________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-701. Thu 16 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 153 Subject: 5.701 Qs: Levin dissertation, Parallel texts, Mozambique, Spanish Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 16 Jun 94 11:26:53 +0200 From: "M. Voeltz" Subject: query on diss by J. Levin (1985) 2) Date: Wed, 15 Jun 94 20:25:01 PDT From: barlow@crl.ucsd.edu (Michael Barlow) Subject: Parallel texts 3) Date: Thu, 16 Jun 94 13:26:51 BST From: Li.Wei@newcastle.ac.uk Subject: Re: 5.696 Sum: Language in S. Africa 4) Date: Thu, 16 Jun 94 10:44:16 CST From: chris@udlapvms.pue.udlap.mx (Christopher Hall) Subject: processing Spanish pronouns -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 16 Jun 94 11:26:53 +0200 From: "M. Voeltz" Subject: query on diss by J. Levin (1985) Dear linguists on the list! I'm looking for help in finding the following dissertation: Levin, Juliette. 1985. A Metrical Theory of Syllabicity. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Ph.D. Dissertation. I know that this dissertation is available on microfiche (e.g. at the University of Frankfurt/Germany), but for obvious reasons I'd prefer the 'paper version'. I'd be grateful for any kind of help! ********** Michael Voeltz *********** *Institut fuer Anglistik und Amerikanistik* *Philipps-Universitaet Marburg * *Wilhelm-Roepke-Str. 6D * *35032 Marburg * *Germany * *Tel.: 06421/285578 * *Email: voeltz@mailer.uni-marburg.de * ******************************************* -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Wed, 15 Jun 94 20:25:01 PDT From: barlow@crl.ucsd.edu (Michael Barlow) Subject: Parallel texts I have just about finished a HyperCard stack (ParaConc) that is essentially a concordance program designed to work on parallel texts in two languages. You can search for all occurrences of a particular morpheme, word or phrase in the first text. The program will then display in a KWIC concordance format an enumerated list of the instances of the keyword or phrase in one window. The sentences or clauses that contain the equivalent terms in the second language are displayed in an enumerated list in a second window. I will make the program available in the near future, probably from an ftp site at Rice University. However, before doing that I would like to collect some parallel texts that can also be uploaded to the ftp site (after I have manually aligned them) so that there are some starter corpora available for those who are interested in trying out the program. If you have some parallel texts (small ones are fine) that could be generally distributed, please send me email. Also send me mail if you would like to receive info on ParaConc. I will post an announcement about the finished program and corpora when they are available. Michael Barlow barlow@ruf.rice.edu barlow@crl.ucsd.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Thu, 16 Jun 94 13:26:51 BST From: Li.Wei@newcastle.ac.uk Subject: Re: 5.696 Sum: Language in S. Africa Sociolinguistics/Multilingualism in Mozambique I'd be grateful if anyone could send me references on sociolinguistic studies of the multilingual situation in Mozambique, or names of researchers working on related topics. Li Wei Departmenet of Speech, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK Fax: +44 91 261 1182 E-mail: li.wei@newcastle.ac.uk -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Thu, 16 Jun 94 10:44:16 CST From: chris@udlapvms.pue.udlap.mx (Christopher Hall) Subject: processing Spanish pronouns I am posting this query on behalf of a graduate student of mine, Hyong-Ju Kim, who is planning to do doctoral work on the distinction between the neutral Spanish pronouns 'lo', 'eso/s' and pronouns marking gender, as in the following contrast: A: Tu crees que se podra hacer transplantes de corazon en Mexico? B: Si, creo que _lo_/_los_ podemos hacer Kim is exploring the hypothesis that the neutral pronoun (in this example 'lo') is used when the speaker is working with a discourse (non-lc) representation of the antecedent, and the appropriate gender-marked form (here 'los') is used when the linguistic representation is still active. He is interested in any references on this phenomenon from a descriptive perspective and anything on pronoun selection/resolution in the processing literature (both comprehension and production). He is particularly interested to know if anyone is working on this or a related question, especially if they have explored the issue experimentally. Thanks, Chris Hall. !=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=! !=!=!=!=! Dr. Christopher J. Hall !=!=!=! Professor of Linguistics !=!=! !=! Departamento de Lenguas ! Universidad de las Americas, Puebla A.P. 100, Sta. Catarina Martir 72820 Puebla ! Mexico !=! Tel: +52 (22) 29 20 53 !=!=! Tel: +52 (22) 29 26 23 !=!=!=! Fax: +52 (22) 29 20 96 !=!=!=!=! !=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=!=! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-701. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-702. Thu 16 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 129 Subject: 5.702 Qs: Sample size, Source of 'iff', Get-passive, Quadral number Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 94 10:10:45 CST From: jeffrey@mail.ncku.edu.tw Subject: Sample size in research 2) Date: Wed, 15 Jun 94 14:39:10 From: fintel@MIT.EDU (Kai von Fintel) Subject: Source of 'iff' 3) Date: Thu, 16 Jun 94 15:37:42 CST From: GT3555@SIUCVMB.SIU.EDU Subject: Historical development of "get-passive" in English 4) Date: Thu, 16 Jun 1994 19:14:58 +0000 From: "G.Corbett" Subject: Query: Quadral number -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 94 10:10:45 CST From: jeffrey@mail.ncku.edu.tw Subject: Sample size in research I have a question about sample size in a research project. I'm doing some research on phonology and foreign language acquitision in children with my foreign-language class. The problem I'm facing is that my class is very small, only seven students. Is this sample size too small to get reliable or valid results? Thanks in advance. Dennie Hoopingarner -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Wed, 15 Jun 94 14:39:10 From: fintel@MIT.EDU (Kai von Fintel) Subject: Source of 'iff' Can anyone enlighten me about the origin of the abbreviation 'iff' for 'if and only if'? Who invented it where and when? Please reply by email. I will post a summary if desired. ================================= Kai von Fintel (fintel@mit.edu) Dept. of Linguistics & Philosophy MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Thu, 16 Jun 94 15:37:42 CST From: GT3555@SIUCVMB.SIU.EDU Subject: Historical development of "get-passive" in English I am interested in the historical development of English get-passives. How did it come into the grammar of English? Was it a borrowed structure? How did it's semantics change over time? If anyone know any literature on this topic, please let me know. (GT3555 at SIUCVMB) Also, how L1 learners of English and L2 learners of English acquire get-pass ives in comparison to the usual passive, be +-V-ed structure? Is there any diff erence between two structures as to the acquisition rate and sequence? Thanks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Thu, 16 Jun 1994 19:14:58 +0000 From: "G.Corbett" Subject: Query: Quadral number Does anyone know of properly documented instances of languages with quadral number (in addition to a plural) ? Languages with a dual (for two referents) and a trial (for three referents) are well known. There appears to be a small number of languages with a quadral (for four referents). The most promising I have found is Sursurunga; Marshallese is another possible (see references below). In both the quadral forms have unusual properties. There are various references in the literature to other languages with a quadral. Sometimes this is simply a misnomer for plural (that is, the language is claimed to have singular, dual trial and quadral, but it turns out that the the "quadral" is used for four or more, and hence is just a plural). Sometimes the mention of a quadral in a language is carried from writer to writer without any forms being given. So, are there more languages with possible quadrals? And can anyone throw any more light on Sursurunga and Marshallese ? Please reply to me; if there are so many additional languages that I would need a quadral to describe them I will post a summary to the list. References Bender, Byron W. 1969. Spoken Marshallese: an Intensive Language Course with Grammatical Notes and Glossary. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii. Hutchisson, Don. 1986. Sursurunga pronouns and the special uses of quadral number. In: Ursula Wiesemann (ed.) Pronominal Systems (Continuum 5), 217-55. Tuebingen: Narr. Greville G. Corbett Department of Linguistic and International Studies University of Surrey Guildford Surrey, GU2 5XH Great Britain email: g.corbett@surrey.ac.uk FAX: +44 483 302605 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-702. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-703. Fri 17 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 179 Subject: 5.703 Jobs: Matsuyama Univ, Endangered langs, Max Planck Institute Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 10:47:48 +0900 (JST) From: Subject: Position 2) Date: Fri, 10 Jun 1994 17:58:00 -0500 (CDT) From: George Huttar 709 2400 Subject: funds for fieldwork on endangered languages 3) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 14:30:38 +0100 From: Antje Meyer -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 10:47:48 +0900 (JST) From: Subject: Position Please post the following announcement. ================================================ Position Available Matsuyama University College of Business Administration June 11, 1994 Matsuyama University invites applications for a position in the College of Business Administration. Potential applicants should review the details of the appointment listed below. 1. Starting date of employment: April 1, 1995 2. Position: Lecturer (Koushi), Assistant Professor (Jokyouju), or Full professor (Kyouju) 3. Number of openings: 1 4. Specialization: Applied linguistics (ESL/EFL) 5. Teaching responsibilities: English 6. Qualifications: (1) An M.A. and at least 1 year's experience teaching at the university level or (2) An M.A. and at least 1 year in a Ph.D. program Note: Native speakers of English will need to have a working knowledge of Japanese in order to carry out the normal duties of a faculty member. 7. Documents required for submission: (1) Resume (2) Copy of diploma showing highest degree held (3) Transcripts from the last school attended (4) List of publications and academic achievements (Note: The number of publications, presentations, and the like is a very important factor in the selection process.) (5) Publications (copies of published books, papers and M.A./Ph.D. thesis) (6) Letter of recommendation (from M.A./Ph.D. chair or supervisor) (7) Health certificate 8. Deadline for application and submission of documents: September 30,1994 (Materials must ARRIVE by this date.) 9. Application address: ATTN: Eigo Kyoin Obo Shorui (this line in red, please) Professor Mitsunori Harada, Dean, College of Business Administration Matsuyama University 4-2 Bunkyo-cho Matsuyama, Ehime 790 JAPAN Telephone: (voice) (0899) 25-7111 (fax) (0899) 23-8920 10. Notification of selection results: The selection process is tentatively scheduled to be completed within a month and a half following the submission deadline and notification of applicants will follow this. 11. Salary and personal research budget: As set by the Rules and Regulations of Matsuyama University. (Salary commensurate with age and experience.) Note: Please include instructions if you need any of the submitted materials (e.g., thesis) to be returned. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Fri, 10 Jun 1994 17:58:00 -0500 (CDT) From: George Huttar 709 2400 Subject: funds for fieldwork on endangered languages Re: endangered languages Further information on the grants offered by the Summer Institute of Linguistics for the study of endangered languages, recently reported by Dan Everett (LINGUIST 5-677): Currently funds are available for up to four more grants of up to $1,000 each. Grants are intended to supplement funds from the student's institution (e.g., when the latter funds are not sufficient to cover special expenses entailed by fieldwork, such as international travel). "Endangered language" remains undefined, but criteria we consider include number of known speakers (using a fairly low population threshold), current trends in language use, and quantity and quality of already available research. Applications should be made by the student's supervising professor. Inquiries should be addressed, not to the contact person reasonably hypothesized by Everett, but to: Academic Affairs SIL 7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd. Dallas, TX 75236 USA phone: 1-214-709-2400 fax: 1-214-709-3380 email: florence gerdel@sil.org George Huttar (huttar@sil.org) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 14:30:38 +0100 From: Antje Meyer The Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics is offering a predoctoral scholarship in the field of language production. The PhD research project should concern the interface of phonological encoding and articulation. Therefore, a strong background in articulatory phonetics and/or experimental psycholinguistics would be desirable. Women are especially encouraged to apply. Contact: Dr. Antje Meyer Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics Postbus 310 NL-6500 AH Nijmegen The Netherlands electronic mail: asmeyer@mpi.nl fax: 31-80-521-213 Deadline for receipt of application: July 8, 1994 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-703. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-704. Mon 20 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 154 Subject: 5.704 Qs: Null-prep, Lang acquisition, Proto-I.E., Sino-Turkic vowels Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 94 08:16:44 EDT From: Robert Hamilton Subject: Null-prep and pied-piping 2) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 15:34:22 +0100 (BST) From: Dr M Sebba Subject: Informal language acquisition 3) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 10:15:11 -0400 (EDT) From: "Gregory Jordan (ENG)" Subject: Proto-Indo-European 4) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 09:52:28 +0100 From: wcli@vax.ox.ac.uk Subject: Sino-Turkic Vowels -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 94 08:16:44 EDT From: Robert Hamilton Subject: Null-prep and pied-piping I am conducting research on the acquisition (L2) of stranding and nonstranding strategies, and have several questions about the following languages: Arabic Malay Cantonese Mandarin Finnish Portugese Flemish Russian Italian Spanish Japanese Turkish My query is this: does the language allow any/all of the following phenomena: 1. preposition pied-piping in questions/relative clauses ENGLISH EXAMPLE: the woman to whom I sent the package the bus on which I did the homework 2. null-prepositions in questions or relative clauses (more likely in relative clauses--most languages do not allow this for Qs [E. Klein, 1993]): ENGLISH EXAMPLE (UNGRAMMATICAL): the bus that the girl waited this morning [where "for" is omitted] the bus that I did the homework [where "on" is omitted] An example of grammatical null-prep in modern Greek: To grafio pu doulevi (s'afto) ine mikro The office that he-works (in-it) it-is small [where "s'afto" is optional] 3. For CANTONESE, FLEMISH, and MANDARIN I need to know whether resumptive pronouns/nouns are possible: ENGLISH EXAMPLE (UNGRAMMATICAL): the woman that I sent the package to her the bus that I did my homework on it 4. For CANTONESE, FLEMISH, FINNISH, and TURKISH I also need to know whether preposition stranding is possible: ENGLISH EXAMPLE: the woman that I sent the package to the bus that I did my homework on Please send responses directly to me (if the above Bitnet address doesn't work, try hamiltn@univscvm.csd.scarolina.edu I'll post a summary to the list. I really appreciate your help! Robert Hamilton University of South Carolina -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 15:34:22 +0100 (BST) From: Dr M Sebba Subject: Informal language acquisition I would be grateful for any references on informal second language acquisition, by which I mean learning of a second language in circumstances where explicit language teaching is not involved; also, possibly, where literacy in either language is not involved. I will post a summary to the list if the response warrants it. Mark Sebba Department of Linguistics Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YT, England -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 10:15:11 -0400 (EDT) From: "Gregory Jordan (ENG)" Subject: Proto-Indo-European This isn't exactly a technical question, but I'm looking for a translation a comparative linguist made of "Little Red Riding Hood" into Proto-Indo-European. He/she did it to demonstrate the state of the reconstruction of PIE. I can't find it in any index, but I assume it is in a book or journal article. Could anyone help me? THANKS -Greg Jordan jordan@chuma.cas.usf.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 09:52:28 +0100 From: wcli@vax.ox.ac.uk Subject: Sino-Turkic Vowels I wonder if anyone might be able to point me to some references on the vowels of Turkic languages spoken in what is now Chinese Turkestan and the Central Asian Republics. My problem is, I have inventories of vowels for many of the languages, but the sources I have don't tell me how the vowels of one language correspond to the vowels of another, or how they each correspond to the proto-Turkic/proto-Altaic vowels. It would be very helpful if there is some kind of table that shows these relationships, or articles on the development of the vowel systems of these languages, preferably written in English (or Chinese). I am also interested in similar information on the Mongolian or Tungus-Manchurian branches of the Altaic languages, and would be very grateful for pointers. Wen-Chao Li Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-704. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-705. Mon 20 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 224 Subject: 5.705 Confs: Workshop Announcement -`THE FUTURE OF THE DICTIONARY' Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 11:21:10 --100 From: Ted.Briscoe@xerox.fr (Ted Briscoe) Subject: Workshop Announcement -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 11:21:10 --100 From: Ted.Briscoe@xerox.fr (Ted Briscoe) Subject: Workshop Announcement `THE FUTURE OF THE DICTIONARY' A workshop co-sponsored by Rank Xerox European Research Centre (Grenoble) and ESPRIT BR Project Acquilex-II. 17-19 October 1994 Grand Hotel Uriage-les-Bains Nr. Grenoble, France CALL FOR PAPERS, SOFTWARE/PRODUCT DEMONSTRATIONS AND PARTICIPATION With the widespread introduction of computational techniques in traditional lexicography and the growing development in lexical tools for computational applications, the "dictionary" is becoming an increasingly heterogeneous notion. The object of this conference is to try to discern some pattern in the various visions of the dictionary of the future that are beginning to emerge. How will the conventional dictionary be changed through the use of computerized textual corpora, lexical databases, and other new compiling tools? How will it respond to new forms of publication that technology makes available: CD-ROM, handheld devices (e.g. PDAs), vastly expanded electronic networking infrastructure (the information `superhighway'), and so forth, which make possible new ways of displaying, distributing, and updating lexical information? At the same time, we want to know how the notion of the dictionary will change once it is thought of, not primarily as a reference tool in which users can look up meanings or other kinds of lexical information, but as a tool to aid in systems developed for machine-aided translation, information retrieval, software "localization," spelling and grammar checkers, and so on. At present, the use of machine-readable versions of conventional printed dictionaries in the development of these systems seems to imply that many people think of them as extensions or emendations of the conventional dictionary, but it is fair to ask whether over the course of time these lexical tools may develop in ways that make them wholly different from the human user-oriented works that have shaped the concept of the dictionary. At the limit, we may ask whether "the dictionary" has any future at all as a coherent category, or whether we will wind up with an array of distinct tools and texts that have little more than the name "dictionary" in common. To address these questions, this workshop aims to bring together lexicographers, linguists and computing professionals from both industry and academia, including people working in (computational) lexicography, (computational) linguistics and artificial intelligence, as well as in the commercial production of conventional and `electronic' dictionaries, and of machine-aided translation and other software systems containing a natural language processing component. We are asking participants to provide not simply a report of current research and development or market conditions that may bear on dictionaries or lexical tools, but an articulated vision of how continuing developments will shape the future of these tools, and what steps we must take to realize these visions. We ask participants, too, to speak to the question of what relations there will be among the various "dictionaries" that are likely to emerge, as well as between practictioners in the various fields -- lexicography, linguistics, computer science, and so forth -- who will be engaged in making them. The workshop will attempt to provide participants with an up-to-date survey of the both research and commercial activity uniting lexicography and dictionary-making with linguistic software development and research through six (1 hour) presentations, and via papers and software demonstrations selected from those proposed by prospective participants. ********* Preliminary Programme and Schedule: Monday (17 Oct) 9.00 Opening (5min) + Geoff Nunberg (Research Scientist, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center) Title: The Past and Future of the Dictionary 10.15 -11.15 Outside papers Coffee break 11.30 Paul Procter (Senior Lexicographer CUP) Title: The Cambridge Language Survey 12.15 Lunch break 14.00 -- 14.30 Outside Paper 14.30 Session: Representing Information about Words Bran Boguraev (Manager NLP Lab, Apple Computers) Title: Lexical Semantics via Knowledge Representation Ted Briscoe (Advanced Research Fellow, University of Cambridge) Title: From Lexical Database to Lexical Knowledge Base 16.15 Tea Break 16.45 -- 18.15 3 Outside Papers 18.15 -- 19.30 Software Demonstrations 20.30 Dinner Tuesday (18 Oct) 9.00 -11.00 4 Outside papers Coffee break 11.30 Jean Veronis (Universite de Provence) Title: From dictionaries to knowledge bases... and back. 12.15 Lunch break 14.00 -- 14.30 Outside Paper 14.30 Session: Multilingual Aspects of Lexical Database Development Annie Zaenen (Area Manager MLTT, Rank Xerox Research Centre) Title: The Compass Project [Speaker to be confirmed] 16.15 Tea Break 16.30 -- 18.30 4 Outside Papers 18.30 -- 19.30 Software Demonstrations 20.30 Dinner Wednesday (19th Oct) 9.00 -- 12.30 Acquilex-II Project Review Presentations (all welcome) 14.00 -- 16.00 Acquilex-II Project Formal Review (Closed Session) 14.00 -- 16.00 Round Table / Open Discussion (Organiser, Annie Zaenen): `Future of Collaboration on Dictionary Development' 16.00 -- 17.30 Site Visit and Software Demonstration (RXRC, Grenoble Laboratory) End of workshop *********************** IF YOU WISH TO PARTICIPATE, PLEASE SEND US A FEW LINES OUTLINING YOUR EXPERIENCE, OR SEND US A 1000-2000 WORD ABSTRACT FOR A TALK, OR SEND US A SIMILAR LENGTH DESCRIPTION OF A SOFTWARE / PRODUCT DEMONSTRATION YOU WOULD LIKE TO OFFER. DEADLINE 19th AUGUST 1994. (Please indicate the resources you would require for presentations.) CONTRIBUTORS SHOULD BE PREPARED TO WRITE AN ABSTRACT OF APPROXIMATELY 1000 WORDS IF THEIR PAPER IS ACCEPTED AND TO PRODUCE A WRITTEN VERSION OF THEIR PAPERS AFTER THE WORKSHOP FOR SUBSEQUENT PUBLICATION IN AN EDITED VOLUME. ENGLISH WILL BE THE LANGUAGE OF THE WORKSHOP. ********************** There is no registration fee. All participants will receive a book of abstracts. The cost of the accommodation and all meals will be 2200 FF. (Sunday night until Wednesday afternoon inclusive.) Contributors' accommodation and meals will be paid for by the co-sponsors. Participants will be invited by the organising committee on a `first-come-first-served' basis up to the workshop limit of 35, subject to appropriate experience and research interests. Contributions will be selected by the organising committee on the basis of the quality and relevance of the submitted abstracts and contributors will be notified by 31st August 1994 and asked to submit an extended abstract by 30th September 1994. THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE Sue Atkins Ted Briscoe Nicoletta Calzolari Jean Veronis Annie Zaenen PLEASE SEND RESPONSES TO: briscoe@xerox.fr -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-705. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-706. Mon 20 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 82 Subject: 5.706 Confs: CONVERGING METHODS FOR UNDERSTANDING READING AND DYSLEXIA Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 10:05:11 -0300 From: KLEIN@ac.dal.ca Subject: Symposium Announcement -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 10:05:11 -0300 From: KLEIN@ac.dal.ca Subject: Symposium Announcement CONVERGING METHODS FOR UNDERSTANDING READING AND DYSLEXIA August 4 - August 6 1994 Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia Organized by Raymond Klein & Paddy McMullen, this symposium brings together world-class scholars who have developed and applied the most fruitful methods for understanding the connections between the visual and language processing modules necessary for reading. Lectures and discussion will emphasize: 1) the nature of these modules, 2) connection failures that occur in developmental and acquired dyslexia, and 3) the remediation strategies that appear to be efficacious in resolving these failures. Speaker Title Marlene Behrmann Cognitive neuropsychological analysis of the acquired dyslexias and their remediation. Derek Besner Meaningless routes in naming: resurrecting the lexicon. Martha Farah Could there be a dedicated brain system for reading? Morton-Ann Gernsbacher The mechanism of suppression as a component of reading skill. Usha Goswami Integrating orthographic and phonological knowledge as reading develops: onsets, rimes and analogies in childrenUs reading. Betty-Ann Levy Learning to read: Segments, words and meaning. Maureen Lovett Remediating the core deficits of developmental dyslexia: Evidence of transfer-of-learning following strategy and phonologically based reading training programs. Bruce McCandliss Brain plasticity in learning visual words. Richard Olson Component skills in reading: implications of differential heritability for remediation strategies. Steven Petersen Functional neuroimaging studies of reading processes. David Plaut Computational modeling of reading, dyslexia and remediation. Keith Rayner What can we learn by recording eye movements during reading? Discussants (John Connolly, Mike Masson, Dennis Phillips, and the organizers) will stimulate the exchange of information on the latest findings and methodological advances to lay a foundation for the development of converging applications to advance the field. For further information regarding this conference, to register ($25, students; $50, others), or to reserve dormitory accommodations, please contact KRYSTAL FIELD: E-MAIL KRYSS@AC.DAL.CA PHONE (902)494-3550 FAX (902)494-6585 Funding for this Symposium has been provided by: Dalhousie University, NSERC, NHRDP and the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children Foundation -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-706. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-707. Mon 20 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 126 Subject: 5.707 Calls: LITERACY IN MULTICULTURAL SOCIETIES, Pragmatics and Lang Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 13 Jun 1994 12:40 +0800 From: Bob Hvitfeldt Subject: call for manuscripts 2) Date: Tue, 14 Jun 94 12:02:38 CDT From: Larry Bouton Subject: Call for papers: Pragmatics and Language Learning -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 13 Jun 1994 12:40 +0800 From: Bob Hvitfeldt Subject: call for manuscripts LITERACY ISSUES IN MULTICULTURAL SOCIETIES Call for Manuscripts Literacy Issues in Multicultural Societies provides a forum for researchers worldwide who are concerned with literacy in societies with diverse ethnic, linguistic, and/or cultural characteristics. It is a refereed journal that is devoted to reports of empirical studies in reading, writing, and related fields. It also publishes informed reviews of relevant literature and book reviews. The journal is an annual publication of the Society for Reading and Literacy, Singapore, an affiliate of the International Reading Association. Authors are invited to submit manuscripts of original research, written in English, that is not being considered for publication elsewhere. Manuscript Specifications: The complete manuscript should include the following: 1. A title page with the title of the paper, the name, address, and institutional affiliation of the author/authors. 2. 3 unidentified copies, typed and double-spaced, complete with tables, figures, illustrations, etc. 3. A 150-word abstract, including the author/authors name and affiliation. 4. A reference list using the American Psychological Association (APA) conventions. Submission of Manuscripts: Please submit manuscripts to: Victoria H. Yan, Editor Literacy Issues in Multicultural Societies Nanyang Technological University Bukit Timah Road Singapore 1025 Republic of Singapore -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Tue, 14 Jun 94 12:02:38 CDT From: Larry Bouton Subject: Call for papers: Pragmatics and Language Learning Please publish the following call for papers: CALL FOR PAPERS 9th Annual International Conference on PRAGMATICS AND LANGUAGE LEARNING March 2-4, 1995 Organized by The Division of English as an International Language University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) Papers are welcome on any of the following topics: 1. the contribution of pragmatic competence to overall language proficiency 2. descriptions of specific facets of English discourse 3. contrastive pragmatics/discourse analysis 4. developments in pragmatic research methodology 5. integrating pragmatics into the language program ...and related topics Papers should be 20 minutes long, with 10 minutes for discussion. Submit 30 copies of an abstract of 300 words and a sheet with your name, address, telephone number, FAX number, and EMAIL address to Lawrence F. Bouton, Chair 9th Annual Conference on Prag & LL DEIL 3070 FLB 707 S. Mathews Urbana, IL 61801 DEADLINE: Friday, November 4, 1994 Further information - email: larbout@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu FAX: (217) 244-3050 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-707. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-708. Mon 20 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 211 Subject: 5.708 Calls: Workshop on Natural language, AMTA-94 Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 94 15:25:12 +0200 From: gpl@fct.unl.pt Subject: Call for papers: Fifth International Workshop on Natural language 2) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 94 15:35:16 PDT From: Joseph Pentheroudakis Subject: AMTA-94: Second Announcement -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 94 15:25:12 +0200 From: gpl@fct.unl.pt Subject: Call for papers: Fifth International Workshop on Natural language Fifth International Workshop on Natural language Understanding and Logic Programming NLULP5 CALL FOR PAPERS Conference dates: May 29 (Mon) --- 31 (Wed), 1995 Conference place: Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal Chairman: Gabriel Pereira Lopes Department of Computer Science Faculty of Science and Technology Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Quinta da Torre, 2825 Monte da Caparica, Portugal Phon. +351-1-295 3220 Fax. +351-1-295 56 41 Email. gpl@fct.unl.pt Program Committee: Hozumi Tanaka (Tokyo) Yuji Matsumoto (Nara) Harvey Abramson (Aizu) Charles Grant Brown (Stockholm) Veronica Dahl (Vancouver) Sandiway Fong (NEC, Princeton) Mark Johnson (Providence, RI) Martin Kay (Xerox, Palo Alto) Gregers Koch (Copenhagen) Michael C. McCord (IBM Yorktown) Fred Popowich (Vancouver) Patrick Saint-Dizier (Toulouse) Luis Moniz Pereira (Lisbon) Helder Coelho (Lisbon) Ryoichi Sugimura(Matsushita Electric Ind.,Osaka) Gabriel P. Lopes (Lisbon) (chair) The Organizing Committee of the Fifth International Workshop on Natural Language Processing and Logic Programming invites the submission of papers for NLULP5, in Lisbon, Portugal. TOPICS OF INTEREST: Papers are invited on substantial, original, and unpublished research on all aspects of Logic Programming applications to computational linguistics, including, but not limited to, the followings. - syntax - parsing - semantics - generation - phonetics - language understanding - phonology - speech analysis/synthesis - morphology - computational lexicons - discourse - electronic dictionaries - pragmatics - terminology - quantitative/qualitative linguistics - text database and retrieval - mathematical linguistics - documentation - contrastive linguistics - machine translation - cognitive linguistics - machine aids for translation - large text corpora - natural language interface - text processing - dialogue systems - hardware/software for NLP - multimedia systems It will be nice to have in Lisbon Practical Applications of PROLOG in the area of NLU, for demonstrating Prolog's attractiveness for this area. REQUIREMENTS FOR SUBMISSION: Papers should have a maximum fifteen pages in final format, should be written in English, and describe original work. They should emphasize completed work rather than intended work, and they should indicate clearly the state of completion of the reported results. FORMAT FOR SUBMISSION: Authors should submit four copies of preliminary versions of their papers with the page limits above, on A4 paper with the title, author(s), addresses (including email if possible), affiliation across the page top, a short (five to ten line) summary, and a specification of the topic area preferably drawn from the list above. As well, authors are strongly urged to email the title page information by the deadline date. Send the papers and emails to the chair. IMPORTANT DATES: Preliminary paper submission due: December 19, 1994 Notification of paper arrival: December 31, 1994 Inquiries for lost papers: January 20, 1995 Acceptance notification: March 1, 1995 Camera-ready copies due: April 1, 1995 REVIEW SCHEDULE: Preliminary papers are due by 19 December 1994. Papers received after that date will be returned unopened. Notification of receipt will be mailed to the first author (or designated author) soon after receipt by 31 December 1994. All inquiries regarding lost papers must be made by January 20, 1995. Designated authors will be notified of acceptance by March 1, 1995. Camera-ready copies of final papers prepared according to the publisher requirements, must be received by 1 April 1995 by the chair along with a signed copyright release statement. Papers received after that date may not be included in the proceedings. OTHER ACTIVITIES: (1) Invited talks and panels will be included in the program. Proposals and suggestions for invited talks and panels should be sent to the chair as soon as possible. (2) Anyone wishing to arrange an exhibit or present a demonstration should send a brief description, together with a specification of physical requirements (space, power, telephone connections, tables, etc.) to the chair. (3) An attractive social program will be organized for people willing to know more about Portugal, Lisbon and its surroundings. (4) At that time of the year the weather is quite worm and unpolluted beaches are nearby Lisbon, at Costa da Caparica. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 94 15:35:16 PDT From: Joseph Pentheroudakis Subject: AMTA-94: Second Announcement AMTA-94: "Technology Partnerships for Crossing the Language Barrier" Columbia, Maryland 5-8 October 1994 SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PARTICIPATION The Association for Machine Translation in the Americas (AMTA) is proud to announce its first regular conference, to be held on 6-8 October 1994 at the Columbia Inn in Columbia, Maryland. Focusing on the theme "Technology Partnerships for Crossing the Language Barrier," AMTA-94 will bring together users, vendors, developers, and researchers to hear about the latest developments in machine translation (MT) and related technology. In so doing, it will set the stage for partnerships to meet today's challenges in interlingual communication. Concurrent sessions will offer something for everyone--and pose hard choices. Along with a rich variety of exhibits and demonstrations running throughout the conference, panels and presentations on 6-8 October will cover: PC MT Systems MT Evaluation Workstation MT Systems Speech MT Translator Workstations Assessment of MT Needs MT & Desktop Publishing Knowledge-based MT MT economics Statistical MT Assessing Translatability Dictionaries and MT Current Solutions Corpus Cooperation Future Directions in MT Some of these topics will also be the subject of special interest groups. In addition, preconference tutorials on 5 October will take a look at "Choosing an MT System" and "Intellectual Property Rights." Participation in all these areas is invited. Suggestions and proposals for papers (extended abstracts up to 10 pages) or panels should be submitted in electronic form to Eduard Hovy, Program Co-chair, at hovy@isi.edu. The deadline for papers has been extended to 15 July; authors will be notified of acceptance by mid-August. Proposals for demonstrations and exhibits should be addressed to Bill Fry, Exhibits and Demonstrations Coordinator, fax (703) 998-5709. Conference Chair: Muriel Vasconcellos Program Co-chairs: Eduard Hovy, Joseph Pentheroudakis Exhibits and Demonstrations Coordinator: Bill Fry For further information about the AMTA or the conference, or to request a registration packet, please write to: AMTA Secretariat 655 Fifteenth Street, NW, Suite 310 Washington, DC 20005 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-708. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-709. Mon 20 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 303 Subject: 5.709 The popularization of linguistics Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 16:57:43 +1100 From: claudia.brugman@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (claudia brugman) Subject: Re: The popularization of linguistics 2) Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 19:31:48 -0500 From: Michael Kac Subject: Prese criptivism and related issues 3) Date: Thu, 16 Jun 1994 15:54:26 -0400 From: Mark Douglas Arnold Subject: More on popularization 4) Date: Thu, 16 Jun 1994 01:41:18 +0100 From: wcli@vax.ox.ac.uk Subject: linguistics in schools -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 16:57:43 +1100 From: claudia.brugman@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (claudia brugman) Subject: Re: The popularization of linguistics I benefited enormously from having a morphology component to my 7th-grade curriculum. It was good for us to see that latinate and germanic vocabulary of English have different morphological structures, and being able to identify latinate vocabulary took me a long way in building my working vocab. by showing me generalizations. When I tutored high-school students in the Oakland ghetto to pass their SATs, the same principles showed them how to guess the meanings of latinate vocabulary items. I can imagine that a phonetics/phonology component would help students learn to spell English better--once we give up the idea that English is spelled "phonetically". (I remember trying to make sense of the claim that the "sh" sequence in words like "ship" is a diphthong.) An informal transformational model is often used to explain the relationships between e.g. actives and passives, and it seems to make a lot of sense to both first- and second-language students. As we increasingly see the need for bilingual schooling in the early years it makes sense (as a previous poster has noted) to be able to explain the articulatory differences between the phonetic inventories of the languages being taught. I teach first-year university students who don't know what nouns and verbs are, much less what subjects and predicates are, and they are grateful to learn basics of grammar that they see as missing from their secondary training. And they are not content with "a verb is an action word". They LIKE it when I give distributional characterizations of lexical categories. They like that I can show them that the possessive "its" (no apostrophe) is an instance of the minor rule that pronouns don't get apostrophes, even though other nouns do. Giving generalizations helps learning, and linguistics is about finding them, right? I spend a lot of time wondering why grammar is made so intimidating and/or boring. Why, for instance, are students willing to learn physics, but not language skills, after acknowledging that it's hard and requires analytical skill? Why can't we teach grammar from the premise that it's interesting, that it's beautiful, that all speakers are already competent and simply need the vocabulary and discernment to render the unconscious conscious? We could even teach prescriptive grammar from a non-prescriptive point of view. It seems to me that, far from being useless, [a competent application of] the linguistic orientation on language structure could be precisely what's missing from language teaching at the moment. I'm not sure what if any is the logical relationship between the inadequacy of language teaching in the schools and the treatment of linguistics and of language issues in the popular press. I was pretty horrified by Lila Gleitman's report. I was pretty horrified to read Pinker's report (in _The Language Instinct_) of the mangling of his and Myrna Gopnik's work by popular journalists. I am pretty horrified by the subsequent misunderstandings of that book itself by popular journalists (I don't get US press here so I'm inferring from information on LINGUIST). Despite the negatives reported in my recent review, I found Pinker's book about as accessible--and entertaining--a presentation of the concerns of linguists as anyone could have given, and the fact that it could be misunderstood or misrepresented suggests to me that certain of the Mavens won't budge from their positions simply because they can be shown to be irrational. (Maybe this is Pinker's punishment for his own linguist-bashing?) I started my review with a mention of Pinker's _Talk of the Nation_ visit. In that show he responded really cogently to a prescriptivist caller, with the argument that beautiful and clear writing is something that *should* be striven for. Why do the Safires not pick up on that position (also propounded by Geoff Nunberg and others) and take it up as their own? Possibly because _they_ aren't clear or beautiful writers, merely "correct" ones. Possibly because being a clear or beautiful writer is not a matter of following rules. BTW, I want to thank Pinker for responding to my review and pointing out places where perhaps my reading was less than careful. I have some responses to his reply, but since no one else has publicly taken up the topic of _The Language Instinct_, I'm not going to post them here. I would think that since the popularization of linguistics has gotten a lot of attention on LINGUIST lately, more subscribers would want to read and debate the utility of this book to the general populace--or, as a previous poster put it, that segment of the populace that's of roughly _Scientific American_ level, since we know that columnists for the _New York Times_ can't comprehend it. Dr. Claudia Brugman English Department and School of Languages University of Otago PO Box 56 Dunedin, New Zealand claudia.brugman@stonebow.otago.ac.nz -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 19:31:48 -0500 From: Michael Kac Subject: Prese criptivism and related issues I wasn't going to get involved in the discussion of the popularization of linguistics since I have much too much to do, but I can't seem to stay away from it. The recent postings by Salkie, Dyvik and Hudson on the popularization of linguistics prompt the following comments. First, I second the sentiments they express, which is in itself neither here nor there except that they may be pleased to know that someone else agrees with them. At the risk of appearing to engage in self-promotion (which I am indeed engaging in) I refer interested parties to my contribution to the festchrift for Bob Stockwell, to wit: Kac, Michael B. Two cheers for prescriptivism. In C. Duncan-Rose, J. Fisiak and T. Vennemann, eds., Rhetorica, Phonologica, Syntactica: A Festschrift for Robert P. Stockwell. London: Routledge. 79-85. 1987 My position there agrees pretty much with Salkie's; I also make some rather sketchy suggestions about how linguistics might be taught at the secondary school level along lines that I think would be congenial to Hudson. One reservation I express is that it would require much better teachers than are typical at least in US public education these days (though see my note below) -- but that's hardly a problem unique to the study of language. In regard to public school teachers, I do have some encouraging news from the front, which is that training in linguistics is becoming a required component for *some* teachers in at least some parts of the US -- though the target audience to which I refer is those seeking licensure for ESL. I have taught students from that cadre both in Minnesota and Arizona and while they are not, by and large, at the level one might wish in one's fondest dreams, neither are they in general as terrible as in one's worst nightmares. My most recent experience in dealing with this group came last summer in a course in English syntax geared specifically to them. The students in the class had already had an introduction to linguistics and a course in English phonology and morphology. I used Baker's book, which is not the ideal text for that kind of course (and has a lot of typos and other glitches in it) but which serves the purpose well enough all things considered. The students handled the technical details pretty well, though some of it did cause a certain amount of brow-furrowing and puzzlement. The area where they seemed most deficient was one that was unexpected (though in retrospect maybe it shouldn't have been), namely familiarity with formal written English. This came out in two specific ways that I remember (there may have been others). Baker relies heavily on the *such that* variant of the relative construction as a way of getting at the position of the gap in the relative clause, and many of the students in the class had no prior acquaintance with this construction. Similarly, many of them professed never to have previously encountered the use of the bare infinitive in a sentence like *I insist that you be here* and thus did not see why there was an ambiguity in e.g. *I insist that you know the answer*. Michael Kac -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Thu, 16 Jun 1994 15:54:26 -0400 From: Mark Douglas Arnold Subject: More on popularization Although I sense that these (and other) comments are essentially "preaching to the choir", I would like to provide another example of why some exposure to linguistic theory should be included in secondary education. (Of course I do not mean HPSG, RG, GB, etc. in specific, just something to do with studying the abstract machinery of language.) My specific example is another instance of the kind of language-mythology-begets-questionable-education-policy mentioned by Michael Newman. My wife just attended a conference for university administrators dealing with "Quality" initiatives and assessment tools in higher education. The attendees of one of the sessions learned that the language of a certain Plains Indigenous People has no word for "why". This fact was used to explain why the culture of this people was not interested in picking apart the universe and figuring out why everything works the way it does; in particular, the fact that the people hold fast to their creation myths despite theories about the big bang or evolution illustrate the import of not having a word for "why". (So Whorf is alive and well; nothing new there.) Moreover, the session speaker, a native speaker of said why-less language, finds English to be "flat" in it's expressive usefulness, a sensibility which evidently had nothing to do with the fact that this individual's need to use English did not arise until after puberty, but which could actaully be explained (thanks to a comment from a participant) by the fact that the Romans essentially crushed the inherent expressive force of the language during their occupation of Britain. I don't so much have a problem with the fact that these ideas were put forth (though I'll admit I find them comical), but my wife's impression was that the session attendees drank this stuff up without question. I'm not going to claim that a linguistics class in high school would have meant that all the session attendees would have come to the same conclusions that I would have come to about the material discussed in the session, but at least such a class would have given them some tools (if they wished to use them) to think critically about the claims and not just take it as gospel because a "linguist" said that a language without a word for "why" means the culture of the people isn't concerned with figuring out why the universe is the way it is. (I probably would have been taken out and stoned if I had been there to point out that creation myths do exactly that.) So what's it matter? Well, there's a bunch of university policy makers running around thinking that English is deficient in its expressive usefulness, and that "exotic" languages with no words for "why" are to be admired for the different take on reality that they allow their speakers. Clearly a high school class in linguistics isn't going to completely change the way the world views language, but at least it would give people the opportunity to be exposed to the scientific study of language and its relation to the mind. And on top of that, as anyone who has taught Intro to Linguistics knows, linguistics provides an excellent opportunity to expose students to the rigors of critical thinking and to develop problem solving skills, all without the cost of lab equipment and supplies. What more could education administrators want? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Thu, 16 Jun 1994 01:41:18 +0100 From: wcli@vax.ox.ac.uk Subject: linguistics in schools I have read with interest the many objections to my objection to the inclusion of linguistics in a secondary school curriculum, which range from the very reasonable to the very emotional. Especially helpful was the feedback from people who are actually involved in secondary education, and I stand corrected on many points, including the need to distinguish between "linguistics" and "theoretical linguistics", and the fact that the linguistics that would have been taught at the secondary school level is something which linguistics generally agree on. Thanks to those who pointed this out. There were also a number a messages in which the discussion took a philosophical turn, stressing the importance of linguistics towards the understanding of "the human mind and soul", giving arguments along the line of "if not study linguistics, why study anything at all", "why study algebra", "why study physics" .... it is here that I think we, as linguists, are being overly defensive, and are losing sight of the big picture. I do not wish to clutter the net by diving into this philosophical debate, which I can guarantee will be neverending. But what I do wish to point out is a very surface-level fact: there was someone who responded by saying that she never found the mathematics she learned in high school to be of any use, and therefore, linguistics is equally, if not more important than mathematics. This appears to be a case of looking at the world from within the linguist's bubble. Were we to switch from the linguist's perspective to that of real life pre-college entrance high school student, it would become all to clear that mathematics is needed if he wanted to major in engineering, or physics, or psychology, in fact, all the sciences. (To sidetrack a bit, I actually find linguists' general lack of knowledge in certain types of mathematics, e.g., differential geometry, very detrimental to the field, limiting it to certain simplistic types of mathematical tools, which I personally believe to be inadequate -- but that is another issue) The same goes for physics, history, and a lot of other subjects in current curriculum -- they provide basic knowledge indispensible to a wide range of disciplines. While it is also possible to argue that linguistics is a kind of indispensible knowledge, it is so on a lesser scale, and necessary for a smaller range of subjects (on this point, it is probably difficult to get an unbiased view on a linguists' network). While I've been persuaded that certain less-disputed aspects of general linguistics can be taught at the secondary school level, I'm not entirely convinced that it cannot be taught as part of, say, an English or language course. I am not convinced that linguistics deserves to be taught as a mandatory independent subject in secondary school any more than pharmacology or criminology does, and I believe academics in these disciplines will be able to offer good reasons why theirs should be included. Chris Li Oxford -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-709. y ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-710. Mon 20 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 119 Subject: 5.710 Body language (emoticons) Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 18 May 1994 15:27:03 -0400 (EDT) From: jaske@abacus.bates.edu (Jon Aske) Subject: E-mail "body language" (humor) ---------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 18 May 1994 15:27:03 -0400 (EDT) From: jaske@abacus.bates.edu (Jon Aske) Subject: E-mail "body language" (humor) Someone wrote something recently on Linguist about e-mail language and it made me think of something humorous I had read a while back. Well, I just found it and I thought I would share it with everyone. Some of the icons are really good. If anyone comes up with some more I would love to collect them and re-post the enlarged collection at a later date. Enjoy, Jon E-MAIL "BODY LANGUAGE" (from _Interface_, April 1991, p. 13) Electronic mail, or e-mail, often reduces communications to the lowest common denominator in terms of text presentation (that is, limited characters, no illustrations). Although often used for personal communications, e-mail is a highly impersonal medium; one cannot experience the more complete range of understanding that results from face-to-face contact with an individual. Body language is absent... or is it? The evolving e-mail culture has devised its own form of body language; the only requirement: you must tilt your head sideways to appreciate the sometimes subtle, always ingenious, and often outrageous uses of standard keyboard characters to convey what text alone cannot. The accompanying chart is offered for your "viewing pleasure," with the hope that it will help personalize your e-mail messages and create better communications between those of you who depend on the effective use of the medium. Use at your own risk! "Face" Interpretation Alternative Interpretation(s) ---------------------------------------------------------------- :-) Ha, ha; smile "This is supposed to make you laugh!" (-: Submitter is left-handed |-) Hee, hee Submitter is asleep (out of boredom) |-D Ho, ho :-D Submitter talks too much Wider happy/anticipatory face :-> Hey, hey; smirk :-( Boo hoo; disappointed "That comment makes me sad (or mad)!" "Be prepared for trouble!" :-< Really sad :-C Really disappointed :-| Hmmm; contemplation Boring :-O Uh oh! :-o Submitter is shocked. Submitter is singing 2) #:-o "Oh, nooooo!" (Remember Mr. Bill??) :-p Nyah, nyah! Submitter is sticking tongue out |-P Yuck! :-} Submitter has beard. Normal smiling face with pretty lips. :-{ Submitter has mustache. :-# Submitter wears braces. Submitter s lips are sealed. Submitter has been punched in the mouth! :-)X Submitter wears bow tie. :-X "My lips are sealed!" :-Q Smoker <:-) Dunce; dumb questions 8-) Submitter wears glasses "I couldn t believe my eyes!" B-) Submitter wears horn- A message from Batman. rimmed glasses. 8:-) Submitter with glasses Submitter is a little girl. on forehead ;-) Wink "Take this message with a grain of salt!" >:-< Submitter is mad. :-@ Submitter is screaming :-8( Condescending stare :-[ Biting criticism :-\ Undecided "That comment doesn't phase me." |-] Grimace "If I close my eyes tight, maybe it will go away." :-U Sarcasm Speaking out of the side of one's mouth. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Jon Aske Home address: Anthropology "Aritza Enea" Lewiston, Maine 04240, USA Lewiston, Maine 04240-6336 e-mail: jaske@abacus.bates.edu -Phone/Fax: (207) 786-0589 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-710. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-711. Mon 20 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 101 Subject: 5.711 New Books: Arabic ling, Translation Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace ------------------------------- Note ------------------------------------------ Additional information on the following books, as well as a short backlist of the publisher's titles, may be available from the Listserv. Instructions for retrieving publishers' backlists appear at the end of this issue. ------------------------------New Books------------------------------------- ARABIC LING Goldziher, Ingaz ON THE HISTORY OF GRAMMAR AMONG THE ARABS Translated and edited by Kinga Divinyi and Tamas Ivanyi John Benjamins 1994 xx, 153 pp. ARABIC LING Cloth: US:1 55619 609 1/EUR:90 272 4560 6 US$45.00/Hfl. 85,-- This essay, originally published in Hungarian in 1878 by one of thefounders and great masters of Islamic studies in Europe, examines the origin and early history of Arabic grammar and some features of its later development with special regard to cultural historical aspects. Goldhizer's comprehensive approach weaves a whole system, connecting with other fields of Islamic culture and science, and so is of interest not only to Arabic linguists, but also historians of general linguistics and of Islam. The work has not been supplanted, nor become outdated. The original text is here supplemented with amendments and explanations. Also added are a comprehensive and updated bibliography, and appendix with original texts and two indices. Jassem, Zaidan Ali LECTURES IN ENGLISH AND ARABIC SOCIOLINGUISTICS, 2 VOLS, KUALA LUMPUR: PUSTAKA ANTARA 1994 Xi/vii, 179 pp/168 pp. RM8/7 (paper). ISBN 967-937-359-2/ 967-937-360-6. Published and distributed by Pustaka Antara, 399A Jalan TuanKu Abdul Rahman, 50100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel. 03-2980044. There are also other publications on Malaysian English and TESL/TEFL by the same author that can be obtained from the same publisher. TRANSLATION Sager, Juan C. LANGUAGE ENGINEERING AND TRANSLATION CONSEQUENCES OF AUTOMATION John Benjamins 1994 xviii, 345 pp. Translation Cloth US: 1 55619 476 5/EUR: 90 272 2139 1 US$85.00/Hfl. 160,-- Paper US: 1 55619 477 3/EUR: 90 272 2140 5 US$29.95/Hfl. 60,-- The advent of automated alternatives to human translation has fundamentally affected the translator's profession, its products and the relationship between translators and their clients. At a time when information technology has become a regular tool of specialized translators in all aspects of their work, it is useful to place the activity of technical translation into its appropriate environment and to describe it in the broader context of communication today. This book re-examines the processes of translation as part of interlingual text production and analyzes the manner in which the new tools affect the product of translation. This book is of particular relevance in modern translator training courses. [Benjamins Translation Library 1] -----------------------How to get a publisher's backlist----------------------- 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 Benjamins) erlbaum lst (Lawrence Erlbaum) kluwer lst (Kluwer Academic Publishers) mouton lst (Mouton de Gruyter) sil lst (Summer Institute of Linguistics) ucp lst (University of Chicago Press) uma-glsa lst (U. of Massachusetts Graduate Linguistics Association) osuwpl lst (Ohio State Working Papers in Linguistics) cornell lst (Cornell University Linguistics Dept.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-711. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-712. Mon 20 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 95 Subject: 5.712 New Books: General ling, Child lang acquisition, Lang planning Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace ------------------------------- Note ------------------------------------------ Additional information on the following books, as well as a short backlist of the publisher's titles, may be available from the Listserv. Instructions for retrieving publishers' backlists appear at the end of this issue. ------------------------------New Books------------------------------------- GENERAL LING Verhoeven, Ludo (ed.) FUNCTIONAL LITERACY. THEORETICAL ISSUES AND EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS John Benjamins 1994 viii, 493 pp GENERAL LING Cloth: US:1 55619 316 5/EUR:90 272 1791 2 US$85.00/Hfl. 150,-- Paper: US:1 55619 317 3/EUR:90 272 1792 0 US$29.95/Hfl. 60,-- Deals with the very important question of how standards of literacy can be established throughout the world, starting from the assumption that literacy is more than being able to read and write and that it should be defined in a functional way, incorporating personal and social needs. The volume has 4 parts: I. The construct of functional literacy, II. Literacy and development, III. Attaining literacy in developing countries, and IV. Attaining literacy in industrial societies. CHILD LANG ACQUISITION (Pidgin & Creole) Adone, Dany THE ACQUISITION OF MAURITIAN CREOLE John Benjamins 1994 xi,167 pp. CHILD LANG ACQUISITION,PIDGIN & CREOLE Cloth: US:1 55619 246 0/EUR:90 272 2474 9 US$40.00/Hfl. 75,-- This is the first major study of the development of child grammar in a Creole context. The analysis proceeds within the GB framework of generative grammar, and is, in fact, a test of the adequacy of the GB framework for the study of Creole languages. The data also provide a means for evaluating Bickerton's theory, especially his conclusion that the acquisition of radical Creoles takes place with fewer errors than is the case for other languages, given that Creole languages are in harmony with the 'Bioprogram'. LANG PLANNING Paulston, Christina Bratt LINGUISTIC MINORITIES IN MULTILINGUAL SETTINGS. IMPLICATIONS FOR LANGUAGE POLICIES John Benjamins 1994 xi, 139 pp. LANG PLANNING Cloth: US:1 55619 347 5/EUR: 90 272 4104 X US$39.00/Hfl. 75,-- Paper: US:1 55619 540 0/EUR: 90 272 4112 0 US$19.95/Hfl. 40,-- Paulston presents an analytical framework for explaining and predicting the language behavior of social groups as such behavior relates to linguistic policies for minority groups. She argues that there are a number of factors to be considered in the understanding and establishment of language policies for such groups. 1. the social context of language problems; 2. the linguistic consequences for social groups in contact will vary depending on the focus of social mobilization, i. e. ethnicity or nationalism; and 3. identifying the salient factors which contribute to language maintenance and shift, i. e. what are the conditions. The book is a vital help to educational policies and successful language planning in general. -----------------------How to get a publisher's backlist----------------------- 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 Benjamins) erlbaum lst (Lawrence Erlbaum) kluwer lst (Kluwer Academic Publishers) mouton lst (Mouton de Gruyter) sil lst (Summer Institute of Linguistics) ucp lst (University of Chicago Press) uma-glsa lst (U. of Massachusetts Graduate Linguistics Association) osuwpl lst (Ohio State Working Papers in Linguistics) cornell lst (Cornell University Linguistics Dept.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-712. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-713. Mon 20 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 61 Subject: 5.713 TOC: Natural Languages and Linguistic Theory Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace ---------------------------Note---------------------------------------- Journal articles are excellent topics for discussion, and we encourage readers to post such commentary. We will publish the tables of contents of current journal issues if they are reduced to 20 lines or less; and we will maintain journal backlists on our listserv. Our resources, however, do not allow us to post the tables of contents of books; and we prefer to post toc's of working papers only when they contain highly specialized information, otherwise difficult to obtain, and are reduced to 15 lines. Available journal backlists include: LI lst (Linguistic Inquiry) compling lst (Computational Linguistics) NALA lst (Natural Language and Linguistic Theory) To retrieve a backlist, send the message: get linguist Ex: get LI lst linguist to listserv@tamvm1.tamu.edu (Internet) or listserv@tamvm1 (Bitnet) -------------------------Table of Contents-------------------------------- NATURAL LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTIC THEORY VOLUME 12, ISSUE 3 Robert D. Borsley and Maria Luisa Rivero / Clitic Auxiliaries and Incorporation in Polish 373 Eugene Buckley / Persistent and Cumulative Extrametricality in Kashaya 423 Jaye Padgett / Stricture and Nasal Place Assimilation 465 Laurie Zaring / On the Relationship between Subject Pronouns and Clausal Arguments 515 FORTHCOMING ARTICLES Outi Bat-El / Stem Modification and Cluster Transfer in Modern Hebrew Joan Bresnan and Sam Mchambo / The Lexical Integrity Principle: Evidence from Bantu Thomas Ernst / Negation in Mandarin Chinese Steven Franks / Parametric Properties of Numeral Phrases in Slavic Linda Lombardi / Laryngeal Neutralization and Syllable Wellformedness G. L. Piggott / Epenthesis and Syllable Weight Henry Smith / "Dative Sickness" in Germanic Additional information on this journal is available free of charge via our anonymous ftp server: ftp.std.com in the directory Kluwer/journals/linguistics. Kluwer Academic Publishers: email: emkluwer@world.std.com (for NA), Services@wkap.nl (for Rest of World) Fax: (31)-78-183273, Tel: (31)-78-524400, P.O.Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-713. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-714. Mon 20 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 72 Subject: 5.714 TOC: STUF Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace ---------------------------Note---------------------------------------- We publish the tables of contents of current journal issues if they are reduced to 20 lines or less; and we maintain journal backlists on our listserv. Our resources, however, do not allow us to post the tables of contents of books; and we prefer to post working paper TOC's only when the issue seems to contain information otherwise difficult to find. Working paper TOC's must be reduced to 15 lines. Available journal backlists include: LI lst (Linguistic Inquiry) compling lst (Computational Linguistics) NALA lst (Natural Language and Linguistic Theory) To retrieve a backlist, send the message: get linguist Ex: get LI lst linguist to listserv@tamvm1.tamu.edu (Internet) or listserv@tamvm1 (Bitnet) -------------------------Table of Contents-------------------------------- STUF (Sprachtypologie & Universalienforschung) Issue 47.2 (1994), Table of Contents Articles: FREDERICK J. NEWMEYER, Competing motivations and synchronic analysis KONSTANTIN I. KAZENIN, Split syntactic ergativity: toward an implicational hierarchy HEIKE WIESE, Montague-Typen bei der Analyse deutscher und persischer Modalverb-Konstruktionen Reviews: EDITH A. MORAVCSIK, on: M. Kefer & J. van der Auwera (eds.) 1992, Meaning and grammar: cross-linguistic perspectives. Berlin: Mouton MARTIN HASPELMATH, on: U. Mosel & E. Hovdhaugen 1992, Samoan reference grammar. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press. CLAUDA PERLICK, on: M. Haase 1992, Sprachkontakt und Sprachwandel im Baskenland, Hamburg: Buske. (STUF is published quarterly by Akademie Verlag Berlin, a division of VCH; U.S.: VCH Publishers, Inc., 303 NW 12th Ave., Deerfield Beach, FL 33442-1788, Fax (305) 428-8201; Europe: VCH, P.O. Box 101161, D-69451 Weinheim, Fax +49-6201-606117) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-714. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-715. Mon 20 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 162 Subject: 5.715 Qs: Tangential shifting, Biblio software, Judgements, Trees Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 15:01:58 -0400 (EDT) From: "Bethany Dumas, UTK" Subject: Labov's term "tangential shifting" 2) Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 12:38:11 -0400 (EDT) From: jaske@abacus.bates.edu (Jon Aske) Subject: Bibliographical software 3) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 10:31:19 +0100 From: wcli@vax.ox.ac.uk Subject: native speaker judgements 4) Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 15:29:36 PDT From: Shanley Allen Subject: syntactic trees on IBM -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 15:01:58 -0400 (EDT) From: "Bethany Dumas, UTK" Subject: Labov's term "tangential shifting" I want to cite Labov's use of the term "tangential shifting" as an interview technique "whither thou goest, there go I"), and I am unable to find it in a published work. Can someone help me? Thanks. Bethany Dumas (in%"dumasb@utkvx.utk.edu") -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 12:38:11 -0400 (EDT) From: jaske@abacus.bates.edu (Jon Aske) Subject: Bibliographical software I would be very interested to know what other linguists are using in terms of software to keep track of their bibliographies, especially anotated bibliographies, that is, for instance, (categorized) bibliographical entries with links to files where comments and notes are kept. I have been using Shoebox for this purpose, but I don't find it completely satisfactory (though it sure beats the 3 1/2 x 5" cards I used 10 years ago). One good thing about it is that it's very flexible with the length and the number of fields, but there are some drawbacks too, such as the lack of printing capabilities. I recently checked out WordPerfect's InfoCentral, which has much to be recommended, but decided it is not ideal either and thus not worth the time it would take to transfer my present database to that format, especially since the importing capabilities are not all that great. But InfoCentral is great for establishing relationships between different items or "objects" (topics and publications, for instance) as well as from objects to other files. The exporting capabilities however are quite primitive. The documentation is also very poor. So I was wondering what other people do about this problem. My bibliographies (I have a general one and two specialized ones) have about 3000 items by now and I would really like to have a good tool to keep them under control. Please send your replies directly to me and I will summarize to the list. Best, Jon -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Jon Aske Home address: Anthropology "Aritza Enea" Bates College 12 Bardwell St. Lewiston, Maine 04240, USA Lewiston, Maine 04240-6336 e-mail: jaske@abacus.bates.edu -Phone/Fax: (207) 786-0589 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 10:31:19 +0100 From: wcli@vax.ox.ac.uk Subject: native speaker judgements Much of linguistic theory seems to be built upon the assumption that native speakers can make clear-cut right/wrong judgements about their language. I'd like to explore the possibility of this assumption not being true, especially when it comes to marginal data or language in flux. I am familiar with "fuzziness" literature in semantics, but I'd like to look instead at judgement making (on the informant's part) in syntax and phonology. Let me give two of my own experiences: (1) Being surrounded by linguists of all types, I am often given strange sentences in English or Mandarin Chinese (I am a bilingual speaker of these two languages) and asked if they would be acceptable in the language concerned. Very often I cannot answer yes or no, the sentences being strange yet not really wrong. I am able to give a rating for each sentence, or compare two sentences and say which is better, but to draw a line and say some are right and some are wrong, I believe, would be an abuse of intuition. (2) I've been looking at an ongoing sound change in British (RP) English, in which words like "poor" and "moor" eventually become homophonous with "paw" and "maw". I've asked many RP speakers (non-linguists) whether in their own speech "poor" is the same as "paw". Most subjects would repeat the two words over and over again, with variation in the realization of "poor", and making comments like "well, they're very similar aren't they...", and in the end come to the conclusion that they don't know. One way to treat the problem would be to relegate it to performance and sweep it under the carpet. But I think there is more to it than that, and that it is something that any linguist will face at some stage of their research. I'd be interested to hear people's experiences and/or views. I will post a summary for the list. Wen-Chao Li Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 15:29:36 PDT From: Shanley Allen Subject: syntactic trees on IBM I am looking for information on creating syntactic trees within documents on IBM-type machines. A variety of options are available within the Macintosh environment, but options for IBM environments seem to be much more limited. I use WordPerfect 5.2 for Windows, which cannot create its own trees. I am familiar with WordPerfect Presentations 2.0 which does create trees but does not seem to import them correctly into WP5.2 without a lot of fussing. Please respond to me, and I will post a summary if there is sufficient interest. Thanks, Shanley. *********************************************** Shanley Allen Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics Postbus 310 6500 AH Nijmegen Netherlands phone: 31-80-521911 fax: 31-80-521213 e-mail: allen@mpi.nl *********************************************** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-715. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-716. Tue 21 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 99 Subject: 5.716 Qs: MSDS, Ethnography, NounPhrases and Descriptors, Turkish Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 14 Jun 1994 12:33:35 -0400 (EDT) From: "Bethany Dumas, UTK" Subject: Warnings in Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) 2) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 02:06:03 -0500 (CDT) From: ASHELDON@vx.cis.umn.edu Subject: ethnography of research 3) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 12:17:29 +1000 From: "Y. Shum" Subject: NounPhrases and Descriptors 4) Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 17:32:40 -0500 (CDT) From: Ken Miner Subject: Turkish tutor software? -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 14 Jun 1994 12:33:35 -0400 (EDT) From: "Bethany Dumas, UTK" Subject: Warnings in Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) I am completing a paper for the Law & Society Ass'n Annual Meeting June 16-19 on warning information in Material Safety Data Sheets and wonder if anyone else has had occasion to analyze an MSDS for the adequacy of warning information contained in it. Please reply to in%"dumasb@utkvx.utk.edu". Thanks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 02:06:03 -0500 (CDT) From: ASHELDON@vx.cis.umn.edu Subject: ethnography of research Does anyone have any good references (articles or books) to suggest that deal with the research process? I am looking for descriptions and reflections of how a person goes about doing research, from the early stage of getting and acting on an idea, deciding on a "methodology", doing the research and describing attendant problems and difficulties, choosing a means of analysing and coding (if appropriate), drawing conclusions, writing it up, sending it off to journals, and so on. This may not be the sort of writing that is encouraged in academia, but it is of immense value to both the novice student as well as faculty. Amy Sheldon ASHELDON@VX.CIS.UMN.EDU -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 12:17:29 +1000 From: "Y. Shum" Subject: NounPhrases and Descriptors Hi there, I have created a software that would generate descriptors for a text. These descriptors are meant to be used as indices to the text, to be matched against key terms/key phrases in a query. In is in experimental stage now. I'm really interested in getting comments about it. Anyone interested could send in some text(any length is welcomed) and I would run the tool on the text. The descriptors and the text will then be sent back to its originator for further comments. Thank you. yshum -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 17:32:40 -0500 (CDT) From: Ken Miner Subject: Turkish tutor software? On behalf of a friend I am seeking Turkish tutor software, for either PC or Mac, any platform. For the sake of speed, pls send any suggestions directly to me at miner@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu. Thanks! Ken Miner -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-716. y ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-717. Tue 21 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 412 Subject: 5.717 The popularisation of linguistics, THE ANTI-PRESCRIPTIVE MISSION Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 94 16:26 PDT From: benji wald Subject: Re: 5.700 Qs: Persian, Popularization of ling, Rhetorical ques, 2) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 94 22:14 PDT From: benji wald Subject: Re: 5.700 Qs: Persian, Popularization of ling, Rhetorical ques, -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 94 16:26 PDT From: benji wald Subject: Re: 5.700 Qs: Persian, Popularization of ling, Rhetorical ques, I have followed the discussion of "popularisation of linguistics" with fascination. Although nobody elected me, I feel a certain responsibility to make some comments on the major issues which have emerged in the discussion so far, since my perhaps intemperate (or at least unmitigated) remarks seem to have precipitated the discussion -- which quickly ascended to a higher level. Before proceeding to comments I want to make a request. This is because my comments are lengthy, but my request is simple. So if most readers are like me their eyes will glaze over long before that get to the bottom of my comments. Therefore, better to make the request first. The request is, for those linguists who would like to communicate their enthusiasm to a "lay" public (and also those who feel frustrated by "how many languages do you speak?"): WHAT DO YOU SAY IN CASUAL ENCOUNTERS to friends (or who/m/ever) ABOUT WHAT LINGUISTICS IS? I have my line worked out pretty well, and it comes in handy because even professionally I'm a field linguist and a "street" linguist, so I often use it to explain why I want to clip a microphone to a speaker I'm interested in -- and I've done this in various languages and cultures. It's no big deal, but it usually gets an interested look and sometimes some comments about "that's interesting", and in multilingual cultures genuine understanding. However, I would like to hear what the responses of other linguists are before I contaminate them with my explanation (which is necessarily shortand to the point -- and maybe cuts through some of the confusion that I detect in the list about what linguistics is and has to offer humanity. For logistical reasons, I hope that respondents can send their answers directly to the list, where I'm sure they will appreciated and helpful to many readers. However, I would like a copy forwarded directly to me at: ibenawj@mvs.oac.ucla.edu The reason is simply that I will be away for a month, and I will have to shut off the ling.list until I get back, otherwise my account will explode. I may not be able to recover responses made only directly to the list, but I obviously don't want to miss them just because I'll be away. I figure if I wait till I get back to make this request the discussion may have already closed. In fact, it's not a feature of today's list. That's it for the request. I basically have extended comments about two issues which seemed salient to me in the the discussion of popularization of linguistics so far. Issue 1. anti-prescriptivism as linguistics' "gift" to humanity Issue 2. What good is linguistics? WARNING: This might be hard to take in one sitting. Maybe better to save/delete and handle the request (first). In fact, I just decided to sen my comments separately as another message, because they're long and I'm having trouble with spacing as a transfer the file to be sent. Be right back. Benji -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Fri, 17 Jun 94 22:14 PDT From: benji wald Subject: Re: 5.700 Qs: Persian, Popularization of ling, Rhetorical ques, This is the sequel to my last message, in which I asked how linguists explain what linguistics is in casual encounters. I said I had some comments to make about to issues which appeared salient to me in the discussion "popularization of linguistics". They were 1. anti- prescriptivism and 2. what good is linguistics? 1. THE ANTI-PRESCRIPTIVE MISSION (NOT THE BEST THE FIELD HAS TO OFFER) Loomi g large in discussion is this business about PRESCRIPTIVE VS DESCRIPTIVE linguistics (as the dichotomy was formulated in Bloomfield'stime). My own feeling is that it's not a good idea to preach this to the public, and, even that linguists who study language abstracted from its social context (let's call this common practice "asocial linguistics) are not in a good position to be making that assertion, because it is not clear that they have sufficient understanding of the social implications of what's involved. After all, "good", "bad", "equal" etc are terms with social implications when applied to language. In fact, the ideologies behind prescriptivism and anti-prescriptivism, I will suggest, are not as straightforward as they may appear. As to general comments already made questioning the wisdom of this issue as something for linguists to champion before the public, I agree with them to some extent, but not without further argument. I suggest that in dealing with the public and understanding of why linguists and the public have different views of language is helpful, while over- simplistic views of what insights linguistics has to offer the public, or about the intellectual state of the public are not. To begin with, like other scientists, linguists do not necessarily, and I think most often concern themselves with how linguistics fits into or serves the societies whih nurture, support or tolerate it. As scientists working on specific problems such unawareness is understandable and may even be conducive to to solving specific problems. I guess what often happens is that a historically motivating problem which may have begun as common ground between linguists (like other scientists) and their society gets rejected, or at least temporarily put aside, by linguists for some more immediately productive or attractive problem discovered along the way. Meanwhile the public still has the original problem in its consciousness, and it becomes hard for linguists to connect their current concerns with the historically motivating problem which no longer concerns them, and which they may not even be aware of (depending on their educational training). For the sake of example, we might take the original motivating problem in linguistics to be how to talk to God (although both the public and linguistics has moved a slight distance from this motivation: it lingers in the impatience to solve the mystery of human "nature") I'm oversimplifying, of course, concern with oratory and rhetoric for political purposes also led to interest in linguistic analysis among some classical societies, but I wanted to choose one of the most striking examples, so I lifted the talk to God motivation from, for example, Panini and Chomsky at age 4 in his attic (if I remember correctly, and I'm NOT making fun of Chomsky here; I either read or somewhere heard this anecdote about him, maybe even from Chomsky, and found it endearing, and also interesting in juxtaposition with Panini). >From a shallower time perspective the shift from 19th c emphasis on historical linguistics to 20th c synchronic linguistics is another example. As I understand it, Saussure was a mjaor player in bringing this about with questions about:so language changes? You wanna know why? Then find out what language is. Now "what is it?" has pretty much overshadowed the motivating question of "why/how does it change?" to the extent that synchronic linguists go into the history of a language for inspiration in solving a synchronic analytical problem. I don't think it would be difficult to find the connection between this change in emphasis and changes in the interests of the societies which support linguistics.I won't dwell on that here, other than to claim that we are rarely concerned with those larger interests when we do our linguistic work,assuming (boldly) that we are even aware of the larger interests we serve (that'll get into issue 2. "What good is linguistics?"), but there will be some clues in my comments on the present issue 1. Incidentally, I don't think linguists had much to do with causing the changing interests of their societies, but displayed much ingenuity in adopting their discipline to those changes. This in itself is no small accomplishment -- but who would deny that historical linguistics has shrunk in institutionalised prominence? With regard to the issue about the relation of linguistics to its societies, in relation to anti-prescriptivist zealoutry, Maxwell (9 June) observed that the zealots are not able to practice what they preach, i.e., they can't get published in the nonstandard languages which they maintain are "equal" with the almighty standard. To this, I can also note with my keen powers of observation that I have also noticed that at conferences linguists also wear clothes, some even suits and ties, even when it's hot. The criticism goes at least as far back as Hall's "Leave your language alone" -- written in standard English (well, how else will they take me seriously?) -- and later,sociolinguists felt the sting of ingratitude of the mass media, when in their enthusiasm the sociolinguists in question misjudged just how far challenges to the "establishment" would be allowed to go, in the liberating (but deceptive) atmosphere of the late 1960s thru mid 1970s. The media still occasionally kicks (at) us, when they temporarily run out of little linguistic cutenesses to tickle their readers with. A little spleen to remind the reader that language is not all fun, it's also serious business, requiring a serious and responsible attitude. (but let's not think we're all that important to them, the media gets the most mileage in spleen by trying to enforce their norms on their own confused ranks -- with results which do not threaten the uniformitarian hypothesis of language change.) In this context, Gupta's comment (June 7) was interesting, about how linguists preaching the doctrine of anti-prescriptivism could be mistaken (?)for "revolutionaries". My take on the history of our discipline in the early 19th c recognises the thread of "revolution". Even if the original insight attributed to Sir William Jones came from imperialistic rather than revolutionary circumstances, it is wellknown that the founders and many practitioners of historical linguistics, with their serious interest in dialectology as well, were motivated by nationalistic impulses --to discover and legitimise the roots of their "nations", dominated by transnational royal dynasties (it's no accident that Germany and Austria-Hungary were where the action was, as scholars struggled to legitimise their national cultures against a "pan-Europeanism" associated with transnational intermarrying monarchies oriented toward Western Europe as the pinnacle of "culture" -- nationalistic impulses giving later rise to 20th century racist perversions of concepts like "Aryan", probably taking advantage of educated popular confusion between Indo-ARYAN and Indo-GERMANIC -- thus one of the most widely known Sanskrit loanwords in modern languages is "swastika" -- and we still marvel about blonde mummies found in China and are quicker to wonder if they spoke an Indo-European lg than Altaic, Uralic, Sino-Tibetan, or whatever else). I do not mean to suggest that 19th century historical linguistic giants were proto-nazis, I'm sure some resented the way their research was perverted, and their struggle to give German a fabulous history, when French was the prestige language in Europe, is understandable (but, of course, connecting German with French wouldn't have been sufficient for nationalistic pride). What I am suggesting is that they were feeding into important interests of their societies in their times, interests which have changed so that neither genetic origin, history or historical linguistics is so highly valued as it was then. And the decline of all these are interrelated. Incidentally, it is only recently that the faulty historical assumption of migration (n.b. of gene carriers) in linguistic trees has been seriously challenged (e.g., Renfrew 1987 against Gimbutas etc.), where the alternative is spread of pieces of culture (e.g., language) without mass migration, conquest and all that romantic stuff. At the same time, it is understandable why the tree model prevailed over the wave model in the 19th century when racist preoccupation with genes was important, the wave theory implies that languages and (by the same assumptions as used for the tree models) their users are all mongrels. Levin's comments on the standardisation of Lithuanian (7 June) were a relevant response to Cowan's attempts to criticise the anti-prescriptivist ideology in linguistics. I have just noted that the ideology in the prescriptive/descriptive dichotomy is older than Bloomfield by far, the point at which Cowan stopped. Historical linguists found their "roots" in peasant speech -- hey,this peasant is still using an Indo-European word that has disappeared from the"standard". This humble peasant has preserved our patrimony. Down with the Emperor and his foreign wife! Thus begins the respect for dialects in linguistics (and for a while, for some linguists at least, dialect was not a laughing matter -- many linguists, although they know "better", still have their ingrained amusement at dialects-- ask me about reactions to my New York City accent -- I have to go to Europe beforeI just sound "American", and there many linguists don't even notice I'm "r-less" until I point it out -- amazing! we thought only the British were " r-less"! Well, they're syntacticians, they don't listen to language, they LOOK at it.) Cowan had ignored how standardisation is indeed studied -- maybe he took a narrow view of what counts as linguistics (to issue 2 below). Not to dwell on the sociolinguistic literature on this topic, students of English, at least, still learn how Caxton "axed" what kind of English he should publish in, in conjunction with his "eggs/eyren" anecdote --and we understand that the ensuing cultivation of a literary standard was in the interests of publishers as well as journalists and all those other people who make money from communicating with a diverse and largely anonymous market of readers who wouldbe left out of various subtle turns of phrases (to say the least) if the language merchants had only the resources of a local language/dialect to communicate with. Of course, they wouldn't buy the literature to begin with -- which is why I can't buy Swahili novels at Crown Books (or Barnes and Noble's) In sum, then, Levin reminds us that there is a point to standardisation, while Newman (11 June) reminds us that it doesn't follow that "dialects" have to be disrespected. So why do teachers dis multiple negation, etc? I have always assumed it's due to the same overwork that makes parents tell toddlers not to stick their fingers in light sockets, without giving an explanation beyond "bad! bad! naughty! naughty!" Students being a little older and presumably wiser get the benefit of a little myth like "two negatives make a positive", Don't tell that to the Russians who would probably answer the question about English in Russian with NIkto NE zna-et (NEG-who NEG knows ="nobody /don't/ know-s") The food for thought is that we continue to believe what we were told as children unless we get exposed to contradictory views. But, as I said, telling people that it's OK to use double negatives because Beowulf did is not a smart tactic for linguists to use, and it's not even unconditionally true in a socially contextualised world. The linguist who gives such advice better be prepared for the question: do you tell your own schoolage children that or just other people's children? Levin overlooked something in his claim that God understands all dialects of Lithuanian. That is, as Panini realised (or insisted for his project without dissenting review), God does not understand the Prakrits, hence our ancient intellectual ancestor connected language with religion, and thus with morality, and finally with that greatest of all tyrants, the doctrine of "correctness" (not in the generativist sense of "correctness" of course -- but I don't like that word in any sense -- I feel like I'm in court, what's wrong with "right"?) Thus, I'm curious to know what some American fundametalists make of the King James Bible use of 'DIGGED" for the past tense of (you got it) "DIG". Divine oversight? Immorality???? But I think the right approach is to ASK them, not to TELL them. Anyway, some fundamentalists might ask: what's wrong with that? (I didn't tell it right, but if you chuckled I gotcha because I was appealing to that elitist "snobbishness" about "correct" usage -- think about it, but now you know that I'm not above such base rhetorical devices either, when it suits my purposes -- hey! what's wrong with a little humor once in a while? "How many anti-prescriptivists does it take to change a light bulb?" "That's not funny!!" In discussing the merits of standard English (not my purpose here) Rosenwald (10 June) invokes Labov, unarguably the greatest dialectologist yet (and one who gets annoyed when some linguists giggle at the accents when he plays his tapes at linguistic conferences -- in his presence linguists have been learning to check those unprofessional but previously involuntary impulses). In context, Labov was arguing against the "revolutionary" notion of pushing on BEV-speaking kids in the public schools an artificially concocted would-be-institutionalised BEV that nobody actually speaks. We already have a standard (of sorts). Even more pointedly, he had to deal with the truly "extremist" position that Standard English should be rejected as a school subject in the inner city. His point was that it would be a disservice to withold standard English from the kids (because legitimizing BEV as an acceptable language for public discourse is not likely to succeed outside ofthe BEV community -- and was/is, in fact, problematic WITHIN the Black community.) The "extremist" view, similar in inspiration to 19th c Central European romantic nationalism, has drastically declined. It is at first liberating to learn that your stigmatised language has legitimacy, and that that legitimacy is even acknowledged by some outside experts with academic credentials. But, then, it becomes clear that there is a limit to how far that legitimacy can be pushed before encountering tremendous social resistance with obvious practical consequences -- a separate nation for BEV speakers? Not too many takers for that idea. This episode should not be confused with Labov's earlier defense of BEV in "the logic of nonstandard English", where he showed that logic transcends the language it is spoken in (I think Salkie was making this point in his 13 June message,but mixed with gripes about faulty logic, which I think was directed at prescriptive arguments against pieces of nonstandard language). It was the more-than-minimal success of such papers as Labov's with some educators, many of whom, I suspect, already perceived the truth of the point he was to make but did not have the background or ability to express what Labov expressed, which may have encouraged some linguists to go too far (for the times, much less the present time) in challenging standard English because of its use as a form of oppression, of "gate-keeping" to social privilege, as Erickson and some other ethnographers put it. What to do about it is still a problem. Preaching equality of languages ain't gonna do it. It's easy to see that standard English and BEV ain't equal. What's not so easy is to really understand "why?" Anyway, fly-swatting against the puny arguments of the prescriptivists is easy, but no matter how many arguments you shoot down they'll come up with more -- and society is stacked so the burden of proof is on you to show that anti-prescriptivism is "true". Where Labov was good was that he had the information to PROVE that BEV and its speakers are just as capable of logic as standard English and its institutions (if not more). As I said before, you better know A LOT about the social context of language if you want to go out and be an anti-prescriptivist in public. Labov's efforts were martialled toward a specific point, defending a particular language, he didn't prove anything about anything else. How much work do you think you'll have to do prove ALL languages are "equal". Is that what linguistics is about? (yes/no/maybe/it depends what you mean) To sum up this anti-prescriptive issue, as I see it, my suggestion is that linguists would be well advised to understand the social implications of what they believe (or if they really believe it as members of society) rather than go blindly charging into the public arena with a dogma of anti-prescriptivism which does not take into account the societal underpinnings of the opposed dogma of prescriptivism --and often where the anti-prescriptivist issue comes from, and what the true dimensions of its implications are. As some discussants have noted, we, as linguists, can take a "God-like" view of the equality of all varieties of language in an ASOCIAL context (i.e., in God's "society"),pausing to consider how basic pidgins fit into this view (oh, all FIRST languages, oh but then what about universals and innate features of language -- don't pidgins have them too? And what about my "bad" French? On what authority can ANY French speaker criticise French? So on what basis are all languages equal? Relativist dogma?), but unless we understand how language fits into SOCIETY we cannot begin to communicate with a public which does not have practice in separating its ASOCIAL beliefs about language/s from the SOCIAL forces which shape these beliefs. In fact, just HOW such beliefs about language are intertwined with the fabric of society is amatter for further study, not something that anybody alive knows to satisfaction. This lack of total knowledge should not, indeed must not, deter linguists from speaking out against language-based injustice. Injustice comes in cases. If you got the facts for a particular case go out and defend it. But strangely enough, the "significant" generalisation "all languages are equal" is pretty near useless. Maybe its use is it can lead you to SUSPECT a language injustice is being done, and go get an expert to figure it. [ANS. to one of the questions above when SOCIAL embedding of language is taken into account. French speakers can criticise my French because I call it FRENCH. Anybody want to try ASOCIAL criticism of my French, or better yet,an asocial DEFENSE of my French?] So much for anti-prescriptivism. There's gotta be better stuff in linguistics for the public than that. So next message is "what good is linguistics?" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-717. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-718. Tue 21 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 277 Subject: 5.718 WHAT GOOD IS LINGUISTICS ? Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 18 Jun 94 00:14 PDT From: benji wald Subject: Re: 5.700 Qs: Persian, Popularization of ling, Rhetorical ques, -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 18 Jun 94 00:14 PDT From: benji wald Subject: Re: 5.700 Qs: Persian, Popularization of ling, Rhetorical ques, This is the last part of my comments on the discussion of "popularization of linguistics" It deals with the discussion theme: 2. WHAT GOOD IS LINGUISTICS? (gulp!) So if anti-prescriptivism isn't our treasure for humanity, what is? A MOST STARTLING ISSUE in the list discussion so far. And I can admit it's the one I had in mind when I wrote earlier: "... (or is it an insecurity?) ..." (i.e., not a "real snobbism", whatever that might be -- like "the ignorant public does not realise that all languages are equal" (?) How could they? How many languages do THEY speak/know about?) The startling issue is: "what good is linguistics?" germane to such topics as: should it be instituted as a required part of public education? For linguists to ask this question is quite interesting. Revealing was the variety of opinions about what linguistics is. Some assumed it meant lots of formalism (as if an older formalism of sentence parsing and the like wasn't already part of the curriculum -- to the pleasure of some budding linguists andthe pain of the majority who don't know about "form-class substitution" and what the point of the exercises is, not that their teachers always know, for that matter -- something about recognising dangling participles?). This reminded me of a minority response I have sometimes got to "linguistics!" "linguistics?" Instead of "how many languages do you speak?" it's "OOOH, I HEARD THAT'S HARD." ANYBODY ELSE OUT THERE? (Right, it mainly comes from college students who have heard about it from other college students who took some? introductory course, or heard about itfrom someone else who did, etc. More rarely by someone so impressed by the clarity of Chomsky's political writings that they dared to look untutored at his linguistic writings and were stunned by its "technicality". By the way, there's even a rarer response that goes "LINGUIST. WOW! THAT'S GREAT!" I wish I could characterise the ones who make that response. They're so disorienting I forget to ask why they said that.) I agree with people like Hudson, Teeter and a few others who REALISED that some thing in linguistics should be part of compulsory education. It's the question of WHAT that seemed confused to me. At least for our insular anglocentric societies I think a course that gives some depth on English, historical, and some breadth on its relation to other languages is in order. That would help take the ethnocentric (= ignorant) edge off popular views of language (to some extent) and demystify other languages, at least as manifest in the naive monolingual view that somebody who speaks two or more languages has to be some kind of mental genius. (But of course, it depends WHICH languages, English has to be one of them in the US, and they better speak English right! Could be British English, or its indistinguishables, in fact, British English is even better than American -- makes you sound real authoritative (good for selling expensive cars too) and the other one could be French but not Spanish, but it's gotta be the right French, not Cajun etc., depending on awareness by locale in the US). Of course, if you just speak English but speak it right you might also be mistakenfor a genius, if not a nerd (I think nerds have to wear glasses, though, last time I spot-checked American culture). Anyway, what I have in mind is something simple, like the trade-off between word order and case systems etc. Typological stuff is generally fun and comprehensible, but leave out the stuff about implications -- they don't work anyway. Could even bring some Latin back, but in a good way (I enjoyed Latin in High School, due to my perverse interest in languages, I don't think it's bad that it's gone from most high schools, givenits traditional uses. Latin is no longer necessary as a gate-keeper, standard English does that quite well, as some of the teachers out there have noticed. Latin may have helped me crash the gate. Chemistry sure didn't. I wasn't made aware of my accent until I got to college (and I declined to waste my time having my short a's lowered, they'd probably want a checkup on my long open o's now, make sure they're open enough, and maybe a lube on my postvocalic l's They weren't concerned about r-less-ness yet, Ivy League and all that) but it couldn't have helped in high school. But, my writing wasn't bad at that time, that was before I discovered the parenthetical comment device. It really kills my rhythm, but I don't know how to make footnotes for the ling.list. Also some non-Indo-European languages should be discussed in the compulsory course. In America definitely a sampling of African languages, and I I favor some typological variety there. Swahili, of course, for its morphological complexity. Maybe Yoruba for tones and serial verbs. Anything to deflate the still common myth that African languages must be similar to the popular concept of pidgin English but with different words). Next, Chinese should be demystified, and how different it is from Japanese. Look they put the verb at the end and stillwere able to invent the Walkman. Fun for Chinese would be ABX tests with tonal minimal pairs, among other things. Obviously which languages might be chosen for special mention and/or for hands-on experience should vary by locale, and it could put a lot of linguists towork, including linguists who don't speak the languages natively but can work with people who do (including the students) and apply their field methods tools of analysis to isolate some interesting points of comparison. (A Kenneth Pike in every school! OK, you can look at grammars of the languages,too. This isn't "Field Methods") In multilingual classrooms this could actually allow some students to become stars for a day, instead of objects of ridicule. "Gee, I didn't know you could do that!" LA's a paradise for this. In Hollywood we can do Spanish, Tagalog, Korean, Armenian, Russian hands-on all in the same set of classrooms. I'm talking linguistics and languages, not linguistics and formal systems -- at least until comparison of languages leads up to why formal systems are useful to "capture generalisations" across languages (but let's find a better way to say that for unindoctrinated human beings) .... ISN'T LINGUISTICS ABOUT LANGUAGES? AREN'T WE LUCKY THERE ARE DIFFERENT LANGUAGES SO THAT WE DON'T LIVE UNDER THE ILLUSION THAT ALL LANGUAGES ARE LIKE ENGLISH (OR THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH THEM)? WHAT'S THE PROBLEM? SHOULDN'T EVERYBODY KNOW THIS STUFF? WHY NOT? Don't tell them how great linguistics and LANGUAGES are. SHOW them. Believe me, everybody loves dialect stuff. Don't I milk mine too? And then the dialect stuff should be explained historically. Includes reading guys who couldn't get out of sixth grade now, but for some strange reason are still published. Look, Caxton, the most literate man of his time (in England) and inspirer of "correct English" -- a "practical" invention, not God's language --Caxton said/wrote "axe" for "ask", etc. etc. Guess why we don't write like that anymore? Hand in imaginative essays on Friday. Monday we discuss thevarious ideas and Tuesday we compare them with some other views. You think that's gonna bore kids? I think you're wrong. (the cynics anticipate pupils arguing: well,Caxton would have WROTE it that way, so why can't I? Not to mention his lousy spelling. Why you can't is next week, so don't be sick. I guess Maxwell is suggesting that some linguists need to take this course too, or is it Maxwell who needs this course? Actually the cynics are saying, if you hand in the essays on Friday and we have to discuss them in class on Monday you'll ruin my weekend.) Here I have dwelled particularly on Anglocentric societies, but I think whatever the society, "monolingual" or multilingual, linguistics has enough to offer to make an elementary course (and more) -- and an interesting one (it HAS TO be, otherwise forget it). What in particular it has to offer will obviously depend on the society -- it won't be all the same things in all societies. The important point is that this should be done as LINGUISTICS, NOT as a feed from linguistics to some other discipline, where it inevitably gets distorted according to the interests of that field. Those linguists who have had the contact to learn what happens to linguistic concepts in other disciplines know what I'm talking about. Just one more note on American society. In discussing the Latinate vocabulary in English, it would be of interest to point out that many words which sound fancy and impressive in English are related to ordinary everyday words in Spanish (a low-prestige language, unfortunately, in the US). My favorite is Spanish "equivocar" ("to make a mistake"), an elementary word, while "equivocate" (admittedly with a somewhat different meaning) is not encountered by most English speakers until graduate school, if then. I mention this because some upwardly mobile Mexican American high school students I once spoke with were ashamed of the "slang" Spanish they spoke with their elders, but wanted to take French rather than (standard) Spanish for their language requirement (they recognised the prestige). (But in French you don't "equivocate", you "deceive yourself", not impressive-sounding in English,despite its semantic insight and peculiar morality). In the old days Latin was often justified on the basis that the roots would give English speakers greater access to learned words. Spanish could serve just as well with the additional benefit ofintroducing the notions of sound correspondences and sound change (not that it's not simpler to just teach Latin and Greek roots as pieces of English word formation). Anyway,sound correspondences and linguistic change is also of interest to English dialectology -- like why "cot" and "caught" are spelled differently, quite opaque to the current youth in LA, but obvious to New Yorkers. At the same time, it's lower class to distinguish "witch" and "which" in LA. The lower classes lose again in the ever-changing concerns over the minutiae of the standard! (What! the lower classes make the distinction naturally, then we gotta stop trying to teach it to our "better" students! Where do they still teach this big deal of early twentieth century prescriptivism? See, the standard is not always conservative (in the linguistic sense). And,by the way, what ever happened to the righteous indignation over "hopefully" as a clause adverbial? A favorite media target in the early 1980s) Meanwhile, many high schools in New York are doing whatever they can to make the distinction between "cot" and "caught" opaque to their students (in favor of the vowel of "cot", of course) I'm almost tired, but a comment on Fowler (12 June) seems necessary. Fowler's comment on the need to separate essentials from jargon was valuable, and the example was instructive. However, I don't think that I don't think it was as clear as he seemed to think. First, linguists who talk like his quote demonstrate the problem of HOW TO TALK TO THE PUBLIC. Maybe linguists who can't help talking that way about language should be isolated from the public and stick to the valuable theoretical work they do, rather than being exposed to the public where they run the risk of "depopularising" linguistics and increasing the discouraging "WOW! THAT'S HARD" reaction. Do they think the public is impressed if they use big incomprehensible words to describe some current (or I will suggest even out-moded) linguistic bugaboo, as if that's really gonna legitimise it? I think not. Americans, at least, are not that trustful of "authority" -- even in language. For example, they don't believe me when I tell them "between you and I" is "wrong" (yeah, some things even bug me when I'm off guard -- only kidding, I use it to tease when I think I can get away with it,I'll never admit I really hate it). Why do teenagers use "like"? As far as I can tell, the question was coming from the stereotyped 1960s-70s use which is not so common anymore, as in he's LIKE always complaining Your stereotyped hippie used it. Check out period movies, since you may have to wait a long time before you can jump on your modern teenager for using it. The linguists' answer about QUOTATIVES was coming from a related but newer (1980s-present) and ubiquitous (age-graded but common up to at least mid 30s) as in "so I'm LIKE, what's he complaining about?" What both uses have in common is the use of "like" as a mitigator, through its use for comparison, marking the correspondence as hypothetical, not precise. (Which use is it in "Mercury is LIKE a liquid metal"?) In the old use its most common function is "I'm not stating my proposition precisely -- BUT I DON'T HAVE TO BECAUSE YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN (IF YOU'RE ONE OF US)" The quotative use is similar ("don't hold me literally to what I'm saying"),but with narrower scope disclaims that the quote is exact - or even that there was anyspeech to report at all -- it is often used to represent what the reported actor gestured or THOUGHT (thus, quite often the reporter actor is "I" the speaker) BUT MIGHT HAVE SAID IF I//S/HE HAD SAID ANYTHING. So, to the extent that I understand the example of the question and the response there was still miscommunication -- to the extent that there was communication at all. Were the linguists younger than the radio commentator who asked the question (or just less prone to drag older stereotypes out of the files)? I hope they at least "corrected" the commentator that it's (sic!) not only teenagers who use it. OK. I just blew this whole night with this thing! Last word on what good is linguistics? You figure it out. Here are the clues. Languages are good (we as a species and in any other way you want to look at it NEED it) Linguistics is about languages (right? right? Oh it's about "language" that's different?) What else do you need? Linguistics MUST BE good, but then you knew that all along, didn't you? So I'm through. REMINDER: so WHAT'S YOUR CASUAL (AND/OR SHORT) ANSWER TO "WHAT'S LINGUISTICS?" Benji --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-718. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-719. Tue 21 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 130 Subject: 5.719 The popularization of linguistics Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 13 Jun 94 18:08:53 EDT From: Mail Delivery Subsystem (by way of Donald.Hook@mail.trincoll.edu (Donald Hook)) Subject: Returned mail: User unknown 2) Date: Mon, 20 Jun 94 10:11:08 From: pesetsk@MIT.EDU (David Pesetsky) Subject: Re: 5.709 The popularization of linguistics -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 13 Jun 94 18:08:53 EDT From: Mail Delivery Subsystem (by way of Donald.Hook@mail.trincoll.edu (Donald Hook)) Subject: Returned mail: User unknown From: Donald.Hook@mail.trincoll.edu (Donald Hook) Subject: Your Linguist List Comments content-length: 964 As a linguist now retired after 37 years of teaching that subject as well as German language and literature, I have watched prescriptivism get a bad name because it strikes most linguists as simply the opposite of descriptivism, which it certainly isn't. The two can, and do, co-exist. Be on the lookout for my article, "Prescriptive Observations of Tense and Mood in English," scheduled now, after having been accepted three years ago, for the fall issue of IRAL. "There is" for correct "there are" when the complement (not object) is plural is not dialectal. It began as a Germanism (_es gibt_ + acc., but not _es ist, sind_ + nom.) but fell victim to the confusion caused by an expletive in subject position. My students since the Revolution of '68 never could get it straight. I predict that "there is" followed by a singular or plural complement will be formalized as correct in 2002. Cheers. D.D. Hook Professor _emeritus_ Trinity College, Hartford -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Mon, 20 Jun 94 10:11:08 From: pesetsk@MIT.EDU (David Pesetsky) Subject: Re: 5.709 The popularization of linguistics In the month or so since Safire's column on linguistics appeared in the Sunday magazine section of The New York Times, they have printed no letters whatsoever in reply to that column. Here is a letter that my colleague Alec Marantz and I wrote -- our one chance to save our contribution to the popularization of linguistics from the dustbin of history. Please note that we even followed The New York Times's favored capitalization pattern (uppercase definite article), and yet they still didn't print it: Letters to the Editor The New York Times Magazine 229 W. 43rd St. New York, NY 10036 To the editor: We "Chomskian" linguists have read and reread William Safire's Mothers Day column about our field, but we still can't figure out his beef with linguistics. The column supposedly concerns the debate over whether the use of *simplified* language by caregivers to infants ("motherese") is important to the course of language acquisition. Many studies suggest no; Mr. Safire says yes. What makes Safire stick to his guns? A study that purports to show that kids need more sophisticated input in order to improve their ability to "speak and write intelligently and do better in life"! Mr. Safire paints linguistics as a field that "dumps on mothers". But the major lesson to be learned from linguistics about being a parent is actually a very nice one: talk to your child, have fun doing it, and *relax*. Exposure to language in early childhood is essential to a child's normal development, but the picky details of what you say and how you say it are not. Consequently, we think that Motherese is, at worst, harmless. Safire, on the other hand, warns parents to be really careful how they talk to their kids -- lest their kids miss that crucial chance to do better in life. Now who's the real Grinch that stole Mother's Day? Sincerely, Prof. David Pesetsky Prof. Alec Marantz Massachusetts Institute of Technology -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-719. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-720. Tue 21 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 118 Subject: 5.720 Unknown Language Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 22:22 +0100 (MET) From: TWEE@alf.let.uva.nl Subject: spocanian summary -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 22:22 +0100 (MET) From: TWEE@alf.let.uva.nl Subject: spocanian summary ---== AN UNKNOWN LANGUAGE ==--- I posted a [semi-]query two months back asking for some morphosyntactic and semantic information concerning a number of data from the "unknown" language X. It was neither my intention to ridicule linguistics (why should I? It is my own profession and pastime) nor to make a fool of linguists, in the hope that they would waste their valuable time and put their reputation at stake in an attempt to identify the nature of language X. I was of an opinion that IF a reader of my message would feel inclined to answer my questions, (s)he at least would have some doubts concerning the existence of X. And indeed, most respondents apprehended that there was something "wrong" with X, judging by remarks like "I don't think these data come from a natural language", "This is wonderful! Especially if language X really exists [..]", "'Money' is 'smurf'? Smurf??? Pull the other one!", "So what is the real answer?", "But what is the point of the game? I hope you'll post the solution on the List soon", "I would be grateful if you can vouch for the data (genuine not invented) [..]", "Yours skeptically, [..]", "[..] the end of your message implicates that you know what it [=X] is". My intention was for you to take part in the game, and in doing so I preferred unprejudiced answers, without the reader being sure that X is an invention. Therefore I chose to withold the fact that there is *no* community in the world where language X actually is, or ever has been, spoken. And so I naturally could not reveal X's real name: Spocanian (no relation with the town Spokane in the state of Washington). Unlike its predecessors (and probably also its descendants) which either are constructed as a worldwide lingua franca, or are invented as an inherent part of some novel or film, Spocanian was constructed for the sake of the language itself. This does not mean that this language is an isolated phenomenon. Since it is my principle that the language should look as natural as possible (this was in fact tested by my query), I cannot deny the existence of a culture, religion, climate, geography, history and so on, all things affecting the lexicon and probably also the syntax of any natural language. That is why Spocanian is spoken in Spocania, by Spocanians. The whole concept has attracted a lot of attention in the Dutch, Belgian and Scandinavian media, though there the emphasis has always been more on the history, geography, culture and tourist attractions of Spocania than on its language, due to the general opinion that language is boring, let alone linguistics (see also the current discussion in linguist about the "popularization/popularisation of linguistics"). Spocanian is the result of almost 35 years of playing around with grammar rules and etymology, and is not intended as a follow-up of a language like Esperanto. In fact, Spocanian is not able to be this, for its morphology, syntax, pragmatics, pronunciation and lexicon are too complex and have an undesirable quantity of irregularities, as seems to be inherent in most natural languages. At this moment, its grammar consists of approx. 1500 pages, and its dictionary contains over 25,000 entries, with a lot of idiom, proverbs and untranslatable words (often referring to Spocanian culture). My only problem is: art and literature are commonly accepted as products of creativity and intuition. They are regarded as autonomous, and are thus suitable as an object of study. A language like Spocanian, however, is *not* commonly accepted as such, and the question whether it can be an object of study is [still] controversial. Those who have analysed my Spocanian data in my query have contributed to my attempts to get Spocanian accepted as a serious creative product. Many of my colleagues in the Department of General Linguistics at the University of Amsterdam do take a serious interest in Spocania[n], balanced by both humour and criticism. This attitude has encouraged me to send out my query, although I am aware that not everyone will appreciate my approach of the Spocanian concept. Still, I did not receive any unfavourable reactions in this respect, apart from a well-known linguist in Holland (aware that language X was Spocanian), who thought that "I had gone too far" by posting my E-mail query. I received 8 answers in total, and let me first thank the following people for their responses: Carl Alphonce alphonce@cs.ubc.ca Picus Sizhi Ding picus.ding@anu.edu.au Jacques Guy j.guy@trl.oz.au Hartmut Haberland hartmut@ruc.dk Kate Kearns k.kearns@csc.canterbury.ac.nz Erika Mitchell ejmitchell@lcc.stonehill.edu John Nerbonne nerbonne@let.rug.nl Hella Olbertz hella@alf.let.uva.nl and all my colleagues who preferred a personal communication rather than sending an E-mail. The summary in which I will discuss the answers I received on the questions in my query, and in which I would like to tell more about Spocania and its language, cannot be posted here, due to its length. However, it is retrievable from the listserv: send the command get mystery txt linguist to: listserv@tamvm1.tamu.edu Rolandt Tweehuysen University of Amsterdam, Dept of General Linguistics E-mail : twee@alf.let.uva.nl snail mail: Postbus 3774, 1001 AN Amsterdam, Netherlands ---==||==--- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-720. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-721. Tue 21 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 142 Subject: 5.721 Calls: Nordic and General Ling. & Scandinavian, Applied Ling Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 12:41:13 From: kjartan.ottoson@inl.uio.no (Kjartan Ottoson) Subject: Confs: Nordic and General Ling. & Scandinavian Conf. of Linguistics 2) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 94 10:48 PDT From: Issues in Applied Linguistics Subject: call for papers -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 12:41:13 From: kjartan.ottoson@inl.uio.no (Kjartan Ottoson) Subject: Confs: Nordic and General Ling. & Scandinavian Conf. of Linguistics First announcement and call for papers THE IXTH CONFERENCE OF NORDIC AND GENERAL LINGUISTICS January 11-12, 1995 and THE XVTH SCANDINAVIAN CONFERENCE OF LINGUISTICS January 13-15, 1995 at the University of Oslo, Norway Participants who wish to present papers or to suggest workshops/special sessions are invited to submit titles and one-page abstracts before September 15, 1994. If you suggest a workshop, please indicate responsible organizer. Correspondence can be addressed to For the Nordic conference: Ruth Vatvedt Fjeld or Kjartan Ottosson or Arne Torp Department of Scandinavian Studies and Comparative Literature University of Oslo P. O. Box 1013 Blindern N-0315 Oslo E-mail: r.f.vatvedt@inl.uio.no Telephone: 47-22854385 kjartaot@hedda.uio.no 47-22856931 arne.torp@inl.uio.no 47-22856705 Fax: 47-22857100 For the Scandinavian conference: Inger Moen or Hanne Gram Simonsen or Helge L|drup Department of Linguistics University of Oslo P. O. Box 1102 Blindern N-0317 Oslo E-mail: ingerm@hedda.uio.no Telephone: 47-22854264 hannegs@hedda.uio.no 47-22854182 helgelo@hedda.uio.no 47-22854831 Fax: 47-22856919 Registration form THE IXTH CONFERENCE OF NORDIC AND GENERAL LINGUISTICS January 11-12, 1995 Name: Phone: Address: Fax: E-mail: I intend/do not intend to present a paper of 20 minutes duration (please underline) Title of paper: I suggest the following workshop: Responsible organizer of the workshop: (Mailing address: THE IXTH CONFERENCE OF NORDIC AND GENERAL LINGUISTICS, Department of Scandinavian Studies and Comparative Literature, University of Oslo, P. O. Box 1013 Blindern, N-0315 Oslo, Norway) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 94 10:48 PDT From: Issues in Applied Linguistics Subject: call for papers CALL FOR PAPERS for a special thematic issue of ISSUES IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS, the journal published by UCLA's department of TESL and Applied Linguistics: "SOCIOLINGUISTICS AND LANGUAGE MINORITIES" Topics: Language and Culture, Discourse Analysis, Language Socialization, Bilingual Education, Language Assessment, Indigenous Languages, Language Policy, Language Analysis Book reviews on similar themes are also welcome. ISSUES IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS is a refereed journal published by UCLA's Department of TESL and Applied Linguistics. Graduate students are particularly encouraged to submit. Manuscripts should be no longer than 30 double- spaced pages, including tables. DEADLINE: DECEMBER 15, 1994 Send four copies of your paper plus a macintosh computer disk to Betsy Kreuter and Susan Strauss Co-Editors Issues in Applied Linguistics UCLA Department of TESL and Applied Linguistics 3300 Rolfe Hall Los Angeles, CA 90024 E-mail: IHW1037@mvs.oac.ucla.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-721. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-722. Wed 22 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 107 Subject: 5.722 Qs: Congres mondial IVG, References, Morphology & syntax Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 13:26:27 -0700 (PDT) From: Catherine Caws Subject: congres mondial IVG 2) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 12:09:44 -0500 (CDT) From: Michael Earl Darnell Subject: bibliographic references 3) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 16:22:03 +0200 From: Rainald Menge Subject: Morphology <-> Syntax -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 13:26:27 -0700 (PDT) From: Catherine Caws Subject: congres mondial IVG Dans les Actes du seminaire international sur la phraseologie qui s'est deroule a Hull en 1993, on parle d'un congres mondial qui sera organise a Vancouver, BC, par l'IVG..... Quelqu'un saurait-il ce que IVG represente, de quelle organisation il s'agit et a quelle periode aura lieu ce congres? Si oui veuillez me repondre directement a: roulleau@unixg.ubc.ca Merci mille fois a l'avance, Catherine Caws UBC, Vancouver] Canada roulleau@unixg.ubc.ca -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 12:09:44 -0500 (CDT) From: Michael Earl Darnell Subject: bibliographic references Hello to all, I'm sending this plea out across the net. We are correcting some proofs for an upcoming book on Word Order in Discourse. One of our authors has left out two references from his/her paper and has been unreachable for these corrections. I have checked all of the places I can think of and the people at the reference desk in our library run the other way when I walk in. (Perhaps the cites are incorrectly done). Anyway, Enkvist and Warvik, 1987 --- this cite appears to have something to do with coordination in verb-final languages. Liddel and Scott, 1940 --- this cite appears to relate to an issue of coordination vs. subordination in Ancient Greek. Any possibilities, suggestions, or pure guesses would be helpful, since this is all we have to go on. Thanks in advance and please reply directly to me. Mike Darnell darnell@csd4.csd.uwm.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 16:22:03 +0200 From: Rainald Menge Subject: Morphology <-> Syntax I am going to write a paper about the connection between Morphology and Syntax. I want to cover connection such as: - Theta roles - Gouvernment and Binding I also want to investigate processes which turn Syntactic forms into Morphological ones and the other way round like - a lot -> alot - some body -> somebody ( I don't know if the process can be turned around) Is anyone experienced in this field, and can help me either with a bibliography or hints or ftp-sites with papers... Thank you, - Rainald +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Rainald Menge, Cologne | Speed kills, use Windows! | |rmenge@spinfo1.uni-koeln.de | Double your HD-space, delete Windows! | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-722. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-723. Wed 22 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 105 Subject: 5.723 FYI: N L Software Registry on 3W, Institute of Linguistics Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 20 Jun 94 12:47:46 +0200 From: registry@dfki.uni-sb.de (The Software Registry) Subject: Natural Language Software Registry on 3W 2) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 94 10:14:30 +0200 From: panther!jaguar!mzam@relay.iunet.it (Mr. Martin Zammit) Subject: Institute of Linguistics - University of Malta -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 20 Jun 94 12:47:46 +0200 From: registry@dfki.uni-sb.de (The Software Registry) Subject: Natural Language Software Registry on 3W ******************* Natural Language Software Registry ******************* Dear Netters, the Natural Language Software Registry (NLSR) is pleased to announce the availability of its famous Registry on the DFKI Beta Online Research 3W Server. The URL is: http://cl-www.dfki.uni-sb.de/cl/registry/draft.html The NATURAL LANGUAGE SOFTWARE REGISTRY is a concise summary of the capabilities and sources of language processing software available to researchers. It comprises academic, commercial, and proprietary software, with theory, specifications, and terms on which it can be acquired clearly indicated. The second edition contains about one hundred software descriptions. If you have written a system dealing with natural language and if you want to contribute to the third version of our registry (which can make your work popular since it is distributed all over the world), you'll have to fill in the text questionnaire which is also available on the Web server. Soon, there will be an implementation of an ** interactive questionnaire ** in order to give you a user friendly tool to contribute to our Registry. The document and the questionnaire are also available by anonymous ftp to - ftp.dfki.uni-sb.de (directory: pub/registry), - crlftp.nmsu.edu (directory: pub/non-lexical/NL_Software_Registry) - dri.cornell.edu (directory: /pub/Natural_Language_Software_Registry/ or /pub/NLSR) - svr-ftp.eng.cam.ac.uk (directory: /pub/comp.speech/info/ NaturalLanguageSoftwareRegistry) Sincerely, Christoph Jung, Markus Vonerden Natural Language Software Registry Deutsches Forschungszentrum fuer Kuenstliche Intelligenz (DFKI) Stuhlsatzenhausweg 3 D-66123 Saarbruecken Germany phone: +49 (681) 303-5282 e-mail: registry@dfki.uni-sb.de -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 94 10:14:30 +0200 From: panther!jaguar!mzam@relay.iunet.it (Mr. Martin Zammit) Subject: Institute of Linguistics - University of Malta For the information of the linguist community: This Institute aims at promoting and co-ordinating research in Linguistics in the description of particular and in applied linguistics and wishes to develop contacts and co-operation with interested local bodies outside the University of Malta working within the field of language and speech impairment. The Institute aims at promoting the use of the language laboratory as an aid in the teaching of foreign languages to both University and non-university students. One of the Institute's chief objectives is to develop inter- national contacts with similar university institutions abroad, especially those with an interest in Mediterranean heritage. mzam@unimt.mt -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-723. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-724. Wed 22 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 195 Subject: 5.724 Protolanguage Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 14 Jun 1994 11:29:35 +1000 (EST) From: j.guy@trl.oz.au (Jacques Guy) Subject: Protolanguage again (sigh) -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 14 Jun 1994 11:29:35 +1000 (EST) From: j.guy@trl.oz.au (Jacques Guy) Subject: Protolanguage again (sigh) Some readers will not have failed to notice blatant contradictions between Trey Jones's answer and mine to Mark Durie and concluded "well, so there". There are no contradictions. We have each answered differently because we have read different meanings into the objection presented. Consider this exchange: Durie: >By Jacques Guy's method, even one of the daughter languages could be >a protolanguage, with 100% retention of vocabulary. Jones: >That is entirely correct. Me: >No. The daughter language is evidently not the protolanguage. Trey Jones interpreted Mark Durie's objection in mathematical terms: if two languages are lexicostatistically identical they are represented by the same point in the tree and they are the same. Correct, of course. I interpreted the same objection like the linguist I once was would have, for whom "daughter language" and "protolanguage" immediately conjure up notions of dates, and for whom Dick and his great-grandfather Harry are not the same person even though they are the spit image of each other, and, accordingly, I answered "No. The daughter language is evidently not the protolanguage; but they look the same." Durie: >Guy's 'proof' that the root can be placed in infinitely >many places only works on the assumption of infinitely >arbitrary variations in vocabulary replacement rates. Trey Jones has read "infinity" in its strict mathematical sense, in its context: graphs, arcs, hence the number of points on an arc; vocabulary replacement -- or retention -- expressed by a real number in the range 0 to 1, of which there are exactly as many as points on an arc. He has supplied the missing bits and ignored the irrelevant ones, thus reading something like: >Guy's 'proof' that the root can be placed in infinitely >many places only works on the assumption of infinitely >many different possible proportions of replaced/retained >vocabulary from 0 to 1. And, accordingly, he has answered, rightly, "Yes". Whereas I have puzzled over "infinitely arbitrary", which means... search me, and spotted "replacement rates" which do not enter in the proof at all, and, accordingly, and rightly too, I have answered "No". One valid comment, however, could have been that the root cannot be placed in infinitely many places because, lexicon being finite, sample wordlists can only consist of a finite number of items, so that there is only a finite number of distinct points in a lexicostatistical tree. But it changes nothing to the fact that the root can be any of those points, terminal nodes included. It is not the number of possible places where the protolanguage could be which is important, but that the protolanguage could be anywhere at all. Reminds me of the incident which led me to study statistics. It was around 1974, when I had just learnt programming and was cutting my ALGOL teeth on lexicostatistics. I had discovered a promising article by Wilhelm Milke in Lingua (1965) but could make neither head nor tail of it, not even the mathematical notation. So I did the thing any linguist would have done. With a photocopy of Milke's paper in my hot little hand, I went to our consultant statistician, and asked what it meant. She started reading and a smile lit up her face. As she read on the smile grew wider and wider. Until she burst out in a peal of laughter. Still flushed, she looked at me in a very peculiar way and asked: "Is that what you people believe?". Every year still brings its contingent of fresh nuts who have trisected the angle and squared the circle. Every year still brings its fresh harvest of factorial analyses, minimum-spanning trees, multidimensional scaling, linear programming and whatnot perorating on anything from Proto-Abelam to Proto-Zyryan, _without_the_slightest_regard_for_the_ properties_of_the_data_and_whether_those_methods_are_appropriate. (Has anyone tried fluid dynamics yet? No? Never mind, have chaos theory instead. Quantum cryptography is not bad, either. Neural nets are good, too. Petri nets, however, are no longer fashionable. Implement it all in LISP, or at the very least, in new, improved, C Triple++ with enzymes -- the beasties eat bugs) Some may turn to the extremes I cited, Icelandic and Muyuw, and say: "Oddballs." We do not know that. The number of languages for which we have dated documentary evidence is extremely small compared to those for which we have not, or which have disappeared without trace. Further, those languages for which we have evidence are all characterized by an old written tradition (encore une Lapalissade! If they were not, we would have no evidence, would we now?). Therefore they are not a representative sample. Short of Dr Who's time machine, whatever we may say about the past retention rates of the overwhelming majority of languages necessarily begs the question, and no amount of obfuscation will change that. The languages I used in my proof, at any rate (Alpha, Bravo, etc.), are witness enough. They are the very set of real languages of the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) which led me to question the principles and methods of glottochronology some twenty years ago. I *knew*, by gut-feeling, by seat-of-the pants knowledge, that "Foxtrot", the subject of my Ph.D. thesis, learnt the hard way, in a monolingual situation, was an extremely close relative of the other languages of Espiritu Santo, even though lexicostatistics gave it as distant as the languages of New Caledonia, even though it was phonologically aberrant and syntactically non-Austronesian, with holophrastic tendencies worthy of Amerindian languages and internal noun inflections worthy of Semitic. Not to mention its seven degrees of deixis. Indeed, upon reading the transcription of my first tape, one of my supervisors had said: "That is Papuan". But back to Foxtrot: Alpha -830-----:-919-----:-972-----:-947-----: Bravo -770-----' | | | Charlie -----829-----------' | | Delta -----795-----------:-949-----' | Echo -----755-----------' | Foxtrot -----567-----------:-883-----:-895-----' Golf -----759-----------' | Hotel ----------772----------------' Wherever you put the protolanguage, you have widely divergent retentions and you can tell absolutely nothing about the dates of the splits, and, therefore, about the retention rates. If Foxtrot and Golf split 1000 years ago, then their respective retention rates were 56.7% and 75.9% per thousand years. Two thousand years ago, 75.3% and 87.1%. Five hundred years ago 32.1% and 57.6%. In fact, from toponymy and oral traditions, I would not be surprised at all if Foxtrot and Hotel had split only two or three hundred years ago! Grab your calculators: if Foxtrot split from Hotel 300 years ago, it has retained 0.567x0.883 of their common vocabulary over 0.3 millennia: 0.567x0.883=0.501, whence estimated retention rate for Foxtrot: 10% per thousand years. Do the same for Hotel: 42.2%. Why do I pick Foxtrot and Hotel rather than Foxtrot and Golf? I said "toponymy and oral traditions". They show that Foxtrot speakers lived originally right next door to Hotel. Golf, incidentally, is the language of Chief Buluk, once host to Jimmy Stephens' Nagriamel Movement, and is a variety of *that* language with the phonemic contrast between apico-alveolar s and lamino-alveolar s. (Yes, another weirdo. Those islands are full of them). Hard to believe but true, Golf shares no phonological innovations with Foxtrot. Yet I have not the slightest doubt that the "nutcracker proof" will make no difference whatsoever. First, from experience, it is most unlikely to get published. It has proved impossible to get the text of my 1983 Dunedin paper, which dealt with the mathematics and methodology of glottochronology, published. At the closest it came to publication, referees demanded emasculations, I carried them out, and then it fell into a black hole. Fashion, at any rate, demands length, padding, and thick bibliographies, not half-page proofs. Second, I doubt the observation and the proof are original, so simple they are. So they must have been discovered and presented before, and buried and forgotten. History repeating itself, they will be buried and forgotten once more. Third, their acceptance means writing off everything not backed up by dated historical or archaeological evidence, and eating humble pie from the hand of archaeologists, historians, botanists.... Gone would be the days of factorial analysis, multidimensional scaling, arcane manipulations and sleights of hand that dazzle the gaping audiences and cut a solid rut into that tenure track. The usual gravy train. You do not stand in the way of a train, whether coal or manure-powered. Good luck and a field day, then, to the Cavalli-Sforzas, Greenbergs, Marrs and other Dyen, Kruskal and Blacks. How long can linguistics ride on the coat-tails of mathematics in blissful ignorance? As long as astrology can on the coat-tails of astronomy. I would not hold my breath. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-724. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-725. Wed 22 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 42 Subject: 5.725 Sum: Another one spoon Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 15:55 EST From: HORNING@argo.acs.oakland.edu Subject: another one spoon-summary and thanks -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 15:55 EST From: HORNING@argo.acs.oakland.edu Subject: another one spoon-summary and thanks Thanks to all who responded to my query about the child language example in which a child asks for "another one spoon". Since more than one person asked for the same information when I got it, I thought I would post the full correct citation. The exchange comes from a paper by Martin D.S. Braine as follows: "On Two Types of Models of the Internalization of Grammars" which appeared in Dan Slobin's edited collection, The Ontogenesis of Grammar: A Theoretical Symposium, published in 1971 by Academic Press (New York). The paper appears on pages 153-186, with the relevant dialogue discussed on p. 160-161. The child's actual phrase, by the way is "...other one spoon." Since Braine is describing a conversation with his own child, I assume this is the full and accurate source. I had many respondents from as far away as Cape Town and British Columbia s as well as in the US. Thanks again. Alice Horning -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-725. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-726. Wed 22 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 98 Subject: 5.726 TOC: Natural Lang and Ling Theory Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace ---------------------------Note---------------------------------------- We publish the tables of contents of current journal issues if they are reduced to 20 lines or less; and we maintain journal backlists on our listserv. Our resources, however, do not allow us to post the tables of contents of books; and we prefer to post working paper TOC's only when the issue seems to contain information otherwise difficult to find. Working paper TOC's must be reduced to 15 lines. Available journal backlists include: LI lst (Linguistic Inquiry) compling lst (Computational Linguistics) NALA lst (Natural Language and Linguistic Theory) To retrieve a backlist, send the message: get linguist Ex: get LI lst linguist to listserv@tamvm1.tamu.edu (Internet) or listserv@tamvm1 (Bitnet) -------------------------Table of Contents-------------------------------- NATURAL LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTIC THEORY VOLUME 17, ISSUE 3 Hub Prust, Remko Scha and Martin van den Berg / Discourse Grammar and Verb Phrase Anaphora Stephen J. Barker / The Consequent-Entailment Problem for Even If Mark Johnson / Two Ways of Formalizing Grammars The aims and scope, instructions for authors, and ordering information for this journal, as well as a complete listing of past and forthcoming tables of contents are available free of charge via our anonymous ftp server at ftp.std.com in the directory Kluwer/journals/linguistics. Published by Kluwer Academic Publishers email: emkluwer@world.std.com (for NA), Services@wkap.nl (for Rest of World) Fax: (31)-78-183273, Tel: (31)-78-524400, P.O.Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-726. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-727. Wed 22 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 64 Subject: 5.727 TOC: Reading and Writing Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace ---------------------------Note---------------------------------------- We publish the tables of contents of current journal issues if they are reduced to 20 lines or less; and we maintain journal backlists on our listserv. Our resources, however, do not allow us to post the tables of contents of books; and we prefer to post working paper TOC's only when the issue seems to contain information otherwise difficult to find. Working paper TOC's must be reduced to 15 lines. Available journal backlists include: LI lst (Linguistic Inquiry) compling lst (Computational Linguistics) NALA lst (Natural Language and Linguistic Theory) To retrieve a backlist, send the message: get linguist Ex: get LI lst linguist to listserv@tamvm1.tamu.edu (Internet) or listserv@tamvm1 (Bitnet) -------------------------Table of Contents-------------------------------- READING AND WRITING VOLUME 6, ISSUE 2 P. T. Sowden and J. Stevenson / Beginning reading strategies in children experiencing contrasting teaching methods 109 B. Maughan, A. Hagell, M. Rutter and W. Yule / Poor readers in secondary school 125 F. E. Tonnessen, T. Hoien, I. Lundberg and J. P. Larsen / Immune disorders and dyslexia: A study of asthmatic children and their families 151 V. W. Berninger, A. C. Cartwright, C.M. Yates, H. L. Swanson and R. D. Abbott / Developmental skills related to writing and reading acquisition in the intermediate grades: Shared and unique functional systems 161 C. Golden, M. A. Foley, K. Holtz and R. Lynde / Visualization as a guide for composing 197 The aims and scope, instructions for authors, and ordering information for this journal, as well as a complete listing of past and forthcoming tables of contents are available free of charge via our anonymous ftp server at ftp.std.com in the directory Kluwer/journals/linguistics. Published by Kluwer Academic Publishers email: emkluwer@world.std.com (for NA), Services@wkap.nl (for Rest of World) Fax: (31)-78-183273, Tel: (31)-78-524400, P.O.Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands. LINGUIST List: Vol-5-727. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-728. Wed 22 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 87 Subject: 5.728 New Books: HIL, U. of Melbourne Working Papers Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: 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. Instructions for retrieving publishers' backlists appear at the end of this issue. ------------------------------New Books------------------------------------- All dissertations and conference proceedings of the Holland Institute of Generative Linguistics (HIL), as well the proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Student Organization of Linguistics in Europe are now distributed by Holland Academic Graphics, The Hague. P.O. Box 43540 2504 AM The Hague The Netherlands fax +3170 3231686 e-mail 72113.335@compuserve.com A file with more information on available titles and how to order is available on listserv. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [Moderators' note: after considerable discussion among ourselves, we've decided to revise our policy of not posting contents of working papers. The policy was established in self-defense because there are so many issues of working papers published yearly that we were afraid we couldn't deal with them. But working papers do often contain articles on specialized subjects and/or articles not available anywhere else. So we'll now post working paper contents if the announcement is reduced to book announcement length, i.e. 15 lines, like the announcement below.] University of Melbourne WORKING PAPERS IN LINGUISTICS. Vol. 13, 1993. Available for US$10 + $5 p+p from Dept of Linguistics, Univ of Melbourne, Parkville 3052, Melbourne, Australia (email: indra_kurzeme@muwayf.unimelb.edu.au). J. BOWDEN: On the argument structure of Acehnese causatives A BROTCHIE: Interaction of definiteness with word order & verb agreemt in Bugis A. HARRES: Aspects of medical discourse: a case study of a general practitioner H. KLOMP: The structure of discourse and preferred argument structure H. KREUZ: Hesitation phenomena and modifying devices as regional markers in the speech of east Germans T. MAY: Aspects of repetition I. MUSHIN: The function of direct speech in retelling R. NORDLINGER: The case of the 3rd person object in the Wambaya auxiliary C. THOMAS: The Khmer verb joo? 'take': syntax of serial verb constructions R. TSOKALIDOU: Cracking the code of women and (gentle)men -----------------------How to get a publisher's backlist----------------------- 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 Benjamins) erlbaum lst (Lawrence Erlbaum) kluwer lst (Kluwer Academic Publishers) mouton lst (Mouton de Gruyter) sil lst (Summer Institute of Linguistics) ucp lst (University of Chicago Press) uma-glsa lst (U. of Massachusetts Graduate Linguistics Association) osuwpl lst (Ohio State Working Papers in Linguistics) cornell lst (Cornell University Linguistics Dept.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-728. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-729. Wed 22 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 54 Subject: 5.729 TOC: HISTOIRE EPISTEMOLOGIE LANGAGE Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck Brian Wallace ---------------------------Note---------------------------------------- We publish the tables of contents of current journal issues if they are reduced to 20 lines or less; and we maintain journal backlists on our listserv. Our resources, however, do not allow us to post the tables of contents of books; and we prefer to post working paper TOC's only when the issue seems to contain information otherwise difficult to find. Working paper TOC's must be reduced to 15 lines. Available journal backlists include: LI lst (Linguistic Inquiry) compling lst (Computational Linguistics) NALA lst (Natural Language and Linguistic Theory) To retrieve a backlist, send the message: get linguist Ex: get LI lst linguist to listserv@tamvm1.tamu.edu (Internet) or listserv@tamvm1 (Bitnet) -------------------------Table of Contents-------------------------------- HISTOIRE EPISTEMOLOGIE LANGAGE, Tome 16, fascicule I, 1994. Sylvain Auroux, Editeur -- Presses Universitaires de Vincennes, France ISSN 0750-8069, Single issue: 125 FF, Edited by the SHESL. C. Chauvire Avant-propos S. Haack How the Critical Common-sensist Sees Things L. Haaparanta Charles Peirce and the Drawings of the Mind C. Hookway Iconicity and Logical Form F. Nef Temps, indetermination et modalite, a propos de la doctrine peircienne du futur C. Tiercelin Entre grammaire speculative et logique terministe: la recherche peircienne d'un nouveau modele de la signification et du mental P. Thibaud La notion peircienne de metaphore C. Chauvire Logique et grammaire pure. Propositions, sujets et predicats chez Peirce. The aims and scope, instructions for authors, and ordering information for this journal, as well as a complete listing of past issues are available via anonymous ftp at ftp.linguist.jussieu.fr:/Linguist/URA381 For any information, please send E-Mail to hel@linguist.jussieu.fr. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-729. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-730. Fri 24 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 78 Subject: 5.730 Varia: Sound symbolism, Book prices Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 24 May 1994 16:22:24 -0300 From: WTGORDON@ac.dal.ca Subject: Re: 5.606 Sound symbolism 2) Date: Mon, 13 Jun 1994 12:42:30 +0200 (MET DST) From: Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen Subject: Book prices -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 24 May 1994 16:22:24 -0300 From: WTGORDON@ac.dal.ca Subject: Re: 5.606 Sound symbolism In addition to clang association, sound symbolism, and phonestheme, terminology for the phenomenon includes morpho-semantic fields, root- forming morphemes, ideophones, reduplicatives, homonemes, and lexico- semantic categories. I've always thought it is an important study but probably underdeveloped precisely because scholars with overlapping interests don't always manage to wade through the terminological quagmire. Householder speculated that up to 70% of the English lexicon may be structured through these sub-morphemic units. Among the most interesting recent publications are Lord and Chang in Journal of the Atlantic Provinces Linguistic Association 9 (1987) and Word 43 (1992) with an analysis of the phenomenon in relation to the right radical in Chinese as well as its connection to the ancient Chinese philological study of sheng-xun--etymological investigation through the study of sound. W. Terrence Gordon Dept. of French Dalhousie University Halifax, N.S. Canada B3H 3J5 E-mail: WTGORDON@AC.DAL.CA -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 13 Jun 1994 12:42:30 +0200 (MET DST) From: Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen Subject: Book prices Recently, Penny Lee raised the question of who buys hardcover versions of books. I sent the following reply to her, and she suggested that I sent it to the List: Thank you for raising the question of paperback and hardcover editions. I can tell you that for years the Linguistics Library at the University of Copenhagen has bought the paperback edition of volumes that appeared in both a paperback and a hardcover version. Moreover, the price of some books that appear only in hardcover version is now at a level where we often have to give up buying the books even when they seem relevant. I find it somewhat ironic that the books get more and more expensive while we - not the publishers - do more and more of the work that goes into making the books fit for publication (layout, machinereadable form). Sincerely, Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen eep@cphling.dk IAAS University of Copenhagen Njalsgade 80 DK-2300 Copenhagen S. Denmark -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-730. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-731. Sat 25 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 133 Subject: 5.731 Sum: Quadral number Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 18:48:50 +0000 From: "G.Corbett" Subject: Quadral number (summary) -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 18:48:50 +0000 From: "G.Corbett" Subject: Quadral number (summary) On 16 June 1994 I posted the following query (Vol-5-702): Does anyone know of properly documented instances of languages with quadral number (in addition to a plural) ? Languages with a dual (for two referents) and a trial (for three referents) are well known. There appears to be a small number of languages with a quadral (for four referents). The most promising I have found is Sursurunga; Marshallese is another possible (see references below). In both the quadral forms have unusual properties. There are various references in the literature to other languages with a quadral. Sometimes this is simply a misnomer for plural (that is, the language is claimed to have singular, dual trial and quadral, but it turns out that the the "quadral" is used for four or more, and hence is just a plural). Sometimes the mention of a quadral in a language is carried from writer to writer without any forms being given. So, are there more languages with possible quadrals? And can anyone throw any more light on Sursurunga and Marshallese ? Please reply to me; if there are so many additional languages that I would need a quadral to describe them I will post a summary to the list. References Bender, Byron W. 1969. Spoken Marshallese: an Intensive Language Course with Grammatical Notes and Glossary. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii. Hutchisson, Don. 1986. Sursurunga pronouns and the special uses of quadral number. In: Ursula Wiesemann (ed.) Pronominal Systems (Continuum 5), 217-55. Tuebingen: Narr. Many thanks to all who responded. Three responses provided new information, thus demonstrating why English appears not to need a quadral. Byron Bender (whose grammar is quoted above) gave the following information: "the number specifying suffixes are tacked onto the plural pronouns optionally. One isn't forced into head-counting at every turn. Yet I would say it is quite common to do so in ordinary conversation, with the dual being most frequent and the quadral perhaps least. One factor amplifying the frequency of the quadral is its rhetorical use with groups of more than four, to give an allusion of intimacy: "just among the four of us...." This feature is mentioned in a note on p. 159. The quadral really is a quadral, though, not a mislabelled plural, since there is another suffix in the series -w&j for 'five or more'. Also, of the two dialectal variants for the plural suffix, one is morphologically related to the numeral for 'four'. Emen 'four'; kom-men 'the four of you', kem-men 'the four of us', etc." bender@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu Two people drew attention to sign language: "American Sign Language (ASL) does have dual (inclusive and exclusive), trial, quadral, ?pental (THE-FIVE-OF-YOU/US) pronouns. There are also non-specific WE (inclusive and exclusive) and Y'ALL pronouns. My suspicion would be that other "well-developed" signed languages (I suggest British Sign, Swedish Sign and French Sign as possibilities) have similarly complex systems." Marina McIntire (mmcintir@lynx.dac.neu.edu) And "ASL (American Sign Language) can easily, and often does, incorporate numbers into verbs. This is aided by the fact that the morphemes meaning 'person' that are used in a great many verbs of movement and position (and their metaphorical extensions) such as 'meet', 'depart', 'be above', 'be popular', etc., are homophonous with morphemes meaning '1': an extended index finger (less frequently thumb) with the other digits closed. The morphemes for numbers from 2 to 5 are composed of an appropriate number of extended digits (in specific sets, not just any [e.g. 3] digits), and 6 through 9 are also represented with single handshapes; all of these handshapes can be incorporated into verbs in the same way as '1'. Number agreement is not mandatory, in that 'three people leave' can use either the '3' morpheme or a more general plural morpheme, but it is not at all uncommon for the specific number to be so incorporated. The 'plural' member of this set has all five digits extended, and it may be difficult to distinguish '5' from 'plural' in many cases. I have not been an active signer or sign linguist for a number of years, so I cannot be sure on this point. I remember a striking instance in which a woman was speaking of raising her four children. She said she had had four different doctors, one for each child; 'one for each child' was signed with a '4' handshape-morpheme on each hand, moving one hand so that the backs of its extended four fingers came into contact with the palmar surfaces of the extended four fingers of the other hand: '4 corresponding to 4'. Other sign languages probably exhibit similar widespread numeral agreement." Mark A. Mandel (mark@dragonsys.com) Thanks again for this; if anyone else has information on quadrals, please get in touch. Greville G. Corbett Department of Linguistic and International Studies University of Surrey Guildford Surrey, GU2 5XH Great Britain email: g.corbett@surrey.ac.uk FAX: +44 483 302605 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-731. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-732. Sat 25 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 219 Subject: 5.732 Confs: EACL-95 Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 15:52:34 +0100 From: Allan Ramsay Subject: EACL-95 -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 15:52:34 +0100 From: Allan Ramsay Subject: EACL-95 REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED REVISED EACL-95 FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS 7th Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics March 27--31, 1995 University College Dublin Belfield, Dublin, Ireland Topics of Interest: Papers are invited on substantial, original, and unpublished research on all aspects of computational linguistics, including, but not limited to, pragmatics, discourse, semantics, syntax, and the lexicon; phonetics, phonology, and morphology; interpreting and generating spoken and written language; linguistic, mathematical, and psychological models of language; language-oriented information retrieval; corpus-based language modeling; machine translation and translation aids; natural language interfaces and dialogue systems; message and narrative understanding systems; and theoretical and applications papers of every kind. Requirements: Papers should describe unique work; they should emphasize completed work rather than intended work; and they should indicate clearly the state of completion of the reported results. A paper accepted for presentation at the EACL Meeting cannot be presented or have been presented at any other meeting with publicly available published proceedings. Papers that are being submitted to other conferences must reflect this fact on the title page. Format for Submission: Authors should submit preliminary versions of their papers, not to exceed 3200 words (exclusive of references). Papers outside the specified length and formatting requirements are subject to rejection without review. Papers should be headed by a title page containing the paper title, a short (5 line) summary and a specification of the subject area. Since reviewing will be "blind", the title page of the paper should omit author names and addresses. Furthermore, self-references that reveal the authors' identity (e.g., "We previously showed (Smith, 1991) ...") should be avoided. Instead, use references like "Smith previously showed (1991) ..." Care should be taken to mask identity in the bibliography by referring to the author's own papers as anonymous. This is especially applicable of unpublished in-house technical reports which are certain to reveal the identity of the author(s). To identify each paper, a separate identification page should be supplied, containing the paper's title, the name(s) of the author(s), complete addresses, a short (5 line) summary, a word count, and a specification of the topic areas. Submission Media: Papers should be submitted electronically or in hard copy to the Program Co-chairs: Steven Abney and Erhard W. Hinrichs Universitaet Tuebingen Seminar fuer Sprachwissenschaft Abt. Computerlinguistik Kleine Wilhelmstr. 113 D-72074 Tuebingen, Germany email: eacl95@sfs.nphil.uni-tuebingen.de Electronic submissions should be either self-contained LaTeX source or plain text. LaTeX submissions must use the ACL submission style (aclsub.sty) retrievable from the ACL LISTSERV server (access to which is described below) and should not refer to any external files or styles except for the standard styles for TeX 3.14 and LaTeX 2.09. A model submission modelsub.tex is also provided in the archive, as well as a bibliography style acl.bst. (Note however that the bibliography for a submission cannot be submitted as separate .bib file; the actual bibliography entries must be inserted in the submitted LaTeX source file.) Hard copy submissions should consist of four (4) copies of the paper and one (1) copy of the identification page. For both kinds of submissions, if at all possible, a plain text version of the identification page should be sent separately by electronic mail, using the following format: title: < title > author: < name of first author > address: < address of first author > ... author: < name of last author > address: < address of last author > abstract: < abstract > content areas: first area >, ... ,< last area > word count: Schedule: Authors must submit their papers by October 20, 1994. Papers received after this date will not be considered. Notification of receipt will be mailed to the first author (or designated author) soon after receipt. Authors will be notified of acceptance by December 23rd 1994. Camera-ready copies of final papers prepared in a double-column format, preferably using a laser printer, must be received by 31 January 1995, along with a signed copyright release statement. The ACL LaTeX proceedings format is available through the ACL LISTSERV. The paper sessions, including student papers, will take place on March 29-31. Student Sessions: There will again be special Student Sessions organized by a committee of (E)ACL graduate student members. (E)ACL student members are invited to submit short papers in any of the topics listed above. The papers will be reviewed by a committee of students and faculty members for presentation in workshop-style sessions and publication in a special section of the conference proceedings. There will be a separate call for papers, available from the ACL LISTSERV or from the chair of the program committee for the student sessions: Thorsten Brants, Universit"at des Saarlandes, Computerlinguistik, D-66041 Saarbr"ucken, Germany, email: thorsten@coli.uni-sb.de. Other Activities: The meeting will include a program of tutorials coordinated by John Nerbonne, Alfa-informatica, Oude Kijk in 't Jatstraat 26, Postbus 716, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, NL-9700 AS Groningen; email: nerbonne@let.rug.nl. Proposals for tutorials may be sent to him. There is no special form. Tutorials are scheduled for March 27-28; registration for tutorials will take place on March 26. Some of the ACL Special Interest Groups may arrange workshops or other activities. Further information may be available from the ACL LISTSERV. Conference Information: The Local Arrangements Committee is chaired by: Allan Ramsay, Department of Computer Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland (phone: (353)-1-7062479, FAX: (353)-1-2687262, email: allan@monkey.ucd.ie) ACL Information: For other information on the ACL more generally, contact Judith Klavans (global) or Mike Rosner (for Europe): Judith Klavans, Columbia University, Computer Science, Room 724, New York, NY 10027, USA; phone: +1-212-939-7120, fax: +1-914-478-1802; email:acl@cs.columbia.edu; Michael Rosner, IDSIA, Corso Elvezia 36, CH-6900 Lugano, Switzerland, email: mike@idsia.ch. General information about the ACL AND electronic membership and order forms are available from the ACL LISTSERV. Information on the ACL is also available through www URL http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~acl/home.html ACL Listserv: LISTSERV is a facility to allow access to an electronic document archive by electronic mail. The ACL LISTSERV has been set up at Columbia University's Department of Computer Science. Requests from the archive should be sent as e-mail messages to listserver@cs.columbia.edu with an empty subject field and the message body containing the request command. The most useful requests are "help" for general help on using LISTSERV, "index acl-l" for the current contents of the ACL archive and "get acl-l " to get a particular file named from the archive. For example, to get an ACL membership form, a message with the following body should be sent: get acl-l membership-form.txt Answers to requests are returned by e-mail. Since the server may have many requests for different archives to process, requests are queued up and may take a while (say, overnight) to be fulfilled. The ACL archive can also be accessed by anonymous FTP. Here is an example of how to get the same file by FTP (user type-in is in bold): $ ftp ftp.cs.columbia.edu Name (cs.columbia.edu:pereira): anonymous Password: pereira@research.att.com << not echoed ftp > cd acl-l/Information ftp > get 94.membership.form.Z ftp > quit $ uncompress 94membership.form.Z -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-732. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-733. Sun 26 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 219 Subject: 5.733 Confs: Tilburg Conference on Rightward Movement Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 15:41:50 +0200 From: D.C.Leblanc@kub.nl -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 15:41:50 +0200 From: D.C.Leblanc@kub.nl Tilburg Conference on Rightward Movement 6-8 October 1994 Tilburg University Tilburg, The Netherlands Preliminary Schedule Thursday, 6 October 10.15 Hubert Haider, Stuttgart University All's well that ends well 11.15 Geron Muller, Tubingen University On Extraposition and Successive-Cyclicity 12.15 Lunch break 13.45 Carl Alphonce and Henry Davis, UBC Motivating Rightward Movement 14.45 Chris Sijtsma, Tilburg University On Rightward Movement and Parsing 15.45 Coffee break 16.15 Craig Thiersch, Tilburg University Alleged Rightward Movement in Navajo 17.15 Satoshi-Stanley Koike, CUNY Leftward Movement in Japanese Relative Clauses 18.15 Richard Kayne, CUNY Relative Clauses and Related Matters Friday, 7 October 10.15 Anoop Mahajan, UCLA Two Apparent Rightward Movement Rules in Hindi and their Implications 11.15 Josef Bayer, Friedrich-Schiller Universitat Jena CP-Extraposition as Argument Shift 12.15 Lunch break 13.45 Frank Drijkoningen, OTS Morphological Strength: Basic and Derived NP position in French 14.45 Carol Neidle, Judy Kegl, Benjamin Bahan and Deborah Aarons, BU/Rutgers Rightward Wh-Movement in American Sign Language 15.45 Coffee break 16.15 Hubert Truckenbrodt, MIT Towards a Prosodic Theory of Extraposition 17.15 Martina Wiltschko, Institut fur Sprachwissenschaft, Wien Extraposition, Identification and Precedence Saturday, 8 October 10.15 M. Rita Manzini, University College London/Universite di Firenze Right Adjunction and Rightward Movement 11.15 Caterina Donati and Alessandra Tomaselli, Universite di Firenze/Teramo Language Types and Generative Grammar 12.15 Lunch break 13.45 Eric Hoekstra, P.J. Meertens Institute, Royal Dutch Academy Verb Raising and the Kaynian Program 14.45 Daniel Buring and Katharina Hartmann, Universitat Koln/Frankfurt Doing the Right Thing 15.45 Coffee break 16.45 Johan Rooryck, Leiden University Rightward Movement in Germanic and Romance PPs 17.15 Peter W. Culicover and Michael S. Rochemont, Ohio State U/UBC Constraints on Rightward and Leftward Movement Alternates selected: Manuala Schonenberger and Zvi Penner, University of Geneva/University of Berne Verbal Expletives, Idiomatic Reading, and Object Placement in Swiss German Louis Saez, UCM Rightward Movement vs. the DIFFERENCE feature Deborah Mandelbaum, CUNY The BETTER (of BEST) structure for the comparative and the superlative Registration Registration will be on-site. Cost of the conference will be fl. 50,= for full conference, fl. 30,= for any one day. Although no formal pre-registration is required, we would like you to inform our organizing secretary of your intention to attend (for organizational purposes). Please send your name and email address to: conchita.barbe@kub.nl. Enquiries: rghtwrd@kub.nl Hotel information You may contact the hotels directly, or make reservations through the Dutch tourist agency (`boekingscentrale', ms. Iris van Zetten, +31-13-36 60 61). Hotel Cafe Restaurant Central Spoorlaan 422 5038 CG Tilburg tel. 013 - 43 62 34 fax 013 - 44 11 01 price: dfl. 100,= dfl. 125,= Pension J. Driessen Rossinistraat 247 5049 KD Tilburg tel. 013 - 55 12 25 price: dfl. 50,= - dfl. 70,= Hotel Restaurant Ibis Dr. Hub. van Doorneweg 105 5026 RB Tilburg tel. 013 - 63 64 65 fax 013 - 68 16 24 price: dfl. 90,= - dfl. 100,= Hotel De Lindeboom Heuvelring 126 5038 CL Tilburg tel. 013 - 35 13 55 price: dfl. 125,= - dfl. 150,= Hotel Restaurant Mercure Tilburg Heuvelpoort 300 5038 DT Tilburg tel. 013 - 35 46 75 fax 013 - 35 58 75 price: dfl. 175,= - dfl. 200,= Hotel Cafe Restaurant De Postelse Hoeve Dr. Deelenlaan 10 5042 AD Tilburg tel. 013 - 63 63 35 fax 013 - 63 93 90 price: dfl. 150,= - dfl. 175,= Hotel Cafe Restaurant 't Wapen van Tilburg Spoorlaan 362 5038 CD Tilburg tel. 013 - 42 26 92 price: dfl. 90,= - dfl. 100,= Pension van der Zanden Korvelseweg 20 5025 JH Tilburg tel. 013 - 43 14 38 price: dfl. 50,= Bastion Hotel Kempenbaan 2 5018 TK Tilburg tel. 06-0697 price: dfl. 100,= - dfl. 125,= How to get to the conference The conference is being held in the Bestuursacademie, Meerkoldreef 6, Tilburg-West, tel. +31-13-65 13 51. The Bestuursacademie is situated in the south-western part of Tilburg and can easily be reached by train (via Dordrecht) or car from Schiphol Airport (approx. 2 hours) and also from major cities in the Netherlands and Belgium. To the Bestuursacademie by car: >From in front of the central train station drive west along Spoorlaan/Hart van Brabantlaan/Prof. Cobbenhagenlaan. Turn right at Conservatoriumlaan, go under the train overpass (Tilburg-West station) and then turn left on Wandelboslaan and immediately left into Meerkoldreef. To the Bestuursacademie by train: The station Tilburg-West is situated within 5 minutes walking distance south of the conference site. Travellers by local train (from the directions Eindhoven, Breda and 's-Hertogenbosch) can get off the train here. Travellers by intercity get off at the central station of Tilburg and from there can get to the Bestuursacademie by bus or taxi. They also can change to a local train in the direction of Tilburg-West. To the Bestuursacademie by bus: The Bestuursacademie can be reached by the bus routes 6 and 7 (route 6: direction West, route 7: direction Reeshof). To get to the Bestuursacademie by the routes 6 and 7, you get off the bus first after it goes under the station Tilburg-West (i.e. when you go under a rail overpass). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-733. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-734. Sun 26 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 137 Subject: 5.734 Jobs: NEH Reference Materials, Japanese, Anthropology Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 15 Jun 94 14:13:18 EDT From: NEHRES@GWUVM.bitnet Subject: NEH Reference Materials Announcement 2) Date: Thu, 23 Jun 94 11:43:01 EDT From: sun!"VAX1!KIRKPATRICK "@hmgate.hmco.com Subject: For the Listserv - job announcement 3) Date: Fri, 24 Jun 94 12:12:29 MDT From: Marianna Di Paolo Subject: Anthropological Ling Job -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 15 Jun 94 14:13:18 EDT From: NEHRES@GWUVM.bitnet Subject: NEH Reference Materials Announcement Please feel free to cross-post this announcement to any relevant lists. Reference Materials Awards: The National Endowment for the Humanities Reference Materials Program supports projects to prepare reference works that will improve access to information and resources. Support is available for the creation of dictionaries, historical or linguistic atlases, encyclopedias, concordances, reference grammars, data bases, text bases, and other projects that will provide essential scholarly tools for the advancement of research or for general reference purposes. Grants also may support projects that will assist scholars and researchers to locate information about humanities documentation. Such projects result in scholarly guides that allow researchers to determine the usefulness or relevance of specific materials for their work. Eligible for support are such projects as bibliographies, bibliographic data bases, catalogues raisonnes, other descriptive catalogues, indexes, union lists, and other guides to materials in the humanities. In both areas, support is also available for projects that address important issues related to the design or accessibility of reference works. The application deadline is September 15, 1994 for projects beginning after July 1, 1995. Guidelines are not yet available electronically. Print copies of guidelines may be requested by sending a message with your regular mail address to NEHOPA@GWUVM.GWU.EDU. Potential applicants with questions regarding specific projects should contact program staff at (202) 606-8358 or NEHRES@GWUVM.GWU.EDU. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Thu, 23 Jun 94 11:43:01 EDT From: sun!"VAX1!KIRKPATRICK "@hmgate.hmco.com Subject: For the Listserv - job announcement Job announcement, June 1994, for Software Linguist with specialization in Japanese: InfoSoft International, Inc. (formerly the Software Division of Houghton Mifflin Company) of Boston, Massachusetts, USA, is accepting applications for the position of Software Linguist with specialization in Japanese. We are seeking a linguist with strong language and editorial skills to participate in the development of electronic proofreading and reference products. The successful candidate must have native fluency in Japanese, and a solid understanding of the linguistic features of the Japanese language. We require DOS literacy, an extremely high level of accuracy, an eye for detail, and thorough knowledge of the grammar, writing conventions, and current business vocabulary of the language. The successful candidate is expected to demonstrate a wide range of expertise, and the ability not only to perform demanding and complex linguistic and editorial tasks, but to manage the activities of freelance personnel engaged on selected assignments. Software Linguist responsibilities include (1) the creation, maintenance, updating and review of linguistic software databases and algorithms for electronic language products, (2) product testing, and the analysis of test results, (3) competitive product analysis, and (4) corpora acquisition and analysis. The successful candidate must have a masters degree or equivalent in language, linguistics, or a related discipline, and a minimum of three years experience in computational linguistics, language software development, or natural language processing. This is a full-time salaried position, and includes a complete benefits package. Interested applicants should send a cover letter and resume, including salary history, to: InfoSoft International, Inc. 222 Berkeley Street, 11th Floor Boston, MA 02116 USA Attn: Mary Lou Kirkpatrick FAX number 617 351-1115 E-mail (Internet) "krkpatrk@hmco.com" Telephone (direct line) 617 351-3072 InfoSoft International, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Fri, 24 Jun 94 12:12:29 MDT From: Marianna Di Paolo Subject: Anthropological Ling Job The Linguistics Program at the University of Utah invites applications for a Visting Assistant Professor position January to June of 1995 (Winter and Spring Quarters). Ph.D. in Linguistics or Anthropology preferred. (A.B.D. required.) Duties include teaching three courses: two in Anthropological Linguistics/Language and Culture, one an undergraduate service course and the other a graduate M.A. level course; and the third on the structure of a language, preferably non-Western European. Salary competitive, including benefits. The University of Utah is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer: Women and minorities are especially encouraged to apply. Send vitae, three letters of recommendation, sample publications, and a cover letter expressing qualifications to Marianna Di Paolo, Linguistics Program, Stewart Building, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112. Screening will begin on August 15 and will continue until the position is filled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-734. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-735. Sun 26 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 189 Subject: 5.735 Popularization of linguistics Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 10:49:04 +0100 From: simmons@informatik.uni-hamburg.de (Geoff Simmons) Subject: Prescriptivism and politics 2) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 01:19:32 -0400 From: go5@umailsrv0.umd.edu (George Oliver) Subject: descriptive/prescriptive analogies 3) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 94 14:25:15 MST From: Mary Ellen Ryder Subject: Popularization of linguistics -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 10:49:04 +0100 From: simmons@informatik.uni-hamburg.de (Geoff Simmons) Subject: Prescriptivism and politics Although the thread seems to have moved on to the subject of teaching linguistics, I'd like to make a comment on prescriptivism that seems to have been overlooked. We've noticed that large segments of the lay public see fit to ignore linguists' arguments against prescriptivism, and I think it's because there's more involved than just language. Strange as it may seem, it's partly because of political ideologies, or at least convictions about society and culture, that specialists are not likely to overcome. English teachers have been criticized for their prescriptivist habits, but I remember when I was a schoolkid in the seventies, there was a lot of talk about not penalizing kids for bad grammar in their essays, and emphasizing that content is all that really matters. This attitude was inspired at least in part by the sixties and all of its dreams of free- dom and expression. Grammar rules were (if I may exaggerate the rhetoric) a symbol of the Oppression of the Establishment. Language isn't for follow- ing rules, it's for communication, man, it's for letting it all hang out; and how can you let it all hang out if you're too uptight to let your participles dangle? Many people saw this as symbolic of the hedonism, anarchy, and disrespect for your elders that the Evil Sixties meant for them. You can't let kids get away with bad grammar, dammit, you have to teach them that there are rules for proper behavior that have to be followed. If kids think they're allowed to start their sentences with "Hopefully, ...", pretty soon they'll start thinking they can do anything they want; like smoke joints, or have sex. Again, I'm exaggerating. It would be a cariacature to equate liberals with anti-prescriptivists and conservatives with prescriptivists, but I do believe that the cariacature has a kernel of truth. Interestingly enough, William Safire the prescriptivist also happens to be one of America's most conservative political commentators. Chomsky's political writings probably give him apoplexy. Safire didn't say so, but I wouldn't be surprised if, when he writes of "Chomskian linguists", he imagines weird professors with beards. Geoff Simmons -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 01:19:32 -0400 From: go5@umailsrv0.umd.edu (George Oliver) Subject: descriptive/prescriptive analogies At the risk of repeating some ideas concerning the prescriptive/descriptive dichotomy, I offer a partial discussion of this issue that I make in an introductory grammar class, one taken by non-linguists, including English Education majors. Since I have never seen these particular analogies brought up, I thought they would be helpful to others in such courses. I make two comparisons to my students--one rhetorical, one scientific. First, the issue of the descriptive /prescriptive positions can easily be put into a larger rhetorical perspective. We are arguing rhetorically questions [stases] of "Definition" and "Value". I note to my students that these positions can be translated as the difference between "what is it that exists?" versus "is what exists desirable?" Such questions are asked about many issues that have obvious social implications. It is obvious that violence exists as a human trait; it is also obvious that we are not satisfied as a society that its existence is acceptable in its current form. It seems to me that many linguists are arguing that the existence of some grammatical form is enough to justify it, whereas non-linguists argue that that is not enough. What we as linguists need to show is that the existence of some form may be desirable since it pushes the language in some natural, desirable direction or because it reveals something about the nature of language or because it's more logical in some linguistically patterned sense. I realize that this grossly oversimplifies the argument and assumes agreement on certain premises, but the point is that we may have to do more than argue existence as an end. Second, to contrast these two positions clearly, I make a couple of analogies to my students. "What," I ask them, "is a weed?" It's amazing how many students believe that plants can be objectively described as weeds. Further questioning: Would a plant biologist classify any plants as weeds? It becomes clear in such a discussion that prescriptive grammar is akin to gardening: whatever does not "belong" according to some arbitrary notion of acceptable plants (grammatical form) in a certain context (sentence and situation) is a weed. While this analogy seems to make prescriptive grammar appear benign, it is also clear that if such weed pulling is done, it must be done with the understanding that the plant being pulled is not bad, just unwanted for some reason. And it's the reason that may *not* be benign. On the other hand, descriptive grammar is like doing botany: you want to know what kinds of plants there are, and how they fit into the whole botanical scheme of things. Every plant is fair game; in fact, every plant is equally fascinating, because each has something to teach us. On the other hand, you can learn a lot by studying just one plant, since all plants have many properties in common. Most students' experience with grammar has only been with linguistic "gardening." I make it clear that the goal here is to also make them linguistic "botanists," as well. In fact, one could argue that a gardener who is a botanist may be a better gardener for that knowledge (but I don't push that one too hard). It's not difficult to find other similar analogies. What does it mean when a meteorologist talks about having "bad weather" tomorrow? Is he talking as a meteorologist? Is there such a thing as "bad" weather, or just socially inconvenient weather? The advantage of such analogies is obvious. It is easier to understand what drives prescriptivism/proscriptivism: Our attitudes toward weeds and bad weather is directly related to our understanding of plants and meteorology. We may still pull unwanted plants and rail against the hurricane which destroyed our house, but ultimately we understand that these are human reactions to the natural world, and that at issue is our desire to control or bring order to things that seem at odds with our interests, or seem uncontrolled or random. At the end of my course, many students understand that a real perspective on language takes the drive out of their prescriptivism because they no longer need to contain/control what they no longer misunderstand and thus fear. In the end, botanist-gardeners may still do some judicious weeding, but it will be clear that such actions are based on criteria that have to do with a human sense of order, aesthetics, pragmatics, and that such criteria may not match some other "natural" order. Now, at least, we have a sense of what we're really arguing about. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 94 14:25:15 MST From: Mary Ellen Ryder Subject: Popularization of linguistics Like Michael Kac, I was going to resist getting into this discussion (also due to lack of time), but like him, I've finally succumbed. He mentioned some teachers wanting ESL certificates having to take some linguistics. I would like to add that here at Boise State University (situated in Idaho, which is hardly the capital of the liberal-thinking world), students who are planning to become regular English teachers (i.e., to native speakers) in high school have to take an introduction to linguistics and one or two other linguistics courses of their choice. I teach at least one section of these every semester, and of course part of what I do is distinguish between descriptive and prescriptive grammars. I point out that they both have a place, since control of the standard dialect conveys social power on the user, but that there is nothing intrinsically or objectively better about the standard dialect. My students, who are all English majors, usually approach the course with caution, since they have no idea what it is about, but most of them seem accepting of it as they go along (or else they are a lot more polite than the average student!). So I think it is possible to present enough linguistics to future teachers to be useful and relevant without antagonizing or confusing them. As to teaching linguistics in the high schools, that is not yet happening in Idaho, but a few of my students who have gone on to get their credentials and teach have come back and told me that they are incorporating at least some linguistic insights into their classroom. So I think there is a real chance of some of our useful insights filtering out into the general education system. Mary Ellen Ryder Department of English Boise State University Boise, Idaho -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-735. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-736. Sun 26 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 101 Subject: 5.736 Qs: Forensic ling, Endangered lang, Dialect, St. Louis Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 94 14:33:26 MST From: Mary Ellen Ryder Subject: Forensic linguistics 2) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 07:17:08 -0700 (MST) From: CINDYNG@CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: Query...endangered languages 3) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 12:26:54 -0400 From: "Carol L. Tenny" Subject: Query: a syntax dialect 4) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 21:21:12 -0500 (CDT) From: adele@twinearth.wustl.edu (Adele Abrahamsen) Subject: Linguists in St. Louis -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 94 14:33:26 MST From: Mary Ellen Ryder Subject: Forensic linguistics Some time ago there was mention on the net of both an association and a journal of forensic linguistics. Unfortunately I made no note of the details. Could someone please fill me in again? Many thanks! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 07:17:08 -0700 (MST) From: CINDYNG@CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: Query...endangered languages Apologies for cluttering up the net with a request...I believe it was on the linguist net that I read a posting regarding grants available for the study of endangered languages...an e-mail address was posted however, I can't seem to get through using the address...I would appreciate it if someone could provide me with the proper e-mail address....send replies to me directly.. Thank you in advance Cindy Neuroth-Gimbrone, University of Arizona internet: cindyng@ccit.arizona.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 12:26:54 -0400 From: "Carol L. Tenny" Subject: Query: a syntax dialect Does anybody know of any work that has been done on the syntax of a dialect spoken in Western Pennsylvania, in which one can say "The car needs washed?" Carol Tenny University of Pittsbugh Department of Linguistics CL-2816 Pittsburgh PA 15260 tenny@pogo.isp.pitt.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 21:21:12 -0500 (CDT) From: adele@twinearth.wustl.edu (Adele Abrahamsen) Subject: Linguists in St. Louis This summer I will begin directing the linguistics program at Washington University, and I am interested in making contact with linguists in or near St. Louis. I'd appreciate any leads--please reply to adele@twinearth.wustl.edu. Thanks. -- Adele Abrahamsen Department of Psychology Washington University in St. Louis Campus Box 1125 One Brookings Drive St. Louis, MO 63130-4899 Email: adele@twinearth.wustl.edu (314) 935-6565 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-736. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-737. Sun 26 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 108 Subject: 5.737 Qs: Pitch analysis, Music texts, Friends of SIL, Manx & Cornish Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 94 20:26:01 EDT From: dixon@nike.heidelberg.edu (Wallace E. Dixon) Subject: Software for pitch analysis 2) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 20:16:14 +0100 (MESZ) From: a1997084@athena.rrz.uni-koeln.de Subject: question 3) Date: Sat, 25 Jun 1994 23:54:04 -0400 (EDT) From: WAMCHEN@delphi.com Subject: Friends of SIL 4) Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 09:29:44 +0200 (MET DST) From: bbayer Subject: -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 94 20:26:01 EDT From: dixon@nike.heidelberg.edu (Wallace E. Dixon) Subject: Software for pitch analysis I am attempting to obtain a software package, preferably for Macintosh, which can calculate the fundamental frequency of a short 1-2 second child utterance. I have looked at MacRecorder and this does not appear to do what I need it to. I am aware there is a new Mac Speech Laboratory ou;t, but it costs nearly $6000. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks. _____________________________________________________________________________ | Wallace E. Dixon, Jr. | "Almost all intelligent behaviours Department of Psychology | are susceptible of becoming play as Heidelberg College | soon as they are repeated purely for Tiffin, OH 44883 | functional pleasure." dixon@nike.heidelberg.edu | | - Jean Piaget ___________________________________|_________________________________________ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 20:16:14 +0100 (MESZ) From: a1997084@athena.rrz.uni-koeln.de Subject: question Hi there, I`m a student who has just started on writing her Master`s thesis. I would like to analyze texts on music. Thus, I would like to know if anybody on the list has worked on discourse analysis of language for specific purposes, in particular: how to analyze the language of descriptions of music (essays on music, critical comments, reviews of opera or concert performances)? Thanks. Any suggestions to Marion chopra a1997084@smail.rrz.uni-koeln.de -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Sat, 25 Jun 1994 23:54:04 -0400 (EDT) From: WAMCHEN@delphi.com Subject: Friends of SIL Hello, I am contemplating Ph.D. study in computational linguistics and eventual work in computer support for Wycliffe Bible Translators. Now that I have Internet access through Delphi, I would be interested in regular e-mail contact with Wycliffe and Summer Institute in Linguistics. Could you direct me to a "Friends of SIL" mailing list or USENET group? Thanks, Walter McHenry -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 09:29:44 +0200 (MET DST) From: bbayer Subject: Dear linguists: I post this query for a colleague of mine who is searching textbooks on Manx and Cornish. Are there textbooks on these languages which come with tapes? Thanx! Brita Bayer Gesellschaft fuer wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung mbH Am Fassberg 37077 Goettingen e-mail: bbayer@gwdg.de or bbayer@link-goe.central.de -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-737. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-738. Sun 26 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 136 Subject: 5.738 Qs: Irish, Lab equipment, Arabic Typing, Translation Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 23 Jun 94 12:35:29 CDT From: david@utafll.uta.edu (David Silva) Subject: Irish Query 2) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 11:47:42 EST From: Subject: Re: Lab Equipment 3) Date: Sat, 25 Jun 1994 14:28:50 -0600 (MDT) From: Muhammad Deeb Subject: An Arabic Typing Tutor Software 4) Date: Sat, 25 Jun 94 23:56:03 GMT From: craig@scot.demon.co.uk (Craig Cockburn) Subject: Translation sought of African song -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Thu, 23 Jun 94 12:35:29 CDT From: david@utafll.uta.edu (David Silva) Subject: Irish Query It seems that the morpheme /go/ is Irish is an adverbial marker, as in /go curamach/ 'carefully'. Assuming this is the case, can the phrase /go minic/ 'often' be further analyzed as "ADV-mrkr + 'minic'"? If so, what's the meaning of /minic/? Also, is it possible to gloss /go/ simply as "with", as in "with care", or is it better glossed more generally as an ADV-marker? Many thanks. David Silva (david@utafll.uta.edu) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 11:47:42 EST From: Subject: Re: Lab Equipment Our department (English) is setting up a linguistics lab in a spare office--for research and instructional purposes. Our chair has asked for a list of hardware and beginning software to include in his equipment budget request. We expect to get a 486 PC with 16MB and a CDROM Multimedia package. And our library is acquiring the OED on CDROM. But what else would anyone suggest? We have a blurb from Kay on their computerized Sonograph. It sounds great but is expensive. Does anyone know of an alternative? What other hardware/software would you suggest? Our research interests emphasize sound change and language acquisition--both first and second. We have an undergraduate minor in linguistics and a master's program in Applied Linguistics. Please share your experience and suggestions with us. Thank you. Betty Phillips English Dept. Indiana State University Terre Haute, IN 47809 (812)237-3171 EJPHILL@ROOT.INDSTATE.EDU -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Sat, 25 Jun 1994 14:28:50 -0600 (MDT) From: Muhammad Deeb Subject: An Arabic Typing Tutor Software I am seeking an Arabic Typing Tutor Software for my home IBM Compatible. I should greatly appreciate any suggestions. Very many thanks. Dr. M. Deeb Dept. of Comp. Lit., Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Sat, 25 Jun 94 23:56:03 GMT From: craig@scot.demon.co.uk (Craig Cockburn) Subject: Translation sought of African song Hi, I'f tried posting this on sci.lang, but got no replies there - can anyone here help please - please reply directly to me by e-mail. I have got a copy of a South African tune, can anyone identify which language it is and have an attempt at translating some of the words please. It looks like many of the words are meaningless, but it would be good to know something about what the song is about thanks Craig Bahlele bonke eti Longweni Bahlele bonke qua nongongo he he he he a la la he ha he he a la la nanku nanku nanku Sisulu nanku nanku eti Longweni Yiri baba Lutuli Ha esotele esotele nanku nanku nanku Mandela nanku nanku eti Longweni Yiri wema Africa Ha esotele esotele -- Craig Cockburn (pronounced "coburn"), Edinburgh, Scotland Sgri\obh thugam 'sa Ga\idhlig ma 'se do thoil e. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-738. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-739. Sun 26 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 228 Subject: 5.739 Sum: Turkic Writing systems Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: 25 Jun 94 17:47:00 EST From: "STEVE SEEGMILLER" Subject: SUM: Turkic Writing systems -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: 25 Jun 94 17:47:00 EST From: "STEVE SEEGMILLER" Subject: SUM: Turkic Writing systems A few weeks ago, I posted a request for information about the plans in several Turkic-speaking republics of the former Soviet Union to discard their Cyrillic alphabets and replace them with Latin-based alphabets. Since the query was posted to several lists, the summary will be as well. I apologize to anyone who receives it more than once. Replies were received from the following people: Bernard Comrie, Lance Eccles, Bob Hoberman, Bjorn Jernudd, Edward Jajko, Christina Paulston, Andras Riedlmayer, Meena Sridhar, and Jan Olof Svantesson. My thanks go to all of them. Since some of the replies were quite long, and since I received more than one message from several people, after I asked for clarification or additional information, I will summarize or excerpt the replies rather than reproducing them in their entirety. If my summary distorts the intentions of any of the respondents, I hope they will let me or the list know. One or two replies have been omitted from the summary, since they contained information of interest to me but probably not to the entire list. Any further information on this topic will be welcome. =================================================== Christina Paulston informed me that an article on the Turkic alphabet change appeared in the Chicago Tribune on June 18, 1992. Bernard Comrie wrote to say that he was currently working on some material that is to appear in William Bright and Peter Daniel's The World's Writing systems, and promised to send me a copy. (He did.) Lance Eccles sent three excerpts from the SBS World Guide (Melbourne, 1994): "The government of Kygyzystan, along with other Turkic Central Asian republics, is a signatory to the March 1993 Ankara agreement on the adoption of a 34-letter alphabet." "Turkmenistan views Turkey as its natural ally beyond the CIS. Following the adoption of a 34-letter Latin-based alphabet, to replace the present Cyrillic, in Mar. 1993, a joint Turkmen-Turkish journal was established in Aug. 1993." Under UZBEKISTAN: "A 34-letter Latin alphabet was introduced in Oct.1993 in pre-schools, with transition expected to be completed in Sept. 2000." He also referred to a chapter in Reinhard Hahn's book Spoken Uyghur (U. of Washington Press, 1991) which provides a history of Uyghur orthography in China. Jan Olof Svantesson pointed out the parallel between the Turkic languages of the CIS and Mongolian. The government opf Mongolia has decided to reintroduce the traditional Mongolain script in 1994. While most publications are still in Cyrillic script, efforts are underway to teach Mongolian script to the population. Svantesson has written a paper on the topic: "Tradition and Reform in China's Minority Languages," International Journal of Applied Linguistics 1, 70-88, 1991. He also referred me to Birgit Nilsson-Schlyter at the Oriental Institute, Stockholm University, who is working on a project on the language situation in Uzbekistan. Bjorn Jernudd suggested checking back issues of the LANGUAGE PLANNING NEWSLETTER and the New York Times Index. He also indluded the folowing request, which may be of interest to other LIST-ers: M%9e=UI1%MQ%9Q%U form of AGENCIES that have been constituted for the purpose of {GX managing language (for "implementing language policy "), I'd be very grateful if you would share with me those agencies' names and locations (perhaps addresses?). I'm compiling a list with basic information (a kind of directory) of language planning agencies and what you would supply would help build that list." Andras Riedlmayer sent a long and very interesting description of his January 1994 visit to Azerbaijan. Some excerpts follow. "Azerbaijani Turkish (popularly referred to by my hosts NOT as Tu"rkCe or Azerbaycanca but as M"usl"umanca!), is the one language in the ex-USSR for which implementation of the change from Cyrillic to a Latin-based alphabet has actually made some headway. While Turkmenistan and other Central Asian republics have made some committments in principle to romanize their orthographies, implementation of the changes seems to be a fairly low priority -- the president of the Turkmen writers' federation gave an interview during my visit, in the course of which he mentioned 1999 as a possible date for the beginning of the changeover. In addition to various other factors (ranging from the costs and the inconvenience, to reservations on the part of the present Russian-educated elite,...), I have heard another reason for a "go-slow" attitude mentioned by some Uzbeks I've talked to on this issue: "Having been rendered illiterate by fiat three times in this century, we're not at all eager to relive such a cultural trauma." They voiced opposition to any drastic and sudden changeover, and seemed pleased by the experimentation encouraged by the current situation: the freedom to publish in a variety of forms (though not content, of course) with Latin, Cyrillic and even Arabic-based alphabets appearing side-by-side. " "In Baku, official proclamations, posters, shop signs, the currency, and a small but growing number of new books (including recent children's books) are now entirely in Romanized script. Newspapers have a variety of Romanized content, ranging from just the masthead, to masthead + headlines, to the bulk of the text. Even books and pamphlets with wholly Cyrillic contents now usually have a Latin-script title page. The new alphabet has already undergone at least one small reform: the a-umlaut has been dropped in favor of the shwa sign." Edward Jajko forwarded two news items. The first was a March, 1993, article from the RFE-RL daily report: TURKIC-SPEAKING COUNTRIES AGREE TO ADOPT COMMON ALPHABET. ITAR-TASS, quoting the Anatolian News Agency, reported on 11 March that participants in a conference on Turkic orthography had agreed on the adoption of a common alphabet by Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Representatives of all these countries had taken part in the conference in Ankara, organized by Turkey's Foreign Ministry and the Turkish Agency for Cooperation and Development. In a declaration at the end of the gathering, participants announced that they had decided on a 34-letter alphabet. (Turkey's present Latin-based script has 29 letters.) Azerbaijan introduced the use of Latin script in 1992. The other Turkic countries have been discussing such a step. The conference's decision must be confirmed by the heads of the Turkic states. Bess Brown, RFE/RL, Inc. The second was a summary with excerpts of an article from a Dutch newspaper: In the Dutch Newspaper NRC Handelsblad of Thursday 8 April there was an article about the proposed Ortak Trk Alfabes (Shared Turkish or simply Turkic Alphabet). In it the Turkologist Sema Barutu of the TICA, the Turkish Republic's government Agency for Cooperation and Development coordinating aid to Central Asia is quoted as a source. She was charged with organizing the conference that is referred to above. "The Turkic Alphabet consists of 34 Latin or extended-Latin characters and serves as an inventory for the individual Turkic languages for composing their own alphabets. So the Turkish will remain as it is with a subset 29 characters, v: and Azerbaijan already introduced an orthography that uses 32 and the Kirgiz orthography will be based on a subset of 28 out of the 34 character pool. "The long term strategy is to achieve linguistic recognition through bundling the Turkic languages. Defining a shared alphabet is a first step. In a later phase users of each subset will have to be familiarized with the remainder of the alphabet. However the quantum leap is going to be "straightening out the orthographic and morphologic differences between the various Turkish languages. A new Turkic dictionary is also envisaged in this step. The final step is claiming Turkic a an official language at the United Nations. After all there are some 185 million speakers of Turkic (unified or not) from the Adriatic to [Western] China. There is an illustration in the article from which I draw the following conclusions: THE TURKIC ALPHABET Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Xx Jj Kk Qq Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Yy Zz The letter schwa denotes a" (fronted e); the letter x denotes a guttural fricative close to h, which is follows in the sorting order; the letter k denotes a front k or palatal k; the letter q denotes a back k or velar k and it follows k in sorting order; the letter n tilde denotes a nasalised velar occlusive sound, like ng in English. The alphabet essentially reiterates the Turkish Republic's alphabet with the following five additions: x q Ww ============================================================ Once again, my sincere thanks go to all of those who responded to the query. Steve Seegmiller -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-739. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-740. Sun 26 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 101 Subject: 5.740 Sum: IE fable, Semantics texts Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 22:13:24 -0400 (EDT) From: ROBERT A ROTHSTEIN Subject: IE fable 2) Date: 25 Jun 94 17:44:00 EST From: "STEVE SEEGMILLER" Subject: SUM: Semantics texts -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 22:13:24 -0400 (EDT) From: ROBERT A ROTHSTEIN Subject: IE fable There seems not to have been any (public) response to an inquiry of several weeks ago about a reconstructed Indo-European fable. Since I unfortunately neglected to save the original posting and just now recalled where I had come across the answer a long time ago, I have to reply to the net instead of to the poster. In 1868 August Schleicher published "Eine Fabel in indogermanischer Ursprache" in vol. 5 of _Beitraege zur vergleichender Sprachforschung_. His fable, "The Sheep and the Horses," was called "Avis akvasas ka" in the "original." The text, with Schleicher's translation into German and the editor's Russian translation, can be found in V. A. Zvegintsev, _Istoriia iazykoznaniia XIX i XX vekov v ocherkakh i izvlecheniiakh_ (Moscow, 1960), part 1, p. 104. Bob Rothstein -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: 25 Jun 94 17:44:00 EST From: "STEVE SEEGMILLER" Subject: SUM: Semantics texts Here is the summary of responses to my query on undergraduate semantics textbooks. Like the previous summary (on syntax texts), this one is organized alphabetically by textbook author, with comments of the respondents thereafter. 1. Keith Allan, Linguistic Meaning, 2 vols. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986. Claudia Brugman finds this the most successful text for undergraduate semantics that she has found. Its shortcomings are (1): it is very light on formal semantics and almost as light on the topics covered by formal semantics; (2) both volumes are necessary for a complete class, which means that the students have a lot of reading and that they have to buy two expensive books. 2. Emmon Bach, Informal Lectures on Formal Semantics, SUNY Press. Nancy Goss used it for a short time in a course in which the main text was Frawley's (see below). She found that three weeks was too little time to cover formal semantics. 3. Ronnie Cann, Formal Semantics, Cambridge U. Press, 1993. David Adger liked teaching from it, "although it has a billion misprints," but his students found the course hard. 4. Gennaro Chierchia and Sally McConnell-Ginet, Meaning and Grammar, MIT Press, 1990. Nancy Goss used it as an undergraduate at Cornell and found it to be a good textbook. 5. William Frawley, Linguistic Semantics, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1992. Nancy Goss used it as a graduate student in a course that also contained undergraduate students. She still consults it regualrly for basic information on semantic topics and relevant literature. It contains no formal semantics. 6. Hurford and Heasley, Semantics: A Coursebook. David Adger was taught from it as an undergraduate and hated it, but when he taught from it, his students really liked it, probably because it's mainly taxonomic and fairly easy. Rob French liked it and so did his students, since it covers a lot of ground and is easy to supplement with material that goes deeper into particular topics. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-740. v ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-741. Sun 26 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 119 Subject: 5.741 Sum: Turkic Vowels (corrected) Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 25 Jun 1994 10:55:28 +0100 From: wcli@vax.ox.ac.uk Subject: Turkic Vowels: summary (corrected) -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 25 Jun 1994 10:55:28 +0100 From: wcli@vax.ox.ac.uk Subject: Turkic Vowels: summary (corrected) SUMMARY: Sino-Turkic Vowels I while ago I posted a request for comparative tables or studies of Turkic vowels, especially those of Turkic languages spoken in Chinese Turkistan and neighbouring regions. I received the following replies, and I would like to supplement it with some Chinese references which I found very useful: (1) The Chinese journal MINZU YUYAN (Minority Languages) has quite a few articles on Uyghur, Kazhak, and Khirgiz. Especially useful is an acoustic study of Uyghur vowels. Also, there are descriptions of the sound systems of Tuva and Saleq Yugur (Yellow Uyghur), which are said to the most conservative of the Turkic languages in terms of vocabulary, and still use many of the terms found in the 9th Cent Turkic manuscripts unearthed in the region. (2) The entries under "Turkic" and "Altaic" in the Zhongguo Dabaikequanshu -- Yuyan (Great Chinese Encyclopaedia, Language Volume) give good summaries of the sound systems of languages in each family, drawing on an abundance of material published in Russian. A good alternative for those who read Chinese but not Russian. (3) The book "The Minorities of Northwest China" (can't remember the author offhand) gives descriptions of the sound systems of a number of Altaic languages found in NW China, but I have doubts about the accuracy of the transcriptions, as many of them are not consistent with descriptions found in later references. Wen-Chao Li Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University *************************************************************************** From: Ziran He From: Ziran He The first person you should write for help is, perhaps, Professor Ji Xianlin, or other professors of Oriental Languages Department, Peking University. *************************************************************************** From: Ted Harding From: Ted Harding Good problem! I am working on the same problem as well, and It is driving me crazy. There are no charts available. You know the book: The Turkic Languages and Peoples by KM Menges, don't you? You can start from there. You also know "Philologiae Turcicae Fundamenta" I am sure. Also try "Spoken Uyghur" by Hahn. Do you know these works, if not let me know. Be in touch, I'll let you know if anything interesting comes up. Sincerely, Dr Cigdem Balim Harding University of Manchester **************************************************************************** From: Lance Eccles From: Lance Eccles These three books may provide some answers: Gerard Clauson, An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth Century Turkish. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1972 Karl Menges, The Turkic Languages and Peoples: An Introduction to Turkic Studies (Ural-Altaische Bibliothek XV). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1968 Nicholas Poppe, Introduction to Altaic Linguistics (Ural-Altasische Bibliothek XIV). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1965 Lance Eccles School of Modern Languages Macquarie University, Australia lance.eccles@mq.edu.au ***************************************************************************** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-741. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-742. Sun 26 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 594 Subject: 5.742 Sum: Bibliographical Software Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 25 Jun 1994 23:49:58 -0400 (EDT) From: jaske@abacus.bates.edu (Jon Aske) Subject: Sum: Bibliographical Software -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 25 Jun 1994 23:49:58 -0400 (EDT) From: jaske@abacus.bates.edu (Jon Aske) Subject: Sum: Bibliographical Software This is a summary of the replies to my query about bibliographic software on the LINGUIST List (Vol-5-715. Mon 20 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875) plus additional information that I have been able to gather from other sources. CONTENTS 1. Conclusions a) Good software exists b) Few people use it c) More people should know about this type of software d) Prices vary, don't go by the list price 2. The replies from Linguist readers a) Ad hoc solutions (2 ea.) b) EndNote (Plus) (DOS/Mac) (4 ea.) c) ProCite (DOS/Mac) (2 ea.) d) Papyrus (DOS, Mac version on the works) (1 ea.) e) Ibid Plus (1 ea.) f) BibTex (UNIX) (3 ea.) 3. Reviews of the software a) SCHOLAR (Sue Stiglemann) b) PC Magazine (10/12/93) 4. Replies from the publishers a) EndNote (Plus) b) ProCite 1. CONCLUSIONS ============================================================= a. There are a handful of bibliographical programs or software packages out there, not too different from each other, which do a superb job of (1) keeping track of published sources with powerful searching meachanisms. A query could be e.g. "What works are there on main clause phenomena in a functionalist perspective since 1971?" (2) keeping abstracts and/or notes on such publications. (2) assembling bibliographies from a manuscript: preparing bibliographies for publications from the references in the text (assuming they're already in the database). For instance, you write in the body of the text Bybee (1988) and in the bibliography at the end of the text you see the complete reference. b. Very few people in the Linguist List community seem to be taking advantage of such software if we go by the number of replies that I received to my query. c. There are probably a lot of linguists (and other scholars) who could benefit from and would probably interested in such software if they only knew more about it. d. List prices range from $99 (for Papyrus) to $395 (for ProCite without the programs to download references from online databases), but these prices are merely a guideline, the more expensive ones seem to offer hefty educational discounts. Check with the software provider at your institution. Most packages can be installed on a network, something which your institution may be interested in doing. (Other list prices: EndNote Plus: $249, EndNote (more basic): $149, EndLink: $99; Reference Manager: $299, Capture module: $99.) 2. THE REPLIES =============================================================== a. AD HOC SOLUTIONS ---------------- From: Anthea F Gupta From: Anthea F Gupta ... [I have used an] ASCII file ..., first on Word for DOS 5 (on the 286) and now on Winword 6 (on a 486). It's around 2000 items. I've been very happy with this decision. If you use the simple database facilities that come with the word processor you can create a totally flexible database that will sort however you vwant it to, that is extremely easy to combine with other texts and that is readily formatted to any bibliographical style. Each entry is a paragraph. If you wish you can use the normal separators to set up fields. As you upgrade, your biblio can easily transfer. I use various codes to indicate location, and to provide search characters. For example, I use to indicate that an item is on my shelves, while an would indicate something was in my notes file under "S". I use {} to enclose search codes. For example, I might mark certain entries with {*} and then run a macro which will pull out all the paragraphs with {*}. From: mnewman@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Michael Newman) From: mnewman@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Michael Newman) I use a hypercard stack, which is flexible, printable, but clearly not designed for the purpose. It's difficult to search for more than one term, for example. b) ENDNOTE (PLUS) -------------- From: l.m.fosse@easteur-orient.uio.no (Lars Martin Fosse) From: l.m.fosse@easteur-orient.uio.no (Lars Martin Fosse) I would suggest that you try out EndNote+ from Niles & Associates, Inc. I have been using this program for some time and find it extremely useful and satisfactory. My impression is that it has a very good standing among scholars all over the world. There is a Mac and a DOS version. From: "Ron Southerland" From: "Ron Southerland" I use EndNote Plus (for the Mac--but, I believe, also available on other platforms). It's a very powerful bibliographic tool which comes with a large number of biblio formats, which can be customized by the user. End Note works well with certain word processers as well. It comes with a special plug-in module for use with Word 5. I don't use Word so I don't know how useful that is. I suspect from the manual, however, that the module is quite useful. From: Todd Bailey From: Todd Bailey I use EndNote Plus, with a "Plug-In Module" for WORD on a Mac. I'm pretty happy with it, but I haven't used any other systems, so maybe I don't know what I'm missing. My main gripe with it is that the NOTES field, which I use to make annotated bibliographies, is a pretty simple text field, so you can't do much fancy stuff with formatting the annotations, etc. From: "idu0pnl@ucla.mvs.edu" (Peter Ladefoged) From: "idu0pnl@ucla.mvs.edu" (Peter Ladefoged) We use EndNote, which is very flexible, and is available for both Mac and PC. It can also import from various other biblio systems. It has a Notes field, but we don't use it. The UCLA Phonetics biblio now has about 6,000 entries, and is available to anyone who wants to swap with us. c) PRO-CITE -------- From: byungmin@utxvm.cc.utexas.edu (Byungmin Lee) From: byungmin@utxvm.cc.utexas.edu (Byungmin Lee) I think that pro-cite developed by Personal Bibliogrphic Software Inc. is one of the best bibliography softwares that we can use. I have used it on Mac for the last two years. It is flexible and you can customize. From: Shanley Allen From: Shanley Allen I use ProCite from Personal Bibliographic Services. It prints fine and also imports directly into several word processor formats including WordPerfect (which I use). It also has programs to download from things like ERIC, and I think to convert other bibliographic formats into its own (though probably not for Shoebox). And it has a selection of 20 or 30 punctuation formats which it can use as well as allowing you to define your own punctuation style if none of the available ones (e.g. APA, MLA) suit you (you input the data in a standard format, and it outputs it according to the selected punctuation style). Within each record there is space for notes and abstract and index terms, so you can give subject codes to the entries, etc., but I am not sure it allows for links to comments or notes in other places. d) PAPYRUS ------- From: info3@hal.unm.edu (Donna Cromer) From: info3@hal.unm.edu (Donna Cromer) I have been using a program called Papyrus. It allows you to add 'notecards' to each bibliographic item, and as far as I can remember without the manual (which by the way is one of the more enjoyable manuals you'll EVER see!) you can add an unlimited number and size of these notecards. I would presume its importing capabilities are good, although I haven't had a chance to use that feature yet. I'm just beginning my stuff, so I have only 150 items so far, so I don't know how well it will handle 3000 items, but I would presume just fine. The big selling point for this system as opposed to most others is the price--$99 (most of the others that I know of, such as Endnote etc are n the $300 range). e) IBID PLUS --------- From: Tom Cravens From: Tom Cravens I use Ibid Plus, incorporated in Nota Bene 4.1. Ibid Plus will: Let you fill in fields with as much information as you like; Create new templates to customize your entries; Enter bibliographic information in a number of ways in the text with just a couple of keystrokes; Create--in seconds if short, in a couple of minutes if long--automatically formatted bibliographies of works cited; Search your files of bibliographical entries by keyword(s), date, author, whatever you choose. And much, much more. At present Ibid Plus handles Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew, all Western and Eastern European languages, although not always smoothly. A new version is in the works, intended to solve all bugs in handling the 2000+ characters available. For extensive note-taking, there's N.B. Orbis, "an integrated, indexed text search and retrieval database". I haven't used it much, but those who have say it's marvelous. You can search your notes, or scan in entire articles or books. From that text base, you then are able to search in a number of ways, including linked terms. For example, if you tell Orbis once that hail, sleet, snow, rain, thunder... are linked as 'weather', a 'weather' search will find all occurrences of each of the list, and keep track of where the entries were found in up to 16 subdirectories. There's one catch: Ibid, Orbis, and Lingua (the 2000+ characters) work only with Nota Bene. That's not a downside in the long term, since for scholarly work Nota Bene is far superior to business-oriented WP, Word, and the like, but it means some outlay of money. BIB-TEX (LATEX) --------------- From: Judith Klavans From: Judith Klavans I use Latex .bib files, which are a pain to set up but great when you get going. From: jtang@cogsci.Berkeley.EDU (Joyce Tang Boyland) From: jtang@cogsci.Berkeley.EDU (Joyce Tang Boyland) If you have a Mac, I hear that EndNote is very good. I haven't used it, though, since I pretty much only use UNIX, on which there isn't anything very good. Most UNIX people I think are using BibTeX. From: rh@dsd.camb.inmet.com (R. Hilliard) From: rh@dsd.camb.inmet.com (R. Hilliard) I used to do a lot on Apple Macintoshes, typically using Microsoft Word (and sometimes, WordPerfect) for writing. I found most of the then-available bibliographic software inadequate and built stuff of my own using HyperCard to manage references, add keywords and other annotations, and build bibliographies for particular articles, etc. Now, I do most of my work on unix systems and use Latex for technical writing/document preparation. I keep my bibliographic stuff with Bibtex, which is an associated format. [By the way, there's a mailing list / group for linguist users of Latex (and Tex -- the system latex is built on), I have the address around here, somewhere if you'd like.] Latex and Bibtex software is widely available on Macs, PCs, most unix systems, often as freeware or shareware. They're fairly flexible, and there are increasing numbers of tools (browsers, viewers and the like) available. The tools are a good thing, because the basic "interface" is text. A typical entry looks like this: @Article{Chomsky92b, author = "Noam Chomsky", title = "Explaining Language Use", journal = "Philosophical Topics", volume = 20, number = 1, year = "1992", annote = "Only paper of interest in a special number devoted to the philosophy of Hillary Putnam. Putnam replies (unconvincingly) pp. 379--385".} I use GNU emacs for editing and it has a mode for dealing with Bibtex files. At the end of this message I've put the "Help page" for emacs' bibtex mode -- it should give you a flavour of the kind of automated support, checking, and options possible with Bibtex. 3. REVIEWS ========================================================= I am aware of two reviews of the major bibliographic software: 1) By Sue Stigleman (stigle@cs.unca.edu), who offered it in the SCHOLAR issue of February of this year (Item CZS07 00). It reviews Pro-Cite, EndNote (Plus), Papyrus and Reference Manager. It can be obtained directly from her (or I can forward it to you too). 2) By PC Magazine, in the Oct. 12, 1993 issue (I haven't read it yet). Your library or computer center may have back issues of this magazine. This information was passed on to me by Barbara Snyder: From: Barbara Snyder From: Barbara Snyder I'm also just remembering a review in PC Week not too long ago, maybe early this year? ... they reviewed all the biggies, and AWARDED NONE AN EDITOR'S CHOICE, INSTEAD SAYING THAT EACH ONE HAD DIFFERENT STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES, SO YOU (ONE) SHOULD BUY THE PRODUCT THAT BEST SUITED YOUR PARTICULAR NEEDS. ... OK, here's what I found: ZiffNet Reviews Index ... Pub. Date: 10/12/1993 Magazine: PC Magazine 1 EndNote Plus for DOS 1.1 from Niles & Associates Inc. 2 Library Master for DOS 2.02 from Balboa Software 3 Papyrus for DOS 7.07 from Research Software Design 4 Point of reference. 5 Pro-Cite for DOS 2.1 from Personal Bibliographic Software Inc.) 6 Reference Manager for DOS 5.06, rofessional Edition for Windows 5.5 4. REPLIES FROM THE PUBLISHERS ============================================================== I wrote to the publishers of Pro-Cite, EndNote, and Papyrus, the three publishers for whom I had e-mail addresses. I received replies from the publishers of EndNote (Niles & Associates) and ProCite (Personal Bibliographic software) (the latter announced that my own college was seriously looking into their product, a fact I didn't know, and offered to send me materials and a sample program). I enclose those letters here. Jon Aske ENDNOTE PLUS ------------ From: Kimberly Mattingly/Technical Support From: Kimberly Mattingly/Technical Support Dear Jon, Thank you for your interest in EndNote Plus. Please find the information you requested below. This file describes two of our products: EndNote and EndNote Plus. EndNote is the less expensive, simplified version of our bibliographic database manager; EndNote Plus is the enhanced version offering more powerful features and flexibility. -------------------- ENDNOTE ----------------------- EndNote is a reference database and bibliography maker that automates two tasks: Storing references and creating bibliographies. You can store up to 32,000 references in an EndNote database. DATA ENTRY Data is entered into an EndNote record by filling out a simple template that has the proper fields displayed for a given reference type. EndNote has 15 defined reference types including journal article, book, book section, and conference proceedings. You can edit the reference types to add fields of your own, such as a personal notes field or abstract. You can also rename any of the existing reference types and create your own. SEARCHING EndNote searching is fast and simple so that you can locate the references you need quickly. You can search on the Author name, Year, or any text in a record. EndNote will display your search results in a few seconds. CREATING BIBLIOGRAPHIES On both the PC and Macintosh you can have access to a database while you write so you can copy references from your database and then paste them into your text. After writing you select a bibliographic style (e.g. MLA, APA) and tell EndNote to "format" your document. EndNote scans the paper, finds the citations you pasted, and adds a formatted bibliography to the end of your paper. EndNote reformats the in-text citations as well as the bibliography in one step so you don't have to merge separate documents. In addition, EndNote creates a duplicate of your paper in the chosen style so that you can continue to reformat your original paper in different styles without having to retype anything! EndNote comes with nine predefined styles and you can easily create an unlimited number of your own styles. You simply create a template that displays the reference fields in the proper order for your style [for example: Author (Year). Title, Volume...] The nine supplied styles are APA, MLA, JACS, Chicago, Vancouver, Science, Nature, Author-Date, and Numbered. Both EndNote and EndNote Plus are directly compatible with the Mac word processors: Microsoft Word (versions 3 - 5.1), WordPerfect 1-3, WriteNow 2-3, MacWrite II, Nisus and FrameMaker. Support for other word processors is provided through translation to any of these formats, or the RTF Interchange format. On the PC, EndNote is compatible with WordPerfect 4 and 5 and Microsoft Word for DOS through the RTF Interchange format. EndNote Plus is also compatible with WordPerfect for Windows and Word for Windows. CROSS-PLATFORM COMPATIBILITY AND NETWORKS EndNote databases are directly compatible across DOS and Macintosh platforms and do not require any special conversion procedures. Because of this, EndNote can be used in a mixed platform network environment. EndNote files must be locked to set to be "read only" in order for multiple users to access the same file at the same time. ------------------ ENDNOTE PLUS --------------------- EndNote Plus is our enhanced reference database and bibliography maker. It offers all of the features of EndNote, described above, plus the following: MORE POWERFUL SEARCHING With EndNote Plus, searching is fast and efficient so that you can locate the references you need quickly. You can create unlimited length search strings using the boolean connectives AND, OR and NOT. With the QuickFind feature EndNote Plus will display your search results almost instantaneously even if your database has over 10,000 records in it. You can also search on all fields in a database or any specific field such as Keywords, Abstract, and even Record Number. [In regular EndNote searching is limited to Author, Year, and/or Text (i.e. all of the text in the references). SORTING EndNote Plus can also sort any database on any fields you choose such as Year, Journal, Title, or Label. You can sort on up to five fields in either ascending or descending order. You can also specify a custom sort order for a bibliographic style and for multiple in-text citations. [In regular EndNote, sorting is only available for the bibliography in your papers; they may be sorted either by the citations' order of appearance, or author + title, or by author + year + title.] JOURNAL ABBREVIATIONS EndNote Plus's Journal Abbreviations table allows you to store up to three different abbreviations for each journal name. Your bibliographic styles can use any one of the three abbreviations or the full journal name when formatting. You can also choose a journal name from the Journal Abbreviations list when you are entering data. In this way, your journal names can be entered automatically, consistently, and accurately. FIND DUPLICATE REFERENCES Those of you who import large numbers of records will be pleased to know that EndNote Plus can find duplicate records. EndNote Plus can display entries with identical author, year and title fields, and allows you to inspect them before deleting any records. ENDNOTE PLUS PLUG-IN MODULE People who use Microsoft Word 5 for the Macintosh will be able to use the EndNote Plus Plug-In Module that integrates EndNote Plus seamlessly into Word 5. The module allows you to access your database and format bibliographies without ever having to leave Word. [See the related file "EndNote Plus Module for Word (Mac)" in this section.] WINDOWS & DOS EndNote Plus for DOS can be run under Windows 3.0 or 3.1 to format bibliographies in Microsoft Word and WordPerfect for Windows. EndNote Plus can access the Windows clipboard so transferring information to your word processor is very easy. DOS users of WordPerfect can access their database from within the word processor with a TSR. EndNote Plus can also recognize citations in WordPerfect footnotes. PRICING List Price: EndNote is $149; EndNote Plus is $249. Local bookstores and mail order companies may have discounted prices. If you have any questions please let us know. Niles & Associates 800 Jones Street Berkeley, CA 94710 phone: 510-559-8592 fax: 510-559-8683 PRO-CITE -------- From: "Ken Raynor" From: "Ken Raynor" Dear Mr. Aske, In response to your email requesting Pro-Cite information: we have sample programs and product literature which I would be happy to send you [...]. As a quick overview, we currently have Pro-Cite and Biblio-Links available in Mac and DOS versions, with a Windows version of Pro-Cite due out this fall. We have single user and network versions of Pro-Cite. The Biblio-Links are companion programs that are used to transfer records from Online and CD-ROM information services, directly into Pro-Cite. Pro-Cite is able to work with custom character sets and non-English characters. In terms of pricing, it would be best not to post our US prices on the worldwide mailing list, since we have dealers in many countries who have different pricing schedules based on import/custom tariffs and VAT taxes. I will send you our standard price list, but need to qualify it by saying that we do have educational and governmental discounts available in the US, so that pricing can vary quite a bit, depending on the field of the end user. Hopefully, the package I'm sending will provide all the information you need. If you have technical questions, we do have a tech support dept. you can reach by phone (313-996-1580) or email . If you need any more general information, please contact me at the main number (above) or at Thank you, Ken Raynor Educational Accounts -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Jon Aske Home address: Anthropology "Aritza Enea" Bates College 12 Bardwell St. Lewiston, Maine 04240, USA Lewiston, Maine 04240-6336 e-mail: jaske@abacus.bates.edu -Phone/Fax: (207) 786-0589 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-742. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-743. Sun 26 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 75 Subject: 5.743 Sum: Semantics texts Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: 25 Jun 94 17:44:00 EST From: "STEVE SEEGMILLER" Subject: SUM: Semantics texts -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: 25 Jun 94 17:44:00 EST From: "STEVE SEEGMILLER" Subject: SUM: Semantics texts Here is the summary of responses to my query on undergraduate semantics textbooks. Like the previous summary (on syntax texts), this one is organized alphabetically by textbook author, with comments of the respondents thereafter. 1. Keith Allan, Linguistic Meaning, 2 vols. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986. Claudia Brugman finds this the most successful text for undergraduate semantics that she has found. Its shortcomings are (1): it is very light on formal semantics and almost as light on the topics covered by formal semantics; (2) both volumes are necessary for a complete class, which means that the students have a lot of reading and that they have to buy two expensive books. 2. Emmon Bach, Informal Lectures on Formal Semantics, SUNY Press. Nancy Goss used it for a short time in a course in which the main text was Frawley's (see below). She found that three weeks was too little time to cover formal semantics. 3. Ronnie Cann, Formal Semantics, Cambridge U. Press, 1993. David Adger liked teaching from it, "although it has a billion misprints," but his students found the course hard. 4. Gennaro Chierchia and Sally McConnell-Ginet, Meaning and Grammar, MIT Press, 1990. Nancy Goss used it as an undergraduate at Cornell and found it to be a good textbook. 5. William Frawley, Linguistic Semantics, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1992. Nancy Goss used it as a graduate student in a course that also contained undergraduate students. She still consults it regualrly for basic information on semantic topics and relevant literature. It contains no formal semantics. 6. Hurford and Heasley, Semantics: A Coursebook. David Adger was taught from it as an undergraduate and hated it, but when he taught from it, his students really liked it, probably because it's mainly taxonomic and fairly easy. Rob French liked it and so did his students, since it covers a lot of ground and is easy to supplement with material that goes deeper into particular topics. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-743. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-744. Sun 26 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 109 Subject: 5.744 What good is Linguistics ?, Definition Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 09:34:33 -0500 (EST) From: "Leslie Z. Morgan" Subject: Re: 5.718 WHAT GOOD IS LINGUISTICS ? 2) Date: Thu, 23 Jun 94 17:24:51 WST From: h9290030@hkuxa.hku.hk (R.Y.L. TANG) Subject: What good is linguistics? 3) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 16:30:55 -0400 From: ewb2@cornell.edu (E. Wayles Browne) Subject: Re: 5.717 The popularisation of linguistics, -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 09:34:33 -0500 (EST) From: "Leslie Z. Morgan" Subject: Re: 5.718 WHAT GOOD IS LINGUISTICS ? I think that at Liberal Arts schools without Linguistics Depts. one should include the LOGIC of language. Many of my students are those who "can't learn languages": they've tested poorly on the MLAT because they "don't know grammar" and they "don't know vocabulary". The school therefore has them take an etymology course and some other language course (e.g., Intro to Linguistics) instead of two semesters of a foreign language. We do a lot of the stuff mentioned-- dialects, word-formation, etc., but we also do a LOT of problem sets. The initial reaction is always, "Oh, but I can't speak X, so I can't do this." But, by the end of the semester, most of them can do morphological problems (with a phoneme list & equivalents at hand) with reasonable success. Diagramming sentences is the other big hit; we use _Doing Grammar_, and make it most of the way through. There are 50 sentences for 7 chapters, enough for us to review and work through many times each point. (There are selected answers in the back of the book, too.) Giving students an idea of the LOGIC of language (any language) gives them the tools to cope, should they ever need to, with an other/other language(s). One of my LD students told me, with pride, at the end of a semester, that he was able to do his roommate's Russian homework thanks to all our problem sets (though the roommate had given up!). Perhaps this is more of a language teacher's approach, but that is my training, and the students seem to enjoy it. Leslie Morgan (MORGAN@LOYVAX.BITNET or MORGAN@LOYOLA.EDU) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Thu, 23 Jun 94 17:24:51 WST From: h9290030@hkuxa.hku.hk (R.Y.L. TANG) Subject: What good is linguistics? Dear netters, I just read that message with the captioned subject (21 June) and I want to say something about it. While linguists are discussing how to put all those 'technical matters' into courses and writings useful for students and the public respectively, some have, in fact, done the job splendidly. In the course of my graduateresearch, I came across some names in this regard which I want to mention: Michael Geis -- Aren't he doing a good job in his _The Language of TV Advertising_ (1982)? He very much wants *ordinary* consumers to take up some linguistics (the validity of conversational implicature drawn from advertising claims, in particular) and he wants more monitoring of misleading advertising claims. His treatment may still be complicated for the layman, but I think some of the linguistics in his work (e.g., elliptical comparatives) will be comprehensible for ordinary people. George Lakoff and Mark Johnson -- They have demonstrated how linguists (if you accept them to be linguists!) can talk about socio-cognitive semantics without using formalism (_Metaphors We Live By_, 1980). I am sure an adaptation of their work will give ordinary students and folks some interesting and arresting insights. Norman Fairclough -- His _Language and Power_ (1989) is both a thesis on 'crtical language study' as well as a handbook for *anyone* who is concerned with an awareness of the exercise of power through different text types in our daily life.His goal is explicit: he wants to propose some *usable* framework for critical language study which can lead to *emancipation* (sounds Marxist!) of the suppressed. And linguistics just comes in to serve as a mediating *tool* for achieving that social goal. Thus, I can assert that many linguists (though may not be orthodox ones in the eyes of Chomskyans!) out there have *already* done things highly relevant to public life. In fact, the 3 texts above can well be the reading material for an introductory course open to all. I am sure there will be some more accessible titles. This discussion also opens up another dichotomy besides the prescriptive-descriptive one: social or asocial. I think this should also be a dimension to considerwhen one is talking about 'popularizing linguistics' or 'what can linguistics dofor the public/humanity'. Regards, Raymond Yin-loong TANG Dept. of English University of Hong Kong -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 16:30:55 -0400 From: ewb2@cornell.edu (E. Wayles Browne) Subject: Re: 5.717 The popularisation of linguistics, "Oh, you're a linguist? What does a linguist do?" "Analyzes different languages and sees how they work." or: "Oh, you're a linguist? How many languages do you speak?" "Some better, some worse, but what a linguist does is figure out HOW people speak languages." Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics Dept. of Modern Languages, Morrill Hall Cornell University Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A. tel. 607-255-0712, 607-273-3009 e-mail ewb2@cornell.edu (formerly jn5j@cornella.cit.cornell.edu and jn5j@cornella.bitnet) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-744. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-745. Mon 27 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 514 Subject: 5.745 Sum: Native speaker judgements Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 13:05:34 +0100 From: wcli@vax.ox.ac.uk Subject: summary: native speaker judgements -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 13:05:34 +0100 From: wcli@vax.ox.ac.uk Subject: summary: native speaker judgements SUMMARY: NATIVE SPEAKER JUDGEMENTS About two weeks ago, I posted a request for views on and experiences in dealing with native speaker judgements, highlightling in particular the fuzzy nature of the judgements. Here are the replies. There has been a good variety of opinions. First there were those that alerted me work already done in the area, to whom I am grateful. Then there are those of a more mainstream persuasion who believe that there are a number of non-linguistic factors that make judgements ambiguous, and that if we only filter these factors out, what is left must be clear-cut. This viewpoint I feel less inclined to agree with, the reason being that having filtered out all the ambiguating factors, what is left, still, need not be discrete. But I nevertheless appreciate the very constructive discussions I've had with many of the respondents holding this view. Finally, there are those that shared their personal experiences in dealing with these fuzzy judgements, and some that offer explanations as to while this might be so. Thanks to all who contributed, and enjoy the messages! Wen-Chao Li Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University ****************************************************************************** From: Lance Eccles From: Lance Eccles Perhaps *context* is the key to both your native speaker questions. Linguists have a habit of asking, "Is X right or wrong?", when X has not been given in any context. The native speaker who is being asked the question is then obliged to try and invent a context in her/his head, and in doing so may be looking at X from a different point of view from the questioner. Context might even help with you poor/paw question. Try presenting the words in complete sentences. It would be nice if you could present a sentence in which /pO/ is ambiguous -- being able to be interpreted as either "poor" or "paw", but I'm afraid I can't think of such a sentence. I became aware of the importance of context when I started investigating aspectual particles in Shanghainese. I found that asking native speakers whether they would use X, Y or Z after the verb in a particular sentence produced very contradictory results because of the lack of context. Now I'm trying to pursue the subject further, taking a different approach. Lance Eccles Macquarie University lance.eccles@mq.edu.au In my last message to you I said it might be useful to find a sentence in which poor/paw could be used ambiguously. Just an hour ago I heard a sentence on the radio which almost met the criteria: There's one law for whites and another lore for blacks. The speaker had to spell "lore" after uttering the sentence so that listeners would know his meaning. ******************************************************************************* From: faber@haskins.yale.edu (ALICE FABER) From: faber@haskins.yale.edu (ALICE FABER) Your request for references about instances where native speaker judgements about their language are demonstrably fallible brings to mind the notion of "near" or "apparent" mergers. In such instances, native speakers believe that they are pronouncing two (minimal pair) words identically, but reliable acoustic differences can be discerned using instrumental phonetic techniques. These situations have been studied extensively by Labov, starting with the study of sound change in progress (with Malcah Yaeger and Rich Steiner) in 1972. The two most recent references are his new book on sound change (Blackwell, 1994) and an article with Mark Karen and Corey Miller in the newish journal Language Variation and Change in 1991. In addition, I have a paper (with Marianna Di Paolo), also in Language Variation and Change (1990). John Harris in his 1985 book on Hiberno-English (CUP) has some discussion of residual differences between the MEAT and MATE classes in Belfast vernacular; words in these classes rhyme with each other in popular poetry, but nonetheless are phonetically different. Another, related strand, concerns final devoicing in German. Over the past decade or so, there has been an ongoing debate, conducted mostly in Journal of Phonetics, regarding the possibility of residual differences between underlying voiced and voiceless obstruents in absolute final position. The paper that I consider the most sound methodologically is by Bob Port and Penny Crawford in 1989 (I believe); they show that there are differences in at least some speech styles. If these clues aren't enough for you to track things down, let me know and I'll upload parts of the bibliography for a paper I'm currently revising on how such near mergers could be acquired by speakers of a language. Alice Faber Faber@Yalehask.Yale.edu ****************************************************************************** From: Anthea F Gupta From: Anthea F Gupta Most people who have given this matter any thought realize that judgments are fuzzy. It's discussed quite widely in the sociolinguistics literature, and was much discussed in the 70s by R Quirk and associates when they were setting up the Survey of English Usage. When forced to make a judgment respondents may have recourse to notions gleaned from school grammar, spelling, or just random prejudices. Getting judgments is particularly difficult in non-standard varieties of languages (see for example a paper by D Bickerton. 1977. Some problems of grammaticality and acceptability in pidgins and creoles. In S Greenbaum (ed) _Acceptability in Language_. The Hague: Mouton, 27-37). Fuzzy judgments are responsible for the "not in my dialect" arguments that circulate in theoretical linguistics. Again, all this has been discussed long ago. You might like to look at R B Le Page & A Tabouret Keller (1985) _Acts of Identity_ Cambridge:CUP, for a more recent review (start with p9). I have never understood why people expect judgments always to be sharp. In some areas they are, but in areas where there is variation or where there is ongoing change (as in your poor/paw example) there *is* fuzziness. Without fuzzy edges there could be no variation or change. Our acceptance of variation allows us to understand varying structures, produce more than one variant ourselves, and allows for the possibility of change in the individual and across individuals. Language is not a rigid logical system but a part of human behaviour which has variation and disorderliness, like all aspects of human behaviour. _________________________________________________________________________ Anthea Fraser GUPTA English Language & Literature National University of Singapore Kent Ridge e-mail: ellgupta@leonis.nus.sg Singapore 0511 telephone: (65) 772 3933 ________________________________________________________________________ ***************************************************************************** From: Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen From: Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen I have just read your posting on native speaker judgements which I find is a very important issue in linguistic methodology. You may want to read an article by Chet Creider on constituent gapping in Norwegian which is very explicit with respect to native speaker judgements. The reference is Creider, Chet A. 1986. Constituent-gap dependencies in Norwegian: An acceptability study. In D. Sankoff (ed.), _Diversity and Diachrony_. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 415-424. In my thesis on the use of space in Danish Sign Language, I have taken up the same construction in (spoken) Danish: Engberg-Pedersen, Elisabeth. 1993. _Space in Danish Sign Language: The Semantics and Morphosyntax of the Use of Space in a Visual Language_. Hamburg: Signum. Section I.5.2: Judgements of grammaticality, 25-30. If you get other references, a summary on the Linguist List would be very helpful, I think. Sincerely, Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen ******************************************************************************* From: Arild Hestvik From: Arild Hestvik >Much of linguistic theory seems to be built upon the assumption that native >speakers can make clear-cut right/wrong judgements about their language. ... >One way to treat the problem [of unclear judgments-AH] would be to >relegate it to performance and sweep it under the carpet. I'm not sure how many share that view about clear-cut right/wrong judgments. Within the competence-performance view, every native speaker judgment is of course a performance datum. You never have direct introspective judgments about the grammar in your head. One can only extrapolate from the performance data to whatever competence system it reflects. Informal speaker interviews are "mini-experiments" (rather primitive by experimental standards) and it's up to the researcher to interpret speaker responses as "raw" data--always filled with more or less noise (depending on how good the "experiment is controlled) from the performance system. -Arild Hestvik eep@cphling.dk IAAS University of Copenhagen Njalsgade 80 DK-2300 Copenhagen S. Denmark ***************************************************************************** From: Stavros Macrakis From: Stavros Macrakis Although I agree with you that grammaticality judgements have their problems, I wonder if your example re poor/paw is ideal. In particular, the speaker in question is typically aware of the spelling difference, and you bringing the question of pronunciation to his/her conscious attention. Have you read Labov on sociolinguistics? He has all sorts of methodological tricks. -s **************************************************************************** From: GFIELDER@CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU From: GFIELDER@CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU I saw your message on LINGUIST and felt compelled to respond. I work in syntax/semantics/discourse analysis of Bulgarian and Russian and do a lot of fieldwork. Native speakers are indeed funny things. My own methodology is to use naturally occuring data (taken from contemporary prose) and fiddle with it (i.e. change adverbs, etc) and offer a choice of two forms. I have the speaker read the passage out loud and simply select the form that "sounds" best. I have found that reading the passage out loud helps to derail the metalinguistic censor (and thus get a speaker to accept a form that if asked directly, he/she would reject). I also include a fair amount of context. The difficulty with linguists simply presenting one with a sentence, out of context is that the native speaker relies heavily on intonation in order to make sense of it. Often a sentence isn't "wrong", but "unusual", or "funny". Typically, "funny" sentences violate semantic or pragmatic constraints, rather than a syntactic constraint. I follow Alan Timberlake in using the following gradations: acceptable/preferred versus acceptable/not preferred versus marginally acceptable/somehow odd versus unacceptable. These rankings also follow a frequency axis since there is always a speaker who will accept a form that everyone else has rejected. Best regards, Grace Fielder University of Arizona GFIELDER@CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU ***************************************************************************** From: moorcrof@epas.utoronto.ca (R. Moorcroft) From: moorcrof@epas.utoronto.ca (R. Moorcroft) Hi, there was a Master's thesis on the topic at the University of Toronto, by Carson Schutze. You should be able to get hold of him by e-mail at MIT. Chet Creider at the University of Western Ontario has also done a study on Norwegian, showing that context influences speaker judgments significantly. As for phonemic contrasts, luckily you don't have to rely on speaker judgments, but can do measurements which show whether or not a phonemic contrast has been neutralized. Regards, Regine. **************************************************************************** From: Steven Schaufele From: Steven Schaufele I have a friend who holds degrees in physics and computer science. She is very interested in linguistics and at a certain point took at least one course in it. Towards the end of one such course the instructor commented on the quality of her work and invited her to pursue a career in linguistics. My friend begged off, giving as one of her reasons what might be called an insecurity about grammaticality judgments. A native speaker of American English, she had found during the course that too often when presented with a string of English, whether it was supposed to be acceptable or not she could convince herself that it was at least in the sense that she could conceive of a discourse context in which it would be perfectly acceptable, even unremarkable. Speaking for myself, i consider myself a native speaker of English with a wide variety of experience with different dialects and registers. And when asked to make an acceptability judgment i find i have to distinguish between not two categories 'acceptable' and 'unacceptable' but between three: 'actively acceptable', meaning 'there are circumstances in which i would say that myself, even if on "my best linguistic behaviour"'; 'passively acceptable', meaning 'i don't know that i would use that construction myself, but i've come across it in the usage of others'; and 'unacceptable', meaning 'i can't imagine any native speaker of English, of any dialect known to me, ever allowing such a construction'. Needless to say, the third category covers a relatively narrow range of the strings thrown at me, since it includes a lot of 'self-evidently ungrammatical' strings like '*Sam frightened Terry to Phil' (an example i used in one of my introductory lectures), while the 'grey area' in the middle is pretty broad, having to include Black English Vernacular and other 'substandard' usages. In short, i am very much in sympathy with the concern you raise, and am entirely in favour of it's being investigated. Sincerely, Steven -- Dr. Steven Schaufele fcosws@nytud.hu Room 119 Research Institute for Linguistics (Department of Theoretical Linguistics) Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Eotvos Lorand University) P. O. Box 19 1250 Budapest Hungary *** O syntagmata linguarum liberemini humanarum! *** *** Nihil vestris privari nisi obicibus potestis! *** ******************************************************************************* From: j.guy@trl.OZ.AU (Jacques Guy) From: j.guy@trl.OZ.AU (Jacques Guy) >(1) Being surrounded by linguists of all types, I am often given strange >sentences in English or Mandarin Chinese (I am a bilingual speaker of these two >languages) and asked if they would be acceptable in the language concerned. >Very often I cannot answer yes or no, the sentences being strange yet not >really wrong. I am able to give a rating for each sentence, or compare two >sentences and say which is better, but to draw a line and say some are right >and some are wrong, I believe, would be an abuse of intuition. Same here. And on this topic I have an anecdote. That was around 1970-71 when I was doing fieldwork in Espiritu Santo. I was using the usual method to try and figure out the phonology, grammar, syntax, whatever, of the three or four languages on which I was gathering data. I was quizzing Hilaire Chalet, who despite his French-sounding name, was full-blooded native of Malakula, on this two native languages, when, suddenly, he said to me: "Listen, Jacques, I am going to tell you: you must not quiz me as you do because you confuse me. I no longer know. You must listen to what I say the first time. If you ask me again, I no longer know." He was perfectly right. If only I had been taught that principle, I would have learnt a lot more of those languages a lot sooner. Like Hilaire, I find that I get totally confused by certain marginal sentences. Worse: having been asked about marginal sentences, I tend to mark as incorrect sentences which I would normally mark correct without the slightest hesitation. And vice versa. This practice is indeed utterly unsound. (2) > I have thought about it overnight and this is my explanation. Those test sentences are stored in short memory, and processed there by a self- learning "algorithm", a sort of neural net, perhaps. The odd-ball sentences cause the algorithm to build putative ad-hoc models to account for them. The run-of-mill correct sentences are also processed in the same way, so that the correct sentences proposed later are parsed by the tentative parser built during the processing of the "dodgy" sentences. Accordingly, the dodgy parser rejects the straight sentences. If you fed an informant enough dodgy sentences for long enough, some of the temporary parser would eventually be moved into long-term memory and provoke a collapse of his grammar, and possibly a catastrophic (in the mathematical sense of the term) mutation in his syntax. ****************************************************************************** From: James Dempsey From: James Dempsey I think that the proper object of linguistic research, or at least the kind that I want to read and learn something from, is the vast body of everyday, non-monitored usage. People's attitudes towards their usage, e.g. judgments about their own pronunciation, are something I find about as interesting as whether or not a person likes a certain movie or what did they eat for breakfast. - I have lived in Seattle for almost 20 years now but it still irks my Midwestern ears to hear people here saying "lahst" (lost) and "kaht"(cot) = "kaht" (caught). When I try to make someone aware of the difference, or when I quiz them on some (potentially) minimal pairs, I find that some of them become hopelessly confused and keep changing their minds---often moreso with the more literate types. I think it is the job of a linguist to OBSERVE, not to put people on the spot. ---Jakob Dempsey, Asian Linguistics, UW. ******************************************************************************* From: Harold Schiffman From: Harold Schiffman I agree with you that the notion that native speakers are infallible on intuitive judgements of grammaticality is unsupportable, for a number of reasons. 1. Labov has shown that often linguists make judgements that fit their own theories, that substantiate what they wish to prove. 2. Often linguists relegate the judgements of other people to the fact (?) of their speaking "another dialect" without any notion of how dialects are related, or what kidn of theory of dialectology they might have in their heads. (I teach dialectology, and find that theoretical linguisics has not served the field well; it raids it for judgements when it suits people, and ignores dialects the rest of the time) 3. From the burgeoning literature on GRAMMATICALIZATION we can see that often some construct is in the process of being grammaticalized, so it is variable until it becomes fixed; thus speakers can't make reliable judgements, but feel they must. Linguists therefore make judgements based on their own intuition at the moment; laypersons make judgements based on prescriptive grammar, and judge the innovation wrong. 4. Language, especially non-standard language, is inherently variable. Theoretical Linguists speak an invariable idealized language, thinking of themselves as the ideal speaker/hearer, for whom there are no fuzzy judgements. Who can believe such people? Hal Schiffman ****************************************************************************** From: Georgia Green From: Georgia Green Your query addresses a subject which is a standard lecture early in my first year syntax course. (I don't have anything to say about phonetic judgements specifically.) There are a lot of issues here. First, as Chomsky admits, people do not have judgements about grammaticality per se. All they know is what they like and what they don't like. It is up to the linguist to ask questions that will rule out all non-syntactic reasons (like truth, sensicality, elegance, subversiveness, etc.) before concluding that a negative judgement reflects ungrammaticality. Second, when speakers "judge sentences" they are not judging abstractions on purely formal criteria; they are judging the reasonableness of someone uttering that sentence with some communicative intention. Even when speakers think they are making that judgement in a "normal", "neutral", or "null" context, they will differ on how they define that term. The rest of the time they will vary even more widely, because they will vary, as individuals, in how imaginative they are in constructing POSSIBLE contexts in which uttering that sentence might make sense. Third, once you go beyond the easy ("The farmer killed the duckling.") parts of a description, distinguishing among competing hypotheses just about necessarily involves you in getting judgements about unusual, often marginal sorts of sentences. It should not be surprising that people have difficulty judging these, and vary widely, and may be inconsistent. One possibility is that their (internal) grammars do not give them any guidance. (I think this possibility and some others are discussed in an article on verb agreement by Jerry Morgan in the 1972 CLS volume.) Georgia Green ****************************************************************************** From: jtang@cogsci.Berkeley.EDU (Joyce Tang Boyland) From: jtang@cogsci.Berkeley.EDU (Joyce Tang Boyland) There was a very thorough M.A. thesis written on the psychology of linguistic judgments by someone who was at the University of Toronto, about 5 years ago. I've lent my copy to a friend who is now in Berlin, and I'm not sure of the exact name of the author but I think it was Carson Theodore R. Schutze or something like that. Aha-- I see his name on the Linguist address list: cschutze@athena.mit.edu. He demonstrates a number of problems with the methodology of using native speaker judgments as one's only data. It's the only literature I know of on this topic, so I think it's an important document. Joyce Tang Boyland (jtang@cogsci.berkeley.edu) ******************************************************************************* From: Tom Cravens From: Tom Cravens I agree with you completely. Forced binary choices in grammaticality inevitably falsify the picture of what real speakers actually do in the real world. Tom Cravens cravens@macc.wisc.edu cravens@wiscmacc.bitnet ******************************************************************************* -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-745. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-746. Mon 27 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 98 Subject: 5.746 Sum: Verbs of cognition, IE Fable - Addendum Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 25 Jun 1994 04:12:29 +0200 SAST From: "Rembrandt Klopper - UZulu, Umlazi Campu" Subject: SUM: VERBS OF COGNITION 2) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 07:57:56 CDT From: Evan S. Smith Subject: IE Fable: Addendum -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Sat, 25 Jun 1994 04:12:29 +0200 SAST From: "Rembrandt Klopper - UZulu, Umlazi Campu" Subject: SUM: VERBS OF COGNITION 25 June 1994 I would like to thank the following colleagues who responded to my query about verbs of cognition in the middle of May: Achim Grabowski J.A Barden Joyce Tang Boyland Elisabetta Fava Bill Croft Malcolm Ross Rebecca Wheeler SOURCES ON THE VERBS OF COGNITION 1. Sweetser, Eve. 1993 (1990) _From etymology to pragmatics_. Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 54. 2. Kemmer, Suzanne. 1993 _The middle voice in English_. John Benjamins. 3. Fava, Elisabetta. 1990 Interrogative or relative clauses, in _RIVISTA DI LINGUISTICA_ Vol. 11. 4. Croft, W. 1993 "Case marking and the semantics of mental verbs", in (ed.) James Putsejovsky, _Semantics and the Lexicon_, Kluwer. 5. Croft, W. 1991 "Syntactic Categories and Grammatical Relations, in _The Cognitive Organization of Information_. Chicago University Press. 6. Dixon, R.M.W. 1991 _A new approach to English grammar, on semantic principles_. Clarendon. 7. Wheeler, Rebecca S. 1993 "Sense and Subsense: The lexical semantics of the English verb 'understand'", in _CAHIERS DE LEXICOLOGIE_ Vol 62:1. 8. Wheeler, Rebecca, S. 1989 _The Lexical Entry of the English Verb 'understand'_. Ph.D dissertation, Univ. of Chicago. VERBS OF COGNITION & AI 1. Barden, J.A. 1988 "Belief, metaphorically speaking", in _Procs. 1st Intl. Conf. on Principles of Knowledge Representation ..._ Morgan Kaufmann pp. 21-32. 2. Barden, J.A. 1992 "Belief in metaphor: taking commonsense psychology seriously, in _Computational Intelligence_ Vol. 8 (3), pp. 520-552. 3. Barden, J.A., Helmreich S. Iverson & G.C. Stein (in press) "An integrated interpretation of simulative, uncertain and metaphorical reasoning", in (eds.) J. Doyle, E. Sandewall & P. Torasso, _Principles of Knowledge Representation & Reasoning: Procs. of the 4th Intl. Conf._ Bonn, Germany 24-27 May 1994. Morgan Kaufmann. Thanks again for those who responded. Rebecca, Bill, Malcolm: I will respond to you personally at a later stage. Rembrandt Klopper Klopper@superbowl.und.ac.za -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 07:57:56 CDT From: Evan S. Smith Subject: IE Fable: Addendum Text item: Text_1 Bynon's HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS, pp. 73-74, discusses Schleicher's IE fable and cites Hirt, H. 1939. Die Hauptprobleme der indogermanischen Sprachwissenschaft, ed. by H. Arntz. Halle: Niemeyer. (esp. p. 114). Evan Smith smithe@ext.missouri.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-746. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-747. Mon 27 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 190 Subject: 5.747 Confs: MT conference - Cranfield (UK) Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 16:00:57 WET From: "J.HUTCHINS" Subject: MT conference, Cranfield (UK) -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 16:00:57 WET From: "J.HUTCHINS" Subject: MT conference, Cranfield (UK) International Conference MACHINE TRANSLATION TEN YEARS ON 12-14 November 1994 Organised by Cranfield University in conjunction with the Natural Language Translation Specialist Group of the British Computer Society (BCS-NLTSG) This message is in response to a number of queries raised after our Email 'CALL FOR PAPERS'. Abstracts (for which 200 words would be sufficient) should reach us by 10th July 1994. Accepted complete papers should reach us by 30th September 1994. It is expected that, in the Conference, each paper presentation will last half-an-hour. Papers should be not more than 20 (twenty) A4 pages long (including diagrams). The papers (and abstracts) should be on machine-readable media (PC compatible) in Word Perfect or (preferably) Microsoft Word format and with copies in ASCII format. To register, please fill in the form below and send it, together with a registration fee of 40 (forty) pounds Stirling (cheques being made payable to "Cranfield University"). This registration fee will form part of the conference fee. The conference programme will be issued in due course. Topics already offered include: Evaluation: Siety Meijer and Lorna Balkan, Essex University. Speech coding: Raj Gunawardana, Texas Instruments Bedford. Review of MT: Peter Wheeler, Antler Translation Services, Sparta, NJ, USA. Research methods and system designs in MT; a ten year overview: John Hutchins, University of East Anglia. The Current State of the EU Commission's Systran MT System. Angelika Petrits, EU Commission, Luxembourg. The Design of a Computational Dictionary for Arabic: Yassin Al-Hafez, Alfred Vella and Douglas Clarke, Cranfield University. Through the Looking Glass to the PARS Land (An English-Russian-English MT system): M Blekhman, Kharkov, Ukraine. Techniques for improving communication between pilots and air traffic control: Bob Wasilyiw and Douglas Clarke, Cranfield University. as well as contributions from: Frank Knowles, Aston University. Veronica Lawson, Translation Consultant. Peter Wheeler, Antler Translation Services, Sparta, NJ, USA. H Eman, Canada. Application Form: (Please complete and return.) International Conference on MACHINE TRANSLATION (Tick choices as appropriate) I propose to attend the Conference. I offer to present a paper with the title or theme: ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ (Abstracts in English, under 200 words, should be submitted before 10 July 1994. Abstracts and accepted papers should be submitted on machine readable (PC compatible) media in WordPerfect or Microsoft Word format if possible, otherwise in ASCII format. I expect to use audio-visual material including: ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ (Please specify tapes, slides, overhead projector, etc) I offer to demonstrate a computer program on a ________________ computer, during my paper presentation at (an)other time(s). I wish to enquire about the alternative programme. I enclose the registration fee of 40 GBP. (This will form part of the full conference fee) I shall require residential accommodation (and for ___________________________ other persons) I have the following dietary requirements, etc. ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ Title and name:_______________________________________ ______________________________________________________ Position:_____________________________________________ Organisation:_________________________________________ Address:______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ Telephone number:_____________________________________ Fax number:___________________________________________ E-mail address:_______________________________________ I suggest that copies of this brochure are sent to: Please return this form to: Douglas Clarke Alfred Vella SME SIMS (Bldg.50) TALK Group TALK Group Cranfield University Cranfield University Cranfield Cranfield Bedford MK43 0AL Bedford MK43 0AL England England Telephone: +44 (0)234 750111 Fax: +44 (0)234 750728 Telex: 825072 CITECH G E-Mail: a.vella@cranfield.ac.uk -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-747. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-748. Mon 27 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 131 Subject: 5.748 Qs: Multiple regression, Patterns of Lexis, Ghana, Cute Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 13:52:30 GMT From: Cathryn Williams Subject: Query: multiple regression. 2) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 11:37:20 +0100 (BST) From: "Mr A.P. Berber Sardinha" Subject: Patterns of Lexis 3) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 17:53:58 +1000 From: Knut Olawsky Subject: E-mail in Ghana? 4) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 17:38:00 PDT From: am@macdict.dict.mq.edu.au (Alison Moore) Subject: cute -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 13:52:30 GMT From: Cathryn Williams Subject: Query: multiple regression. Hello there. I am currently attempting to learn something about quantitative research in language studies and in particular I am looking at multiple regression stats. as a way of analysing data...Does anyone out there have any user friendly references on this subject or better still, any expertise they'd like to share? Email me directly (WilliamsC1@Cardiff.AC.UK)...I will post summary if there's any interest. Thanks in advance....Cath.Cathryn Williams Dept. Language and Communication Studies Cardiff University. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 11:37:20 +0100 (BST) From: "Mr A.P. Berber Sardinha" Subject: Patterns of Lexis Hello, I'm interested in getting in touch with people who have been using / are interested in the technique of analysis introduced in Michael Hoey's 'Patterns of Lexis' (Oxford, OUP, 1991) for assessing lexical cohesion in written text. Cheers Tony ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tony Berber Sardinha | tony1@liverpool.ac.uk AELSU | Fax 44-51-794-2739 University of Liverpool | PO Box 147 | Liverpool L69 3BX | UK | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 17:53:58 +1000 From: Knut Olawsky Subject: E-mail in Ghana? I'll be leaving for a fieldtrip to Ghana in a few days. Does anybody know whether there is the opportunity for E-mail-communication with some linguists or other officials there, maybe at the University of Ghana in Accra? It would be practical to contact somebody there. My trip concerns a PhD-project dealing with DAGBANI, a Gur language spoken in the area around Tamale, Northern Ghana. I would be glad if anyone could give me additional information on the language or the area where it's spoken (besides the info from the ETHNOLOGUE and Larry Hyman's article about postlexical tonology). I am also looking for a native speaker of Dagbani in Europe (the tribe name is DAGOMBA). I will leave the linguist-list on Friday, 1 July, to avoid filling up my mailbox. Thanks in advance for your comments, Knut Olawsky ------------------------------ Knut J. Olawsky Universitaet Duesseldorf Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft Universitaetsstr. 1 D-40225 Duesseldorf / Germany (phone: xx49-211-311-4092 -2307) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 17:38:00 PDT From: am@macdict.dict.mq.edu.au (Alison Moore) Subject: cute Hello A colleague who is not on the List has asked me to post a rather odd query about the word 'cute'. He says that he has heard that it has been defined in dictionaries as 'ugly, but interesting'. Does anyone know of a dictionary with this definition of 'cute'? Has anyone heard 'ugly, but interesting' as a kind of catchphrase in a different context? Thanks very much! Alison Moore Macquarie Dictionary am@macdict.dict.mq.edu.au -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-748. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-749. Mon 27 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 130 Subject: 5.749 Jobs: Endangered langs, Comp. Lings. Research Director/Canada Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 19:22:00 -0500 (CDT) From: George Huttar 709 2400 Subject: correction of message re funds for research on endangered lgs 2) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 10:49:43 -0700 (PDT) From: Barbara Snyder Subject: Comp. Lings. Research Director/Canada -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 19:22:00 -0500 (CDT) From: George Huttar 709 2400 Subject: correction of message re funds for research on endangered lgs The previous message I posted on this subject gave an invalid email address. Inquiries should be sent to florence.gerdel@sil.org (not to florence gerdel@sil.org). The complete corrected message: Further information on the grants offered by the Summer Institute of Linguistics for the study of endangered languages, recently reported by Dan Everett (LINGUIST 5-677): Currently funds are available for up to four more grants of up to $1,000 each. Grants are intended to supplement funds from the student's institution (e.g., when the latter funds are not sufficient to cover special expenses entailed by fieldwork, such as international travel). "Endangered language" remains undefined, but criteria we consider include number of known speakers (using a fairly low population threshold), current trends in language use, and quantity and quality of already available research. Applications should be made by the student's supervising professor. Inquiries should be addressed, not to the contact person reasonably hypothesized by Everett, but to: Academic Affairs SIL 7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd. Dallas, TX 75236 USA phone: 1-214-709-2400 fax: 1-214-709-3380 email: florence.gerdel@sil.org George Huttar (huttar@sil.org) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 10:49:43 -0700 (PDT) From: Barbara Snyder Subject: Comp. Lings. Research Director/Canada Hello - I found this in a couple of newsgroups and thought it was appropriate for this list. Don't know if they already tried to post it here, so I'm forwarding it along. ===================================== The Canadian Language Technology Institute is actively looking for a person to assume accountability for CLTI research relating to computational linguistic aspects. This include chairing the Institute's international scientific and application advisory group which aim is to benefit from the largest possible base of expertise, avoid duplication, and optimize the use of the most recent scientific and application knowledge. The Institute's research program is first and foremost highly applied in nature, the rsults pursued being useful, user-friendly and marketable products. CLTI is a recently created technology center, thereby offering the opportunity to participate in its development. It is part of Canada-wide network of reserach centers established by the Centre for Information Technologies Innovation, a federal government applied research organization. QUALIFICATIONS . Highly computer-literate linguist . Appropriate educational qualifications . Experience in the field . Background in applied computational linguistics preferable. LOCATION CLTI, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. Located on the campus of the Universite de Moncton, with the opportunity to become associated with its academic activities. New Brunswick offers a bilingual environment and Moncton is also home of Lexi-tech, the well-known Canadian computer-based translation firm. The University of New Brunswick is located in Fredericton, not very far from Moncton. LANGUAGE OF WORK English and French CLTI foresees an initial period of three years, with potential extention subject to funding and performance, beginning January 1, 1995 or when the suitable candidate is available. Applications should be submitted to CLTI by fax or regular mail; They will be considered starting September 15, 1994. REMUNERATION Commensurate with qualifications and negociable. ====================================================================== Canadian Language Technology Institute P.B. 23130, Moncton New Brunswick, Canada, E1A 6S8 Tel: (506) 855-2584 Fax: (506) 855-4285 For information e-mail: jgh@clti-ictl.nb.ca kantc@umoncton.ca -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-749. ________________________________________________________________ LINGUIST List: Vol-5-750. Mon 27 Jun 1994. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 126 Subject: 5.750 Sum: Backwards anaphora Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. Asst. Editors: Ron Reck -------------------------Directory------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 15:00:19 -0400 From: Dan Hardt Subject: backwards anaphora (summary) -------------------------Messages-------------------------------------- 1) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 15:00:19 -0400 From: Dan Hardt Subject: backwards anaphora (summary) thanks to all those who responded to my query about backwards anaphora. Below is a summary of the responses: From: Larry Horn From: Larry Horn Hi. I'd say that Guy Carden has the franchise. He's usergclx@mtsg.ubc.ca. From: TERRY IRONS From: TERRY IRONS The phenomenon of backward anaphora to which you refer is termed "cataphora" by Halliday & Hasan in their work _Cohesion in English_. For a discussion and examples you might refer to that book. It does not present statistical information, but it is very informative. From: traum@cs.rochester.edu From: traum@cs.rochester.edu As for natually occuring examples, lots of works of fiction seem to begin this way -- introducing a character with a pronoun. If you allow deictics like "this", you get lots more cases. also, there was an LSA paper by Kathleen Ferrara, then of Texas A&M (no idea whether she's still there). The title is "Cataphor in conversation: Looking Forward to Discourse". From: "Fons Maes" From: "Fons Maes" About ten years ago, I have investigated the functional aspects of the use of backward anaphora in Dutch sentences. You can find the results in the article 'The pragmatic value of cataphoric relations, in: J.NUYTS & G. DE SCHUTTER (eds.), Getting one's words into line. On word order and Functional Grammar, Foris, Dordrecht, 1987, 131-146. From: " (MERLO Paola)" From: " (MERLO Paola)" refers to an: ***Analysis to see what kind of contructions that contain anaphora and *** with what distribution occur in a sample of real text. using Penn Treebank. From: Steve Fligelstone From: Steve Fligelstone we did some work a couple of years back on creating an "anaphoric treebank", using parsed AP newswire material as input. described in: Garside, Roger: The marking of cohesive relationships: Tools for the construction of a large bank of anaphoric data. ICAME Journal, No. 17, pp 5-28, Bergen, Norway, April 1993 Other documents describing the work are referred to in the paper. According to Garside, in the first 50 blocks of text analysed (5442 sentences, 110822 words), there were 4151 cases of a co-referential proform for which an antecedent could be recovered from the text, of which 3998 were anaphoric, 134 cataphoric (backwards) and 19 of uncertain directionality. From: smyth@lake.scar.utoronto.ca (Ron Smyth) From: smyth@lake.scar.utoronto.ca (Ron Smyth) I think (not sure) that there's some text count data in Carden, Guy & Dieterich, T. (1980) Introspection, observation and experiment: An example where experiment pays off. Journal of the Philosophy of Science Assocation, vol. 2. I'm citing from my dissertation, Smyth, Ron (1986) Cognitive Aspects of Anaphora Judgment and Resolution, distributed by the Indian University Linguistics Club (it may well be in your library). My reference to it discusses only their experiment, but I seem to remember that their paper refers to some count data by Carden. From: 00dgchurma@leo.bsuvc.bsu.edu (Don Churma) From: 00dgchurma@leo.bsuvc.bsu.edu (Don Churma) Try TV plot synopses (in TV guide or newspaper). You get things like "When he realizes that X, Y does Z" fairly frequently, I think -- with no under- standing probs. Fromx: caoimhin@sabhal-mor-ostaig.ac.uk (Caoimhin P. ODonnaile) Kevin Donnelly I think they are common in Gaelic. Gaelic doesn't like large and elaborate noun phrases as a constituent of a sentence, so quite often a pronoun is used, and this may either precede or come after its antecedent noun phrase. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-5-750.