc/tamil/pulavan All the executable stand-alone programs are kept in the file pulavan.zip and the source codes, written in Turbo Prolog, are kept in the file pulavans.zip. These source codes can be easily linked with functions written in C. I have already tested and linked some of them with functions written in Turbo C. A readme file and an install file are also available with these two files. Features of this system: ------------------------ 1) A morphological processor for Tamil: An automatic morpheme recognizer is used to recognize most of the Tamil morphems and their other inflectional forms. This component converts every Tamil word into an intermediate list structure, provided with suitable codes for affixes and the root form of the words. (files: adtoken.pro, adgener.pro and adppvpio.pro) 2) A context-free top-down parser processes the list structure created by the morphological component and identifies the constituents viz. words, phrase, npmax, and sentence. (file: adparse.pro) 3) Special list manipulation predicates have been written using the principles of set-theory and GB theory. Predicates like subset_sent(sentence,sentence), subset_npm(npmax,npmax), member_npm(npmax,sentence), member_wor(words,phrase) etc., are written to process Tamil sentences using the list manipulation power of PROLOG. (file: adlists.pro) 4) An experimental Tamil script generator in graphics mode (file: adtamio.pro) 5) A script conversion program from Roman form to Tamil script and vice versa. (file: adtamio.pro) The knowledge base of this system has been tested in the following applications: ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1) A sample English to Tamil translation system (seattle.exe). 2) Tamil verb conjugation system (inflex.exe). 3) A sample Natural Language Interface system (talktaml.exe). System requirments: ------------------ a) IBM compatible PC, preferably 386 based system b) A High resolution graphics adapter monitor, preferably SVGA monitor Please send your comments and suggestions to vasu@u.washington.edu. I will appreciate, if other NLP researchers who work for Tamil and other Dravidian languages could contact me by email. Thanks in advance. Vasu Renganathan Do-21, Gowen hall, Department of Asian Languages and Literature, University of Washington, Seattle WA 98195. email: vasu@u.washington.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1993 19:58 +0100 (MET) From: Richard Piepenbrock Subject: CELEX lexical CD-ROM -- updated information Detailed information concerning the English, German and Dutch lexical databases on the CELEX CD-ROM can now be obtained by anonymous ftp from the Linguistic Data Consortium as follows: connect to: ftp.cis.upenn.edu go to directory: pub/ldc set transfer mode: binary get file: celex.readme (information about the CELEX CD) celex.intro.ps.Z (linguistic introduction) celex.userguide.tar.Z (the complete User Guide) The readme file is uncompressed and in ASCII-format. The other two, which correspond to sections of the hardcopy CELEX User Guide written by Gavin Burnage and which are subject to CELEX copyright, can be decompressed and output to a postscript-capable printer. The content of this document should provide answers to most questions regarding the content and use of CELEX. Persons outside of Europe who are interested in CELEX, but are unable to retrieve and print the introductory text themselves, may request a hard copy of the document from the LDC. Persons in Europe who want a hard copy of the document mailed to them, and anyone who still has technical questions after reading the document, should direct their inquiries to: Richard Piepenbrock CELEX Project Manager Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics Wundtlaan 1 6525 XD NIJMEGEN The Netherlands Tel: (+31) (0)80 - 615797 Fax: (+31) (0)80 - 521213 EARN/BITNET: celex@hnympi51 Internet: celex@mpi.nl SURFNET: celex::celexmail JANET: celex%hnympi51@uk.ac.earn-relay Apart from making the introductory text freely available, the LDC is not equipped to provide detailed replies as to technical details of the CELEX CD-ROM. Please contact the LDC only if you need assistance in obtaining the document, or would like to purchase the disc. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-999. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-4-1000. Sun 28 Nov 1993. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 131 Subject: 4.1000 Optimality Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editor: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1993 13:59:34 -0500 (EST) From: Takaaki Hashimoto Subject: Q: Lexical representations in Optimality Theory -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1993 13:59:34 -0500 (EST) From: Takaaki Hashimoto Subject: Q: Lexical representations in Optimality Theory A question on lexical representations in Optimality Theory I am posting a query on behalf of my colleagues. We would very much appreciate it if anyone could provide us with a suggestion for the solution of the problem presented below. Please respond directly to me, and I will summarize and post the responses. 1. Problem In Spanish, a word stress falls onto one of the last three syllables in a word, and never onto any pre-antepenultimate syllable. Onto which of the last three syllables the stress falls is not predictable, while the penultimate stress is the most common option. For the purpose of discussion, we will focus on the difference between words with the penultimate stress and those with the antepenultimate stress in the following discussion. 2. Question Under Optimality Theory, how can we formally represent the lexically conditioned stress position, while deriving the prohibition against the pre-antepenultimate stress in some way? 3. Proposals and problems There are several ways to represent the lexically conditioned stress, while none of them appears to be problem-free. Some of them are discussed below. Account 1: Solution ... The rank ordering of the relevant constraints in Spanish is: RHT/T >> Align (Ft, R, PrWd, R) >> NonFinality For words with an antepenultimate stress, the head foot of the prosodic word and the syllables dominated by the head foot are given in the lexical entry, with the head syllable of the head foot in the antepenultimate position. Containment and Consistency of Exponence ensure that the lexical head foot and its syllables will be represented in all the candidates generated from the input. Or: For words with an antepenultimate stress, the last syllable is directly attached to the prosodic word in the lexical entry. Containment and Consistency of Exponence ensure that the final syllable will not be a part of the head foot in all the candidates generated from the input. Align-R ensures that the optimal candidate has the antepenultimate stress. Problem ... There is no explanation for the absence of the pre- antepenultimate head syllable of the head foot nor for the absence of the penultimate syllable directly associated with the prosodic word in the lexical representation. If the head foot of the prosodic word and its syllables can be given in the lexical entry, nothing bars the head syllable of the head foot from being assigned to a pre-antepenultimate position in the lexical representation. If a given syllable can be directly attached to a prosodic word in the lexical entry, nothing bars the penultimate syllable from being attached to the prosodic word. If the penultimate syllable is attached to the prosodic word in the lexical entry, then the optimal candidate will have a pre- antepenultimate stress, due to RHT/T and Align-R. Account 2: Solution ... The rank ordering of constraints can be different for different classes of words. The rank ordering of the relevant constraints for the unmarked penultimate words in Spanish is: RHT/T >> Align (Ft, R, PrWd, R) >> NonFinality The rank ordering of the relevant constraints for the marked antepenultimate words in Spanish is: RHT/T >> NonFinality >> Align (Ft, R, PrWd, R) The words with the antepenultimate stress have a lexical marking on the rank ordering of relevant constraints in the lexical entry. Problem ... If the rank ordering of constraints can be different for different classes of words within a language, there can be indefinitely many classes of words, each of which differs from another in the rank ordering of constraints. The order can possibly be different for each word. If it is necessary to evoke lexical marking of some kind to explain the distribution of word stress, then how can we constrain the arbitrariness of lexical marking and derive the prohibition against the pre-antepenultimate stress? Should we propose constraints on the lexical entries, i.e. constraints by which possible input forms (rather than the candidates generated from the input) are evaluated? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-4-1000.