From bryce at OWLNET.RICE.EDU Thu Feb 1 01:28:40 1996 From: bryce at OWLNET.RICE.EDU (Bryce Cramer) Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 19:28:40 -0600 Subject: Virus???? In-Reply-To: <199601312307.PAA04176@garnet.berkeley.edu> Message-ID: Here are a few things people should know about this supposed virus. First, it is impossible for a virus to travel through e-mail. A virus, by nature, can only exist as an executable file. E-mail files are not executable and therefore cannot contain a virus. Secondly, there is not such thing as an ASCII buffer. Third, their are no e-mail addresses for the original senders of this message - there are only abbreviated names. This makes me skeptical. Before the entire nation goes into a frenzy, I though some people might be interested in these observations. If I am wrong about this then excuse me but I don't thing I am. Always practice safe computing but be skeptical about this particular virus warning. On Wed, 31 Jan 1996, suzanne fleischman wrote: > >Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 13:30:43 GMT > >From: Teresa Bridgeman > >Subject: FW: Virus warning (fwd) > >To: Fleischman > >Priority: Normal > >Read-Receipt-To: Teresa Bridgeman > >Delivery-Receipt-To: Teresa Bridgeman > >Return-Receipt-To: Teresa Bridgeman > > > > > >Forwarded Message: > >From: Dee Reynolds > >Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 20:30:33 GMT > >Subject: FW: Virus warning (fwd) > >To: fh-staff at bristol.ac.uk > > > > > >Forwarded Message: > >From: Pumfrey S > >Date: Tue, 30 Jan 96 15:11:00 GMT > >Subject: FW: Virus warning > >To: Dee Reynolds > > > > > > > > ---------- > >From: Bliss R > >To: HARMAN P; Winchester A; Evans E; O'neill G; Brooke J; Walton J; Cross J; > >Stringer K; Blinkhorn R; Heale M; Mullett M; Winstanley M; Palladino P; > >Henig R; Smith R o g e r; Constantine S; Barber S; Pumfrey S; MUNBY J > >Subject: FW: Virus warning > >Date: 30 January 1996 14:34 > > > > > > ---------- > >From: Clements J > >To: Armitage S > >Cc: Ashcroft K; Bird K; Gardner M M; Collins R; Wareham T; Coleman R; Clark > >W; Mcenery A; Bliss R; Kirby M; Borlase R; G.Inkster > >Subject: FW: Virus warning > >Date: 30 January 1996 14:10 > > > > > > ---------- > >From: Lindsay M > >To: Glass B; Bland D; Lindsay R; Brennan S; Reed C; Thomson A; Clements J; > >Dawson D; Widden M; SAUNDERS I J; Edmonds M; Elliott P > >Subject: FW: Virus warning > >Date: 30 January 1996 12:12 > > > > > > ---------- > >From: Hands H > >To: Lindsay M; WORTHINGTON C; COHAN A; DENVER D; HOPFL H; KING P; > >Travers D; > >Worthington M; Wilkin P; GARETH DAVIES; Ms H Willes; I Bellany > >Subject: RE: Virus warning > >Date: 30 January 1996 10:53 > > > >> Andrew Sayer sent me the following virus warning, which has > >> been circulated round Sociology. > >> > >> >> SUBJECT: VIRUSES--IMPORTANT PLEASE READ IMMEDIATELY > >> >> > >> >>>>>> There is a computer virus that is being sent across the > >> >>>>>> Internet. If you receive an e-mail message with the subject > >> >>>>>> line "Good Times", DO NOT read the message, DELETE it > >> >>>>>> immediately. Please read the messages below. Some miscreant > >> >>>>>> is sending e-mail under the title "Good Times" nation wide, > >> >>>>>> if you get anything like this, DON'T DOWN LOAD THE FILE! It > >> >>>>>> has a virus that rewrites your hard drive, obliterating > >> >>>>>> anything on it. Please be careful and forward this mail to > >> >>>>>> anyone you care about. > >> >>>>>******************************************************** > >> >>>>>> WARNING!!!!!!! INTERNET VIRUS > >> >>>>>The FCC released a warning last Wednesday concerning a > >> >>>>>> matter of major importance to any regular user of the > >> >>>>>> Internet. Apparently a new computer virus has been > >> >>>>>> engineered by a user of AMERICA ON LINE that is unparalleled > >> >>>>>> in its destructive capability. Other more well-known viruses > >> >>>>>> such as "Stoned", "Airwolf" and "Michaelangelo" pale in > >> >>>>>> comparison to the prospects of this newest creation by a > >> >>>>>> warped mentality. What makes this virus so terrifying, said > >> >>>>>> the FCC, is the fact that no program needs to be exchanged > >> >>>>>> for a new computer to be infected. It can be spread through > >> >>>>>> the existing e-mail systems of the Internet. Once a Computer > >> >>>>>> is infected, one of several things can happen. If the > >> >>>>>> computer contains a hard drive, that will most likely be > >> >>>>>> destroyed. If the program is not stopped, the computer's > >> >>>>>> processor will be placed in an nth-complexity infinite binary > >> >>>>>> loop -which can severely damage the processor if left running > >> >>>>>> that way too long. > >> >>>>>> Unfortunately, most novice computer users will not > >> >>>>>> realize what is happening until it is far too late. Luckily, > >> >>>>>> there is one sure means of detecting what is now known as the > >> >>>>>> "Good Times" virus. It always travels to new computers the > >> >>>>>> same way in a text email message with the subject line > >> >>>>>> reading "Good Times". Avoiding infection is easy once the > >> >>>>>> file has been received- not reading it! The act of loading > >> >>>>>> the file into the mail server's ASCII buffer causes the "Good > >> >>>>>> Times" mainline program to initialize and execute. > >> >>>>>> The program is highly intelligent- it will send copies of > >> >>>>>> itself to everyone whose e-mail address is contained in a > >> >>>>>> receive-mail file or a sent-mail file, if it can find one. It > >> >>>>>> will then proceed to trash the computer it is running on. The > >> >>>>>> bottom line here is - if you receive a file with the subject > >> >>>>>> line "Good Times", delete it immediately! Do not read it" > >> >>>>>> Rest assured that whoever's name was on the "From" line was > >> >>>>>> surely struck by the virus. Warn your friends and local > >> >>>>>> system users of this newest threat to the Internet! It could > >> >>>>>> save them a lot of time and money. > >> >>>>>>> ---- End of mail text > >> > >> > >> > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From spikeg at OWLNET.RICE.EDU Tue Feb 6 16:24:35 1996 From: spikeg at OWLNET.RICE.EDU (Spike Gildea) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 10:24:35 -0600 Subject: Terralingua: Partnerships for Biolinguistic Diversity Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, Attached herewith is a Call for Interest for a new organisation which focuses on language diversity and survival. I would appreciate it if the message could be posted on your listserver, as we (the organising committee) are trying to reach as diverse an audience as possible. Also, please feel free to further post the message on other listservers which you think might be appropriate. Many thanks. Anthea Fallen-Bailey Graduate student Departments of Geography and Linguistics University of Oregon Eugene, OR. 97403, USA. ************************************************************************* CALL FOR INTEREST ANNOUNCING the creation of a nonprofit, nongovernmental, international organization devoted to preserving the world's linguistic diversity, and to investigating parallels and links between biological and cultural diversity, TENTATIVELY CALLED: *Terralingua: Partnerships for Biolinguistic Diversity* Dear Colleague: Last July, at a Symposium on Language Loss and Public Policy held at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, some of the participants began discussing proposals to form an organization to preserve the world's linguistic diversity. Beyond this, these participants determined that any such organization ought to coordinate with groups working to preserve the diversity of species and ecosystems, thereby emphasizing the mutually reinforcing importance of cultural and biological diversity. At that time, a small ad hoc organizing committee formed to hammer out a statement of purpose for the organization. After going through a number of drafts, we, the members of this ad hoc committee, now feel ready to announce the formation of the organization and issue this Call for Interest to gauge potential support from you and others. We *tentatively* propose to call our organization "Terralingua: Partnerships for Biolinguistic Diversity" (see below for more on the name). The organization will have two basic purposes. First, to preserve the world's linguistic diversity in all its forms, regardless of political, demographic, or linguistic status. This means that we are concerned with the loss of any form of language, whether it be an endangered language, a disappearing dialect of a non-endangered language, declining bilingual use of a language (endangered or not) within a given country, and so forth. As you can see, the emphasis is on diversity as a whole rather than endangerment, though of course we will necessarily be deeply involved in supporting the preservation of critically endangered forms of language. We also are convinced that attempts to preserve either linguistic or biological diversity will ultimately not succeed unless both are preserved; that is, we believe in a holistic view of diversity in culture and nature. Thus, Terralingua's second basic purpose is to promote the investigation of the parallels and links between cultural diversity (of which linguistic diversity is an important part) and biological diversity. We want to build bridges between groups and individuals working to save languages and cultures and those working to save species and ecosystems. All of this is fleshed out in the organization's Statement of Purpose, which is attached to this Call for Interest. What exactly do we propose to do? Initially, our goals are modest. First of all, we want to serve as a rallying point for those who share our beliefs and who want to join us in doing something. Second, we want to solicit your suggestions on how we can establish the partnerships that are at the heart of the Terralingua vision. We particularly want to reach out to community-based groups and individuals working on "the front lines," so we would appreciate it if you could send us contact information for those that you know of. Third, we want to hear from you about what you think the organization's priorities should be. Once all this is in place, we will pursue a specific plan of action. As you well know, much needs to be done on all sorts of fronts. But we think that, working together, we have the talent, vision, and energy to make a difference for diversity. INTERESTED? We invite you to help us in making this organization a living, working reality. Start by giving us your ideas on building partnerships and priorities for action. We would also like to have your suggestions for what the organization should be called. Some of us like the "Terralingua" name with the subtitle, but others find the "Terralingua" part frivolous-sounding and obscure and have suggested a more straightforward name, such as "Coalition for Biolinguistic Diversity" or, simply, "Partnerships for Biolinguistic Diversity." What do you think? E-mail your ideas, along with your name, mailing address, telephone/fax, and e-mail address, along with any suggestions or comments, to: David Harmon (Provisional Secretary) gws at mail.portup.com The initial announcement of the organization is being made through e-mail postings to a variety of lists serving the disciplines listed in the Statement of Purpose. Based on the response, we will then do a regular mailing to potential members and partners who do not use e-mail. On or around 15 February 1996, those who have responded will receive a prospectus for the organization containing a detailed statement of structure and a preliminary plan of action. At that time you will have an opportunity to formally join, if you wish (there is no obligation). We anticipate asking for modest membership dues (on the order of US$10.00 per year) to fund the operation of the organization. With thanks in advance for your consideration, The Terralingua Organizing Committee (gws at mail.portup.com) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- STATEMENT OF PURPOSE "Terralingua: Partnerships for Biolinguistic Diversity" A. We recognize: 1. That the diversity of languages and their variant forms is a vital part of the world's cultural diversity; 2. That cultural diversity and biological diversity are not only related, but often inseparable; and 3. That, like biological species, many languages and their variant forms around the world are now faced with an extinction crisis whose magnitude may well prove very large. B. We declare: 4. That every language, along with its variant forms, is inherently valuable and therefore worthy of being preserved and perpetuated, regardless of its political, demographic, or linguistic status; 5. That deciding which language to use, and for what purposes, is a basic human right inhering to members of the community of speakers now using the language or whose ancestors traditionally used it; and 6. That such usage decisions should be freely made in an atmosphere of tolerance and reciprocal respect for cultural distinctiveness-a condition that is a prerequisite for increased mutual understanding among the world's peoples and a recognition of our common humanity. C. Therefore, we set forth the following goals: 7. To help preserve and perpetuate the world's linguistic diversity in all its variant forms (languages, dialects, pidgins, creoles, sign languages, languages used in rituals, etc.) through research, programs of public education, advocacy, and community support. 8. To learn about languages and the knowledge they embody from the communities of speakers themselves, to encourage partnerships between community-based language/cultural groups and scientific/professional organizations who are interested in preserving cultural and biological diversity, and to support the right of communities of speakers to language self-determination. 9. To illuminate the connections between cultural and biological diversity by establishing working relationships with scientific/professional organizations and individuals who are interested in preserving cultural diversity (such as linguists, educators, anthropologists, ethnologists, cultural workers, native advocates, cultural geographers, sociologists, and so on) and those who are interested in preserving biological diversity (such as biologists, botanists, ecologists, zoologists, physical geographers, ethnobiologists, ethnoecologists, conservationists, environmental advocates, natural resource managers, and so on), thus promoting the joint preservation and perpetuation of cultural and biological diversity. 10. To work with all appropriate entities in both the public and private sectors, and at all levels from the local to the international, to accomplish the foregoing. (END) ------------------------------- The George Wright Society P.O. Box 65 Hancock, Michigan 49930-0065 USA telephone (906) 487-9722 * fax (906) 487-9405 e-mail: gws at mail.portup.com or gws at mtu.edu **************** Dr Mari Rhydwen, Graduate School of Education, * The University of Western Australia, * why is it all so beautiful this fake Nedlands, * dream Perth 6009, *this craziness why? Western Australia. * Tel: 09 380 2431 Fax: 09 380 1052 (IKKYU) **************** From spikeg at OWLNET.RICE.EDU Tue Feb 6 16:26:09 1996 From: spikeg at OWLNET.RICE.EDU (Spike Gildea) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 10:26:09 -0600 Subject: First Circular for ICHL '97 Message-ID: Dear Sir or Madam, We would like to announce the ICHL 1997 on the functnet. Enclosed is a copy of the 1st circular. If you have any questions, please contact us via the ICHL-email. Thank you very much. The Organising Committee II CCCC HH HH LL '' 99999 7777777 II C C HH HH LL ' 99 99 7 77 II CC HH HH LL 99 99 77 II CC HHHHHHH LL 99999 77 II CC HH HH LL 99 77 II C C HH HH LL 9 99 77 II CCCC HH HH LLLLLL 9999 77 - FIRST CIRCULAR - The XIII International Conference on Historical Linguistics will be held at Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet of Duesseldorf, Germany 10 - 17 August 1997 Plenary speakers include: Henning Andersen (UCLA) Kate Burridge (Melbourne) Wallace Chafe (Santa Barbara) Konrad Ehlich (Muenchen) Marvin Herzog (Columbia) Dieter Kastovsky (Wien) Donka Minkova (UCLA) Marianne Mithun (Santa Barbara) David Olson (Toronto) John Rickford (Stanford) Suzanne Romaine (Oxford) Brigitte Schlieben-Lange (Tuebingen) Dan Slobin (Berkeley) -------------------------------------------- Papers are invited either for any topic in historical linguistics, or for one of the special topic areas: Media, written language, and language change Norms and change of (linguistic) norms in modern societies Markedness, naturalness, and the invisible hand American Indian languages: relationships and developments Universal and social factors in language contact The development of Yiddish as a contact language Linguistic prehistory and history in Eastern Europe One page abstracts may be submitted either by mail (one hard copy accompanied by an ASCII-file on a diskette) or, preferably, by email (ASCII-file only) so as to arrive no later than 1st October 1996 --- official airline: Lufthansa --- mail: Dieter Stein Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet Duesseldorf Anglistik III Universitaetsstr. 1 D-40225 Duesseldorf Germany email: ICHL1997 at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de phone: 49-(0)211-81-12963 fax: 49-(0)211-81-13026 From bmcmah at MEYOSP.MECON.AR Tue Feb 6 21:38:50 1996 From: bmcmah at MEYOSP.MECON.AR (Brian McMahon) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 13:38:50 -0800 Subject: First or Second Language Acquisition Message-ID: I teach English conversation to adults on a private basis. One of my students asked me for advice on a problem. The couple has two children, 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 years of age. They are living in Cordoba, a large but, nevertheless, monocultural and monolingual city of one million in central Argentina. They are with their American father all weekend, every weekend but they have no contact with the English language. The couple's goal is that both children reach native levels of proficiency in both English and Spanish. However, they delayed the introduction of English to the 3 1/2 year old child to English due to the opinion of experts that simultaneously speaking both languages can delay by up to one year a child's ability to form full sentences in one of them. The elder child has been speaking Spanish in full sentences for over one year. The couple is now concerned that if he does not receive English instruction on an accelerated basis, he may never achieve truly native or first language proficiency. Since Cordoba has no large expatriate communities, there are no international schools where they can learn English alongside other children who are native speakers. The city does have a few "bilingual" schools where English is taught as a second language. Obviously, these schools would be their only educational option. The teachers in these schools are almost exclusively "locals" whose pronunciation leaves much to be desired. The couple has also found that the lack of English greatly inhibits certain activities such as reading to the older child, storytelling, songs and many other areas. With regard to long term concerns, the lack of first language proficiency would have an unfavorable effect on standardized test scores, such as the SATs. 1. Given the situation, would it be advisable to hire a private teacher to accelerate his acquisition of English? If so, for how many hours per week? 2. Given his environmental situation (contact with English only on weekends, monocultural/monolingual location and home environment), is the situation becoming urgent (i.e. that his exposure to English must be accelerated immediately or he will never obtain native proficiency)? Is there an age limit by which he must have attained a native level of English or his acquisition of it will only be as a second language? 3. Undoubtedly, the best way for a small child to acquire a language is through play. Would it be advisable to supplement "play English" with the use of structured materials contained in a text. Are there any texts that could be helpful? Are there any other sources of information on this topic? 4. In the case of the younger child, who has begun to speak, would it be better to introduce English now rather than wait? Is there general agreement with the assertion that speaking English to her will delay her ability to speak Spanish in full sentences? Thanks for your help. I am greatly looking forward to the replies. Brian McMahon, Consultant bmcmah at meyosp.mecon.ar From bates at CRL.UCSD.EDU Tue Feb 6 17:42:44 1996 From: bates at CRL.UCSD.EDU (Elizabeth Bates) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 09:42:44 PST Subject: First or Second Language Acquisition Message-ID: Where on earth did the advice come from to avoid introduction of two languages simultaneously with a perfectly healthy child? There is nothing in the literature on bilingual language development that would justify such a conclusion. I would avoid bilingual input ONLY in the case of a child who has some kind of handicap that presents a risk factor even for the normal acquisition of a single language. The usual rule in this literature (c.f. McLaughlin, Taeschner, Hakuta and others who have written on the topic) is to arrange things so that it is maximally clear to the child WHICH language is spoken in WHICH context. This can be done with mother vs father, parents vs. grandparents, upstairs vs. downstairs, anything that makes it easy for the child to keep the two input contexts straight. To be sure, there is often some mixing, and slight "delays" in the very early stages (as children work out which words go in which context), but as far as anyone can tell within this literature, these delays are in no way associated with a long term delay in either language. And "delay" is a relative term. If you look at the first 50 words in each language in very young bilingual children, considering each language separately, they look somewhat behind in the second year of life. However, if you add their non-overlapping terms together (e.g. first 20 words in Language 1, first 30 words in Language 2), you typically find that their totals are right on target compared with monolingual children. By the third year of life, most studies agree that children understand the separateness of their two codes thoroughly, often picking up words in translation pairs (e.g. actively seeking a way to code a new concept in both languages), with no measurable delay in either language. In short, I would recommend to your friends that they proceed with naturalistic language input in BOTH languages to BOTH children with no further delay. In fact, active and interactive weekends-only with the father could easily suffice to get the English going, even without a tutor. (I'm skeptical that "tutoring" in the didactic sense is appropriate in this age range anyway; what we are really talking about is an English-speaking babysitter who interacts intelligently with the children, in naturalistic contexts). There are others who are more expert in the literature on early bilingualism than I am, and I hope they will join in (and disagree with me if that seems appropriate). -liz bates From OLGA at HUMNET.UCLA.EDU Tue Feb 6 20:36:42 1996 From: OLGA at HUMNET.UCLA.EDU (Olga T. Yokoyama) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 12:36:42 PST Subject: First or Second Language Acquisition Message-ID: Here is my personal experience with raising a bilingual child. Before our daughter was born (Boston, 1983), we decided that we will try to raise her bilingual in English and Russian. We started the first day she was born, following the method that attached each language to a different person: the mother (me) to Russian, and the father to English. Our daughter started full time infant care at a normal American child care center when she was 2 months old, and her exposure to Russian was necessarily much more limited than to English. I tried to counterbalance this by putting Russian story and song tapes on whenever she was in her room (even when she was 2 months old), by showing her Russian video cartoons (and later video films), by exposing her to Russian speaking children once in a while, and of course by speaking exclusively Russian to her and in her presence. For several years she thought I could not speak English at all. Then she began to notice that I spoke English with other people but for several years after that discovery she was still convinced that I din't understand *her* English. When she told smth to her dad in English, she would then turn to me and immediately re-say it in Russian. The method of tying a lg to a person is definitely preferred, if only because it is also easier for the adult, who may forget to switch between the first and the second floor, or between the odd and even days. While I was regularly her only interlocutor in Russian, there were blocks of time when her contact with Russian was more extended. When she was 2 yrs old, I put her for one summer in care of a Russian baby-sitter, who had also babysat another Russian-speaking child. When she was 5, I took her to Moscow for one semester and put her in a Russian public kindergarden. Then I took her to Moscow twice more for 6 weeks each in the summer when she was 8 and 12. Despite a very limited experience in Russia, and relatively little time spent at home where she used Russian with me, she has acquired the language with no accent, all the cases, word order variation and verbal aspect in place, and with a considerable vocabulary and phraseology. The past year or two I have been a bit worried that she is reluctant to take a Russian book and read it and that her English has acquired such sophisitcation (she is a voracious reader in English) that she must derive less satisfaction from speaking Russian. A few months ago I fianlly began to give her formal lessons in reading, vocabulary building and writing Russian twice a week, for 1 hr each. The progress is very good and it is delightful to see how easy it is for her to learn all the vocab and spelling because most morphemes in this morphologically rich lg are transparent to her (last week she actually did take a Russian book to bed with her and read it for an hour!). I only hope that she manages to make enough progress before adolescence sets in for real and she will for a few years reject everything her mother says. I, too, would recommend to your friends to actively expose them to English as soon as possible. It would also be good to associate English with fun, such as videos and cardboard games with the father, as well as other activities. Putting on Raffi or other children's tapes round the clock will be good, too. We do not have TV at home, and began to allow English lg videos only after our daughter turned 11. That way, the fun of watching a video was necessarily associated with Russian. Occasional get togethers with English-only kids of the same age group will also be helpful. English-speaking babysitters would not hurt if they speak native English, but often what children learn from domestic helpers is just "kitchen" lg and that would be hardly worth the trouble. If the babisitter is verbal, is willing to systematically engage in lg-enhancing contact with the children, and does not turn them off by explicitly correcting their English (a taboo at young age) it would of course be very effective. Good luck! From druuskan at CC.HELSINKI.FI Wed Feb 7 06:35:14 1996 From: druuskan at CC.HELSINKI.FI (Deborah D K Ruuskanen) Date: Wed, 7 Feb 1996 08:35:14 +0200 Subject: Bilingual Children/First or 2nd Lang. Acq. Message-ID: Hei All! I sent this reply directly to Liz Bates who suggested it migh= t be of wider interest. Sorry if the lines are too long, I have trouble editing with my software editor - and I cannot correct errors either because of the time lag between=20 keying and seeing lines on screen.=20 WHERE did this NONSENSE about NOT introducing a child to two = languages come from? I'd like to reply to this, to the original query = if possible, including the list it came from. My first two children were exposed to FOUR languages perforce= : I am American, my husband Finnish, we lived in Italy, and our home= help was Argentinian. NO WAY was I going to speak ITALIAN to my child= ren, and my husband was as adamant about FINNISH being his language with = them. This was twenty-odd years ago: my firstborn took two years to real= ly speak, but he had single words for his "rag", mama, is=E4 (daddy), a= nd sickle (bicycle which he rode at 19 months). The rest he got throug= h by pointing and grunting. At three he came out with complete sen= tences in both English and Finnish, and fragments in Italian. He figur= ed out the homehelp understood Italian, and dropped the Spanish. His yo= unger sister followed his example. All three of my children are pe= rfectly competent in English and Finnish, but forgot their Italian wh= en we moved to Finland when the two eldest were four and five. My daught= er is about to graduate from university in the USA, where she is assumed = to be a native American, and my son did an AA degree in English in th= e USA and came back to Finland to train as a paramedic. The English wa= s reinforced by sending them home to grandparents for summers (= when we could afford it) in the USA, where they HAD to speak English.= I don't know the literature on the subject, but having the father spe= ak his language and the mother hers has worked JUST FINE with us, th= ank you. Please feel free to forward this anecdotal description, and I= 'd be glad to discuss the problems of raising bilingual children with an= yone who is nervous about it. Sincerely, =09kela Ruuskanen (PROUD mother and linguist) --=20 Deborah D. Kela Ruuskanen \ You cannot teach a Man anyth= ing, Leankuja 1, FIN-01420 Vantaa \ you can only help him find= it druuskan at cc.helsinki.fi \ within himself. Galil= eo From annaram at IPV36.UNIPV.IT Tue Feb 6 20:26:55 1996 From: annaram at IPV36.UNIPV.IT (Anna Giacalone Ramat) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 21:26:55 +0100 Subject: XXX SLI Meeting Message-ID: XXX INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE SOCIETA' DI LINGUISTICA ITALIANA PAVIA, SEPTEMBER 26-28 1996 THE FOLLOWING TOPICS WILL BE CONSIDERED: 1. COGNITIVE, FORMAL, SOCIO-LINGUISTIC MODELS FOR SYNTACTIC CHANGE 2. SYNTAX OF THE ROMANCE LANGUAGES 3. SYNTAX OF ITALIAN AND ITS DIALECTS KEY-NOTE SPEAKERS INCLUDE: MACHTELT BOLKESTEIN (University of Amsterdam) GEORG BOSSONG (University of Zuerich) NUNZIO LA FAUCI (University of Palermo) NIGEL VINCENT (University of Manchester) Deadline for the submission of abstracts: 15 FEBRUARY 1996 For application or information contact: Paolo Ramat Dipartimento di Linguistica Strada Nuova 65 27100 Pavia, Italy e-mail paoram at ipv36.unipv.it From mdavies at RS6000.CMP.ILSTU.EDU Thu Feb 8 15:10:58 1996 From: mdavies at RS6000.CMP.ILSTU.EDU (Mark Davies) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 09:10:58 -0600 Subject: "Syntactic diffusion": changes that only make it part way Message-ID: (Cross-posted to HISTLING) While carrying out research on diachronic Spanish clitic climbing, I've run across some data that has me a bit confused. Without going into all of the details, what I've found is a syntactic change (a decrease in clitic climbing), which I believe is motivated by a similar change in a related construction (a shift towards INFinitive+CLitic in cases like _para hacerlo_ "in:order:to do:it), that moves strongly in one direction (decreased clitic climbing), becomes the rule in about 80-90% of all cases, stops, and then begins to reverse (i.e. a recent increase in clitic climbing). (The data is quite certain, being based on tens of thousands of examples from computer-based corpora of 5,500,000 words of pre-1900 Spanish, and 3,500,000 words of post-1900 Spanish) In the scenario I've constructed, the syntactic change I'm investigating is active as long as there is continued change in the parallel construction that I think is the motivation for the shift. Once that parallel shift is completed, the change I'm studying continues on for another 100 years or so, in which time it becomes the rule in about 80-90% of all cases, then stops, and has perhaps even begun to move in the opposite direction. In my scenario, there is another syntactic motivation that would account for the reversal, if in fact it is taking place. I'm somewhat familiar with the idea of "lexical diffusion" (as well as the polemics surrounding such a concept), in which a phonetic shift is "active" for a certain period of time and then ends, with the change having reached only part of the relevant lexical items. In this model the "unaffected" lexical items may then undergo a later phonetic shift that only applies to these lexical items that the first change never reached. I'm wondering if there has been much research on this type of "diffusion" in syntax, where a shift is "active" for a given time, then slows, stops, and perhaps reverses when the motivating factor has ceased to exert its influence. Any ideas? P.S. If someone is interested in the details of the actual shifts in the diachronic Spanish clitic climbing construction, I'd be happy to provide them. Thanks in advance, ================================================================== Mark Davies, Assistant Professor, Spanish Linguistics Dept. of Foreign Languages, Illinois State University Normal, IL 61790-4300 Voice:309/438-7975 email:mdavies at ilstu.edu Fax:309/438-8038 http://www.ilstu.edu/~mdavies/welcome.htm ================================================================== From john at RESEARCH.HAIFA.AC.IL Thu Feb 8 07:16:38 1996 From: john at RESEARCH.HAIFA.AC.IL (John Myhill) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 09:16:38 +0200 Subject: children in Cordoba Message-ID: My wife and I have been facing a more difficult problem--I am a native speaker of English, she is a native speaker of Japanese, we are living in Israel, and we have a four-year-old daughter who we would like to be a native speaker of all three languages. Hebrew is not going to be a problem with us living here, but English and Japanese are not so easy. However, I think things are going well. It is obvious to me that throwing so many languages at Shayna has slowed down her progress in each of them. However, she has plenty of time to catch up. In my opinion, if her English or Japanese were to be slowed down a year, it wouldn't be much of a problem. Her life is not about to be affected by standardized tests at this age, and I am more concerned about her long-term ability in the different languages than whether she is a year behind at the moment in any one of them. I think that it is a mistake to withhold English from the child for any length of time at all, especially given that only the father is a native speaker of English; psychologically children will never feel that the language is 'theirs', in addition to causing phonological problems. I do not think that hiring a private teacher will help at the age of 3 1/2. I think that the most important thing is: (1) The father should ALWAYS speak to the child in English. (2) You might want to set up a rule where English is the 'language of the home', where even the mother normally speaks English to the child at home. (3) As much exposure as possible to English, even if the people don't speak such good English. The child will realize that the father is the one whose English should be imitated. (4) You might try pushing the children to respond to the father at least in English. (5) Get English children's videos; the father should look at them with the children and talk to them in English about it. (6) If at all possible, have extended stays in English-speaking countries--like summers, sabbaticals, etc. This has been an immeasurable help to our daughter's Japanese, although she has only been in Japan a total of maybe 5 months. She can now go a long time speaking almost no Japanese but when she realizes that she's in Japan she can just switch into Japanese immediately. I would not say that her Japanese is as good as other children her age, but she has the phonological tools--and she clearly regards Japanese as 'her language' (as she regards English and she is coming to regard Hebrew). It is very important to realize how much the family can do. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, I knew a Chasidic family with seven children, all born in Ann Arbor. They were the only Yiddish speakers in the city, to my knowledge. The parents categorically spoke Yiddish to the children until the children were maybe 7 or 8 years old, after which they would progressively use more and more English with them. The parents almost always spoke English to each other. The children's acquisition of English was obviously delayed several years, but in that environment there was absolutely no danger that they would not acquire completely normal English abilities by the time they were 10 (younger for the younger children who might speak some English with their older siblings even when they were pretty young); their ability to understand English was of course way ahead of their ability to speak it, since their parents spoke English to each other. The very young children also would try to speak English when they were playing games and pretending to be grownups. But it was clear that Yiddish was their main language until they were 7 or 8. This plan has worked very well in maintaining Yiddish in a bilingual situation for the last 1000 years; the kids know that they'll use more and more English, reserving Yiddish for some studies and special occasions, but then when they have children they'll switch back to Yiddish with them. The lesson I learned from this was: don't worry about the children's ability in the local language, that will come. John Myhill From john at RESEARCH.HAIFA.AC.IL Thu Feb 8 07:33:00 1996 From: john at RESEARCH.HAIFA.AC.IL (John Myhill) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 09:33:00 +0200 Subject: child bilingualism Message-ID: Having read what others have had to say on this topic, regarding Liz Bates' statement that blingual children acquire both languages normally by the time they are 3--this is just not my experience, and it sounds to me like this is not the experience of other linguists who have actually lived through this situation. My daughter was and clearly remains behind other children her age in all three of her languages (she's four). But she's also clearly catching up at least in Hebrew and English, and I'm sure the same will happen in Japanese when we go there this summer. I think that people who claim that bilingualism doesn't slow down either language, or that this only lasts until the age of three, are indulging in wishful thinking, or analyzing other peoples' children for relatively brief periods rather than living with the children and observing everything. But I am equally confident that bilingual or trilingual children will catch up before long--just not at the age of three or four. John Myhill From bates at CRL.UCSD.EDU Thu Feb 8 15:17:34 1996 From: bates at CRL.UCSD.EDU (Elizabeth Bates) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 07:17:34 PST Subject: child bilingualism Message-ID: There are immense individual differences in perfectly healthy, smart children even in monolingual settings. As we exchange anecdotes on multilingual acquisition, it is important to remember that the multilingual experience is always superimposed on this background of individual variability. -liz bates From BILLY1 at MDX.AC.UK Thu Feb 8 16:08:57 1996 From: BILLY1 at MDX.AC.UK (billy clark) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 16:08:57 GMT Subject: CONFERENCE: LINGUISTICS ASSOCIATION OF GREAT BRITAIN Message-ID: LINGUISTICS ASSOCIATION OF GREAT BRITAIN Spring Meeting 1996: University of Sussex Second Circular The 1996 Spring Meeting will be held from Thursday 11 April to Saturday 13 April at the University of Sussex, where the Association will be the guests of the Linguistics Subject Group of the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences. The Local Organiser is Nicola Woods (nicolajw at cogs.susx.ac.uk). Enquiries about the meeting should be sent to: LAGB Spring Meeting 1996, Nicola Woods, School of Cognitive and Computing Science, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH. Accommodation: will be in Kent House, which is 5 minutes walk from the building where the talks will take place. Registration will begin at 10am on the 11th of April in the ground floor foyer of the Physics block. Late arrivals can collect keys either from the porter in Kent House, who is avaliable until 6pm every day, or from the Security office in York House, which is open 24 hours a day. All rooms have wash basins, shaver points and shared bathrooms. A small number of rooms with twin beds are available. Rooms will be allocated strictly on a "first-come first-served" basis. Bar: Delegates are welcome to use the Senior Common room and bar, which is next door to the accommodation. The bar will be open until midnight on Thursday and Friday evening. Food: Vegetarian food will be available automatically. Please indicate any other dietary requirements on the booking form below. Travel: Falmer British Rail station is immediately opposite the University entrance; frequent local trains (around 3 per hour) run from Brighton and Lewes until midnight. Trains take approximately 8 minutes from either direction. Delegates with heavy luggage may prefer to take a taxi from Brighton, as there are no taxis at Falmer and the walk to the accommodation in Kent House may take up to 15 minutes. Bus numbers 28, 128 and 729 travel between Brighton (Old Steine) and Lewes and stop outside the University. Bus number 25 runs between Brighton (Old Steine) and the University and comes to the North end of the campus (about 5 minutes from the accommodation in Kent House. By car, the University is on the A27 road between Brighton and Lewes, about 6 kilometres (4 miles) from the centre of Brighton and the same distance from Lewes. Delegates arriving from air who have a choice of airport should fly to London Gatwick which is closer to the University than London Heathrow. If you are coming by sea, there is a direct rail link from Newhaven to Falmer. From Portsmouth and Southampton, there is a direct link to Brighton. From all other ports, take the train to London and travel from Victoria to Brighton or Lewes. Parking: Free parking is available in the immediate vicinity of the accommodation. Events: The Linguistics Association 1996 Lecture on the Thursday evening will be delivered by Professor Johanna Nichols (Berkeley) and is entitled "Where on earth is Indo-European?" Professor Nichols will also present a Language Tutorial on the Chechen and Ingush languages.This will cover: basic structure, typologically and theoretically interesting features, historical comparison, lexicon, transcription and orthography. Some cultural and geographical information on the people will be given, through slides and tape recordings of the languages and Chechen and Ingush music. There will be the chance for participants to gain active command of some basic phrases. Some basic grammatical and lexical material and a bibliography will be distributed. There will also be a Workshop, organised by April McMahon (Cambridge) and Kersti Borjars (Manchester), entitled "New cognates for historical linguistics". Participants are: Paul Foulkes (Newcastle), April McMahon (Cambridge), Rob McMahon (Cambridge), Anna Siewierska (Lancaster). One of the most promising developments in current historical linguistics involves attempts to connect results from this domain with cognate disciplines. Participants will address potential connections of historical linguistics with typology, experimental phonetics/laboratory phonology, and genetics. The talks will be followed by a panel discussion involving the workshop speakers, Professor Nichols and the audience. The Foundation of Endangered Languages, which was briefly presented to the LAGB by its president Nicholas Ostler at the Newcastle meeting in 1995, will be holding its sixth meeting from 10 am to 12.30 pm on the morning of 11 April, immediately before the formal start of the LAGB Meeting. It is planned that this meeting should mark its formal incorporation as a Company Limited by Guarantee. All LAGB participants are welcome to attend the meeting, to find out about membership and the Foundation's plans. Anyone wishing to receive a copy of Iatiku, the Foundation's newsletter, should contact Nicholas Ostler at Batheaston Villa, 172 Bailbrook Lane, Bath BA1 7AA. Tel: 01225-852865. Fax: 01225-859258, email: nostler at chibcha.demon.co.uk There will be a Wine Party on the Thursday evening, following Professor Nichols's lecture. The wine party is sponsored by the Linguistics Subject Group and the School of Cognitive and Computing Science. Bookings: should be sent to the Local Organiser, address above, to arrive by Friday 8 March. Cheques should be made payable to "University of Sussex". Guests: Members may invite any number of guests to meetings of the association, upon payment of a guest invitation fee of 5 pounds sterling. Members wishing to invite guests should photocopy the booking form below. Abstracts: are available to members who are unable to attend the meeting. Please order from the Local Organiser on the booking form below. Annual General Meeting: This is to be held on the afternoon of Friday 12 April. Items for the agenda should be sent to the Honorary Secretary. LAGB Employment Exchange: A volunteer is sought to take over the running of the LAGB employment exchange from Siew-Yue Killingley. If you are interested, contact the Honorary Secretary. Nominations for speakers: Nominations are requested for future guest speakers; all suggestions should be sent to the Honorary Secretary. Changes of address: Members are reminded to notify the Membership Secretary (address below) of changes of address. An institutional address is preferred; bulk mailing saves postage. Committee members: President Professor Greville Corbett, Linguistic and International Studies, University of Surrey, GUILDFORD, Surrey, GU2 5XH. e-mail: g.corbett at surrey.ac.uk Honorary Secretary Dr. David Adger, Dept. of Language and Linguistic Science, University of York, Heslington, York. YO1 5DD. e-mail: da4 at tower.york.ac.uk. Membership Secretary Dr. Kersti Borjars, Department of Linguistics, University of Manchester, MANCHESTER M13 9PL. e-mail: k.e.borjars at manchester.ac.uk Meetings Secretary Dr. Billy Clark, Communication Studies, Middlesex University, Trent Park, Bramley Road, LONDON N14 4XS. e-mail: billy1 at mdx.ac.uk Treasurer Paul Rowlett, Dept. of Modern Languages, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT. e-mail: p.a.rowlett at mod-lang.salford.ac.uk Assistant Secretary Dr. April McMahon, Dept. of Linguistics, University of Cambridge, Sidgwick Avenue, CAMBRIDGE CB3 9DQ. e-mail: AMM11 at hermes.cam.ac.uk BLN Editor Dr. Siew-Yue Killingley, Grevatt and Grevatt, 9 Rectory Drive, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE NE13 1XT. Employment exchange: Dr. Killingley is also the employment exchange organiser. Tel: 0191-285-8083 10.00-12.45 and 14.00-16.00 weekdays (sometimes working at other venues during the day - ring 20.00-21.00 weekdays if necessary). British Linguistic Newsletter: Members can subscribe to BLN (ISBN 0964-6574) by contacting the Editor, Dr. S-Y. Killingley. Please do not send subscriptions for BLN to the LAGB Treasurer. The LAGB internet home page is at the following address: http://clwww.essex.ac.uk /LAGB. Electronic network: Please join the LAGB electronic network which is used for disseminating LAGB information and for consulting members quickly. It can be subscribed to by sending the message "add lagb" to: listserv at postman.essex.ac.uk. Future Meetings: 7-9 September 1996 Cardiff Institute of Higher Education. 7-9 April 1997 (dates provisional) University of Edinburgh. 9-11 September 1997 (dates provisional)University of Hertfordshire. 14-16 April 1998 (dates provisional) University of Lancaster. Autumn 1998 (provisional) University of Luton. The Meetings Secretary would very much like to receive offers of future venues, particularly from institutions which the LAGB has not previously visited or from places with newly established linguistics programmes. PROGRAMME: Spring Meeting: University of Sussex Thursday 11 April 1996 1.00 LUNCH 2.00 Workshop: "New Cognates for Historical Linguistics" Organisers: April McMahon (Cambridge), Kersti Borjars (Manchester). 2.00 Introduction by the organisers. 2.10 Professor Anna Siewierska (Lancaster) "Historical Linguistics and Typology" 3.00 Dr. Paul Foulkes (Newcastle) "Historical Linguistics and Experimental Phonetics" 4.00 TEA 4.30 Workshop continues 4.30 Dr. Rob McMahon and Dr. April McMahon (Cambridge) "Historical Linguistics and Genetics" 5.30 Panel discussion between the workshop speakers, Professor Nichols and the audience. 6.30 DINNER 7.45 Linguistics Association 1996 Lecture: "Where on earth is Indo-European?" Professor Johanna Nichols (Berkeley) Friday 12 April 1996 Session A 9.00 Pat Poussa (Helsinki) "Drifting Northward: Implicational Scales in Syntactic Levelling" 9.40 Richard Coates (Sussex) "On a Recent View of the Linguistic Prehistory of Europe" 10.20 Jane Stuart-Smith (Oxford/Birmingham) "What Role Should Phonetics Play in Historical Phonological Reconstruction?" Session B 9.00 Hans van de Koot (UCL) "Strong Features and (Multiple) Specifiers" 9.40 Rhang K. Lee (Edinburgh) "A Typology of the Directionality of Checking and its Implications" 10.20 George Tsoulas (York) "Empty Categories in the Minimalist Program" Session C 9.00 Vesselin Vatchkov (Oxford) "Word Order and Relevance: From Prague to London or to London from Prague" 9.40 Marco Rocha (Sussex) "Discourse Processing and Anaphora" 10.20 Dick Hudson (UCL) "Some Sentences That Students I Teach Can Remember Are Multiply Self-Embedded" 11.00 COFFEE Session A 11.30 Ellen Thompson (Maryland) "The Syntax of Presentational and Predicational Sentences" 12.10 James Higginbotham and Gillian Ramchand (Oxford) "The Stage-Level/Individual-Level Distinction and the Mapping Hypothesis" [50-minute session] Session B 11.30 Bruce Connell (Oxford) "Four Tones and Downtrend" 12.10 Margaret Cobb (SOAS) "Vowel Harmony in Natal Brazilian Portuguese" Session C 11.30 Yaron Matras (Manchester) "Grammatical Re-Cycling and Language Contact in Romani" 12.10 Anna Siewierska (Lancaster) "Constituent Order in the Languages of Europe" 1.00 LUNCH Session A 2.00 Robert D. Borsley (Bangor) and Andreas Kathol (Groningen) "Breton as a V2 Language" 2.40 M. Siobh n Cottell (Bangor) "Verb-Movement, the Copula and Verb-Second Phenomena in Irish" 3.20 David Willis (Oxford) "Clausal Coordination and the Loss of Verb-Second in Welsh" Session B 2.00 Corinne Cortes (Barcelona) "Structural Asymmetries, Agency and the Feature [+animate]" 2.40 Heloisa Salles (Bangor/Bras!lia) "Preposition Pied-Piping and Preposition Stranding: A Minimalist Approach" 3.20 Jamal Ouhalla (QMW) and Malcolm Edwards (Birkbeck) "Questions, Pronouns and Operators in Spoken Arabic" Session C 2.00 Ute Bohnacker (Durham) "The Acquisition of Determiner Phrases in Early Child Language" 2.40 William McClure (Durham) "The Realisation of Tense in Japanese" 3.20 Andrew Spencer and Marina Zaretskaya (Essex) "Russian Resultatives" 4.00 TEA 4.30 Annual General Meeting 5.30 Language Tutorial: Chechen and Ingush Johnanna Nichols (Berkeley) 6.30 DINNER 7.45-8.45 Language Tutorial continues Johanna Nichols (Berkeley) Saturday 13 April 1996 Session A 9.00 Najib Jarad (Aleppo/Bangor) "The Origin and Reanalysis of "for" as a Complementiser" 9.40 Isabel Mux! (Durham) "Catalan is Not VOS: Evidence from Old Catalan" 10.20 Kersti Borjars (Manchester) and Carol Chapman (Newcastle) "Agreement and Pro-Drop in Some Dialects of English" Session B 9.00 Julia Barron (Manchester) "Circumstantial Complements in Romance: A Gerdts' Mapping Theory Account" 9.40 Nigel Vincent and Cecilia Goria (Manchester) "Psych-Adjectives" 10.20 Arancha Mateos (Durham) "Case, Agreement and Romance DPs" Session C 9.00 Elizabeth McCoy (York) "Absolutives, Aspect and Prepositions" 9.40 David Adger and Bernadette Plunkett (York) "Clauses and Case" 10.20 Kerstin Hoge (Oxford) "The Yiddish Double Verb Construction" 11.00 COFFEE Session A 11.30 Paul Rowlett (Salford) "Negative Pronouns in French" 12.10 Peter Kahrel (Lancaster) "Areal Features of Negative Indefinites" Session B 11.30 Gerald Gazdar (Sussex) "Gikuyu Preprefixation" 12.10 Zaharani Ahmad (Essex) "Correspondence Theory and Verbal Reduplication in Malay" Session C 11.30 Melanie Green (SOAS) "A Minimalist Approach to the Theory of Focus in Hausa" 12.10 Richard Breheny (UCL) "Pro-active Focus" 1.00 LUNCH 2.00 Language Tutorial: Chechen/Ingush Johanna Nichols (Berkeley) 4.00 TEA AND CLOSE BOOKING FORM: Please return this form, with your remittance, by 8 March to: LAGB Spring Meeting 1996, Nicola Woods, School of Cognitive and Computing Science, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH. Please make cheques payable to "University of Sussex". ______________________________________________________________________________ NAME................................................................................................................... NAME OF YOUR INSTITUTION......................................................................... ADDRESS FOR THIS MAILING......................................................................... ................................................................................................................................. EMAIL ADDRESS................................................................................................... I enclose remittance as indicated: EITHER 1. Complete conference package (a) or (b): (a) including Thursday lunch preceding workshop (i) if sent to arrive before 8 March 106-45 sterling (ii) if sent to arrive after8 March 118-28 sterling (b) excluding Thursday lunch (i) if sent to arrive before 8 March 110-06 sterling (ii) if sent to arrive after 8 March 99-05 sterling (c) Surcharge for non-members, 5-00 sterling TOTAL: OR 2. Selected items (a) conference fee (OBLIGATORY) to cover cost of abstracts, tea and coffee, room bookings, speakers' expenses etc. 15-00 sterling (b) Thursday lunch 8-22 sterling (c) Thursday dinner 10-36 sterling (d) Bed and Breakfast Thursday/Friday 28-95 sterling (e) Friday lunch 8-22 sterling (f) Friday dinner 10-36 sterling (g) Bed and breakfast Friday/Saturday 28-95 sterling (h) Saturday lunch 8-22 sterling SUB-TOTAL: Deduct 10% if sent to arrive by 8 March (k) Surcharge for non-members, 5-00 sterling TOTAL: OR 3. Abstracts only, for those not attending. 4-00 sterling UK................................... 5-00 sterling overseas............................. PLEASE INDICATE SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS (e.g. DIET, ACCOMMODATION)............................................................................... ........................................................................................................................... From edith at CSD.UWM.EDU Thu Feb 8 17:58:58 1996 From: edith at CSD.UWM.EDU (Edith A Moravcsik) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 11:58:58 -0600 Subject: conference Message-ID: >> 23th UWM Linguistics Symposium >> CONFERENCE ON FUNCTIONALISM AND FORMALISM IN LINGUISTICS >> April 18-20, l996 >> University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee >> >> This document contains the following information: >> >> I. TIME AND PLACE >> II. CONTACT PERSONS >> III. REGISTRATION FEES >> IV. HOTELS >> V. CONFERENCE PROGRAM >> >> The conference is supported by a grant from the >> National Science Foundation. >> >> I. TIME AND PLACE >> >> WHEN? April 18-20, Thursday through Saturday, l996 >> >> WHERE? Golda Meir Conference Center >> Library Building, 4th floor >> University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus >> (2311 E. Hartford Avenue) >> >> ************ >> >> II. CONTACT PERSONS >> >> For more information, get in touch with Michael Noonan or >> Edith Moravcsik. >> >> E-mail: noonan at csd.uwm.edu >> edith at csd.uwm.edu >> >> Telephone: (414) 229-4539 (Noonan) >> (414) 229-6794 (daytime for Moravcsik) >> (414) 332-0141 (evenings for Moravcsik) >> (414) 229-4285 (message for Noonan or Moravcsik) >> >> Fax: (414) 229-6258 (for Noonan or Moravcsik) >> >> Snail-mail: Michael Noonan or Edith Moravcsik >> Department of Linguistics >> University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee >> Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413 >> >> ************ >> >> III. REGISTRATION FEES >> >> BEFORE MONDAY, APRIL 1: ON THE SPOT: >> >> Non-students: $55 $60 >> Students: $35 $40 >> (UWM students register for free.) >> >> Please make out your check to UWM Linguistic Symposium and >> send it to the following address: >> >> Linguistics Symposium >> Department of Linguistics >> University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee >> Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413 >> >> ************ >> >> IV. HOTELS >> >> GENERAL INFORMATION: >> - In each of the hotels named below, a block of rooms is being >> held for participants of the meeting through the cut-off >> dates given. >> - When making reservations, please mention "UWM Linguistics >> Symposium" to get the rates given below. >> - The room prices are cited without the 14.7% tax. >> - None of the hotels are within easy walking distance to >> campus; however, all but the Hyatt will provide free van service to >> and from campus mornings and evenings. >> - There will be information sheets that you can ask for upon >> arrival at the hotel regarding van schedule and, for people with >> cars, on how to drive to campus and where to park. >> - We will be able to arrange for limited crash space. If >> interested, send a message to Paul Roser (pkroser at csd.uwm.edu), >> call him at (414) 962-3042, or leave a message for him >> at the Linguistics Department ((414) 229-4258). >> - If you are arriving by plane, you can take a limousine to >> any of the hotels listed below. The limousine leaves on the hour >> and then every twenty minutes from exit #3 of the airport's >> baggage claim level; the cost is $7.50 one way. For going to >> the airport, you can find out about pick-up times at your hotel >> or call Limousine Services directly at (414) 769-9100. >> >> HOTELS: >> >> PARK EAST HOTEL >> 916 East State Street >> Milwaukee, WI 53202 >> >> Telephone: (800) 328-PARK or (414) 276-8800 >> Fax: (414) 765-1919 >> >> Single room: $55 >> Double room: $65 >> >> Cut-off date: Monday, March 25 >> >> ASTOR HOTEL >> 924 East Juneau Avenue >> Milwaukee, WI 53202 >> >> Telephone: (800) 558-0200 or (414) 271-4220 >> Fax: (414) 271-6370 >> >> Room with 1 queen-size bed (one or two persons): $54.00 >> Room with 2 queen-size beds (one or two persons): $62.00 >> Room with 1 king-size bed (one or two persons): $60.00 >> >> Cut-off date: Sunday, March 17 >> >> PLAZA HOTEL >> 1007 North Cass >> Milwaukee, WI 53202 >> >> Telephone: (800) 340-9590 or (414) 276-2101 >> Fax: (414) 276-0404 >> >> Room with one full bed: $45.00 >> Suite with one full bed: $55.00 >> Suite with two full beds: $65.00 >> >> Cut-off date: Sunday, March 17 >> >> HYATT REGENCY MILWAUKEE >> 333 West Kilbourn Avenue >> Milwaukee, WI 53203 >> >> Telephone: (414) 276-1234 >> Fax: (414) 276-6338 >> >> Single room: $80.00 >> Double room: $99.00 >> Triple room: $118.00 >> Quadruple room: $137.00 >> >> Note: No van service available to campus; you would need a car >> or would need to take a city bus. >> >> Cut-off date: Wednesday, March 27 >> >> RAMADA INN - DOWNTOWN >> 633 West Michigan Street >> Milwaukee, WI 53203 >> >> Telephone: (414) 272-8410 >> Fax: (414) 272-4651 >> >> Single room: $49.00 >> Double room: $55.00 >> >> Cut-off date: Wednesday, March 20 >> >> ************ >> >> V. CONFERENCE PROGRAM >> * ****************** * >> * THURSDAY, APRIL 18 * >> * ****************** * >> >> 7:30- REGISTRATION >> >> 8:00-11:30 PLENARY SESSION: INTRODUCTION; SYNTAX >> 8:00-8:15 Words of welcome >> 8:15-9:00 Introductory paper >> Michael NOONAN, U. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee >> 9:00-9:45 Formalist syntax position paper >> Howard LASNIK, U. of Connecticut >> >> 9:45-10:15 COFFEE BREAK >> >> 10:15-11:00 Functionalist syntax position paper >> /speaker yet to be identified/ >> 11:00-11:30 Discussion of the syntax position papers >> Werner ABRAHAM, U. of Groningen >> >> 11:30-12:00 COFFEE BREAK >> >> 12:00-1:05 PARALLEL SESSIONS >> SESSION 1: SYNTAX >> 12:00-12:30 "Lexis, grammar, and grammatical change: the >> Koykon classifier prefixes" >> Melissa AXELROD, U. of New Mexico >> 12:35-1:05 "Configurations, typology and language change: >> Givon to Chomsky 'Where is the beef?'" >> Jose BONNEAU, McGill U., and Pierre PICA, CNRS >> >> SESSION 2: SYNTAX >> 12:00-12:30 "Quantifiers as starting points" >> Karen VAN HOEK, U. of Michigan >> 12:35-1:05 "Emergent Peircean semiotic functions of X-bar syntax: >> a formalism functionalists can live with" >> Alan D. MANNING, Brigham Young U. >> >> SESSION 3: PHONOLOGY >> 12:00-12:30 "Prediction and explanation of cross-linguistic >> regularities within the functional-typological >> paradigm" >> Gertraud FENK-OCZLON and August FENK, U. of >> Klagenfurt >> 12:35-1:05 "Towards an integration of generative and cognitive >> approaches to phonology: evidence from k-deletion in >> Istanbul Turkish" >> Nicholas KIBIE, U. of California, Santa Barbara >> >> --------------------------------------- >> 1:05-2:30 LUNCH BREAK >> --------------------------------------- >> >> 2:30-4:00 PLENARY SESSION: SYNTAX >> 2:30-3:15 "What functionalists can learn from formalists in syntax" >> William CROFT, U. of Manchester >> 3:15-4:00 "What formalists can learn from functionalists in >> syntax" >> Steven ANDERSON, Yale U. >> >> 4:00-4:15 COFFEE BREAK >> >> 4:15-5:20 PARALLEL SESSIONS >> SESSION 1: SYNTAX >> 4:15-4:45 "Foundations of contensive formal grammar" >> Sebastian SHAUMYAN, Yale University >> 4:50-5:20 "Functional search yields formal solution: scientist >> stunned! What do brow raises do in ASL?" >> Ronnie WILBUR, Purdue U. >> >> SESSION 2: PHONOLOGY >> 4:15-4:45 "Formal versus functional domains in Oneida intonation" >> Karin MICHELSON, State U. of New York, Buffalo >> 4:50-5:20 "Perceptual constrains and neutralization: a formal >> functionalist account" >> Scott MYERS, U. of Texas >> >> SESSION 3: GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS >> 4:15-4:45 "German impersonal constructions and the nonautonomy of >> grammar" >> Michael B. SMITH, Oakland U. >> 4:50-5:20 "Mission impossible? The formalization of grammar in >> discourse" >> Machtelt BOLKESTEIN, U. of Amsterdam >> >> 5:20-5:35 COFFEE BREAK >> >> 5:35-7:05 PLENARY SESSION: PHONOLOGY >> 5:35-6:20 "What formalists can learn from functionalists in >> phonology" >> Michael HAMMOND, U. of Arizona >> 6:20-7:05 "What functionalists can learn from formalists in >> phonology" >> Geoffrey NATHAN, Southern Illinois U. at Carbondale >> >> * **************** * >> * FRIDAY, APRIL 19 * >> * **************** * >> >> 8:00- REGISTRATION >> >> 8:30-11:00 PLENARY SESSION: PHONOLOGY >> 8:30-9:15 Functionalist phonology position paper >> Joan BYBEE, U. of New MEXICO >> 9:15-10:00 Formalist phonology position paper >> Bruce HAYES, U. of California, Los Angeles >> 10:00-10:30 Discussion of the phonology position papers >> Jane PIERREHUMBERT, Northwestern U. >> >> 10:30-11:00 COFFEE BREAK >> >> 11:00-1:00 POSTER SESSION >> - "Pragmatic scope and locality conditions on negative polarity >> licensing" >> Raul ARANOVICH, U. of California, San Diego >> - "Mapping so-called pragmatic phenomena according to a >> linguistic-nonlinguistic distinction" >> Mira ARIEL, Tel Aviv U. >> - "Classification and explanation of yes/no question markers" >> Giulia BENCINI, U. of Colorado, and Alberto NOCENTINI, >> U. of Florence >> - "A comparative approach to grammatical agreement" >> Paul BESSLER, U. of Toronto >> - "The correlation of form and function in English argument >> reversal" >> Betty J. BIRNER, Northwestern University >> - "Why we do not need Case Roles: a formal model of the >> emergence of case relations" >> Juergen BROSCHART, U. of Cologne >> - "On null subjects in Finnish" >> Juhani BUDANKO, U. of Tampere >> - "Formal and functional factors in grounded phonology" >> Donald G. CHURMA (independent scholar) >> - "Impossible passives in Dutch" >> Louise CORNELIS, Utrecht U. >> - "A formalist and a functionalist call it a day" >> Joseph DAVIS, U. of Kentucky >> - "Against the presentational deictic and cognitive grammar" >> Kristin DENHAM, U. of Washington >> - "Structuring the sentence: a difference between formalism >> and functionalism" >> Inga DOLININA, McMaster U. >> - "Inversion in English - a 'root transformation' revisited" >> Heidrun DORGELOH, U. of Duesseldorf >> - "'Mixed' subject status in English inversion: multiple >> perspectives" >> Heidrun DORGELOH and Dieter STEIN, U. of Duesseldorf >> - "The function of form" >> Yehuda N. FALK, The Hebrew U. of Jerusalem >> - "On the similarity between morphology and syntax as coding >> devices: split configurationality in the Cariban language >> family." >> Spike GILDEA, Rice U. >> - "Form and function in the voicing of Japanese postnasal >> stops" >> Emiko HAYASHI and Gregory IVERSON, U. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee >> - "Metaphors we do linguistics by: ideologies and politics in >> grammatical theory" >> Susan HERRING, U. of Texas at Arlington >> - "Formalist and functionalist interpretations of the notion >> of economy" >> Julia HERSCHENSOHN, U. of Washington >> - "On the interaction between formalism and functionalism: >> the case of long-distance reflexivization" >> Yan HUANG, U. of Reading >> - "The conceptual basis of syntax: the semantics of the >> nominative marker 'ga' in Japanese" >> Toshiyuki KUMASHIRO, U. of California, Irvine and U. of >> California, San Diego >> - "Faulty judgments: what makes a sentence seem ungrammatical?" >> Ritva LAURY, California State U., Fresno >> - "Isomorphism in syntax: the functional-pragmatics approach" >> Yaron MATRAS, U. of Manchester >> - "Functional expansion of 'olsem' in Bislama: formal bases >> for semantic shift" >> Miriam MEYERHOFF, U. of Pennsylvania, and Nancy >> NIEDZIELSKI, U. of California, Santa Barbara >> - "The role of sentence type in a formal theory of language >> function: constructional inheritance and English >> exclamations" >> Laura MICHAELIS, U. of Colorado, and Knud LAMBRECHT, U. of >> Texas >> - "Evolution of a passive structure: explanatory power of >> functional and formal approaches to language change" >> Viola G. MIGLIO, U. of Maryland >> - "When exception becomes the rule" >> Miren Lourdes ONEDERRA, Euskal Herriko U. >> - "When double object constructions can contribute to the >> formalism/functionalism debate" >> Maria POLINSKY, U. of Southern California >> - "The holophrastic hypothesis revisited: structural >> and functional approaches" >> Elizabeth PURNELL, Indiana U. >> - "Can we do all our relation-changing at once and get it >> over with? The grammatical status of semantic roles and >> arguments for multistratalism" >> Steven SCHAEUFELE (independent scholar) >> - "Antifrequency effect in the acquisition of English regular >> past" >> Yasuhiro SHIRAI, Carnegie Mellon U. and Daito Bunka U. >> - "Focus, presupposition, and crossover phenomena" >> Takeshi TSURUSAKI, Meikai U. >> - "Creolization: a combined functionalist and formalist >> approach" >> Zvjezdana VRZIC, New York U. >> - "Noted with distinction: a functional approach to L2 >> phonology" >> Steven H. WEINBERGER, George Mason U. >> - "Formalism and Wittgenstein's infinite regress" >> David WIBLE, Providence U. >> - "Pronominals, epithets and attributivity: script >> dependency" >> Yael ZIV, Hebrew U. in Jerusalem >> >> --------------------------------------- >> 1:00-2:15 LUNCH BREAK >> --------------------------------------- >> >> 2:15-3:55 PARALLEL SESSIONS >> SESSION 1: ACQUISITION >> 2:15-2:45 "Complementary contributions of funtionalism and >> formalism to an analysis of argument >> representation in early Inuktitut" >> Shanley E.M. ALLEN and Heike SCHRODER, Max >> Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics >> 2:50-3:20 "The form and function of input: their relation to >> children's development of language form and function" >> Erika HOFF-GINSBERG, U. of Wisconsin-Parkside >> 3:25-3:55 "Form and function: insights from second language >> acquisition" >> Robert KOSUTH, U. of Wisconsin-Superior >> >> SESSION 2: ALONG THE TIME AXIS >> 2:15-2:45 "On three explanations for the critical period" >> James R. HURFORD, U. of Edinburgh >> 2:50-3:20 "A dysfunctional family of functional accounts for the >> alleged unidirectionality of grammaticalization >> --and an alternative functional/formal treatment >> for it" >> Richard D. JANDA, U. of Chicago >> 3:25-3:55 "Constraints on constraints, or the limits of >> functional adaptation" >> Simon KIRBY >> >> SESSION 3: GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS >> 2:15-2:45 "Hypostasis, explanation and the local case >> system in Old Georgian" >> H. Paul MANNING, U. of Chicago >> 2:50-3:20 "Topicality and agreement" >> Andre MEINUNGER, Foerderungsgesellschaft, >> Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin >> 3:25-3:55 "Functional optimality theory: evidence from >> split case systems" >> Wataru NAKAMURA, State U. of New York, Buffalo >> >> 3:55-4:10 COFFEE BREAK >> >> 4:10-6:10 PLENARY SESSION: FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION >> 4:10-4:55 Functionalist first language acquisition position >> paper >> Brian MACWHINNEY, Carnegie Mellon U. >> 4:55-5:40 Formalist first language acquisition position paper >> Nina HYAMS, U. of California, Los Angeles >> 5:40-6:10 Discussion of the first language acquisition >> position papers >> Melissa BOWERMAN, Max Planck Institute for >> Psycholinguistics >> >> 6:30-8:30 RECEPTION >> >> * ****************** * >> * SATURDAY, APRIL 20 * >> * ****************** * >> >> 8:00- REGISTRATION >> >> 8:30-10:00 PLENARY SESSION: ERGATIVITY >> 8:30-9:15 "Ergativity from a functionalist perspective" >> John DUBOIS, U. of California, Santa Barbara >> 9:15-10:00 "Ergativity from a formalist perspective" >> Alec MARANTZ, Massachusetts Institute of Technology >> 10:00-10:30 "Ergative in Hindi/Urdu: markedness principles >> for a structural case" (Discussion of the two papers >> on ergativity) >> Alice DAVISON, U. of Iowa >> >> 10:30-11:00 COFFEE BREAK >> >> 11:00-12:50 PARALLEL SESSIONS >> SESSION 1: GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS >> 11:00-11:30 "Semantic compatibility and complement distribution" >> Michel ACHARD, U. of Florida >> 11:35-12:05 "The limits of formal analysis: pragmatic >> motivation in Oromo grammar" >> Robbin CLAMONS, Ann E. MULKERN, Gerald >> SANDERS, and Nancy STENSON, U. of Minnesota >> 12:10-12:40 "Form and function in Tsez syntax" >> Bernard COMRIE and Maria POLINSKY, U. of >> Southern California >> >> SESSION 2: GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS >> 11:00-11:30 "Formal and functional theories of definiteness" >> Richard EPSTEIN, Duke U. >> 11:35-12:05 "Form versus function in the distribution of >> 'self'-forms" >> Ralph W. FASOLD, Georgetown U. >> 12:10-12:40 "Transitivity and structure-preserving: the >> case of Chinese 'ba'-sentences" >> Feng-hsi LIU, U. of Arizona >> >> SESSION 3: THE BIG PICTURE >> 11:00-11:30 "Functionalism and its difficulties in biology and >> linguistics" >> Daniel NETTLE, U. College London >> 11:35-12:05 "The nomenclaturist bias in the autonomy debate" >> Ricardo OTHEGUY, City U. New York >> 12:10-12:40 "Formalizing functionally" >> Kees HENGEVELD, U. of Amsterdam >> >> >> -------------------------------------- >> 12:40-2:15 LUNCH BREAK >> -------------------------------------- >> >> 2:15-3:20 PARALLEL SESSIONS >> SESSION 1: CONSTITUENT ORDER >> 2:15-2:45 "Functional form: a minimalist/functional approach to >> discourse-oriented word order languages" >> John F. BAILYN, State U. of New York, Stony Brooks >> 2:50-3:20 "Representing the structure-discourse iconicity of the >> Japanese post-verbal construction" >> Lizanne KAISER, Yale U. >> >> SESSION 2: SYNTAX >> 2:15-2:45 "Relativized minimality as backward masking" >> Harry HOWARD, Tulane U. >> 2:50-3:20 "A formal account of register" >> John C. PAOLILLO, U. of Texas, Arlington >> >> SESSION 3: PHONOLOGY >> 2:15-2:45 "Towards a conflation of form and function: tone >> sandhi in Comaltepec Chinantec" >> Daniel SILVERMAN, U. of California, Los Angeles >> 2:50-3:20 "Welsh soft mutation and marked word order" >> Maggie TALLERMAN, U. of Durham >> >> 3:20-3:35 COFFEE BREAK >> >> 3:35-6:35 PLENARY SESSION: WORD ORDER >> 3:35-4:20 "Word order from a formalist point of view" >> David PESETSKY, Massachusetts Institute of Technology >> 4:20-5:05 "Word order from a functionalist point of view" >> Doris PAYNE, U. of Oregon >> >> 5:05-5:20 COFFEE BREAK >> >> 5:20-5:50 Discussion of the two papers on word order >> Kenneth HALE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology >> 5:50-6:35 Summary paper >> Frederick NEWMEYER, U. of Washington >> >> ************ >> >> NOTE: If you are a music fan, you may wish to stay a day longer! >> On Sunday afternon (April 21) at 3:00pm, the Fine Arts Quartet >> will play two Beethoven string quartets on campus (No. 1 in F >> major, Op. 18, No. 1 and No 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131). >> >> >> > > From vhouwer at UIA.UA.AC.BE Thu Feb 8 20:46:42 1996 From: vhouwer at UIA.UA.AC.BE (Annick.DeHouwer) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 21:46:42 +0100 Subject: bilingual children Message-ID: I've been very interested in the current discussion on bilingual children. I am a childhood bilingual myself, wrote a PhD on early bilingualism, published a book and many other scholarly writings on it, and am the mother of a bilingual child. >>From both my professional and personal experience so far, I feel I can be quite confident in stating that given a fairly balanced input condition across two languages that a child is exposed to FROM BIRTH (meaning: virtually similar amount of input in each language that has been steadily present without major interruptions), any "normally developing" child (so without any known neurological, auditive, cognitive, social-adaptive problems) will learn to speak those languages without ANY delays as compared to children acquiring these languages as their only language. It must be emphasized, though, that the variability as far as the timing of various acquisitional stages in BOTH monolingual and bilingual children is huge, and that the range of inter-individual differences can be enormous without there being any question of 'delay' or 'abnormal' development. Unfortunately, the myth of delayed development in bilingual children continues to reign, even amongst linguists. I could say many more things here, and I hope it is not politically incorrect for me to refer to a chapter I wrote that tries to summarize the current state of scientific 'knowledge' about early bilingual acquisition (see the reference below). As far as educational practices go in a bilingual family situation, there are a number of books available that give useful hints: Arnberg, Lenore, 1987. Raising children bilingually: the pre-school years. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Harding, Edith and Philip Reilly, 1987. The bilingual family. A handbook for parents. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Saunders, George, 1988. Bilingual children: from birth to teens. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. overview chapter: De Houwer, Annick, 1995. 'Bilingual language acquisition'. In: Fletcher, Paul and Brian MacWhinney, eds., 1995. The handbook of child language. Oxford: Blackwell. 219-250. > >---Annick De Houwer From ellen at CENTRAL.CIS.UPENN.EDU Thu Feb 8 21:28:44 1996 From: ellen at CENTRAL.CIS.UPENN.EDU (Ellen F. Prince) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 16:28:44 EST Subject: bilingual children Message-ID: just a question from a non-specialist: wouldn't it make a difference if the speech community the child is being raised in is bilingual (in the relevant languages)? it's just so hard to imagine that there could be ANY delay or other problem when bilingualism is the norm, tho it's rather easy to imagine that some children react better than others to being different from their peers, when bilingualism in the relevant lgs is not the norm. From Nancy.vanEtten at LET.RUU.NL Fri Feb 9 15:30:19 1996 From: Nancy.vanEtten at LET.RUU.NL (Nancy van Etten) Date: Fri, 9 Feb 1996 16:30:19 +0100 Subject: request: research on language use in new media Message-ID: For a course dealing with `communication in the context of new technologies' we are looking for research on this subject. The aim of the course is to provide students with a clearer understanding of the relationships between communication processes/patterns and new technologies (e.g. Internet, WWW, CD-ROM). We are primarily interested in the following fields of investigation: * language use in e-mail messages, as compared to written and oral language, * the way WWW-pages are read and interpreted by readers, * the way people read and use information on CD-ROMS. * writing processes concerning electronic documents (i.a. hypertext, WWW-pages). We would very much appreciate references to publications, reports, discussions etc. on these issues. If there's sufficient interest, we will post a summary to the list. Thanks in advance, Arie Verhagen en Nancy van Etten Nancy van Etten Faculty of Arts Department of Dutch/ Centre for Language and Communication Trans 10 3512 JK Utrecht The Netherlands e-mail: Nancy.vanEtten at let.ruu.nl From vhouwer at UIA.UA.AC.BE Sat Feb 10 08:03:38 1996 From: vhouwer at UIA.UA.AC.BE (Annick.DeHouwer) Date: Sat, 10 Feb 1996 09:03:38 +0100 Subject: bilingual children In-Reply-To: <199602082128.QAA22856@central.cis.upenn.edu> Message-ID: On Thu, 8 Feb 1996, Ellen F. Prince wrote: > just a question from a non-specialist: wouldn't it make a difference if the > speech community the child is being raised in is bilingual (in the relevant > languages)? it's just so hard to imagine that there could be ANY delay or other > problem when bilingualism is the norm, tho it's rather easy to imagine that > some children react better than others to being different from their peers, > when bilingualism in the relevant lgs is not the norm. > Just a brief reply to this -- this is a very valid question. Unfortunately it is one that remains entirely uninvestigated as far as I know in any particular research project. In the months to come, I'll be undertaking a detailed literature search focussing on environmental factors in bilingual development and hopefully I'll find some partial answers to this question. --Annick De Houwer From martinha at ZEDAT.FU-BERLIN.DE Tue Feb 13 13:41:54 1996 From: martinha at ZEDAT.FU-BERLIN.DE (Martin Haspelmath) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 14:41:54 +0100 Subject: optimality theory Message-ID: Hi Funknetters, I would be interested in hearing some views on Optimality Theory. Is this a development within formalist linguistics that has the potential of bringing it closer to a realistic, cognitive-functional view of language? Or is it just another formalism that attracts attention mainly because it exploits recent advances in word processing technology? I remember hearing Smolensky and Prince talk about connectionism and a "soft reduction" of generative grammar to connectionism, back in 1991, and I was curious where they were heading. If Optimality Theory ("OT") incorporates aspects of connectionism, isn't it of great interest to cognitive-functional linguistics? Some of us have been talking about preferences and their hierarchies in a way very similar to OT parlance, for instance Natural Morphologists (Dressler, Mayerthaler, Wurzel). The terms used in this research tradition are parameters of naturalness and markedness, but basically these are identical to OT's ranked constraints. When Theo Vennemann listened to the first OT talks here in Germany, he kept saying: Isn't this what I've been saying for the past 15 years? "Optimality" suggests "good" and "bad" linguistic structures--this is not the way formalists have been talking, but functionalists have not been afraid to do so (even if informally). Theo Vennemann even once suggested that language change is ALWAYS language improvement, i.e. local optimization. In a recent paper forthcoming in "Linguistics", my FU Berlin colleague Renate Raffelsiefen presents an analysis of the phonology of German schwa within OT, which is based on the idea that language change is always the satisfaction of some OT constraint. True, this is not standard OT, but works like this one suggest to me that OT and functionalism may perhaps be quite compatible. But I have also heard the view that OT is just an empty formalism that can be filled with any kind of content, functionalist or formalist or whatever. So what do you all out there think? Martin Haspelmath From geoffn at SIU.EDU Tue Feb 13 14:48:08 1996 From: geoffn at SIU.EDU (Geoffrey S. Nathan) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 08:48:08 CST Subject: optimality theory Message-ID: Martin Haspelmath wrote: >I would be interested in hearing some views on Optimality Theory. Is this >a development within formalist linguistics that has the potential of >bringing it closer to a realistic, cognitive-functional view of language? >Or is it just another formalism that attracts attention mainly because it >exploits recent advances in word processing technology? As some FUNKNETters know, I am one of the last few living Natural Phonologists, and I have been following the development of OT closely. I believe it certainly can be given a functional interpretation, despite the outrage shown by its developers at that possibility[1]. I also second Martin's belief that this is what Naturalists have been saying all along, albeit not within formal terms. Certainly concepts within Natural Phonology (such as the principle that Rules precede Processes, and that Fortitions Preced Lenitions) can be reinterpreted as universal constraint rankings. Several of us have been exploring ways in which child language acquisition, and casual speech processes could be conceived of as a return to less marked rankings as well. What is particularly appealing about OT is it provides a way to talk about constraints taking precedence over one another without the serial order metaphor that formal phonology has used since the early sixties. While I do not share the fascination about connnectionism shown by many functional linguists, I have always been uncomfortable with the concept of rule ordering for what really does seem to be preferential application. But there are still problems with current OT, because derivations can buy you things that you can't get with exclusively static preferences. By way of advertisement, I will be talking about some of these issues at the upcoming Milwaukee conference on formalism and functionalism. Footnote [1] In the original manuscript Prince and Smolensky present a possible objection to OT that it is too functional, and that 'Vagueness of formulation is reinstated as the favored mode of discourse, and Pullum's worst fears are realized" (P&S 1993:197). They actually say that a little functionalism, of the right sort, is needed within formal theory. (p. 198) Prince, Alan and Paul Smolensky. 1993. Optimality Theory. Technical Reports of the Rutgers University Center for Cognitive Science. Geoffrey S. Nathan Department of Linguistics Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Carbondale, IL, 62901-4517 Home phone: 618 549-0106 GEOFFN at SIU.EDU From nakamura at ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU Tue Feb 13 15:25:19 1996 From: nakamura at ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Wataru Nakamura) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 10:25:19 -0500 Subject: optimality theory In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Hi! I am very glad to know that there are some functionalists out there who are interested in OT. I got interested in OT for the same reason: obvious similarity between dominance hierarchy (OT) and implicational hierarchy and markedness. It is true that OT is compartible with any framework, formal or functional. I know a few papers and presentations which try to apply OT to LFG and (even) Relational Grammar (Legendre forthcoming) in addition to GB or Minimalist. This is actually what Smolensky told me when I asked whether OT is compatible with functional frameworks. He even suggested that OT is compatible with Cognitive Grammar. However, despite the fact that OT is multi-stratal (McCarthy 1993 and others), OT seems to me to be more compatible with non-derivational, functional frameworks than derivational, formal ones. I remember I was really dissapointed when I listened to Smolensky's lecture which tried to combine GB with OT. I think OT is of great interest to functionalists, especially its concept of dominance hierarchy (each constraint has absolute priority over all the lower constraints). I myself applied OT to case marking (a la Legendre et al 1993) using Role and Reference Grammar (Nakamura 1995, forthcoming). OT works nicely when there is a conflict among constraints. OT seems to suffer (like any other framework) some problems, the most notable is how to constrain constraint rankings. This is a really serious problem which as far as I know remains unsolved. I am not sure how to situate OT in a broader context, but Gregory Guy (in his leacture he gave at Buffalo) contrasted OT with Variable Rule Model and argued that OT should be included into the latter, since OT is non-categorical & deterministic, while Variable Rule Model is non-categorical & non-deterministic. I suspect the same applies to the relation between OT and Competition Model. My tebtative conclusion is that OT is a good symbolic approximation of connectionism and that it could serve as a bridge between linguistics and connectionism. These two observations may sound dumb to many people, since OT grew out of connectionism. Wataru Nakamura ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wataru Nakamura Dept.of Linguistics 685 Baldy Hall SUNY at Buffalo Buffalo, NY 14260-1030 U.S.A. From bill at HIVNET.UBC.CA Tue Feb 13 17:22:48 1996 From: bill at HIVNET.UBC.CA (Bill Turkel) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 09:22:48 -0800 Subject: Clarification Message-ID: > From: Wataru Nakamura ... > I am not sure how to situate OT in a broader context, but Gregory > Guy (in his leacture he gave at Buffalo) contrasted OT with Variable Rule > Model and argued that OT should be included into the latter, since OT is > non-categorical & deterministic, while Variable Rule Model is non-categorical > & non-deterministic. I am not familiar with Guy's model, so this question may miss the point. My understanding of the terms 'deterministic' and 'non-deterministic' is that they apply to *how* something is computed... which is something that OT does not specify. What did Guy mean? Thanks for any clarification. Bill Turkel UBC From dever at ISP.PITT.EDU Tue Feb 13 17:45:26 1996 From: dever at ISP.PITT.EDU (Dan Everett) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 12:45:26 -0500 Subject: Clarification In-Reply-To: <9602131722.AA09783@babel.hivnet.ubc.ca.cdnhiv.edu> Message-ID: I agree with Bill Turkel, namely, that the report of Guy's talk on "deterministic" vs. "nondeterministic" is unclear. These are terms which linguists often use in nonstandard (for CSrs, which I am not) ways, or so my colleagues in CS tell me. As for the compatibility of OT with functional models, I do not see how it would be any more or less compatible than other formal models. It is possible that functional motivations might affect constraint rankings, but in a 1965 Aspects or SPE model functional considerations could just as easily affect rule-orderings. -- Dan Everett From ellen at CENTRAL.CIS.UPENN.EDU Tue Feb 13 18:19:44 1996 From: ellen at CENTRAL.CIS.UPENN.EDU (Ellen F. Prince) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 13:19:44 EST Subject: Clarification In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 13 Feb 1996 12:45:26 EST." Message-ID: i didn't hear guy's talk but i would imagine he meant that ot commits you to a particular path/solution/end-point, while variable rule analysis does not. at least this is what i would think based on how _deterministic_ is used in the domain of parsing, e.g. mitch marcus' deterministic model that commits you to a particular parse once things have passed thru the buffer. From bill at HIVNET.UBC.CA Tue Feb 13 19:01:33 1996 From: bill at HIVNET.UBC.CA (Bill Turkel) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 11:01:33 -0800 Subject: Determinism/non-determinism Message-ID: I am glad that I asked for clarification, because it seems that we have a cluster of related ideas. In terms of programming, 'non-determinism' can mean that the same question can yield more than one answer, or that several elements can be in a particular relation to a given element, or that a number of possible steps are available at a choice point. If we look at OT in terms of the 'answer', I don't think that there is anything in the theory that says you have to have one and only one optimal answer. Think of the discussion of harmonic serialism in Prince and Smolensky (1993), where particular iterations of evaluation will return a collection of optimal candidates. To say that OT forces you to have exactly one optimal output is wrong. If we look at OT in terms of the 'path' (to use Ellen Prince's term, i.e., in terms of possible steps at a choice point) then OT does not commit to any particular *way* of computing things. Constraints could be evaluated always in the same order, or in a random order, or in parallel, or whatever. It sounds like Guy was refering to the 'answer' interpretation, however. Bill From ellen at CENTRAL.CIS.UPENN.EDU Tue Feb 13 19:47:00 1996 From: ellen at CENTRAL.CIS.UPENN.EDU (Ellen F. Prince) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 14:47:00 EST Subject: Determinism/non-determinism In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 13 Feb 1996 11:01:33 PST." <9602131901.AA09832@babel.hivnet.ubc.ca.cdnhiv.edu> Message-ID: >If we look at OT in terms of the 'path' (to use Ellen Prince's term, >i.e., in terms of possible steps at a choice point) then OT does >not commit to any particular *way* of computing things. Constraints >could be evaluated always in the same order, or in a random order, or in parallel, or whatever. It sounds like Guy was refering to the >'answer' interpretation, however. but that's exactly what i meant. ('path' was a bad choice -- i was thinking of other domains. sorry.) my understanding is that, given a set of constraints and an ordering/weighting, there's only one possible outcome for a particular case in ot. and that's how i understand 'deterministic' and that's what i would guess guy had in mind. (i guess we could ask him! :) ) DIFFERENT TOPIC: am i the only one who finds it weird that we don't see our own posts??? it's very thoughtful -- but i find it a little unsettling that the only way we know our words of wisdom have gone out is when we see a response. (it's no big deal, of course.) From bill at HIVNET.UBC.CA Tue Feb 13 22:20:41 1996 From: bill at HIVNET.UBC.CA (Bill Turkel) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 14:20:41 -0800 Subject: Is OT deterministic? Message-ID: From: "Ellen F. Prince" > my understanding is that, given a set of constraints and > an ordering/weighting, there's only one possible outcome for a particular case > in ot. and that's how i understand 'deterministic' and that's what i would > guess guy had in mind. So, three observations. 1) The outcome can be a (possibly empty) *set* of optimal candidates. This seems to leave room for nondeterminism and optionality. 2) A particular constraint might be nondeterministic in action. This relates to Dan's point about compatibility with formal/functional models. 3) The way that the outcome is computed may involve nondeterminism. Thanks to everyone for clearing up Guy's claim. Bill From macwhinney+ at CMU.EDU Tue Feb 13 23:21:39 1996 From: macwhinney+ at CMU.EDU (Brian MacWhinney) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 18:21:39 -0500 Subject: optimality Message-ID: Optimality Theory is certainly interesting in its own right. Although it is a repackaging of things that have been around for quite awhile in the work of the natural phonologists and morphologists, it is still a nice recent statement, I would think. For grammatical functionalism, it seems to be a glass that is both half empty and half full. The good side is that functionalists can increase the scientific rigor of their work by using formalisms, particularly when they are not "empty formalisms". Moreover, there are pieces of OT that make it look like it is saying something interesting about competitive processing and constraint satisfaction mechanisms. However, the actual implementation of constraint satisfaction in OT does not seem to be as robust in terms of empirical predictions as one might wish. And this appears to be the half (maybe even more than half?) view of the glass. In particular, as Paul Smolensky noted in response to questions at Cognitive Science in Boulder three years back, OT has not yet addressed issues of processing, acquisition, functional distribution or variation. In the first versions of the OT book, there was lots of interesting stuff on Harmony Theory, but later versions seemed to have this mostly excised and the project seemed focus on just an ordered set of universal constraints. I am not competent enough in phonology to really evaluate these formulations as contributions to phonological theory, but I understand from those who do understand these things that some advances have been scored in this area. On the language learning and learnability front, there are some interesting accounts for phonological development that work through successive imposition of the highest ordered or most universal constraints and a fairly tightly constrained finite model that reorders constraints one by one. The algorithm will work to identify languages, but I doubt that it will predict the right sequence of developmental data. If more attention were paid to the dynamics of competing constraints in connectionist systems, perhaps OT would come closer to what connectionists typically believe. What the truth is in the area of computational modeling of phonological development, is still up for grabs, given the paucity of model-ready empirical data. In terms of language processing, I don't see anything in OT that matches anything I am familiar with. In terms of variation theory, I would imagine that a Labovian variationist framework could eventually get hooked up to OT, but right now, the places to insert those hooks are pretty unclear. In terms of the extension of OT to functional grammar, there have been some promising initial attempts by folks at Colorado and perhaps elsewhere. At the very least, it seems that OT provides a nice descriptive framework. You get to know a lot about implicational universals. If a language has X, then it also has Y. But the reason for this ordering of constraints seems to lie outside of OT. We need to move in the general direction of something like OT, but I think we should probably take the current version of OT as simply a metaphor for some properties that a universalist model might eventually have. Please note that all of the above are not presented as scientific findings, only as initial reactions of a potentially interested consumer who has not yet made a purchase. --Brian MacWhinney From nakamura at ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU Wed Feb 14 03:46:21 1996 From: nakamura at ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Wataru Nakamura) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 22:46:21 -0500 Subject: Is OT deterministic? In-Reply-To: <9602132220.AA09891@babel.hivnet.ubc.ca.cdnhiv.edu> Message-ID: Hello again! I remember (I was in his talk) he contrasted Variable Rule Model with a version (since some OTers do not hesitate to appeal to graded constraints) of OT with the following two crucial properties, graded constraints and strict dominance (i.e. constraints should not tie). (If I remember correctly) Guy argued that non-graded constraints are special cases of graded constraints, but not the other way around. I believe this is the reason he argued that OT is part of Variable Rule Model (I think we really should ask him directly. I might have misquoted him). As far as I know, there seem two ways to incorporate optionality into OT: (1) Imcomplete ranking (I am not sure if this is the right term. If I am wrong, someboy correct me) (Hammond 1994), in which a constraint set is such that it produces more than one output. (2) Tied constraints: make constraints unordered (Pesetsky 1995, Brohier 1995). I am not sure how far (1) can go, but (2) obviously runs counter to strict dominance. If OT may be characterized by the two properties, strict dominance and graded constraints and (1) and (2) are the only ways to handle optionality in OT, it seems fair to say that OT is not non-deterministic. One possible argument against introducing graded constraints is that if you introduce graded constraints, it is difficult to capture typological variation, which is supposed to be derived from re-ranking of universal constraints. Notice, however, that this arguments does not have any force unless you check all possible rankings of the constraint set you have and find at least one real or 'plausible' (I do not know how to judge plausibility, though) language for each possible ranking. And I do not know any OT paper which go through the whole process, i.e, come up with a set of constraints for describing a particular case, check all possible ranking of the constraints, and find languages for each ranking. If I said something wrong, stupid, or whatever, please correct me. Wataru Nakamura On Tue, 13 Feb 1996, Bill Turkel wrote: > From: "Ellen F. Prince" > > > my understanding is that, given a set of constraints and > > an ordering/weighting, there's only one possible outcome for a particular case > > in ot. and that's how i understand 'deterministic' and that's what i would > > guess guy had in mind. > > So, three observations. > > 1) The outcome can be a (possibly empty) *set* of optimal candidates. This > seems to leave room for nondeterminism and optionality. > > 2) A particular constraint might be nondeterministic in action. This relates > to Dan's point about compatibility with formal/functional models. > > 3) The way that the outcome is computed may involve nondeterminism. > > Thanks to everyone for clearing up Guy's claim. > > Bill > From kemmer at RUF.RICE.EDU Wed Feb 14 03:54:05 1996 From: kemmer at RUF.RICE.EDU (Suzanne E Kemmer) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 21:54:05 -0600 Subject: optimality party line Message-ID: Often, issues relevant to how functionalists might view Optimality Theory get discussed on the Optimality listserver based at UCSD. For example, the question of how faithfulness constraints might be initially set in UG (low or high) brought some responses from several people who clearly saw the issue in terms of processing, learning, etc. The person who brought up the issue said he was shocked to receive such responses, which presented a view of language "so foreign to those which I've come to view as standard in theoretical linguistics." It looks like processing and learning have no place in optimality theory (or at least 'standard' OT), since this person went on to describe his approach to the study of OT acquisition, which "takes the grammar as a well-defined computational component of the human cognitive system, independent of the production system and environmental factors." This stance is of course very familiar (and very alien) to functionalists, as is the apparent stance against gradient phonological phenomena. (Whatever looks gradient is either just phonetics, or sublinguistic, or something--contra Pierrehumbert and others' cogent arguments to the contrary) Of course, it may be (in fact probably is, in light of the 'shocking' responses) that the theory is being used by many who take no such positions, and may prove useful to non-believers in the basic party line on particular issues. Finally, I collected a very fascinating correspondence from an optimality doubter, detailing exactly what properties of OT he objected to and what phenomena it apparently has a great deal of trouble with (in a nutshell, lexical). I found it an extremely useful refresher of various phonological issues and how natural phonologists etc. dealt with them, and very useful in understanding OT in its historical context (which tends to get blurred very quickly when people jump to a new theory with its own favored problems to work on without worrying about what other problems the old theories did or didn't solve.) I'd be happy to send it to anyone who asks. --Suzanne P.S. In case you want to subscribe to the optimality list: mail to listserv at ucsd.edu, with the body of the message: subscribe optimal Similar for unsubscribing: unsubscribe optimal Send actual submissions to optimal at ucsd.edu From dever at ISP.PITT.EDU Wed Feb 14 13:48:40 1996 From: dever at ISP.PITT.EDU (Dan Everett) Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 08:48:40 -0500 Subject: optimality party line In-Reply-To: <199602140354.VAA22304@ruf.rice.edu> Message-ID: I second Suzanne's recommendation that people interested in OT related issues subscribe to the OT list via UCSD. However, I disagree with her claim that OT is not concerned with acquisition, historical change, processing, etc. Quite the opposite. There are papers in OT on acquisition and implications for historical change and dialectical differences, for example. And more are in the works. But I reiterate that functional considerations are no more nor less likely to play a role in OT than in other formal models. For example, in addition to what I already said about functional considerations playing a potential role in rule-orderings in previous versions of generative grammar, Chomsky explicitly discussed the fact that WH-movement was to the left periphery of the clause, regardless of the underlying constituent order in a language, and assumed that this was likely due to functional considerations (the WH element tells you how to interpret a gap in the sentence and it is nice to have this information when you start processing the sentence rather than at the end). All formal theories are open to suggestions on how the mechanics of grammar interface with the uses to which grammar is put. OT is one of the most exciting developments in formal grammar to come along. But as we might expect of a new theory, it has raised many questions for which there is still no good answer (the paper Suzanne refers to on its potential difficulties with lexical constraints is a case in point). But the issues of deterministic, nondeterministic, functional relevance, etc. all seem to me to be red herrings at this stage. The principal objective at present is to work out empirical implications of the model via detailed studies of constraints and their interactions across a wide variety of languages. As understanding of the model deepens via such studies, its relevance for functional concerns ought to become clearer. -- Dan Everett From dh9 at SOAS.AC.UK Wed Feb 14 14:11:54 1996 From: dh9 at SOAS.AC.UK (David Herold) Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 08:11:54 -0600 Subject: Forwarded: Re: optimality Message-ID: -------------- Forwarded Message Follows -------------- From: Self To: dever at ISP.PITT.EDU Subject: Re: optimality Date: 14 Feb 1996 14:09:05 HI, I'm terribly sorry to be so ignorant, but could somebody tell me of a good general introduction into OT as I haven't encountered it yet. Yours, David From Carl.Mills at UC.EDU Wed Feb 14 15:24:24 1996 From: Carl.Mills at UC.EDU (Carl Mills) Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 10:24:24 -0500 Subject: Optimality and a Lit Review Message-ID: Actually, David Herold is not the only one of us out here who could use some basic introductory literature re: OT. On the principle that it is better to appear ignorant than to remain so, I second his request. Carl From dever at ISP.PITT.EDU Wed Feb 14 15:54:46 1996 From: dever at ISP.PITT.EDU (Dan Everett) Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 10:54:46 -0500 Subject: Optimality and a Lit Review Message-ID: Here are instructions for FTPing from the OT archives at rutgers. You should find the request material there. -- DLE ******* >>From prince at ruccs.rutgers.edu Fri Sep 9 11:22 EDT 1994 Return-Path: prince at ruccs.rutgers.edu Received: from ruccs.rutgers.edu (ruccs.rutgers.edu [128.6.57.12]) by pogo.isp.pitt.edu (8.6.9/8.6.9) with SMTP id LAA09792 for ; Fri, 9 Sep 1994 11:22:55 -0400 Received: by ruccs.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.5/3.08) id AA11915; Fri, 9 Sep 94 11:27:12 EDT Date: Fri, 9 Sep 94 11:27:12 EDT From: prince at ruccs.rutgers.edu (Alan Prince) Message-Id: <9409091527.AA11915 at ruccs.rutgers.edu> To: dever at isp.pitt.edu Subject: ROA.info Content-Type: text Content-Length: 2399 Status: RO X-Status: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::Rutgers Optimality Archive::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Rutgers Optimality Archive (ROA) exists to facilitate dissemination of work in OT. Papers in the Archive are unedited, unreviewed, unhouseled, unanneled, unimprimatured, unsolicited, self-selected. The Archive is open to any and all who want to disseminate their work in, on, or about OT. Archiving is not a form of publication. By universal convention, electronic archiving is completely independent of publication, future or prior. It is the moral equivalent of mailing out a typescript, pre-print, or off-print. To post in the Archive, use anonymous ftp to upload your paper into /pub/UPLOADS on ruccs.rutgers.edu. Then send me an e-message giving the TITLE of your piece, its LENGTH in pp., and the FORMAT details (e.g WP6.0, WORD4.3, postscript, ASCII text, whatever). I will take it from there. FORMAT. All formats are accepted. I strongly urge supplying at least a postscript version. WORD users should also post their text in the form of an RTF file, which can be read on MACs, PCs, and by other word processors of recent vintage. The latest versions of WP also allow you to create RTF files. Be sure to use binary transfer for files in WP or WORD format. Note: postscript files can be easily produced from WORD and WP by (1) declaring a postscript printer (e.g. Apple LaserWriter), and (2) printing to a disk file instead of to a printer; this file can then be sent to the archive. Recommendation: use a font that is native to the declared printer to avoid swelling the file to huge dimensions. FTP. Unsure of FTP? The basics can be garnered from the file FTP.how-to in the directory /pub/OT/TEXTS on ruccs.rutgers.edu. To get that file by email, drop me a note with FTP in the subject header. To get the file by ftp, starting out from your home machine, follow this sequence of instructions. At your home machine, type ftp ruccs.rutgers.edu At the request for a login Name type anonymous At the request for a password: type your email address. me at where.i.am (NB. me= your login name; etc., etc.) Then type: cd /pub/OT/TEXTS get FTP.how-to This will transfer the file FTP.how-to to your machine, where you may read it at your leisure. -Alan Prince prince at ruccs.rutgers.edu ** >>From prince at ruccs.rutgers.edu Fri Sep 9 11:22 EDT 1994 Return-Path: prince at ruccs.rutgers.edu Received: from ruccs.rutgers.edu (ruccs.rutgers.edu [128.6.57.12]) by pogo.isp.pitt.edu (8.6.9/8.6.9) with SMTP id LAA09779 for ; Fri, 9 Sep 1994 11:22:34 -0400 Received: by ruccs.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.5/3.08) id AA11907; Fri, 9 Sep 94 11:26:36 EDT Date: Fri, 9 Sep 94 11:26:36 EDT From: prince at ruccs.rutgers.edu (Alan Prince) Message-Id: <9409091526.AA11907 at ruccs.rutgers.edu> To: dever at isp.pitt.edu Subject: FTP.how-to Content-Type: text Content-Length: 8327 Status: RO X-Status: A ANONYMOUS FTP The program ftp (for `file transfer protocol'), found on all mainframes worthy of the name, is useful for transferring files over internet. Any file can be transferred -- text or binary -- so long as you have permission to read it at the source and write it at the destination. ``Anonymous ftp'' allows you to login at a remote machine under the pseudonym `anonymous' [no quotes] using as password your email address; once logged in, you have limited privileges sufficient to allow for transfer of files from (and sometimes to) designated areas. Transfer is rapid: only a few minutes for _Moby Dick_ on a good day and usually only a few seconds for a more reasonable-sized file. The following are instructions for the use of anonymous ftp. First I give a summary of the relevant command set, then a more discursive presentation. ======================= SUMMARY: To retrieve a file by ftp from ROA, type ftp ruccs.rutgers.edu When you are asked for your login, type: anonymous Enter password as per instructions = your email address (make sure to include the specified @), and then change directories with: cd /pub/OT/TEXTS To show the available files, type: dir To retrieve a file, type get To find out what's currently available, retrieve README: get README You must read README locally, on your own machine. In UNIX you can do this from within FTP by typing !more README If you are retrieving a binary file (such as one in WordPerfect), you must type binary BEFORE you issue the `get' command. When you have the file(s) you want, type: quit :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: DISCUSSION ============================================ NOTATION: in the text, I will write e.g. ...the command `ls' allows you to.... When you issue this command, DO NOT surround it with quotes. Under no condition will you need to `single quote' anything at the command line. ==================== ::::CONNECTING and DOWNLOADING::::: Use of ftp requires knowledge of only a few commands. To start the program, type `ftp ruccs.rutgers.edu' [no quotes--last warning] at the prompt on your mainframe account. My-Machine> ftp ruccs.rutgers.edu (Note: if you omit the destination name, you will enter the ftp program, from which the command `open ruccs.rutgers.edu' will accomplish the same linkage.) At this point you will be asked for a login name: supply `anonymous'. After that, you'll be prompted to give you email address as a password. The session may look like this: Name (ruccs.rutgers.edu: your-local-name): anonymous 331 Guest login ok, send e-mail address as password. Password: me at where.i.am 230 guest login ok, access restrictions apply. ftp> I've included the kind of chatter the ftp program is likely to spew out. Now you are logged-in to a restricted region of the ruccs directory system. To see where you are, issue the command `dir' or `ls' at the ftp prompt. Among the subdirectories that will be listed is /pub/. This is where all anonymous ftp action takes place on ruccs. The files you will want to get are in subdirectories of /pub/, in particular, /pub/OT. And if you want to deposit a file onto ruccs, you will do it in /pub/UPLOADS. You will want to move to the directories where the relevant files are located. The directory /pub/ has a subdirectory OT where all OT files are to found. Try this ftp> cd /pub/OT/TEXTS ftp> dir This puts you in the subdirectory of OT where all the Rutgers Optimality Archive is located. You should see that there is a file README listed, as well as various others which contain the papers in the archive. Try this: ftp> get README This will cause the ftp program to copy README into the directory on your home system from which you issued the `ftp' command. After you have obtained the file, you will want to read it locally. After `get'ting it, the command `!cat README' or `!more README' on a UNIX system will cause it to be typed out on the screen. (To issue a local UNIX command from within ftp, prefix the normal command with `!'.) From README, you will learn about the files that are available on the system. You can choose from those that you wish to obtain. Suppose for example you wish to get `align.ps', the postscript version of McCarthy & Prince's ``Generalized Alignment.'' You simply issue the command `get align.ps': ftp> get align.ps NOTE: ftp will remorsely write over files on your system that have the same name. But you can tell it to use a different name locally by including it as a second argument of `get': ftp> get align.ps generalized.alignment.ps This writes the file on your system under the name `generalized.alignment.ps' NOTE: if you want to get multiple files, using a wildcard variable in the file name, use the command `mget': ftp> mget *.ps will get all files with the extension `.ps'. NOTE: if you want to review a lengthy directory listing, try this: ftp> dir . temp This will send the entire dir list into the file `temp' on your local system. (Of course, you can give it any name you want.) The `.' in the command signifies the directory you're at in the remote ftp host; you can also use standard directory-naming syntax. To read temp while still in ftp, type (from UNIX) ftp> !more temp If you want a condensed listing of directory contents, use `ls' : ftp> ls . temp If you want to restrict the file-listing to some alphetical segment, type: ftp> dir [a-c]* (for example), which lists those files starting with letters a-c. The command 'ls' works the same way. :::::::UPLOADING:::::: To deposit a file on ruccs use the command `put ' where is the name of a file on your own machine. This command will only work if you are in a directory on the remote machine where you have permission to write. On ruccs, as noted above, this privilege holds *only* of the directory /pub/UPLOADS. ::::::ADDITIONAL POINTS, SOME CRUCIAL::::::: To disentangle yourself from ruccs, issue the command `close'. To get out of ftp entirely, use `quit'. The command `quit' can also be used to close the connection and exit ftp at one blow. TRAVEL ADVISORY. If you are lost in the directory structure, the command `pwd' will tell you where you are. NB. on UNIX systems, the command `!pwd' will tell where you are locally, on your own machine. IMPORTANT NOTE. If you are transferring (putting or getting) a binary file, such as a WORD or WordPerfect file, you must inform the program of your intentions. Issue the command `binary' when you are connected to your remote host before you initiate any transfers. When uploading binary files to your mainframe, your local communication software MUST BE enabled to deal with binary files. In kermit, issue the command `set file type binary' at the mainframe level prior to file transfer. WARNING: If you fail at any point in the chain to notify the relevant file transfer program that it must handle a binary file, garble & corruption will result. CASE NOTE. Some older versions of ftp on VMS machines are clumsy in dealing with the fact that case distinctions (upper vs. lower) are not neutralized in UNIX, as they are in VMS. If you are a prisoner of VMS, you may have to issue commands like `set case upper' and `set case lower' to force the host to read your command in one or the other of them. John McCarthy reports success with the command `set case normal' followed by citation of directory and file names within double quotes. Whence: ftp> set case normal ftp> cd "pub/OT/" does the job on his VMS system. At any rate, be aware that the upper vs. lower case distinction is significant on ruccs. Info note. The command `?' at the ftp prompt will get you a list of ftp commands. The command `? ' will get you a very concise account of what the command does. :::::LEARNING about FTP:::::::: Remember, you can do no harm, so feel free to experiment. Further information can easily be garnered from your own system by issuing the command `man ftp' (UNIX) and `help ftp' (VMS) at the system prompt. Your local computer center probably has a dial-in line where help can be obtained from youthful gurus, as well. From geoffn at SIU.EDU Wed Feb 14 16:21:58 1996 From: geoffn at SIU.EDU (Geoffrey S. Nathan) Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 10:21:58 CST Subject: Bibliography Message-ID: Thanks to Dan Everett for providing the info on how to get most work on OT. However the basic oeuvre is Prince and Smolensky 1993, which is not available in electronic form, but rather in (shudder) paper. It can be ordered from Sandra Bergelson Assistant Director, RuCCs Rutgers University PO Box 1179 Piscataway, NJ, 08855. The price on my copy is US$11.00, which includes US 4th class shipping and handling. Contact her for info on how to get it faster or out of the US. Geoff Geoffrey S. Nathan Department of Linguistics Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Carbondale, IL, 62901-4517 Home phone: 618 549-0106 GEOFFN at SIU.EDU From kemmer at RUF.RICE.EDU Wed Feb 14 16:32:16 1996 From: kemmer at RUF.RICE.EDU (Suzanne E Kemmer) Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 10:32:16 -0600 Subject: optimality and lexical rules Message-ID: Here's the crux of the lexicon-based objection to OT, for those who don't want to wade through the correspondence. [The author says that evidence has been mounting since SPE days that lexical rules are emergent generalizations that do not exist beyond the forms they describe -- e.g. they generalize to novel forms on an ad hoc "analogical" basis; at intermediate stages the "rules" are scattered messily across individual lexical items; they can interact with "analogical," non-rule-like patterns of irregular inflection in a way requiring reference to individual items or sets of items...] " The insight I THOUGHT we were coming to, then, was that lexical rules are neither rules nor constraints but something like emergent properties of lexical items. You can get this with connectionism or you can get it some other way, but it's got to be gotten sooner or later, don't you think? OT is thus especially irritating because it sidetracks and tames the more heretical students with the misleading claim that OT is sort of like connectionism, but then it just goes ahead and replaces general rules with even more general constraints, neither of which makes sense given what we already know about the lexicon. OT constraints may or may not be a notational variants of rules, but you can bet OT will be there with rules, up against the wall when the real revolution comes. " From barlow at RUF.RICE.EDU Wed Feb 14 17:35:49 1996 From: barlow at RUF.RICE.EDU (Michael Barlow) Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 11:35:49 -0600 Subject: Job announcement: Korean Language Message-ID: Director of Korean Language Studies -- RICE UNIVERSITY The Department of Linguistics invites applications for a one year, renewable, non-tenure-track appointment as Director of Korean Language Studies at Rice University. Native or near native competency in Korean is required. Preference will be given to candidates with a PhD. in Korean Language or Linguistics, who have specific training and experience in teaching Korean as a second language. A research interest in language acquisition or language teaching methodology is also desired. The person chosen will have responsibility for developing the Korean language program and expanding enrollments and course offerings. She or he will interact with other relevant programs at Rice, including the Asian Studies Program and the Rice Language Center. Course load will initially be three language courses per semester, one of which may eventually be in Korean culture and literature or Korean linguistics. Rice University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. Minorities and nontraditional applicants are encouraged to apply. Salary for 1996-97 will be approximately $49,000. Review of applications will begin April 1, 1996 with applications accepted until the position is filled. Letters of application, together with a curriculum vitae and including a list of four references, should be sent to: James E. Copeland, Chair Department of Linguistics Rice University, MS-23 6100 Main Street Houston, TX 77005-1892 From barlow at RUF.RICE.EDU Sat Feb 17 22:21:20 1996 From: barlow at RUF.RICE.EDU (Michael Barlow) Date: Sat, 17 Feb 1996 16:21:20 -0600 Subject: Windows concordancer -- beta test version Message-ID: I have been working on a Windows concordance program (MonoConc for Windows), which I hope will be used by language teachers and students. MfW is designed to be easy to use, but powerful enough for useful text-analysis investigations. Before releasing the commercial version, I'd like to have the program tested on a variety of systems. The program has the following basic features: multiple files (several million words) can be loaded as a corpus files can be added to or deleted from the corpus searching by word or phrase (using wild cards *, ?, %) "append search" -- results from different searches can be accumulated set of word delimiters can be customised sorting -- (2L (second left), 1L, 1R, 2R, searchword, text order) deletion of concordance lines frequency of collocates (2L, 1L, 1R, 2R) total frequency of words in the corpus save/print options If you would like to try out a beta version, send me a note. I can either mail a disk or email you a zipped file. Michael ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Barlow (barlow at ruf.rice.edu) Dept of Linguistics Home page: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~barlow/ Rice University Athelstan: http://www.nol.net/~athel/athel.html From jarek at FIL.LU.SE Tue Feb 20 14:58:11 1996 From: jarek at FIL.LU.SE (Jaroslaw Pluciennik) Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 15:58:11 +0100 Subject: Qs: Kantian adjectives Message-ID: Dear collegues, we are investigating the group of adjectives below, which, for several reasons, we would like to call "Kantian adjectives". We are able ourselves to compare the adjectives to their Czech, German, Polish, Slovene, Swedish, and Russian correspondents. It would however be very useful for us to have access to translations also into a few other languages. We would like to ask those of you who know other languages to help us by providing: 1) lexical translations of the adjectives, and especially 2) the negative morhological elements in the translated items (if any). We will share the results of the inquiry via the listserver. Soory about the mysterious term "Kantian adjectives". If there is interest in this choice, we are ready to explain the reasons for it. Hope you will find the group inspiring... bottomless boundless ceaseless countless dateless endless exhaustless fathomless formless illimited immeasurable incalculable incessant indefinite inexhaustible infinite innumerable interminable limitless measureless numberless quenchless timeless unbounded unending unfathomable unlimited unmeasured unnumbered unquenchable Thanks in advance Jaroslaw Pluciennik Lund University Cognitive Science Kungshuset, Lundagard S-222 22 Lund, Sweden Phone: +46 (0) 46 222 97 58 fax: +46 (0) 46 222 48 17 e-mail: jarek at fil.lu.se, or jarrek at plunlo51.bitnet www: http://lucs.fil.lu.se/ From r.hudson at LINGUISTICS.UCL.AC.UK Wed Feb 21 03:44:07 1996 From: r.hudson at LINGUISTICS.UCL.AC.UK (Richard Hudson) Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 21:44:07 -0600 Subject: Fw: New journal Message-ID: NEW JOURNAL In May 1997 Cambridge University Press will be publishing the first issue of a new journal entitled English Language and Linguistics The journal is edited by Bas Aarts of University College London and Richard Hogg and David Denison of the University of Manchester. Associate editors are Valerie Adams of UCL (Reviews) and Douglas Biber of Northern Arizona University (North America). There is a distinguished international Editorial Board. ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS, published twice a year, is an international journal which focuses on the description of the English language within the framework of contemporary linguistics. The journal is concerned equally with the synchronic and the diachronic aspects of English language studies and will publish articles of the highest quality which make a substantial contribution to our understanding of the structure and development of the English language and which are informed by a knowledge and appreciation of linguistic theory. ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS will carry articles and short discussion papers or squibs on all core aspects of English from its beginnings to the present day, including syntax, morphology, phonology, semantics, pragmatics, corpus linguistics and lexis. There will also be a major review section including from time to time articles that give an overview of current research in particular specialist areas. From time to time an issue will be devoted to a special topic, when a guest editor will be invited to commission articles from leading specialists in the field. A number of papers have been commissioned, and we invite contributions and inquiries. The stylesheet for contributors will be available shortly. The journal address is: English Language and Linguistics c/o Department of English Language and Literature University College London Gower Street London WC1E 6BT U.K. E-mail addresses for editorial queries: ell at ucl.ac.uk for subscription queries: journals_marketing at cup.cam.ac.uk Information about the journal will also be found on the Cambridge University Press WWW server. A home page for the journal is in preearation: URL in Europe http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk/ URL in North America http://www.cup.org/ Bas Aarts David Denison Richard Hogg =========================================================================== Prof Richard Hudson Tel: +44 171 387 7050 ext 3152 E-mail: r.hudson at ling.ucl.ac.uk Dept. of Phonetics and Linguistics Tel: +44 171 380 7172 Fax: +44 171 383 4108 UCL Gower Street London WC1E 6BT UK From bmcmah at MEYOSP.MECON.AR Thu Feb 22 03:08:06 1996 From: bmcmah at MEYOSP.MECON.AR (Brian McMahon) Date: Wed, 21 Feb 1996 19:08:06 -0800 Subject: Summary and new issues on English acquisition as first or second language Message-ID: In the two weeks since my message was originally posted, it has generated 34 replies and they are still trickling in. The majority of the responses came from persons from bilingual families. Unfortunately, many did not say whether they are linguistics professionals but, given where the message was posted, I assume that they are unless they indicated otherwise. Given the level of interest that has been generated in the issue, anyone who wants to repost the message elsewhere may do so, although be warned that one reposting to the Languages and Educational Mobility section of Inter-EU angered a subscriber from Ireland (for lack of relevance), a country that is officially bilingual. It may also be useful to get the opinions of child psychologists and pediatricians (and give them your opinions), since professionals from these fields gave the now-questioned advice. To briefly review: As a sideline I hold English conversation sessions. One of my students has two children, 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 years of age. The family lives in Crdoba, a monolingual/monocultural city of one million in the center of Argentina. The father works elsewhere and is with the children every weekend. The city has no international schools but does have "bilingual" schools with varying quality of instruction in English. At the advice of "experts" they held off the introduction of English to the older child solely because they were told that it would delay his capacity in Spanish. However, the goal was always to ensure first language, native proficiency in both languages. They have done the same with the smaller child, a little girl. I asked for opinions on this decision and also requested responses to a number of questions: 1) The advisability of hiring an English tutor; 2) Whether the situation is becoming urgent for the older child and if there is an age limit for acquiring first language proficiency; 3) Whether any structured materials (texts, storybooks, etc.) would be helpful and to name them; and 4) When to introduce the younger child to English. Although there were some differences of opinion on the effects, all the responses said that the parents should have introduced English immediately in the case of a normally developing child (thus also answering the last question). The differences of opinion concerned variations in children's abilities in their languages. The one language/one parent rule was endorsed by everyone with one exception who said that both parents should speak English at home since the kids would pick up the local language anyway. Several said that children who speak more than one language, after sorting them out, show greater cognitive flexibility and generally greater abilities in language-related activities. Only two respondents said that a tutor would be advisable. The rest favored au pairs, small children (native speakers), and vacations in English speaking countries. Most agreed that the situation was not becoming urgent if the one parent/one language rule is enforced and supplemented by stories, videos, rhymes and other vocabulary building activities. Opinions about the "cut-off" age ran from seven years of age to adolescence. It was interesting that most addressed the question in absolute terms rather than relative terms: I believe that given their unanimous opinion about when to introduce English, they might have wanted to say "the more exposure the better, especially before adolescence when it is probably too late to attain first language proficiency." One (academic) reply said that the question of native proficiency is not important. I would reply that it is very important in a world of standardized tests that can dramatically affect a person's future choices. I hope that we can generate some more discussion of this issue. The question about structured materials generated recommendations for "The Bilingual Family Newsletter" (if anyone from the newsletter or Multilingual Matters is reading this, please contact me with information); Sesame Street, Raffi and Curious George books and/or videos; stories (in both their Spanish and English versions in one case); etc. The only text was "I Like English." Nearly all emphasized the use of English while playing. I would appreciate it if anyone with other recommendations would post them or send them directly to me. Finally, the responses to the posting and an article in Newsweek since the posting have generated more issues for further discussion: 1) The Newsweek article (February 19) "Your Child's Brain" includes a section about perceptual maps and language learning. The findings about language learning discussed in this article, coming from another discipline, are certainly fodder for discussion among linguists and are very relevant to this case; 2) The parents are now considering whether to send the older child to a bilingual nursery school for a half-day session with 90 minutes of instruction in English (the school has one teacher who is a native speaker). They would like your opinions; 3) One respondent said that correcting a child's pronunciation is taboo. Agreed?; 4) An unresolved issue concerns whether the American father should speak English only and inflexibly or leave the possibility of speaking Spanish open for brief specific circumstances (emergencies, safety, heart-to-heart talks). Opinions? In addition to being of possible academic interest, this discussion is a clear demonstration of the power of the Internet to contribute to the solution of practical problems. Many thanks to everyone who participated or will participate. Brian McMahon bmcmah at meyosp.mecon.ar From Michel.Launey at LINGUIST.JUSSIEU.FR Fri Feb 23 09:37:11 1996 From: Michel.Launey at LINGUIST.JUSSIEU.FR (Michel Launey) Date: Fri, 23 Feb 1996 10:37:11 +0100 Subject: XVIth International Congress Message-ID: ANNOUNCEMENT: XVIth International Congress of Linguists DATE AND LOCATION July 20-25, 1997 Paris, France ACCOMODATION Hotels in all price ranges and limited accomodation in University residences. All applications for accomodation must be sent to: A.T.I. Congres 1 villa Boissiere F 75116 PARIS (FRANCE) Tel. (33-1) 47-27-15-15 Fax (33-1) 47-27-05-87 REGISTRATION FEES Participants Accompanying Students Before April 30, 1996 FF. 1200 FF. 600 FF. 300 May 1 through Dec. 31, 1996 FF. 1450 FF. 725 FF. 400 Jan 1 through Jul 20, 1997 FF. 1750 FF. 875 FF. 500 OFFICIAL LANGUAGES All widespread languages are accepted for oral presentations in parallel sessions. The summaries should, like the circulars, be written both in French and in English PLENARY SESSIONS The topics of these sessions are: 1. The development of linguistics in the 2nd half of the XXth century 2. Language families, areas and types 3. Linguistic structures and mental activities 4. Linguistic structures and communication The topic of each plenary session will be developed by three speakers. This will be followed by a general discussion. PAPERS Conference papers may take the form of oral presentations in PARALLEL SESSIONS or POSTERS. Oral presentations are scheduled to last 20 minutes, including question period. Participants choosing the poster session will be allowed two hours. In the present state, the list of topics for parallel sessions is: 1. History of linguistics 2. Philosophy of linguistics 3. Typology and invariants 4. Language policies in the contemporary world 5. Dialectology and sociolinguistics 6. Psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics 7. Language acquisition and learning 8. Phonetics and phonology 9. Morphology 1O. Syntax 11. Generative grammars and formal types of syntax 12. Semantics 13. Lexicology 14. Pragmatics and text linguistics 15. Pidgins, creoles and languages in contact 16. Historical linguistics 17. Reconstruction and etymology 18. Computational linguistics and computer sciences 19. Sign languages 20. Boundaries and overlapping of the various fields of linguistics Participants wishing to present a paper will be requested to send an abstract before October 1, 1996 PANEL DISCUSSIONS The Organizing Committee invites congressists to propose topics for panel discussions by March 1, 1996, with a list of possible participants. The persons whose topics is chosen will be responsible for organizing their panel discussion. They must send the final list of participants before January 1, 1997. TO OBTAIN AN EARLY REGISTRATION CARD AND CONGRESS CIRCULARS Address all correspondance to: CIL 16 Bernard Caron CNRS LLACAN 4 ter route des Gardes F - 92190 MEUDON (FRANCE) Tel. (33-1) 45-07-50-21 Fax (33-1) 45-07-51-12 E-mail: cil16 at cnrs-bellevue.fr From acomblai at VM1.ULG.AC.BE Fri Feb 23 16:05:31 1996 From: acomblai at VM1.ULG.AC.BE (Annick Comblain) Date: Fri, 23 Feb 1996 17:05:31 +0100 Subject: Unsuscribe Message-ID: Please unsuscribe Annick Comblain ________________________________________________________________ ANNICK COMBLAIN, Assistante Facultaire Universite de Liege Laboratoire de Psycholinguistique Faculte de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education Boulevard du Rectorat, 5 (B32) B-4000 Liege (Belgique) Tel.: ++/32/(0)41/66.20.07 Fax.: ++/32/(0)41/66.29.06 e.mail : acomblai at vm1.ulg.ac.be ________________________________________________________________ From bmcmah at MEYOSP.MECON.AR Thu Feb 29 03:11:59 1996 From: bmcmah at MEYOSP.MECON.AR (Brian McMahon) Date: Wed, 28 Feb 1996 19:11:59 -0800 Subject: Discussion on summary and further disc English acquisition Message-ID: Thanks to everyone who replied to my summary posting last week (Feb 21). My original posting was on Feb 6. I will present a new summary when the rate of responses slows down. 1. I mentioned that the decision of the parents to postpone the introduction of English to their 3 1/2 year old son was due to the advice of experts. All respondents were against that decision. This week, the parents gave me one of the factors they considered: "What to Expect the First Year" by Arlene Eisenberg, Heidi Murkoff and Sandee Hathaway, Workman Publishing, 708 Broadway, New York (1989) is one of the most popular books for new parents in the US. On pp. 161-162 they discuss the issue. They say that the ability to use a second language "is an invaluable skill" that may help a child to "think in different ways" and connect the child with ancestral or parental "roots" in certain cases, they also state the following: "There is less agreement on just when to introduce the second language, however. Some experts suggest beginning as soon as a baby is born, but others believe that this puts the child at a disadvantage in both languages-though probably for only a while. They generally recommend waiting until a child is two and a half or three before putting on the Berlitz. By this time she usually has a pretty good grasp of English but is still able to pick up a new language easily and naturally. It is generally agreed that waiting to introduce the second language until after a child can read will impede her fluency in it." The rest of the section tells how to introduce the second language and is consistent with the responses to my postings. This would appear to be an excellent example of how such misconceptions occur. Given the popularity of the book, I believe that it would be advisable for several first language acquisition experts to get in touch with the authors and the publishers to encourage them to consider what appears, given the resposes, to be the mainstream opinion of linguists. 2. Very disappointingly, there has been no discussion of the language acquisition section of the Newsweek (Feb 19) article, "Your Child's Brain." One respondent said "it is certainly worth more discussion." Does anybody want to pick up the ball on this one? 3. There has only been one response to the issue of the advisability of sending the 3 1/2 year old to a bilingual nursery school for a four-hour daily session including 90 minutes with a teacher who is a native speaker. Any other takers? Brian McMahon bmcmah at meyosp.mecon.ar From bryce at OWLNET.RICE.EDU Thu Feb 1 01:28:40 1996 From: bryce at OWLNET.RICE.EDU (Bryce Cramer) Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 19:28:40 -0600 Subject: Virus???? In-Reply-To: <199601312307.PAA04176@garnet.berkeley.edu> Message-ID: Here are a few things people should know about this supposed virus. First, it is impossible for a virus to travel through e-mail. A virus, by nature, can only exist as an executable file. E-mail files are not executable and therefore cannot contain a virus. Secondly, there is not such thing as an ASCII buffer. Third, their are no e-mail addresses for the original senders of this message - there are only abbreviated names. This makes me skeptical. Before the entire nation goes into a frenzy, I though some people might be interested in these observations. If I am wrong about this then excuse me but I don't thing I am. Always practice safe computing but be skeptical about this particular virus warning. On Wed, 31 Jan 1996, suzanne fleischman wrote: > >Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 13:30:43 GMT > >From: Teresa Bridgeman > >Subject: FW: Virus warning (fwd) > >To: Fleischman > >Priority: Normal > >Read-Receipt-To: Teresa Bridgeman > >Delivery-Receipt-To: Teresa Bridgeman > >Return-Receipt-To: Teresa Bridgeman > > > > > >Forwarded Message: > >From: Dee Reynolds > >Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 20:30:33 GMT > >Subject: FW: Virus warning (fwd) > >To: fh-staff at bristol.ac.uk > > > > > >Forwarded Message: > >From: Pumfrey S > >Date: Tue, 30 Jan 96 15:11:00 GMT > >Subject: FW: Virus warning > >To: Dee Reynolds > > > > > > > > ---------- > >From: Bliss R > >To: HARMAN P; Winchester A; Evans E; O'neill G; Brooke J; Walton J; Cross J; > >Stringer K; Blinkhorn R; Heale M; Mullett M; Winstanley M; Palladino P; > >Henig R; Smith R o g e r; Constantine S; Barber S; Pumfrey S; MUNBY J > >Subject: FW: Virus warning > >Date: 30 January 1996 14:34 > > > > > > ---------- > >From: Clements J > >To: Armitage S > >Cc: Ashcroft K; Bird K; Gardner M M; Collins R; Wareham T; Coleman R; Clark > >W; Mcenery A; Bliss R; Kirby M; Borlase R; G.Inkster > >Subject: FW: Virus warning > >Date: 30 January 1996 14:10 > > > > > > ---------- > >From: Lindsay M > >To: Glass B; Bland D; Lindsay R; Brennan S; Reed C; Thomson A; Clements J; > >Dawson D; Widden M; SAUNDERS I J; Edmonds M; Elliott P > >Subject: FW: Virus warning > >Date: 30 January 1996 12:12 > > > > > > ---------- > >From: Hands H > >To: Lindsay M; WORTHINGTON C; COHAN A; DENVER D; HOPFL H; KING P; > >Travers D; > >Worthington M; Wilkin P; GARETH DAVIES; Ms H Willes; I Bellany > >Subject: RE: Virus warning > >Date: 30 January 1996 10:53 > > > >> Andrew Sayer sent me the following virus warning, which has > >> been circulated round Sociology. > >> > >> >> SUBJECT: VIRUSES--IMPORTANT PLEASE READ IMMEDIATELY > >> >> > >> >>>>>> There is a computer virus that is being sent across the > >> >>>>>> Internet. If you receive an e-mail message with the subject > >> >>>>>> line "Good Times", DO NOT read the message, DELETE it > >> >>>>>> immediately. Please read the messages below. Some miscreant > >> >>>>>> is sending e-mail under the title "Good Times" nation wide, > >> >>>>>> if you get anything like this, DON'T DOWN LOAD THE FILE! It > >> >>>>>> has a virus that rewrites your hard drive, obliterating > >> >>>>>> anything on it. Please be careful and forward this mail to > >> >>>>>> anyone you care about. > >> >>>>>******************************************************** > >> >>>>>> WARNING!!!!!!! INTERNET VIRUS > >> >>>>>The FCC released a warning last Wednesday concerning a > >> >>>>>> matter of major importance to any regular user of the > >> >>>>>> Internet. Apparently a new computer virus has been > >> >>>>>> engineered by a user of AMERICA ON LINE that is unparalleled > >> >>>>>> in its destructive capability. Other more well-known viruses > >> >>>>>> such as "Stoned", "Airwolf" and "Michaelangelo" pale in > >> >>>>>> comparison to the prospects of this newest creation by a > >> >>>>>> warped mentality. What makes this virus so terrifying, said > >> >>>>>> the FCC, is the fact that no program needs to be exchanged > >> >>>>>> for a new computer to be infected. It can be spread through > >> >>>>>> the existing e-mail systems of the Internet. Once a Computer > >> >>>>>> is infected, one of several things can happen. If the > >> >>>>>> computer contains a hard drive, that will most likely be > >> >>>>>> destroyed. If the program is not stopped, the computer's > >> >>>>>> processor will be placed in an nth-complexity infinite binary > >> >>>>>> loop -which can severely damage the processor if left running > >> >>>>>> that way too long. > >> >>>>>> Unfortunately, most novice computer users will not > >> >>>>>> realize what is happening until it is far too late. Luckily, > >> >>>>>> there is one sure means of detecting what is now known as the > >> >>>>>> "Good Times" virus. It always travels to new computers the > >> >>>>>> same way in a text email message with the subject line > >> >>>>>> reading "Good Times". Avoiding infection is easy once the > >> >>>>>> file has been received- not reading it! The act of loading > >> >>>>>> the file into the mail server's ASCII buffer causes the "Good > >> >>>>>> Times" mainline program to initialize and execute. > >> >>>>>> The program is highly intelligent- it will send copies of > >> >>>>>> itself to everyone whose e-mail address is contained in a > >> >>>>>> receive-mail file or a sent-mail file, if it can find one. It > >> >>>>>> will then proceed to trash the computer it is running on. The > >> >>>>>> bottom line here is - if you receive a file with the subject > >> >>>>>> line "Good Times", delete it immediately! Do not read it" > >> >>>>>> Rest assured that whoever's name was on the "From" line was > >> >>>>>> surely struck by the virus. Warn your friends and local > >> >>>>>> system users of this newest threat to the Internet! It could > >> >>>>>> save them a lot of time and money. > >> >>>>>>> ---- End of mail text > >> > >> > >> > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From spikeg at OWLNET.RICE.EDU Tue Feb 6 16:24:35 1996 From: spikeg at OWLNET.RICE.EDU (Spike Gildea) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 10:24:35 -0600 Subject: Terralingua: Partnerships for Biolinguistic Diversity Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, Attached herewith is a Call for Interest for a new organisation which focuses on language diversity and survival. I would appreciate it if the message could be posted on your listserver, as we (the organising committee) are trying to reach as diverse an audience as possible. Also, please feel free to further post the message on other listservers which you think might be appropriate. Many thanks. Anthea Fallen-Bailey Graduate student Departments of Geography and Linguistics University of Oregon Eugene, OR. 97403, USA. ************************************************************************* CALL FOR INTEREST ANNOUNCING the creation of a nonprofit, nongovernmental, international organization devoted to preserving the world's linguistic diversity, and to investigating parallels and links between biological and cultural diversity, TENTATIVELY CALLED: *Terralingua: Partnerships for Biolinguistic Diversity* Dear Colleague: Last July, at a Symposium on Language Loss and Public Policy held at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, some of the participants began discussing proposals to form an organization to preserve the world's linguistic diversity. Beyond this, these participants determined that any such organization ought to coordinate with groups working to preserve the diversity of species and ecosystems, thereby emphasizing the mutually reinforcing importance of cultural and biological diversity. At that time, a small ad hoc organizing committee formed to hammer out a statement of purpose for the organization. After going through a number of drafts, we, the members of this ad hoc committee, now feel ready to announce the formation of the organization and issue this Call for Interest to gauge potential support from you and others. We *tentatively* propose to call our organization "Terralingua: Partnerships for Biolinguistic Diversity" (see below for more on the name). The organization will have two basic purposes. First, to preserve the world's linguistic diversity in all its forms, regardless of political, demographic, or linguistic status. This means that we are concerned with the loss of any form of language, whether it be an endangered language, a disappearing dialect of a non-endangered language, declining bilingual use of a language (endangered or not) within a given country, and so forth. As you can see, the emphasis is on diversity as a whole rather than endangerment, though of course we will necessarily be deeply involved in supporting the preservation of critically endangered forms of language. We also are convinced that attempts to preserve either linguistic or biological diversity will ultimately not succeed unless both are preserved; that is, we believe in a holistic view of diversity in culture and nature. Thus, Terralingua's second basic purpose is to promote the investigation of the parallels and links between cultural diversity (of which linguistic diversity is an important part) and biological diversity. We want to build bridges between groups and individuals working to save languages and cultures and those working to save species and ecosystems. All of this is fleshed out in the organization's Statement of Purpose, which is attached to this Call for Interest. What exactly do we propose to do? Initially, our goals are modest. First of all, we want to serve as a rallying point for those who share our beliefs and who want to join us in doing something. Second, we want to solicit your suggestions on how we can establish the partnerships that are at the heart of the Terralingua vision. We particularly want to reach out to community-based groups and individuals working on "the front lines," so we would appreciate it if you could send us contact information for those that you know of. Third, we want to hear from you about what you think the organization's priorities should be. Once all this is in place, we will pursue a specific plan of action. As you well know, much needs to be done on all sorts of fronts. But we think that, working together, we have the talent, vision, and energy to make a difference for diversity. INTERESTED? We invite you to help us in making this organization a living, working reality. Start by giving us your ideas on building partnerships and priorities for action. We would also like to have your suggestions for what the organization should be called. Some of us like the "Terralingua" name with the subtitle, but others find the "Terralingua" part frivolous-sounding and obscure and have suggested a more straightforward name, such as "Coalition for Biolinguistic Diversity" or, simply, "Partnerships for Biolinguistic Diversity." What do you think? E-mail your ideas, along with your name, mailing address, telephone/fax, and e-mail address, along with any suggestions or comments, to: David Harmon (Provisional Secretary) gws at mail.portup.com The initial announcement of the organization is being made through e-mail postings to a variety of lists serving the disciplines listed in the Statement of Purpose. Based on the response, we will then do a regular mailing to potential members and partners who do not use e-mail. On or around 15 February 1996, those who have responded will receive a prospectus for the organization containing a detailed statement of structure and a preliminary plan of action. At that time you will have an opportunity to formally join, if you wish (there is no obligation). We anticipate asking for modest membership dues (on the order of US$10.00 per year) to fund the operation of the organization. With thanks in advance for your consideration, The Terralingua Organizing Committee (gws at mail.portup.com) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- STATEMENT OF PURPOSE "Terralingua: Partnerships for Biolinguistic Diversity" A. We recognize: 1. That the diversity of languages and their variant forms is a vital part of the world's cultural diversity; 2. That cultural diversity and biological diversity are not only related, but often inseparable; and 3. That, like biological species, many languages and their variant forms around the world are now faced with an extinction crisis whose magnitude may well prove very large. B. We declare: 4. That every language, along with its variant forms, is inherently valuable and therefore worthy of being preserved and perpetuated, regardless of its political, demographic, or linguistic status; 5. That deciding which language to use, and for what purposes, is a basic human right inhering to members of the community of speakers now using the language or whose ancestors traditionally used it; and 6. That such usage decisions should be freely made in an atmosphere of tolerance and reciprocal respect for cultural distinctiveness-a condition that is a prerequisite for increased mutual understanding among the world's peoples and a recognition of our common humanity. C. Therefore, we set forth the following goals: 7. To help preserve and perpetuate the world's linguistic diversity in all its variant forms (languages, dialects, pidgins, creoles, sign languages, languages used in rituals, etc.) through research, programs of public education, advocacy, and community support. 8. To learn about languages and the knowledge they embody from the communities of speakers themselves, to encourage partnerships between community-based language/cultural groups and scientific/professional organizations who are interested in preserving cultural and biological diversity, and to support the right of communities of speakers to language self-determination. 9. To illuminate the connections between cultural and biological diversity by establishing working relationships with scientific/professional organizations and individuals who are interested in preserving cultural diversity (such as linguists, educators, anthropologists, ethnologists, cultural workers, native advocates, cultural geographers, sociologists, and so on) and those who are interested in preserving biological diversity (such as biologists, botanists, ecologists, zoologists, physical geographers, ethnobiologists, ethnoecologists, conservationists, environmental advocates, natural resource managers, and so on), thus promoting the joint preservation and perpetuation of cultural and biological diversity. 10. To work with all appropriate entities in both the public and private sectors, and at all levels from the local to the international, to accomplish the foregoing. (END) ------------------------------- The George Wright Society P.O. Box 65 Hancock, Michigan 49930-0065 USA telephone (906) 487-9722 * fax (906) 487-9405 e-mail: gws at mail.portup.com or gws at mtu.edu **************** Dr Mari Rhydwen, Graduate School of Education, * The University of Western Australia, * why is it all so beautiful this fake Nedlands, * dream Perth 6009, *this craziness why? Western Australia. * Tel: 09 380 2431 Fax: 09 380 1052 (IKKYU) **************** From spikeg at OWLNET.RICE.EDU Tue Feb 6 16:26:09 1996 From: spikeg at OWLNET.RICE.EDU (Spike Gildea) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 10:26:09 -0600 Subject: First Circular for ICHL '97 Message-ID: Dear Sir or Madam, We would like to announce the ICHL 1997 on the functnet. Enclosed is a copy of the 1st circular. If you have any questions, please contact us via the ICHL-email. Thank you very much. The Organising Committee II CCCC HH HH LL '' 99999 7777777 II C C HH HH LL ' 99 99 7 77 II CC HH HH LL 99 99 77 II CC HHHHHHH LL 99999 77 II CC HH HH LL 99 77 II C C HH HH LL 9 99 77 II CCCC HH HH LLLLLL 9999 77 - FIRST CIRCULAR - The XIII International Conference on Historical Linguistics will be held at Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet of Duesseldorf, Germany 10 - 17 August 1997 Plenary speakers include: Henning Andersen (UCLA) Kate Burridge (Melbourne) Wallace Chafe (Santa Barbara) Konrad Ehlich (Muenchen) Marvin Herzog (Columbia) Dieter Kastovsky (Wien) Donka Minkova (UCLA) Marianne Mithun (Santa Barbara) David Olson (Toronto) John Rickford (Stanford) Suzanne Romaine (Oxford) Brigitte Schlieben-Lange (Tuebingen) Dan Slobin (Berkeley) -------------------------------------------- Papers are invited either for any topic in historical linguistics, or for one of the special topic areas: Media, written language, and language change Norms and change of (linguistic) norms in modern societies Markedness, naturalness, and the invisible hand American Indian languages: relationships and developments Universal and social factors in language contact The development of Yiddish as a contact language Linguistic prehistory and history in Eastern Europe One page abstracts may be submitted either by mail (one hard copy accompanied by an ASCII-file on a diskette) or, preferably, by email (ASCII-file only) so as to arrive no later than 1st October 1996 --- official airline: Lufthansa --- mail: Dieter Stein Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet Duesseldorf Anglistik III Universitaetsstr. 1 D-40225 Duesseldorf Germany email: ICHL1997 at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de phone: 49-(0)211-81-12963 fax: 49-(0)211-81-13026 From bmcmah at MEYOSP.MECON.AR Tue Feb 6 21:38:50 1996 From: bmcmah at MEYOSP.MECON.AR (Brian McMahon) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 13:38:50 -0800 Subject: First or Second Language Acquisition Message-ID: I teach English conversation to adults on a private basis. One of my students asked me for advice on a problem. The couple has two children, 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 years of age. They are living in Cordoba, a large but, nevertheless, monocultural and monolingual city of one million in central Argentina. They are with their American father all weekend, every weekend but they have no contact with the English language. The couple's goal is that both children reach native levels of proficiency in both English and Spanish. However, they delayed the introduction of English to the 3 1/2 year old child to English due to the opinion of experts that simultaneously speaking both languages can delay by up to one year a child's ability to form full sentences in one of them. The elder child has been speaking Spanish in full sentences for over one year. The couple is now concerned that if he does not receive English instruction on an accelerated basis, he may never achieve truly native or first language proficiency. Since Cordoba has no large expatriate communities, there are no international schools where they can learn English alongside other children who are native speakers. The city does have a few "bilingual" schools where English is taught as a second language. Obviously, these schools would be their only educational option. The teachers in these schools are almost exclusively "locals" whose pronunciation leaves much to be desired. The couple has also found that the lack of English greatly inhibits certain activities such as reading to the older child, storytelling, songs and many other areas. With regard to long term concerns, the lack of first language proficiency would have an unfavorable effect on standardized test scores, such as the SATs. 1. Given the situation, would it be advisable to hire a private teacher to accelerate his acquisition of English? If so, for how many hours per week? 2. Given his environmental situation (contact with English only on weekends, monocultural/monolingual location and home environment), is the situation becoming urgent (i.e. that his exposure to English must be accelerated immediately or he will never obtain native proficiency)? Is there an age limit by which he must have attained a native level of English or his acquisition of it will only be as a second language? 3. Undoubtedly, the best way for a small child to acquire a language is through play. Would it be advisable to supplement "play English" with the use of structured materials contained in a text. Are there any texts that could be helpful? Are there any other sources of information on this topic? 4. In the case of the younger child, who has begun to speak, would it be better to introduce English now rather than wait? Is there general agreement with the assertion that speaking English to her will delay her ability to speak Spanish in full sentences? Thanks for your help. I am greatly looking forward to the replies. Brian McMahon, Consultant bmcmah at meyosp.mecon.ar From bates at CRL.UCSD.EDU Tue Feb 6 17:42:44 1996 From: bates at CRL.UCSD.EDU (Elizabeth Bates) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 09:42:44 PST Subject: First or Second Language Acquisition Message-ID: Where on earth did the advice come from to avoid introduction of two languages simultaneously with a perfectly healthy child? There is nothing in the literature on bilingual language development that would justify such a conclusion. I would avoid bilingual input ONLY in the case of a child who has some kind of handicap that presents a risk factor even for the normal acquisition of a single language. The usual rule in this literature (c.f. McLaughlin, Taeschner, Hakuta and others who have written on the topic) is to arrange things so that it is maximally clear to the child WHICH language is spoken in WHICH context. This can be done with mother vs father, parents vs. grandparents, upstairs vs. downstairs, anything that makes it easy for the child to keep the two input contexts straight. To be sure, there is often some mixing, and slight "delays" in the very early stages (as children work out which words go in which context), but as far as anyone can tell within this literature, these delays are in no way associated with a long term delay in either language. And "delay" is a relative term. If you look at the first 50 words in each language in very young bilingual children, considering each language separately, they look somewhat behind in the second year of life. However, if you add their non-overlapping terms together (e.g. first 20 words in Language 1, first 30 words in Language 2), you typically find that their totals are right on target compared with monolingual children. By the third year of life, most studies agree that children understand the separateness of their two codes thoroughly, often picking up words in translation pairs (e.g. actively seeking a way to code a new concept in both languages), with no measurable delay in either language. In short, I would recommend to your friends that they proceed with naturalistic language input in BOTH languages to BOTH children with no further delay. In fact, active and interactive weekends-only with the father could easily suffice to get the English going, even without a tutor. (I'm skeptical that "tutoring" in the didactic sense is appropriate in this age range anyway; what we are really talking about is an English-speaking babysitter who interacts intelligently with the children, in naturalistic contexts). There are others who are more expert in the literature on early bilingualism than I am, and I hope they will join in (and disagree with me if that seems appropriate). -liz bates From OLGA at HUMNET.UCLA.EDU Tue Feb 6 20:36:42 1996 From: OLGA at HUMNET.UCLA.EDU (Olga T. Yokoyama) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 12:36:42 PST Subject: First or Second Language Acquisition Message-ID: Here is my personal experience with raising a bilingual child. Before our daughter was born (Boston, 1983), we decided that we will try to raise her bilingual in English and Russian. We started the first day she was born, following the method that attached each language to a different person: the mother (me) to Russian, and the father to English. Our daughter started full time infant care at a normal American child care center when she was 2 months old, and her exposure to Russian was necessarily much more limited than to English. I tried to counterbalance this by putting Russian story and song tapes on whenever she was in her room (even when she was 2 months old), by showing her Russian video cartoons (and later video films), by exposing her to Russian speaking children once in a while, and of course by speaking exclusively Russian to her and in her presence. For several years she thought I could not speak English at all. Then she began to notice that I spoke English with other people but for several years after that discovery she was still convinced that I din't understand *her* English. When she told smth to her dad in English, she would then turn to me and immediately re-say it in Russian. The method of tying a lg to a person is definitely preferred, if only because it is also easier for the adult, who may forget to switch between the first and the second floor, or between the odd and even days. While I was regularly her only interlocutor in Russian, there were blocks of time when her contact with Russian was more extended. When she was 2 yrs old, I put her for one summer in care of a Russian baby-sitter, who had also babysat another Russian-speaking child. When she was 5, I took her to Moscow for one semester and put her in a Russian public kindergarden. Then I took her to Moscow twice more for 6 weeks each in the summer when she was 8 and 12. Despite a very limited experience in Russia, and relatively little time spent at home where she used Russian with me, she has acquired the language with no accent, all the cases, word order variation and verbal aspect in place, and with a considerable vocabulary and phraseology. The past year or two I have been a bit worried that she is reluctant to take a Russian book and read it and that her English has acquired such sophisitcation (she is a voracious reader in English) that she must derive less satisfaction from speaking Russian. A few months ago I fianlly began to give her formal lessons in reading, vocabulary building and writing Russian twice a week, for 1 hr each. The progress is very good and it is delightful to see how easy it is for her to learn all the vocab and spelling because most morphemes in this morphologically rich lg are transparent to her (last week she actually did take a Russian book to bed with her and read it for an hour!). I only hope that she manages to make enough progress before adolescence sets in for real and she will for a few years reject everything her mother says. I, too, would recommend to your friends to actively expose them to English as soon as possible. It would also be good to associate English with fun, such as videos and cardboard games with the father, as well as other activities. Putting on Raffi or other children's tapes round the clock will be good, too. We do not have TV at home, and began to allow English lg videos only after our daughter turned 11. That way, the fun of watching a video was necessarily associated with Russian. Occasional get togethers with English-only kids of the same age group will also be helpful. English-speaking babysitters would not hurt if they speak native English, but often what children learn from domestic helpers is just "kitchen" lg and that would be hardly worth the trouble. If the babisitter is verbal, is willing to systematically engage in lg-enhancing contact with the children, and does not turn them off by explicitly correcting their English (a taboo at young age) it would of course be very effective. Good luck! From druuskan at CC.HELSINKI.FI Wed Feb 7 06:35:14 1996 From: druuskan at CC.HELSINKI.FI (Deborah D K Ruuskanen) Date: Wed, 7 Feb 1996 08:35:14 +0200 Subject: Bilingual Children/First or 2nd Lang. Acq. Message-ID: Hei All! I sent this reply directly to Liz Bates who suggested it migh= t be of wider interest. Sorry if the lines are too long, I have trouble editing with my software editor - and I cannot correct errors either because of the time lag between=20 keying and seeing lines on screen.=20 WHERE did this NONSENSE about NOT introducing a child to two = languages come from? I'd like to reply to this, to the original query = if possible, including the list it came from. My first two children were exposed to FOUR languages perforce= : I am American, my husband Finnish, we lived in Italy, and our home= help was Argentinian. NO WAY was I going to speak ITALIAN to my child= ren, and my husband was as adamant about FINNISH being his language with = them. This was twenty-odd years ago: my firstborn took two years to real= ly speak, but he had single words for his "rag", mama, is=E4 (daddy), a= nd sickle (bicycle which he rode at 19 months). The rest he got throug= h by pointing and grunting. At three he came out with complete sen= tences in both English and Finnish, and fragments in Italian. He figur= ed out the homehelp understood Italian, and dropped the Spanish. His yo= unger sister followed his example. All three of my children are pe= rfectly competent in English and Finnish, but forgot their Italian wh= en we moved to Finland when the two eldest were four and five. My daught= er is about to graduate from university in the USA, where she is assumed = to be a native American, and my son did an AA degree in English in th= e USA and came back to Finland to train as a paramedic. The English wa= s reinforced by sending them home to grandparents for summers (= when we could afford it) in the USA, where they HAD to speak English.= I don't know the literature on the subject, but having the father spe= ak his language and the mother hers has worked JUST FINE with us, th= ank you. Please feel free to forward this anecdotal description, and I= 'd be glad to discuss the problems of raising bilingual children with an= yone who is nervous about it. Sincerely, =09kela Ruuskanen (PROUD mother and linguist) --=20 Deborah D. Kela Ruuskanen \ You cannot teach a Man anyth= ing, Leankuja 1, FIN-01420 Vantaa \ you can only help him find= it druuskan at cc.helsinki.fi \ within himself. Galil= eo From annaram at IPV36.UNIPV.IT Tue Feb 6 20:26:55 1996 From: annaram at IPV36.UNIPV.IT (Anna Giacalone Ramat) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 21:26:55 +0100 Subject: XXX SLI Meeting Message-ID: XXX INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE SOCIETA' DI LINGUISTICA ITALIANA PAVIA, SEPTEMBER 26-28 1996 THE FOLLOWING TOPICS WILL BE CONSIDERED: 1. COGNITIVE, FORMAL, SOCIO-LINGUISTIC MODELS FOR SYNTACTIC CHANGE 2. SYNTAX OF THE ROMANCE LANGUAGES 3. SYNTAX OF ITALIAN AND ITS DIALECTS KEY-NOTE SPEAKERS INCLUDE: MACHTELT BOLKESTEIN (University of Amsterdam) GEORG BOSSONG (University of Zuerich) NUNZIO LA FAUCI (University of Palermo) NIGEL VINCENT (University of Manchester) Deadline for the submission of abstracts: 15 FEBRUARY 1996 For application or information contact: Paolo Ramat Dipartimento di Linguistica Strada Nuova 65 27100 Pavia, Italy e-mail paoram at ipv36.unipv.it From mdavies at RS6000.CMP.ILSTU.EDU Thu Feb 8 15:10:58 1996 From: mdavies at RS6000.CMP.ILSTU.EDU (Mark Davies) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 09:10:58 -0600 Subject: "Syntactic diffusion": changes that only make it part way Message-ID: (Cross-posted to HISTLING) While carrying out research on diachronic Spanish clitic climbing, I've run across some data that has me a bit confused. Without going into all of the details, what I've found is a syntactic change (a decrease in clitic climbing), which I believe is motivated by a similar change in a related construction (a shift towards INFinitive+CLitic in cases like _para hacerlo_ "in:order:to do:it), that moves strongly in one direction (decreased clitic climbing), becomes the rule in about 80-90% of all cases, stops, and then begins to reverse (i.e. a recent increase in clitic climbing). (The data is quite certain, being based on tens of thousands of examples from computer-based corpora of 5,500,000 words of pre-1900 Spanish, and 3,500,000 words of post-1900 Spanish) In the scenario I've constructed, the syntactic change I'm investigating is active as long as there is continued change in the parallel construction that I think is the motivation for the shift. Once that parallel shift is completed, the change I'm studying continues on for another 100 years or so, in which time it becomes the rule in about 80-90% of all cases, then stops, and has perhaps even begun to move in the opposite direction. In my scenario, there is another syntactic motivation that would account for the reversal, if in fact it is taking place. I'm somewhat familiar with the idea of "lexical diffusion" (as well as the polemics surrounding such a concept), in which a phonetic shift is "active" for a certain period of time and then ends, with the change having reached only part of the relevant lexical items. In this model the "unaffected" lexical items may then undergo a later phonetic shift that only applies to these lexical items that the first change never reached. I'm wondering if there has been much research on this type of "diffusion" in syntax, where a shift is "active" for a given time, then slows, stops, and perhaps reverses when the motivating factor has ceased to exert its influence. Any ideas? P.S. If someone is interested in the details of the actual shifts in the diachronic Spanish clitic climbing construction, I'd be happy to provide them. Thanks in advance, ================================================================== Mark Davies, Assistant Professor, Spanish Linguistics Dept. of Foreign Languages, Illinois State University Normal, IL 61790-4300 Voice:309/438-7975 email:mdavies at ilstu.edu Fax:309/438-8038 http://www.ilstu.edu/~mdavies/welcome.htm ================================================================== From john at RESEARCH.HAIFA.AC.IL Thu Feb 8 07:16:38 1996 From: john at RESEARCH.HAIFA.AC.IL (John Myhill) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 09:16:38 +0200 Subject: children in Cordoba Message-ID: My wife and I have been facing a more difficult problem--I am a native speaker of English, she is a native speaker of Japanese, we are living in Israel, and we have a four-year-old daughter who we would like to be a native speaker of all three languages. Hebrew is not going to be a problem with us living here, but English and Japanese are not so easy. However, I think things are going well. It is obvious to me that throwing so many languages at Shayna has slowed down her progress in each of them. However, she has plenty of time to catch up. In my opinion, if her English or Japanese were to be slowed down a year, it wouldn't be much of a problem. Her life is not about to be affected by standardized tests at this age, and I am more concerned about her long-term ability in the different languages than whether she is a year behind at the moment in any one of them. I think that it is a mistake to withhold English from the child for any length of time at all, especially given that only the father is a native speaker of English; psychologically children will never feel that the language is 'theirs', in addition to causing phonological problems. I do not think that hiring a private teacher will help at the age of 3 1/2. I think that the most important thing is: (1) The father should ALWAYS speak to the child in English. (2) You might want to set up a rule where English is the 'language of the home', where even the mother normally speaks English to the child at home. (3) As much exposure as possible to English, even if the people don't speak such good English. The child will realize that the father is the one whose English should be imitated. (4) You might try pushing the children to respond to the father at least in English. (5) Get English children's videos; the father should look at them with the children and talk to them in English about it. (6) If at all possible, have extended stays in English-speaking countries--like summers, sabbaticals, etc. This has been an immeasurable help to our daughter's Japanese, although she has only been in Japan a total of maybe 5 months. She can now go a long time speaking almost no Japanese but when she realizes that she's in Japan she can just switch into Japanese immediately. I would not say that her Japanese is as good as other children her age, but she has the phonological tools--and she clearly regards Japanese as 'her language' (as she regards English and she is coming to regard Hebrew). It is very important to realize how much the family can do. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, I knew a Chasidic family with seven children, all born in Ann Arbor. They were the only Yiddish speakers in the city, to my knowledge. The parents categorically spoke Yiddish to the children until the children were maybe 7 or 8 years old, after which they would progressively use more and more English with them. The parents almost always spoke English to each other. The children's acquisition of English was obviously delayed several years, but in that environment there was absolutely no danger that they would not acquire completely normal English abilities by the time they were 10 (younger for the younger children who might speak some English with their older siblings even when they were pretty young); their ability to understand English was of course way ahead of their ability to speak it, since their parents spoke English to each other. The very young children also would try to speak English when they were playing games and pretending to be grownups. But it was clear that Yiddish was their main language until they were 7 or 8. This plan has worked very well in maintaining Yiddish in a bilingual situation for the last 1000 years; the kids know that they'll use more and more English, reserving Yiddish for some studies and special occasions, but then when they have children they'll switch back to Yiddish with them. The lesson I learned from this was: don't worry about the children's ability in the local language, that will come. John Myhill From john at RESEARCH.HAIFA.AC.IL Thu Feb 8 07:33:00 1996 From: john at RESEARCH.HAIFA.AC.IL (John Myhill) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 09:33:00 +0200 Subject: child bilingualism Message-ID: Having read what others have had to say on this topic, regarding Liz Bates' statement that blingual children acquire both languages normally by the time they are 3--this is just not my experience, and it sounds to me like this is not the experience of other linguists who have actually lived through this situation. My daughter was and clearly remains behind other children her age in all three of her languages (she's four). But she's also clearly catching up at least in Hebrew and English, and I'm sure the same will happen in Japanese when we go there this summer. I think that people who claim that bilingualism doesn't slow down either language, or that this only lasts until the age of three, are indulging in wishful thinking, or analyzing other peoples' children for relatively brief periods rather than living with the children and observing everything. But I am equally confident that bilingual or trilingual children will catch up before long--just not at the age of three or four. John Myhill From bates at CRL.UCSD.EDU Thu Feb 8 15:17:34 1996 From: bates at CRL.UCSD.EDU (Elizabeth Bates) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 07:17:34 PST Subject: child bilingualism Message-ID: There are immense individual differences in perfectly healthy, smart children even in monolingual settings. As we exchange anecdotes on multilingual acquisition, it is important to remember that the multilingual experience is always superimposed on this background of individual variability. -liz bates From BILLY1 at MDX.AC.UK Thu Feb 8 16:08:57 1996 From: BILLY1 at MDX.AC.UK (billy clark) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 16:08:57 GMT Subject: CONFERENCE: LINGUISTICS ASSOCIATION OF GREAT BRITAIN Message-ID: LINGUISTICS ASSOCIATION OF GREAT BRITAIN Spring Meeting 1996: University of Sussex Second Circular The 1996 Spring Meeting will be held from Thursday 11 April to Saturday 13 April at the University of Sussex, where the Association will be the guests of the Linguistics Subject Group of the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences. The Local Organiser is Nicola Woods (nicolajw at cogs.susx.ac.uk). Enquiries about the meeting should be sent to: LAGB Spring Meeting 1996, Nicola Woods, School of Cognitive and Computing Science, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH. Accommodation: will be in Kent House, which is 5 minutes walk from the building where the talks will take place. Registration will begin at 10am on the 11th of April in the ground floor foyer of the Physics block. Late arrivals can collect keys either from the porter in Kent House, who is avaliable until 6pm every day, or from the Security office in York House, which is open 24 hours a day. All rooms have wash basins, shaver points and shared bathrooms. A small number of rooms with twin beds are available. Rooms will be allocated strictly on a "first-come first-served" basis. Bar: Delegates are welcome to use the Senior Common room and bar, which is next door to the accommodation. The bar will be open until midnight on Thursday and Friday evening. Food: Vegetarian food will be available automatically. Please indicate any other dietary requirements on the booking form below. Travel: Falmer British Rail station is immediately opposite the University entrance; frequent local trains (around 3 per hour) run from Brighton and Lewes until midnight. Trains take approximately 8 minutes from either direction. Delegates with heavy luggage may prefer to take a taxi from Brighton, as there are no taxis at Falmer and the walk to the accommodation in Kent House may take up to 15 minutes. Bus numbers 28, 128 and 729 travel between Brighton (Old Steine) and Lewes and stop outside the University. Bus number 25 runs between Brighton (Old Steine) and the University and comes to the North end of the campus (about 5 minutes from the accommodation in Kent House. By car, the University is on the A27 road between Brighton and Lewes, about 6 kilometres (4 miles) from the centre of Brighton and the same distance from Lewes. Delegates arriving from air who have a choice of airport should fly to London Gatwick which is closer to the University than London Heathrow. If you are coming by sea, there is a direct rail link from Newhaven to Falmer. From Portsmouth and Southampton, there is a direct link to Brighton. From all other ports, take the train to London and travel from Victoria to Brighton or Lewes. Parking: Free parking is available in the immediate vicinity of the accommodation. Events: The Linguistics Association 1996 Lecture on the Thursday evening will be delivered by Professor Johanna Nichols (Berkeley) and is entitled "Where on earth is Indo-European?" Professor Nichols will also present a Language Tutorial on the Chechen and Ingush languages.This will cover: basic structure, typologically and theoretically interesting features, historical comparison, lexicon, transcription and orthography. Some cultural and geographical information on the people will be given, through slides and tape recordings of the languages and Chechen and Ingush music. There will be the chance for participants to gain active command of some basic phrases. Some basic grammatical and lexical material and a bibliography will be distributed. There will also be a Workshop, organised by April McMahon (Cambridge) and Kersti Borjars (Manchester), entitled "New cognates for historical linguistics". Participants are: Paul Foulkes (Newcastle), April McMahon (Cambridge), Rob McMahon (Cambridge), Anna Siewierska (Lancaster). One of the most promising developments in current historical linguistics involves attempts to connect results from this domain with cognate disciplines. Participants will address potential connections of historical linguistics with typology, experimental phonetics/laboratory phonology, and genetics. The talks will be followed by a panel discussion involving the workshop speakers, Professor Nichols and the audience. The Foundation of Endangered Languages, which was briefly presented to the LAGB by its president Nicholas Ostler at the Newcastle meeting in 1995, will be holding its sixth meeting from 10 am to 12.30 pm on the morning of 11 April, immediately before the formal start of the LAGB Meeting. It is planned that this meeting should mark its formal incorporation as a Company Limited by Guarantee. All LAGB participants are welcome to attend the meeting, to find out about membership and the Foundation's plans. Anyone wishing to receive a copy of Iatiku, the Foundation's newsletter, should contact Nicholas Ostler at Batheaston Villa, 172 Bailbrook Lane, Bath BA1 7AA. Tel: 01225-852865. Fax: 01225-859258, email: nostler at chibcha.demon.co.uk There will be a Wine Party on the Thursday evening, following Professor Nichols's lecture. The wine party is sponsored by the Linguistics Subject Group and the School of Cognitive and Computing Science. Bookings: should be sent to the Local Organiser, address above, to arrive by Friday 8 March. Cheques should be made payable to "University of Sussex". Guests: Members may invite any number of guests to meetings of the association, upon payment of a guest invitation fee of 5 pounds sterling. Members wishing to invite guests should photocopy the booking form below. Abstracts: are available to members who are unable to attend the meeting. Please order from the Local Organiser on the booking form below. Annual General Meeting: This is to be held on the afternoon of Friday 12 April. Items for the agenda should be sent to the Honorary Secretary. LAGB Employment Exchange: A volunteer is sought to take over the running of the LAGB employment exchange from Siew-Yue Killingley. If you are interested, contact the Honorary Secretary. Nominations for speakers: Nominations are requested for future guest speakers; all suggestions should be sent to the Honorary Secretary. Changes of address: Members are reminded to notify the Membership Secretary (address below) of changes of address. An institutional address is preferred; bulk mailing saves postage. Committee members: President Professor Greville Corbett, Linguistic and International Studies, University of Surrey, GUILDFORD, Surrey, GU2 5XH. e-mail: g.corbett at surrey.ac.uk Honorary Secretary Dr. David Adger, Dept. of Language and Linguistic Science, University of York, Heslington, York. YO1 5DD. e-mail: da4 at tower.york.ac.uk. Membership Secretary Dr. Kersti Borjars, Department of Linguistics, University of Manchester, MANCHESTER M13 9PL. e-mail: k.e.borjars at manchester.ac.uk Meetings Secretary Dr. Billy Clark, Communication Studies, Middlesex University, Trent Park, Bramley Road, LONDON N14 4XS. e-mail: billy1 at mdx.ac.uk Treasurer Paul Rowlett, Dept. of Modern Languages, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT. e-mail: p.a.rowlett at mod-lang.salford.ac.uk Assistant Secretary Dr. April McMahon, Dept. of Linguistics, University of Cambridge, Sidgwick Avenue, CAMBRIDGE CB3 9DQ. e-mail: AMM11 at hermes.cam.ac.uk BLN Editor Dr. Siew-Yue Killingley, Grevatt and Grevatt, 9 Rectory Drive, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE NE13 1XT. Employment exchange: Dr. Killingley is also the employment exchange organiser. Tel: 0191-285-8083 10.00-12.45 and 14.00-16.00 weekdays (sometimes working at other venues during the day - ring 20.00-21.00 weekdays if necessary). British Linguistic Newsletter: Members can subscribe to BLN (ISBN 0964-6574) by contacting the Editor, Dr. S-Y. Killingley. Please do not send subscriptions for BLN to the LAGB Treasurer. The LAGB internet home page is at the following address: http://clwww.essex.ac.uk /LAGB. Electronic network: Please join the LAGB electronic network which is used for disseminating LAGB information and for consulting members quickly. It can be subscribed to by sending the message "add lagb" to: listserv at postman.essex.ac.uk. Future Meetings: 7-9 September 1996 Cardiff Institute of Higher Education. 7-9 April 1997 (dates provisional) University of Edinburgh. 9-11 September 1997 (dates provisional)University of Hertfordshire. 14-16 April 1998 (dates provisional) University of Lancaster. Autumn 1998 (provisional) University of Luton. The Meetings Secretary would very much like to receive offers of future venues, particularly from institutions which the LAGB has not previously visited or from places with newly established linguistics programmes. PROGRAMME: Spring Meeting: University of Sussex Thursday 11 April 1996 1.00 LUNCH 2.00 Workshop: "New Cognates for Historical Linguistics" Organisers: April McMahon (Cambridge), Kersti Borjars (Manchester). 2.00 Introduction by the organisers. 2.10 Professor Anna Siewierska (Lancaster) "Historical Linguistics and Typology" 3.00 Dr. Paul Foulkes (Newcastle) "Historical Linguistics and Experimental Phonetics" 4.00 TEA 4.30 Workshop continues 4.30 Dr. Rob McMahon and Dr. April McMahon (Cambridge) "Historical Linguistics and Genetics" 5.30 Panel discussion between the workshop speakers, Professor Nichols and the audience. 6.30 DINNER 7.45 Linguistics Association 1996 Lecture: "Where on earth is Indo-European?" Professor Johanna Nichols (Berkeley) Friday 12 April 1996 Session A 9.00 Pat Poussa (Helsinki) "Drifting Northward: Implicational Scales in Syntactic Levelling" 9.40 Richard Coates (Sussex) "On a Recent View of the Linguistic Prehistory of Europe" 10.20 Jane Stuart-Smith (Oxford/Birmingham) "What Role Should Phonetics Play in Historical Phonological Reconstruction?" Session B 9.00 Hans van de Koot (UCL) "Strong Features and (Multiple) Specifiers" 9.40 Rhang K. Lee (Edinburgh) "A Typology of the Directionality of Checking and its Implications" 10.20 George Tsoulas (York) "Empty Categories in the Minimalist Program" Session C 9.00 Vesselin Vatchkov (Oxford) "Word Order and Relevance: From Prague to London or to London from Prague" 9.40 Marco Rocha (Sussex) "Discourse Processing and Anaphora" 10.20 Dick Hudson (UCL) "Some Sentences That Students I Teach Can Remember Are Multiply Self-Embedded" 11.00 COFFEE Session A 11.30 Ellen Thompson (Maryland) "The Syntax of Presentational and Predicational Sentences" 12.10 James Higginbotham and Gillian Ramchand (Oxford) "The Stage-Level/Individual-Level Distinction and the Mapping Hypothesis" [50-minute session] Session B 11.30 Bruce Connell (Oxford) "Four Tones and Downtrend" 12.10 Margaret Cobb (SOAS) "Vowel Harmony in Natal Brazilian Portuguese" Session C 11.30 Yaron Matras (Manchester) "Grammatical Re-Cycling and Language Contact in Romani" 12.10 Anna Siewierska (Lancaster) "Constituent Order in the Languages of Europe" 1.00 LUNCH Session A 2.00 Robert D. Borsley (Bangor) and Andreas Kathol (Groningen) "Breton as a V2 Language" 2.40 M. Siobh n Cottell (Bangor) "Verb-Movement, the Copula and Verb-Second Phenomena in Irish" 3.20 David Willis (Oxford) "Clausal Coordination and the Loss of Verb-Second in Welsh" Session B 2.00 Corinne Cortes (Barcelona) "Structural Asymmetries, Agency and the Feature [+animate]" 2.40 Heloisa Salles (Bangor/Bras!lia) "Preposition Pied-Piping and Preposition Stranding: A Minimalist Approach" 3.20 Jamal Ouhalla (QMW) and Malcolm Edwards (Birkbeck) "Questions, Pronouns and Operators in Spoken Arabic" Session C 2.00 Ute Bohnacker (Durham) "The Acquisition of Determiner Phrases in Early Child Language" 2.40 William McClure (Durham) "The Realisation of Tense in Japanese" 3.20 Andrew Spencer and Marina Zaretskaya (Essex) "Russian Resultatives" 4.00 TEA 4.30 Annual General Meeting 5.30 Language Tutorial: Chechen and Ingush Johnanna Nichols (Berkeley) 6.30 DINNER 7.45-8.45 Language Tutorial continues Johanna Nichols (Berkeley) Saturday 13 April 1996 Session A 9.00 Najib Jarad (Aleppo/Bangor) "The Origin and Reanalysis of "for" as a Complementiser" 9.40 Isabel Mux! (Durham) "Catalan is Not VOS: Evidence from Old Catalan" 10.20 Kersti Borjars (Manchester) and Carol Chapman (Newcastle) "Agreement and Pro-Drop in Some Dialects of English" Session B 9.00 Julia Barron (Manchester) "Circumstantial Complements in Romance: A Gerdts' Mapping Theory Account" 9.40 Nigel Vincent and Cecilia Goria (Manchester) "Psych-Adjectives" 10.20 Arancha Mateos (Durham) "Case, Agreement and Romance DPs" Session C 9.00 Elizabeth McCoy (York) "Absolutives, Aspect and Prepositions" 9.40 David Adger and Bernadette Plunkett (York) "Clauses and Case" 10.20 Kerstin Hoge (Oxford) "The Yiddish Double Verb Construction" 11.00 COFFEE Session A 11.30 Paul Rowlett (Salford) "Negative Pronouns in French" 12.10 Peter Kahrel (Lancaster) "Areal Features of Negative Indefinites" Session B 11.30 Gerald Gazdar (Sussex) "Gikuyu Preprefixation" 12.10 Zaharani Ahmad (Essex) "Correspondence Theory and Verbal Reduplication in Malay" Session C 11.30 Melanie Green (SOAS) "A Minimalist Approach to the Theory of Focus in Hausa" 12.10 Richard Breheny (UCL) "Pro-active Focus" 1.00 LUNCH 2.00 Language Tutorial: Chechen/Ingush Johanna Nichols (Berkeley) 4.00 TEA AND CLOSE BOOKING FORM: Please return this form, with your remittance, by 8 March to: LAGB Spring Meeting 1996, Nicola Woods, School of Cognitive and Computing Science, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH. Please make cheques payable to "University of Sussex". ______________________________________________________________________________ NAME................................................................................................................... NAME OF YOUR INSTITUTION......................................................................... ADDRESS FOR THIS MAILING......................................................................... ................................................................................................................................. EMAIL ADDRESS................................................................................................... I enclose remittance as indicated: EITHER 1. Complete conference package (a) or (b): (a) including Thursday lunch preceding workshop (i) if sent to arrive before 8 March 106-45 sterling (ii) if sent to arrive after8 March 118-28 sterling (b) excluding Thursday lunch (i) if sent to arrive before 8 March 110-06 sterling (ii) if sent to arrive after 8 March 99-05 sterling (c) Surcharge for non-members, 5-00 sterling TOTAL: OR 2. Selected items (a) conference fee (OBLIGATORY) to cover cost of abstracts, tea and coffee, room bookings, speakers' expenses etc. 15-00 sterling (b) Thursday lunch 8-22 sterling (c) Thursday dinner 10-36 sterling (d) Bed and Breakfast Thursday/Friday 28-95 sterling (e) Friday lunch 8-22 sterling (f) Friday dinner 10-36 sterling (g) Bed and breakfast Friday/Saturday 28-95 sterling (h) Saturday lunch 8-22 sterling SUB-TOTAL: Deduct 10% if sent to arrive by 8 March (k) Surcharge for non-members, 5-00 sterling TOTAL: OR 3. Abstracts only, for those not attending. 4-00 sterling UK................................... 5-00 sterling overseas............................. PLEASE INDICATE SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS (e.g. DIET, ACCOMMODATION)............................................................................... ........................................................................................................................... From edith at CSD.UWM.EDU Thu Feb 8 17:58:58 1996 From: edith at CSD.UWM.EDU (Edith A Moravcsik) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 11:58:58 -0600 Subject: conference Message-ID: >> 23th UWM Linguistics Symposium >> CONFERENCE ON FUNCTIONALISM AND FORMALISM IN LINGUISTICS >> April 18-20, l996 >> University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee >> >> This document contains the following information: >> >> I. TIME AND PLACE >> II. CONTACT PERSONS >> III. REGISTRATION FEES >> IV. HOTELS >> V. CONFERENCE PROGRAM >> >> The conference is supported by a grant from the >> National Science Foundation. >> >> I. TIME AND PLACE >> >> WHEN? April 18-20, Thursday through Saturday, l996 >> >> WHERE? Golda Meir Conference Center >> Library Building, 4th floor >> University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus >> (2311 E. Hartford Avenue) >> >> ************ >> >> II. CONTACT PERSONS >> >> For more information, get in touch with Michael Noonan or >> Edith Moravcsik. >> >> E-mail: noonan at csd.uwm.edu >> edith at csd.uwm.edu >> >> Telephone: (414) 229-4539 (Noonan) >> (414) 229-6794 (daytime for Moravcsik) >> (414) 332-0141 (evenings for Moravcsik) >> (414) 229-4285 (message for Noonan or Moravcsik) >> >> Fax: (414) 229-6258 (for Noonan or Moravcsik) >> >> Snail-mail: Michael Noonan or Edith Moravcsik >> Department of Linguistics >> University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee >> Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413 >> >> ************ >> >> III. REGISTRATION FEES >> >> BEFORE MONDAY, APRIL 1: ON THE SPOT: >> >> Non-students: $55 $60 >> Students: $35 $40 >> (UWM students register for free.) >> >> Please make out your check to UWM Linguistic Symposium and >> send it to the following address: >> >> Linguistics Symposium >> Department of Linguistics >> University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee >> Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413 >> >> ************ >> >> IV. HOTELS >> >> GENERAL INFORMATION: >> - In each of the hotels named below, a block of rooms is being >> held for participants of the meeting through the cut-off >> dates given. >> - When making reservations, please mention "UWM Linguistics >> Symposium" to get the rates given below. >> - The room prices are cited without the 14.7% tax. >> - None of the hotels are within easy walking distance to >> campus; however, all but the Hyatt will provide free van service to >> and from campus mornings and evenings. >> - There will be information sheets that you can ask for upon >> arrival at the hotel regarding van schedule and, for people with >> cars, on how to drive to campus and where to park. >> - We will be able to arrange for limited crash space. If >> interested, send a message to Paul Roser (pkroser at csd.uwm.edu), >> call him at (414) 962-3042, or leave a message for him >> at the Linguistics Department ((414) 229-4258). >> - If you are arriving by plane, you can take a limousine to >> any of the hotels listed below. The limousine leaves on the hour >> and then every twenty minutes from exit #3 of the airport's >> baggage claim level; the cost is $7.50 one way. For going to >> the airport, you can find out about pick-up times at your hotel >> or call Limousine Services directly at (414) 769-9100. >> >> HOTELS: >> >> PARK EAST HOTEL >> 916 East State Street >> Milwaukee, WI 53202 >> >> Telephone: (800) 328-PARK or (414) 276-8800 >> Fax: (414) 765-1919 >> >> Single room: $55 >> Double room: $65 >> >> Cut-off date: Monday, March 25 >> >> ASTOR HOTEL >> 924 East Juneau Avenue >> Milwaukee, WI 53202 >> >> Telephone: (800) 558-0200 or (414) 271-4220 >> Fax: (414) 271-6370 >> >> Room with 1 queen-size bed (one or two persons): $54.00 >> Room with 2 queen-size beds (one or two persons): $62.00 >> Room with 1 king-size bed (one or two persons): $60.00 >> >> Cut-off date: Sunday, March 17 >> >> PLAZA HOTEL >> 1007 North Cass >> Milwaukee, WI 53202 >> >> Telephone: (800) 340-9590 or (414) 276-2101 >> Fax: (414) 276-0404 >> >> Room with one full bed: $45.00 >> Suite with one full bed: $55.00 >> Suite with two full beds: $65.00 >> >> Cut-off date: Sunday, March 17 >> >> HYATT REGENCY MILWAUKEE >> 333 West Kilbourn Avenue >> Milwaukee, WI 53203 >> >> Telephone: (414) 276-1234 >> Fax: (414) 276-6338 >> >> Single room: $80.00 >> Double room: $99.00 >> Triple room: $118.00 >> Quadruple room: $137.00 >> >> Note: No van service available to campus; you would need a car >> or would need to take a city bus. >> >> Cut-off date: Wednesday, March 27 >> >> RAMADA INN - DOWNTOWN >> 633 West Michigan Street >> Milwaukee, WI 53203 >> >> Telephone: (414) 272-8410 >> Fax: (414) 272-4651 >> >> Single room: $49.00 >> Double room: $55.00 >> >> Cut-off date: Wednesday, March 20 >> >> ************ >> >> V. CONFERENCE PROGRAM >> * ****************** * >> * THURSDAY, APRIL 18 * >> * ****************** * >> >> 7:30- REGISTRATION >> >> 8:00-11:30 PLENARY SESSION: INTRODUCTION; SYNTAX >> 8:00-8:15 Words of welcome >> 8:15-9:00 Introductory paper >> Michael NOONAN, U. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee >> 9:00-9:45 Formalist syntax position paper >> Howard LASNIK, U. of Connecticut >> >> 9:45-10:15 COFFEE BREAK >> >> 10:15-11:00 Functionalist syntax position paper >> /speaker yet to be identified/ >> 11:00-11:30 Discussion of the syntax position papers >> Werner ABRAHAM, U. of Groningen >> >> 11:30-12:00 COFFEE BREAK >> >> 12:00-1:05 PARALLEL SESSIONS >> SESSION 1: SYNTAX >> 12:00-12:30 "Lexis, grammar, and grammatical change: the >> Koykon classifier prefixes" >> Melissa AXELROD, U. of New Mexico >> 12:35-1:05 "Configurations, typology and language change: >> Givon to Chomsky 'Where is the beef?'" >> Jose BONNEAU, McGill U., and Pierre PICA, CNRS >> >> SESSION 2: SYNTAX >> 12:00-12:30 "Quantifiers as starting points" >> Karen VAN HOEK, U. of Michigan >> 12:35-1:05 "Emergent Peircean semiotic functions of X-bar syntax: >> a formalism functionalists can live with" >> Alan D. MANNING, Brigham Young U. >> >> SESSION 3: PHONOLOGY >> 12:00-12:30 "Prediction and explanation of cross-linguistic >> regularities within the functional-typological >> paradigm" >> Gertraud FENK-OCZLON and August FENK, U. of >> Klagenfurt >> 12:35-1:05 "Towards an integration of generative and cognitive >> approaches to phonology: evidence from k-deletion in >> Istanbul Turkish" >> Nicholas KIBIE, U. of California, Santa Barbara >> >> --------------------------------------- >> 1:05-2:30 LUNCH BREAK >> --------------------------------------- >> >> 2:30-4:00 PLENARY SESSION: SYNTAX >> 2:30-3:15 "What functionalists can learn from formalists in syntax" >> William CROFT, U. of Manchester >> 3:15-4:00 "What formalists can learn from functionalists in >> syntax" >> Steven ANDERSON, Yale U. >> >> 4:00-4:15 COFFEE BREAK >> >> 4:15-5:20 PARALLEL SESSIONS >> SESSION 1: SYNTAX >> 4:15-4:45 "Foundations of contensive formal grammar" >> Sebastian SHAUMYAN, Yale University >> 4:50-5:20 "Functional search yields formal solution: scientist >> stunned! What do brow raises do in ASL?" >> Ronnie WILBUR, Purdue U. >> >> SESSION 2: PHONOLOGY >> 4:15-4:45 "Formal versus functional domains in Oneida intonation" >> Karin MICHELSON, State U. of New York, Buffalo >> 4:50-5:20 "Perceptual constrains and neutralization: a formal >> functionalist account" >> Scott MYERS, U. of Texas >> >> SESSION 3: GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS >> 4:15-4:45 "German impersonal constructions and the nonautonomy of >> grammar" >> Michael B. SMITH, Oakland U. >> 4:50-5:20 "Mission impossible? The formalization of grammar in >> discourse" >> Machtelt BOLKESTEIN, U. of Amsterdam >> >> 5:20-5:35 COFFEE BREAK >> >> 5:35-7:05 PLENARY SESSION: PHONOLOGY >> 5:35-6:20 "What formalists can learn from functionalists in >> phonology" >> Michael HAMMOND, U. of Arizona >> 6:20-7:05 "What functionalists can learn from formalists in >> phonology" >> Geoffrey NATHAN, Southern Illinois U. at Carbondale >> >> * **************** * >> * FRIDAY, APRIL 19 * >> * **************** * >> >> 8:00- REGISTRATION >> >> 8:30-11:00 PLENARY SESSION: PHONOLOGY >> 8:30-9:15 Functionalist phonology position paper >> Joan BYBEE, U. of New MEXICO >> 9:15-10:00 Formalist phonology position paper >> Bruce HAYES, U. of California, Los Angeles >> 10:00-10:30 Discussion of the phonology position papers >> Jane PIERREHUMBERT, Northwestern U. >> >> 10:30-11:00 COFFEE BREAK >> >> 11:00-1:00 POSTER SESSION >> - "Pragmatic scope and locality conditions on negative polarity >> licensing" >> Raul ARANOVICH, U. of California, San Diego >> - "Mapping so-called pragmatic phenomena according to a >> linguistic-nonlinguistic distinction" >> Mira ARIEL, Tel Aviv U. >> - "Classification and explanation of yes/no question markers" >> Giulia BENCINI, U. of Colorado, and Alberto NOCENTINI, >> U. of Florence >> - "A comparative approach to grammatical agreement" >> Paul BESSLER, U. of Toronto >> - "The correlation of form and function in English argument >> reversal" >> Betty J. BIRNER, Northwestern University >> - "Why we do not need Case Roles: a formal model of the >> emergence of case relations" >> Juergen BROSCHART, U. of Cologne >> - "On null subjects in Finnish" >> Juhani BUDANKO, U. of Tampere >> - "Formal and functional factors in grounded phonology" >> Donald G. CHURMA (independent scholar) >> - "Impossible passives in Dutch" >> Louise CORNELIS, Utrecht U. >> - "A formalist and a functionalist call it a day" >> Joseph DAVIS, U. of Kentucky >> - "Against the presentational deictic and cognitive grammar" >> Kristin DENHAM, U. of Washington >> - "Structuring the sentence: a difference between formalism >> and functionalism" >> Inga DOLININA, McMaster U. >> - "Inversion in English - a 'root transformation' revisited" >> Heidrun DORGELOH, U. of Duesseldorf >> - "'Mixed' subject status in English inversion: multiple >> perspectives" >> Heidrun DORGELOH and Dieter STEIN, U. of Duesseldorf >> - "The function of form" >> Yehuda N. FALK, The Hebrew U. of Jerusalem >> - "On the similarity between morphology and syntax as coding >> devices: split configurationality in the Cariban language >> family." >> Spike GILDEA, Rice U. >> - "Form and function in the voicing of Japanese postnasal >> stops" >> Emiko HAYASHI and Gregory IVERSON, U. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee >> - "Metaphors we do linguistics by: ideologies and politics in >> grammatical theory" >> Susan HERRING, U. of Texas at Arlington >> - "Formalist and functionalist interpretations of the notion >> of economy" >> Julia HERSCHENSOHN, U. of Washington >> - "On the interaction between formalism and functionalism: >> the case of long-distance reflexivization" >> Yan HUANG, U. of Reading >> - "The conceptual basis of syntax: the semantics of the >> nominative marker 'ga' in Japanese" >> Toshiyuki KUMASHIRO, U. of California, Irvine and U. of >> California, San Diego >> - "Faulty judgments: what makes a sentence seem ungrammatical?" >> Ritva LAURY, California State U., Fresno >> - "Isomorphism in syntax: the functional-pragmatics approach" >> Yaron MATRAS, U. of Manchester >> - "Functional expansion of 'olsem' in Bislama: formal bases >> for semantic shift" >> Miriam MEYERHOFF, U. of Pennsylvania, and Nancy >> NIEDZIELSKI, U. of California, Santa Barbara >> - "The role of sentence type in a formal theory of language >> function: constructional inheritance and English >> exclamations" >> Laura MICHAELIS, U. of Colorado, and Knud LAMBRECHT, U. of >> Texas >> - "Evolution of a passive structure: explanatory power of >> functional and formal approaches to language change" >> Viola G. MIGLIO, U. of Maryland >> - "When exception becomes the rule" >> Miren Lourdes ONEDERRA, Euskal Herriko U. >> - "When double object constructions can contribute to the >> formalism/functionalism debate" >> Maria POLINSKY, U. of Southern California >> - "The holophrastic hypothesis revisited: structural >> and functional approaches" >> Elizabeth PURNELL, Indiana U. >> - "Can we do all our relation-changing at once and get it >> over with? The grammatical status of semantic roles and >> arguments for multistratalism" >> Steven SCHAEUFELE (independent scholar) >> - "Antifrequency effect in the acquisition of English regular >> past" >> Yasuhiro SHIRAI, Carnegie Mellon U. and Daito Bunka U. >> - "Focus, presupposition, and crossover phenomena" >> Takeshi TSURUSAKI, Meikai U. >> - "Creolization: a combined functionalist and formalist >> approach" >> Zvjezdana VRZIC, New York U. >> - "Noted with distinction: a functional approach to L2 >> phonology" >> Steven H. WEINBERGER, George Mason U. >> - "Formalism and Wittgenstein's infinite regress" >> David WIBLE, Providence U. >> - "Pronominals, epithets and attributivity: script >> dependency" >> Yael ZIV, Hebrew U. in Jerusalem >> >> --------------------------------------- >> 1:00-2:15 LUNCH BREAK >> --------------------------------------- >> >> 2:15-3:55 PARALLEL SESSIONS >> SESSION 1: ACQUISITION >> 2:15-2:45 "Complementary contributions of funtionalism and >> formalism to an analysis of argument >> representation in early Inuktitut" >> Shanley E.M. ALLEN and Heike SCHRODER, Max >> Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics >> 2:50-3:20 "The form and function of input: their relation to >> children's development of language form and function" >> Erika HOFF-GINSBERG, U. of Wisconsin-Parkside >> 3:25-3:55 "Form and function: insights from second language >> acquisition" >> Robert KOSUTH, U. of Wisconsin-Superior >> >> SESSION 2: ALONG THE TIME AXIS >> 2:15-2:45 "On three explanations for the critical period" >> James R. HURFORD, U. of Edinburgh >> 2:50-3:20 "A dysfunctional family of functional accounts for the >> alleged unidirectionality of grammaticalization >> --and an alternative functional/formal treatment >> for it" >> Richard D. JANDA, U. of Chicago >> 3:25-3:55 "Constraints on constraints, or the limits of >> functional adaptation" >> Simon KIRBY >> >> SESSION 3: GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS >> 2:15-2:45 "Hypostasis, explanation and the local case >> system in Old Georgian" >> H. Paul MANNING, U. of Chicago >> 2:50-3:20 "Topicality and agreement" >> Andre MEINUNGER, Foerderungsgesellschaft, >> Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin >> 3:25-3:55 "Functional optimality theory: evidence from >> split case systems" >> Wataru NAKAMURA, State U. of New York, Buffalo >> >> 3:55-4:10 COFFEE BREAK >> >> 4:10-6:10 PLENARY SESSION: FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION >> 4:10-4:55 Functionalist first language acquisition position >> paper >> Brian MACWHINNEY, Carnegie Mellon U. >> 4:55-5:40 Formalist first language acquisition position paper >> Nina HYAMS, U. of California, Los Angeles >> 5:40-6:10 Discussion of the first language acquisition >> position papers >> Melissa BOWERMAN, Max Planck Institute for >> Psycholinguistics >> >> 6:30-8:30 RECEPTION >> >> * ****************** * >> * SATURDAY, APRIL 20 * >> * ****************** * >> >> 8:00- REGISTRATION >> >> 8:30-10:00 PLENARY SESSION: ERGATIVITY >> 8:30-9:15 "Ergativity from a functionalist perspective" >> John DUBOIS, U. of California, Santa Barbara >> 9:15-10:00 "Ergativity from a formalist perspective" >> Alec MARANTZ, Massachusetts Institute of Technology >> 10:00-10:30 "Ergative in Hindi/Urdu: markedness principles >> for a structural case" (Discussion of the two papers >> on ergativity) >> Alice DAVISON, U. of Iowa >> >> 10:30-11:00 COFFEE BREAK >> >> 11:00-12:50 PARALLEL SESSIONS >> SESSION 1: GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS >> 11:00-11:30 "Semantic compatibility and complement distribution" >> Michel ACHARD, U. of Florida >> 11:35-12:05 "The limits of formal analysis: pragmatic >> motivation in Oromo grammar" >> Robbin CLAMONS, Ann E. MULKERN, Gerald >> SANDERS, and Nancy STENSON, U. of Minnesota >> 12:10-12:40 "Form and function in Tsez syntax" >> Bernard COMRIE and Maria POLINSKY, U. of >> Southern California >> >> SESSION 2: GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS >> 11:00-11:30 "Formal and functional theories of definiteness" >> Richard EPSTEIN, Duke U. >> 11:35-12:05 "Form versus function in the distribution of >> 'self'-forms" >> Ralph W. FASOLD, Georgetown U. >> 12:10-12:40 "Transitivity and structure-preserving: the >> case of Chinese 'ba'-sentences" >> Feng-hsi LIU, U. of Arizona >> >> SESSION 3: THE BIG PICTURE >> 11:00-11:30 "Functionalism and its difficulties in biology and >> linguistics" >> Daniel NETTLE, U. College London >> 11:35-12:05 "The nomenclaturist bias in the autonomy debate" >> Ricardo OTHEGUY, City U. New York >> 12:10-12:40 "Formalizing functionally" >> Kees HENGEVELD, U. of Amsterdam >> >> >> -------------------------------------- >> 12:40-2:15 LUNCH BREAK >> -------------------------------------- >> >> 2:15-3:20 PARALLEL SESSIONS >> SESSION 1: CONSTITUENT ORDER >> 2:15-2:45 "Functional form: a minimalist/functional approach to >> discourse-oriented word order languages" >> John F. BAILYN, State U. of New York, Stony Brooks >> 2:50-3:20 "Representing the structure-discourse iconicity of the >> Japanese post-verbal construction" >> Lizanne KAISER, Yale U. >> >> SESSION 2: SYNTAX >> 2:15-2:45 "Relativized minimality as backward masking" >> Harry HOWARD, Tulane U. >> 2:50-3:20 "A formal account of register" >> John C. PAOLILLO, U. of Texas, Arlington >> >> SESSION 3: PHONOLOGY >> 2:15-2:45 "Towards a conflation of form and function: tone >> sandhi in Comaltepec Chinantec" >> Daniel SILVERMAN, U. of California, Los Angeles >> 2:50-3:20 "Welsh soft mutation and marked word order" >> Maggie TALLERMAN, U. of Durham >> >> 3:20-3:35 COFFEE BREAK >> >> 3:35-6:35 PLENARY SESSION: WORD ORDER >> 3:35-4:20 "Word order from a formalist point of view" >> David PESETSKY, Massachusetts Institute of Technology >> 4:20-5:05 "Word order from a functionalist point of view" >> Doris PAYNE, U. of Oregon >> >> 5:05-5:20 COFFEE BREAK >> >> 5:20-5:50 Discussion of the two papers on word order >> Kenneth HALE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology >> 5:50-6:35 Summary paper >> Frederick NEWMEYER, U. of Washington >> >> ************ >> >> NOTE: If you are a music fan, you may wish to stay a day longer! >> On Sunday afternon (April 21) at 3:00pm, the Fine Arts Quartet >> will play two Beethoven string quartets on campus (No. 1 in F >> major, Op. 18, No. 1 and No 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131). >> >> >> > > From vhouwer at UIA.UA.AC.BE Thu Feb 8 20:46:42 1996 From: vhouwer at UIA.UA.AC.BE (Annick.DeHouwer) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 21:46:42 +0100 Subject: bilingual children Message-ID: I've been very interested in the current discussion on bilingual children. I am a childhood bilingual myself, wrote a PhD on early bilingualism, published a book and many other scholarly writings on it, and am the mother of a bilingual child. >>From both my professional and personal experience so far, I feel I can be quite confident in stating that given a fairly balanced input condition across two languages that a child is exposed to FROM BIRTH (meaning: virtually similar amount of input in each language that has been steadily present without major interruptions), any "normally developing" child (so without any known neurological, auditive, cognitive, social-adaptive problems) will learn to speak those languages without ANY delays as compared to children acquiring these languages as their only language. It must be emphasized, though, that the variability as far as the timing of various acquisitional stages in BOTH monolingual and bilingual children is huge, and that the range of inter-individual differences can be enormous without there being any question of 'delay' or 'abnormal' development. Unfortunately, the myth of delayed development in bilingual children continues to reign, even amongst linguists. I could say many more things here, and I hope it is not politically incorrect for me to refer to a chapter I wrote that tries to summarize the current state of scientific 'knowledge' about early bilingual acquisition (see the reference below). As far as educational practices go in a bilingual family situation, there are a number of books available that give useful hints: Arnberg, Lenore, 1987. Raising children bilingually: the pre-school years. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Harding, Edith and Philip Reilly, 1987. The bilingual family. A handbook for parents. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Saunders, George, 1988. Bilingual children: from birth to teens. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. overview chapter: De Houwer, Annick, 1995. 'Bilingual language acquisition'. In: Fletcher, Paul and Brian MacWhinney, eds., 1995. The handbook of child language. Oxford: Blackwell. 219-250. > >---Annick De Houwer From ellen at CENTRAL.CIS.UPENN.EDU Thu Feb 8 21:28:44 1996 From: ellen at CENTRAL.CIS.UPENN.EDU (Ellen F. Prince) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 16:28:44 EST Subject: bilingual children Message-ID: just a question from a non-specialist: wouldn't it make a difference if the speech community the child is being raised in is bilingual (in the relevant languages)? it's just so hard to imagine that there could be ANY delay or other problem when bilingualism is the norm, tho it's rather easy to imagine that some children react better than others to being different from their peers, when bilingualism in the relevant lgs is not the norm. From Nancy.vanEtten at LET.RUU.NL Fri Feb 9 15:30:19 1996 From: Nancy.vanEtten at LET.RUU.NL (Nancy van Etten) Date: Fri, 9 Feb 1996 16:30:19 +0100 Subject: request: research on language use in new media Message-ID: For a course dealing with `communication in the context of new technologies' we are looking for research on this subject. The aim of the course is to provide students with a clearer understanding of the relationships between communication processes/patterns and new technologies (e.g. Internet, WWW, CD-ROM). We are primarily interested in the following fields of investigation: * language use in e-mail messages, as compared to written and oral language, * the way WWW-pages are read and interpreted by readers, * the way people read and use information on CD-ROMS. * writing processes concerning electronic documents (i.a. hypertext, WWW-pages). We would very much appreciate references to publications, reports, discussions etc. on these issues. If there's sufficient interest, we will post a summary to the list. Thanks in advance, Arie Verhagen en Nancy van Etten Nancy van Etten Faculty of Arts Department of Dutch/ Centre for Language and Communication Trans 10 3512 JK Utrecht The Netherlands e-mail: Nancy.vanEtten at let.ruu.nl From vhouwer at UIA.UA.AC.BE Sat Feb 10 08:03:38 1996 From: vhouwer at UIA.UA.AC.BE (Annick.DeHouwer) Date: Sat, 10 Feb 1996 09:03:38 +0100 Subject: bilingual children In-Reply-To: <199602082128.QAA22856@central.cis.upenn.edu> Message-ID: On Thu, 8 Feb 1996, Ellen F. Prince wrote: > just a question from a non-specialist: wouldn't it make a difference if the > speech community the child is being raised in is bilingual (in the relevant > languages)? it's just so hard to imagine that there could be ANY delay or other > problem when bilingualism is the norm, tho it's rather easy to imagine that > some children react better than others to being different from their peers, > when bilingualism in the relevant lgs is not the norm. > Just a brief reply to this -- this is a very valid question. Unfortunately it is one that remains entirely uninvestigated as far as I know in any particular research project. In the months to come, I'll be undertaking a detailed literature search focussing on environmental factors in bilingual development and hopefully I'll find some partial answers to this question. --Annick De Houwer From martinha at ZEDAT.FU-BERLIN.DE Tue Feb 13 13:41:54 1996 From: martinha at ZEDAT.FU-BERLIN.DE (Martin Haspelmath) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 14:41:54 +0100 Subject: optimality theory Message-ID: Hi Funknetters, I would be interested in hearing some views on Optimality Theory. Is this a development within formalist linguistics that has the potential of bringing it closer to a realistic, cognitive-functional view of language? Or is it just another formalism that attracts attention mainly because it exploits recent advances in word processing technology? I remember hearing Smolensky and Prince talk about connectionism and a "soft reduction" of generative grammar to connectionism, back in 1991, and I was curious where they were heading. If Optimality Theory ("OT") incorporates aspects of connectionism, isn't it of great interest to cognitive-functional linguistics? Some of us have been talking about preferences and their hierarchies in a way very similar to OT parlance, for instance Natural Morphologists (Dressler, Mayerthaler, Wurzel). The terms used in this research tradition are parameters of naturalness and markedness, but basically these are identical to OT's ranked constraints. When Theo Vennemann listened to the first OT talks here in Germany, he kept saying: Isn't this what I've been saying for the past 15 years? "Optimality" suggests "good" and "bad" linguistic structures--this is not the way formalists have been talking, but functionalists have not been afraid to do so (even if informally). Theo Vennemann even once suggested that language change is ALWAYS language improvement, i.e. local optimization. In a recent paper forthcoming in "Linguistics", my FU Berlin colleague Renate Raffelsiefen presents an analysis of the phonology of German schwa within OT, which is based on the idea that language change is always the satisfaction of some OT constraint. True, this is not standard OT, but works like this one suggest to me that OT and functionalism may perhaps be quite compatible. But I have also heard the view that OT is just an empty formalism that can be filled with any kind of content, functionalist or formalist or whatever. So what do you all out there think? Martin Haspelmath From geoffn at SIU.EDU Tue Feb 13 14:48:08 1996 From: geoffn at SIU.EDU (Geoffrey S. Nathan) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 08:48:08 CST Subject: optimality theory Message-ID: Martin Haspelmath wrote: >I would be interested in hearing some views on Optimality Theory. Is this >a development within formalist linguistics that has the potential of >bringing it closer to a realistic, cognitive-functional view of language? >Or is it just another formalism that attracts attention mainly because it >exploits recent advances in word processing technology? As some FUNKNETters know, I am one of the last few living Natural Phonologists, and I have been following the development of OT closely. I believe it certainly can be given a functional interpretation, despite the outrage shown by its developers at that possibility[1]. I also second Martin's belief that this is what Naturalists have been saying all along, albeit not within formal terms. Certainly concepts within Natural Phonology (such as the principle that Rules precede Processes, and that Fortitions Preced Lenitions) can be reinterpreted as universal constraint rankings. Several of us have been exploring ways in which child language acquisition, and casual speech processes could be conceived of as a return to less marked rankings as well. What is particularly appealing about OT is it provides a way to talk about constraints taking precedence over one another without the serial order metaphor that formal phonology has used since the early sixties. While I do not share the fascination about connnectionism shown by many functional linguists, I have always been uncomfortable with the concept of rule ordering for what really does seem to be preferential application. But there are still problems with current OT, because derivations can buy you things that you can't get with exclusively static preferences. By way of advertisement, I will be talking about some of these issues at the upcoming Milwaukee conference on formalism and functionalism. Footnote [1] In the original manuscript Prince and Smolensky present a possible objection to OT that it is too functional, and that 'Vagueness of formulation is reinstated as the favored mode of discourse, and Pullum's worst fears are realized" (P&S 1993:197). They actually say that a little functionalism, of the right sort, is needed within formal theory. (p. 198) Prince, Alan and Paul Smolensky. 1993. Optimality Theory. Technical Reports of the Rutgers University Center for Cognitive Science. Geoffrey S. Nathan Department of Linguistics Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Carbondale, IL, 62901-4517 Home phone: 618 549-0106 GEOFFN at SIU.EDU From nakamura at ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU Tue Feb 13 15:25:19 1996 From: nakamura at ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Wataru Nakamura) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 10:25:19 -0500 Subject: optimality theory In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Hi! I am very glad to know that there are some functionalists out there who are interested in OT. I got interested in OT for the same reason: obvious similarity between dominance hierarchy (OT) and implicational hierarchy and markedness. It is true that OT is compartible with any framework, formal or functional. I know a few papers and presentations which try to apply OT to LFG and (even) Relational Grammar (Legendre forthcoming) in addition to GB or Minimalist. This is actually what Smolensky told me when I asked whether OT is compatible with functional frameworks. He even suggested that OT is compatible with Cognitive Grammar. However, despite the fact that OT is multi-stratal (McCarthy 1993 and others), OT seems to me to be more compatible with non-derivational, functional frameworks than derivational, formal ones. I remember I was really dissapointed when I listened to Smolensky's lecture which tried to combine GB with OT. I think OT is of great interest to functionalists, especially its concept of dominance hierarchy (each constraint has absolute priority over all the lower constraints). I myself applied OT to case marking (a la Legendre et al 1993) using Role and Reference Grammar (Nakamura 1995, forthcoming). OT works nicely when there is a conflict among constraints. OT seems to suffer (like any other framework) some problems, the most notable is how to constrain constraint rankings. This is a really serious problem which as far as I know remains unsolved. I am not sure how to situate OT in a broader context, but Gregory Guy (in his leacture he gave at Buffalo) contrasted OT with Variable Rule Model and argued that OT should be included into the latter, since OT is non-categorical & deterministic, while Variable Rule Model is non-categorical & non-deterministic. I suspect the same applies to the relation between OT and Competition Model. My tebtative conclusion is that OT is a good symbolic approximation of connectionism and that it could serve as a bridge between linguistics and connectionism. These two observations may sound dumb to many people, since OT grew out of connectionism. Wataru Nakamura ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wataru Nakamura Dept.of Linguistics 685 Baldy Hall SUNY at Buffalo Buffalo, NY 14260-1030 U.S.A. From bill at HIVNET.UBC.CA Tue Feb 13 17:22:48 1996 From: bill at HIVNET.UBC.CA (Bill Turkel) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 09:22:48 -0800 Subject: Clarification Message-ID: > From: Wataru Nakamura ... > I am not sure how to situate OT in a broader context, but Gregory > Guy (in his leacture he gave at Buffalo) contrasted OT with Variable Rule > Model and argued that OT should be included into the latter, since OT is > non-categorical & deterministic, while Variable Rule Model is non-categorical > & non-deterministic. I am not familiar with Guy's model, so this question may miss the point. My understanding of the terms 'deterministic' and 'non-deterministic' is that they apply to *how* something is computed... which is something that OT does not specify. What did Guy mean? Thanks for any clarification. Bill Turkel UBC From dever at ISP.PITT.EDU Tue Feb 13 17:45:26 1996 From: dever at ISP.PITT.EDU (Dan Everett) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 12:45:26 -0500 Subject: Clarification In-Reply-To: <9602131722.AA09783@babel.hivnet.ubc.ca.cdnhiv.edu> Message-ID: I agree with Bill Turkel, namely, that the report of Guy's talk on "deterministic" vs. "nondeterministic" is unclear. These are terms which linguists often use in nonstandard (for CSrs, which I am not) ways, or so my colleagues in CS tell me. As for the compatibility of OT with functional models, I do not see how it would be any more or less compatible than other formal models. It is possible that functional motivations might affect constraint rankings, but in a 1965 Aspects or SPE model functional considerations could just as easily affect rule-orderings. -- Dan Everett From ellen at CENTRAL.CIS.UPENN.EDU Tue Feb 13 18:19:44 1996 From: ellen at CENTRAL.CIS.UPENN.EDU (Ellen F. Prince) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 13:19:44 EST Subject: Clarification In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 13 Feb 1996 12:45:26 EST." Message-ID: i didn't hear guy's talk but i would imagine he meant that ot commits you to a particular path/solution/end-point, while variable rule analysis does not. at least this is what i would think based on how _deterministic_ is used in the domain of parsing, e.g. mitch marcus' deterministic model that commits you to a particular parse once things have passed thru the buffer. From bill at HIVNET.UBC.CA Tue Feb 13 19:01:33 1996 From: bill at HIVNET.UBC.CA (Bill Turkel) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 11:01:33 -0800 Subject: Determinism/non-determinism Message-ID: I am glad that I asked for clarification, because it seems that we have a cluster of related ideas. In terms of programming, 'non-determinism' can mean that the same question can yield more than one answer, or that several elements can be in a particular relation to a given element, or that a number of possible steps are available at a choice point. If we look at OT in terms of the 'answer', I don't think that there is anything in the theory that says you have to have one and only one optimal answer. Think of the discussion of harmonic serialism in Prince and Smolensky (1993), where particular iterations of evaluation will return a collection of optimal candidates. To say that OT forces you to have exactly one optimal output is wrong. If we look at OT in terms of the 'path' (to use Ellen Prince's term, i.e., in terms of possible steps at a choice point) then OT does not commit to any particular *way* of computing things. Constraints could be evaluated always in the same order, or in a random order, or in parallel, or whatever. It sounds like Guy was refering to the 'answer' interpretation, however. Bill From ellen at CENTRAL.CIS.UPENN.EDU Tue Feb 13 19:47:00 1996 From: ellen at CENTRAL.CIS.UPENN.EDU (Ellen F. Prince) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 14:47:00 EST Subject: Determinism/non-determinism In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 13 Feb 1996 11:01:33 PST." <9602131901.AA09832@babel.hivnet.ubc.ca.cdnhiv.edu> Message-ID: >If we look at OT in terms of the 'path' (to use Ellen Prince's term, >i.e., in terms of possible steps at a choice point) then OT does >not commit to any particular *way* of computing things. Constraints >could be evaluated always in the same order, or in a random order, or in parallel, or whatever. It sounds like Guy was refering to the >'answer' interpretation, however. but that's exactly what i meant. ('path' was a bad choice -- i was thinking of other domains. sorry.) my understanding is that, given a set of constraints and an ordering/weighting, there's only one possible outcome for a particular case in ot. and that's how i understand 'deterministic' and that's what i would guess guy had in mind. (i guess we could ask him! :) ) DIFFERENT TOPIC: am i the only one who finds it weird that we don't see our own posts??? it's very thoughtful -- but i find it a little unsettling that the only way we know our words of wisdom have gone out is when we see a response. (it's no big deal, of course.) From bill at HIVNET.UBC.CA Tue Feb 13 22:20:41 1996 From: bill at HIVNET.UBC.CA (Bill Turkel) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 14:20:41 -0800 Subject: Is OT deterministic? Message-ID: From: "Ellen F. Prince" > my understanding is that, given a set of constraints and > an ordering/weighting, there's only one possible outcome for a particular case > in ot. and that's how i understand 'deterministic' and that's what i would > guess guy had in mind. So, three observations. 1) The outcome can be a (possibly empty) *set* of optimal candidates. This seems to leave room for nondeterminism and optionality. 2) A particular constraint might be nondeterministic in action. This relates to Dan's point about compatibility with formal/functional models. 3) The way that the outcome is computed may involve nondeterminism. Thanks to everyone for clearing up Guy's claim. Bill From macwhinney+ at CMU.EDU Tue Feb 13 23:21:39 1996 From: macwhinney+ at CMU.EDU (Brian MacWhinney) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 18:21:39 -0500 Subject: optimality Message-ID: Optimality Theory is certainly interesting in its own right. Although it is a repackaging of things that have been around for quite awhile in the work of the natural phonologists and morphologists, it is still a nice recent statement, I would think. For grammatical functionalism, it seems to be a glass that is both half empty and half full. The good side is that functionalists can increase the scientific rigor of their work by using formalisms, particularly when they are not "empty formalisms". Moreover, there are pieces of OT that make it look like it is saying something interesting about competitive processing and constraint satisfaction mechanisms. However, the actual implementation of constraint satisfaction in OT does not seem to be as robust in terms of empirical predictions as one might wish. And this appears to be the half (maybe even more than half?) view of the glass. In particular, as Paul Smolensky noted in response to questions at Cognitive Science in Boulder three years back, OT has not yet addressed issues of processing, acquisition, functional distribution or variation. In the first versions of the OT book, there was lots of interesting stuff on Harmony Theory, but later versions seemed to have this mostly excised and the project seemed focus on just an ordered set of universal constraints. I am not competent enough in phonology to really evaluate these formulations as contributions to phonological theory, but I understand from those who do understand these things that some advances have been scored in this area. On the language learning and learnability front, there are some interesting accounts for phonological development that work through successive imposition of the highest ordered or most universal constraints and a fairly tightly constrained finite model that reorders constraints one by one. The algorithm will work to identify languages, but I doubt that it will predict the right sequence of developmental data. If more attention were paid to the dynamics of competing constraints in connectionist systems, perhaps OT would come closer to what connectionists typically believe. What the truth is in the area of computational modeling of phonological development, is still up for grabs, given the paucity of model-ready empirical data. In terms of language processing, I don't see anything in OT that matches anything I am familiar with. In terms of variation theory, I would imagine that a Labovian variationist framework could eventually get hooked up to OT, but right now, the places to insert those hooks are pretty unclear. In terms of the extension of OT to functional grammar, there have been some promising initial attempts by folks at Colorado and perhaps elsewhere. At the very least, it seems that OT provides a nice descriptive framework. You get to know a lot about implicational universals. If a language has X, then it also has Y. But the reason for this ordering of constraints seems to lie outside of OT. We need to move in the general direction of something like OT, but I think we should probably take the current version of OT as simply a metaphor for some properties that a universalist model might eventually have. Please note that all of the above are not presented as scientific findings, only as initial reactions of a potentially interested consumer who has not yet made a purchase. --Brian MacWhinney From nakamura at ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU Wed Feb 14 03:46:21 1996 From: nakamura at ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Wataru Nakamura) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 22:46:21 -0500 Subject: Is OT deterministic? In-Reply-To: <9602132220.AA09891@babel.hivnet.ubc.ca.cdnhiv.edu> Message-ID: Hello again! I remember (I was in his talk) he contrasted Variable Rule Model with a version (since some OTers do not hesitate to appeal to graded constraints) of OT with the following two crucial properties, graded constraints and strict dominance (i.e. constraints should not tie). (If I remember correctly) Guy argued that non-graded constraints are special cases of graded constraints, but not the other way around. I believe this is the reason he argued that OT is part of Variable Rule Model (I think we really should ask him directly. I might have misquoted him). As far as I know, there seem two ways to incorporate optionality into OT: (1) Imcomplete ranking (I am not sure if this is the right term. If I am wrong, someboy correct me) (Hammond 1994), in which a constraint set is such that it produces more than one output. (2) Tied constraints: make constraints unordered (Pesetsky 1995, Brohier 1995). I am not sure how far (1) can go, but (2) obviously runs counter to strict dominance. If OT may be characterized by the two properties, strict dominance and graded constraints and (1) and (2) are the only ways to handle optionality in OT, it seems fair to say that OT is not non-deterministic. One possible argument against introducing graded constraints is that if you introduce graded constraints, it is difficult to capture typological variation, which is supposed to be derived from re-ranking of universal constraints. Notice, however, that this arguments does not have any force unless you check all possible rankings of the constraint set you have and find at least one real or 'plausible' (I do not know how to judge plausibility, though) language for each possible ranking. And I do not know any OT paper which go through the whole process, i.e, come up with a set of constraints for describing a particular case, check all possible ranking of the constraints, and find languages for each ranking. If I said something wrong, stupid, or whatever, please correct me. Wataru Nakamura On Tue, 13 Feb 1996, Bill Turkel wrote: > From: "Ellen F. Prince" > > > my understanding is that, given a set of constraints and > > an ordering/weighting, there's only one possible outcome for a particular case > > in ot. and that's how i understand 'deterministic' and that's what i would > > guess guy had in mind. > > So, three observations. > > 1) The outcome can be a (possibly empty) *set* of optimal candidates. This > seems to leave room for nondeterminism and optionality. > > 2) A particular constraint might be nondeterministic in action. This relates > to Dan's point about compatibility with formal/functional models. > > 3) The way that the outcome is computed may involve nondeterminism. > > Thanks to everyone for clearing up Guy's claim. > > Bill > From kemmer at RUF.RICE.EDU Wed Feb 14 03:54:05 1996 From: kemmer at RUF.RICE.EDU (Suzanne E Kemmer) Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 21:54:05 -0600 Subject: optimality party line Message-ID: Often, issues relevant to how functionalists might view Optimality Theory get discussed on the Optimality listserver based at UCSD. For example, the question of how faithfulness constraints might be initially set in UG (low or high) brought some responses from several people who clearly saw the issue in terms of processing, learning, etc. The person who brought up the issue said he was shocked to receive such responses, which presented a view of language "so foreign to those which I've come to view as standard in theoretical linguistics." It looks like processing and learning have no place in optimality theory (or at least 'standard' OT), since this person went on to describe his approach to the study of OT acquisition, which "takes the grammar as a well-defined computational component of the human cognitive system, independent of the production system and environmental factors." This stance is of course very familiar (and very alien) to functionalists, as is the apparent stance against gradient phonological phenomena. (Whatever looks gradient is either just phonetics, or sublinguistic, or something--contra Pierrehumbert and others' cogent arguments to the contrary) Of course, it may be (in fact probably is, in light of the 'shocking' responses) that the theory is being used by many who take no such positions, and may prove useful to non-believers in the basic party line on particular issues. Finally, I collected a very fascinating correspondence from an optimality doubter, detailing exactly what properties of OT he objected to and what phenomena it apparently has a great deal of trouble with (in a nutshell, lexical). I found it an extremely useful refresher of various phonological issues and how natural phonologists etc. dealt with them, and very useful in understanding OT in its historical context (which tends to get blurred very quickly when people jump to a new theory with its own favored problems to work on without worrying about what other problems the old theories did or didn't solve.) I'd be happy to send it to anyone who asks. --Suzanne P.S. In case you want to subscribe to the optimality list: mail to listserv at ucsd.edu, with the body of the message: subscribe optimal Similar for unsubscribing: unsubscribe optimal Send actual submissions to optimal at ucsd.edu From dever at ISP.PITT.EDU Wed Feb 14 13:48:40 1996 From: dever at ISP.PITT.EDU (Dan Everett) Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 08:48:40 -0500 Subject: optimality party line In-Reply-To: <199602140354.VAA22304@ruf.rice.edu> Message-ID: I second Suzanne's recommendation that people interested in OT related issues subscribe to the OT list via UCSD. However, I disagree with her claim that OT is not concerned with acquisition, historical change, processing, etc. Quite the opposite. There are papers in OT on acquisition and implications for historical change and dialectical differences, for example. And more are in the works. But I reiterate that functional considerations are no more nor less likely to play a role in OT than in other formal models. For example, in addition to what I already said about functional considerations playing a potential role in rule-orderings in previous versions of generative grammar, Chomsky explicitly discussed the fact that WH-movement was to the left periphery of the clause, regardless of the underlying constituent order in a language, and assumed that this was likely due to functional considerations (the WH element tells you how to interpret a gap in the sentence and it is nice to have this information when you start processing the sentence rather than at the end). All formal theories are open to suggestions on how the mechanics of grammar interface with the uses to which grammar is put. OT is one of the most exciting developments in formal grammar to come along. But as we might expect of a new theory, it has raised many questions for which there is still no good answer (the paper Suzanne refers to on its potential difficulties with lexical constraints is a case in point). But the issues of deterministic, nondeterministic, functional relevance, etc. all seem to me to be red herrings at this stage. The principal objective at present is to work out empirical implications of the model via detailed studies of constraints and their interactions across a wide variety of languages. As understanding of the model deepens via such studies, its relevance for functional concerns ought to become clearer. -- Dan Everett From dh9 at SOAS.AC.UK Wed Feb 14 14:11:54 1996 From: dh9 at SOAS.AC.UK (David Herold) Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 08:11:54 -0600 Subject: Forwarded: Re: optimality Message-ID: -------------- Forwarded Message Follows -------------- From: Self To: dever at ISP.PITT.EDU Subject: Re: optimality Date: 14 Feb 1996 14:09:05 HI, I'm terribly sorry to be so ignorant, but could somebody tell me of a good general introduction into OT as I haven't encountered it yet. Yours, David From Carl.Mills at UC.EDU Wed Feb 14 15:24:24 1996 From: Carl.Mills at UC.EDU (Carl Mills) Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 10:24:24 -0500 Subject: Optimality and a Lit Review Message-ID: Actually, David Herold is not the only one of us out here who could use some basic introductory literature re: OT. On the principle that it is better to appear ignorant than to remain so, I second his request. Carl From dever at ISP.PITT.EDU Wed Feb 14 15:54:46 1996 From: dever at ISP.PITT.EDU (Dan Everett) Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 10:54:46 -0500 Subject: Optimality and a Lit Review Message-ID: Here are instructions for FTPing from the OT archives at rutgers. You should find the request material there. -- DLE ******* >>From prince at ruccs.rutgers.edu Fri Sep 9 11:22 EDT 1994 Return-Path: prince at ruccs.rutgers.edu Received: from ruccs.rutgers.edu (ruccs.rutgers.edu [128.6.57.12]) by pogo.isp.pitt.edu (8.6.9/8.6.9) with SMTP id LAA09792 for ; Fri, 9 Sep 1994 11:22:55 -0400 Received: by ruccs.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.5/3.08) id AA11915; Fri, 9 Sep 94 11:27:12 EDT Date: Fri, 9 Sep 94 11:27:12 EDT From: prince at ruccs.rutgers.edu (Alan Prince) Message-Id: <9409091527.AA11915 at ruccs.rutgers.edu> To: dever at isp.pitt.edu Subject: ROA.info Content-Type: text Content-Length: 2399 Status: RO X-Status: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::Rutgers Optimality Archive::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Rutgers Optimality Archive (ROA) exists to facilitate dissemination of work in OT. Papers in the Archive are unedited, unreviewed, unhouseled, unanneled, unimprimatured, unsolicited, self-selected. The Archive is open to any and all who want to disseminate their work in, on, or about OT. Archiving is not a form of publication. By universal convention, electronic archiving is completely independent of publication, future or prior. It is the moral equivalent of mailing out a typescript, pre-print, or off-print. To post in the Archive, use anonymous ftp to upload your paper into /pub/UPLOADS on ruccs.rutgers.edu. Then send me an e-message giving the TITLE of your piece, its LENGTH in pp., and the FORMAT details (e.g WP6.0, WORD4.3, postscript, ASCII text, whatever). I will take it from there. FORMAT. All formats are accepted. I strongly urge supplying at least a postscript version. WORD users should also post their text in the form of an RTF file, which can be read on MACs, PCs, and by other word processors of recent vintage. The latest versions of WP also allow you to create RTF files. Be sure to use binary transfer for files in WP or WORD format. Note: postscript files can be easily produced from WORD and WP by (1) declaring a postscript printer (e.g. Apple LaserWriter), and (2) printing to a disk file instead of to a printer; this file can then be sent to the archive. Recommendation: use a font that is native to the declared printer to avoid swelling the file to huge dimensions. FTP. Unsure of FTP? The basics can be garnered from the file FTP.how-to in the directory /pub/OT/TEXTS on ruccs.rutgers.edu. To get that file by email, drop me a note with FTP in the subject header. To get the file by ftp, starting out from your home machine, follow this sequence of instructions. At your home machine, type ftp ruccs.rutgers.edu At the request for a login Name type anonymous At the request for a password: type your email address. me at where.i.am (NB. me= your login name; etc., etc.) Then type: cd /pub/OT/TEXTS get FTP.how-to This will transfer the file FTP.how-to to your machine, where you may read it at your leisure. -Alan Prince prince at ruccs.rutgers.edu ** >>From prince at ruccs.rutgers.edu Fri Sep 9 11:22 EDT 1994 Return-Path: prince at ruccs.rutgers.edu Received: from ruccs.rutgers.edu (ruccs.rutgers.edu [128.6.57.12]) by pogo.isp.pitt.edu (8.6.9/8.6.9) with SMTP id LAA09779 for ; Fri, 9 Sep 1994 11:22:34 -0400 Received: by ruccs.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.5/3.08) id AA11907; Fri, 9 Sep 94 11:26:36 EDT Date: Fri, 9 Sep 94 11:26:36 EDT From: prince at ruccs.rutgers.edu (Alan Prince) Message-Id: <9409091526.AA11907 at ruccs.rutgers.edu> To: dever at isp.pitt.edu Subject: FTP.how-to Content-Type: text Content-Length: 8327 Status: RO X-Status: A ANONYMOUS FTP The program ftp (for `file transfer protocol'), found on all mainframes worthy of the name, is useful for transferring files over internet. Any file can be transferred -- text or binary -- so long as you have permission to read it at the source and write it at the destination. ``Anonymous ftp'' allows you to login at a remote machine under the pseudonym `anonymous' [no quotes] using as password your email address; once logged in, you have limited privileges sufficient to allow for transfer of files from (and sometimes to) designated areas. Transfer is rapid: only a few minutes for _Moby Dick_ on a good day and usually only a few seconds for a more reasonable-sized file. The following are instructions for the use of anonymous ftp. First I give a summary of the relevant command set, then a more discursive presentation. ======================= SUMMARY: To retrieve a file by ftp from ROA, type ftp ruccs.rutgers.edu When you are asked for your login, type: anonymous Enter password as per instructions = your email address (make sure to include the specified @), and then change directories with: cd /pub/OT/TEXTS To show the available files, type: dir To retrieve a file, type get To find out what's currently available, retrieve README: get README You must read README locally, on your own machine. In UNIX you can do this from within FTP by typing !more README If you are retrieving a binary file (such as one in WordPerfect), you must type binary BEFORE you issue the `get' command. When you have the file(s) you want, type: quit :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: DISCUSSION ============================================ NOTATION: in the text, I will write e.g. ...the command `ls' allows you to.... When you issue this command, DO NOT surround it with quotes. Under no condition will you need to `single quote' anything at the command line. ==================== ::::CONNECTING and DOWNLOADING::::: Use of ftp requires knowledge of only a few commands. To start the program, type `ftp ruccs.rutgers.edu' [no quotes--last warning] at the prompt on your mainframe account. My-Machine> ftp ruccs.rutgers.edu (Note: if you omit the destination name, you will enter the ftp program, from which the command `open ruccs.rutgers.edu' will accomplish the same linkage.) At this point you will be asked for a login name: supply `anonymous'. After that, you'll be prompted to give you email address as a password. The session may look like this: Name (ruccs.rutgers.edu: your-local-name): anonymous 331 Guest login ok, send e-mail address as password. Password: me at where.i.am 230 guest login ok, access restrictions apply. ftp> I've included the kind of chatter the ftp program is likely to spew out. Now you are logged-in to a restricted region of the ruccs directory system. To see where you are, issue the command `dir' or `ls' at the ftp prompt. Among the subdirectories that will be listed is /pub/. This is where all anonymous ftp action takes place on ruccs. The files you will want to get are in subdirectories of /pub/, in particular, /pub/OT. And if you want to deposit a file onto ruccs, you will do it in /pub/UPLOADS. You will want to move to the directories where the relevant files are located. The directory /pub/ has a subdirectory OT where all OT files are to found. Try this ftp> cd /pub/OT/TEXTS ftp> dir This puts you in the subdirectory of OT where all the Rutgers Optimality Archive is located. You should see that there is a file README listed, as well as various others which contain the papers in the archive. Try this: ftp> get README This will cause the ftp program to copy README into the directory on your home system from which you issued the `ftp' command. After you have obtained the file, you will want to read it locally. After `get'ting it, the command `!cat README' or `!more README' on a UNIX system will cause it to be typed out on the screen. (To issue a local UNIX command from within ftp, prefix the normal command with `!'.) From README, you will learn about the files that are available on the system. You can choose from those that you wish to obtain. Suppose for example you wish to get `align.ps', the postscript version of McCarthy & Prince's ``Generalized Alignment.'' You simply issue the command `get align.ps': ftp> get align.ps NOTE: ftp will remorsely write over files on your system that have the same name. But you can tell it to use a different name locally by including it as a second argument of `get': ftp> get align.ps generalized.alignment.ps This writes the file on your system under the name `generalized.alignment.ps' NOTE: if you want to get multiple files, using a wildcard variable in the file name, use the command `mget': ftp> mget *.ps will get all files with the extension `.ps'. NOTE: if you want to review a lengthy directory listing, try this: ftp> dir . temp This will send the entire dir list into the file `temp' on your local system. (Of course, you can give it any name you want.) The `.' in the command signifies the directory you're at in the remote ftp host; you can also use standard directory-naming syntax. To read temp while still in ftp, type (from UNIX) ftp> !more temp If you want a condensed listing of directory contents, use `ls' : ftp> ls . temp If you want to restrict the file-listing to some alphetical segment, type: ftp> dir [a-c]* (for example), which lists those files starting with letters a-c. The command 'ls' works the same way. :::::::UPLOADING:::::: To deposit a file on ruccs use the command `put ' where is the name of a file on your own machine. This command will only work if you are in a directory on the remote machine where you have permission to write. On ruccs, as noted above, this privilege holds *only* of the directory /pub/UPLOADS. ::::::ADDITIONAL POINTS, SOME CRUCIAL::::::: To disentangle yourself from ruccs, issue the command `close'. To get out of ftp entirely, use `quit'. The command `quit' can also be used to close the connection and exit ftp at one blow. TRAVEL ADVISORY. If you are lost in the directory structure, the command `pwd' will tell you where you are. NB. on UNIX systems, the command `!pwd' will tell where you are locally, on your own machine. IMPORTANT NOTE. If you are transferring (putting or getting) a binary file, such as a WORD or WordPerfect file, you must inform the program of your intentions. Issue the command `binary' when you are connected to your remote host before you initiate any transfers. When uploading binary files to your mainframe, your local communication software MUST BE enabled to deal with binary files. In kermit, issue the command `set file type binary' at the mainframe level prior to file transfer. WARNING: If you fail at any point in the chain to notify the relevant file transfer program that it must handle a binary file, garble & corruption will result. CASE NOTE. Some older versions of ftp on VMS machines are clumsy in dealing with the fact that case distinctions (upper vs. lower) are not neutralized in UNIX, as they are in VMS. If you are a prisoner of VMS, you may have to issue commands like `set case upper' and `set case lower' to force the host to read your command in one or the other of them. John McCarthy reports success with the command `set case normal' followed by citation of directory and file names within double quotes. Whence: ftp> set case normal ftp> cd "pub/OT/" does the job on his VMS system. At any rate, be aware that the upper vs. lower case distinction is significant on ruccs. Info note. The command `?' at the ftp prompt will get you a list of ftp commands. The command `? ' will get you a very concise account of what the command does. :::::LEARNING about FTP:::::::: Remember, you can do no harm, so feel free to experiment. Further information can easily be garnered from your own system by issuing the command `man ftp' (UNIX) and `help ftp' (VMS) at the system prompt. Your local computer center probably has a dial-in line where help can be obtained from youthful gurus, as well. From geoffn at SIU.EDU Wed Feb 14 16:21:58 1996 From: geoffn at SIU.EDU (Geoffrey S. Nathan) Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 10:21:58 CST Subject: Bibliography Message-ID: Thanks to Dan Everett for providing the info on how to get most work on OT. However the basic oeuvre is Prince and Smolensky 1993, which is not available in electronic form, but rather in (shudder) paper. It can be ordered from Sandra Bergelson Assistant Director, RuCCs Rutgers University PO Box 1179 Piscataway, NJ, 08855. The price on my copy is US$11.00, which includes US 4th class shipping and handling. Contact her for info on how to get it faster or out of the US. Geoff Geoffrey S. Nathan Department of Linguistics Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Carbondale, IL, 62901-4517 Home phone: 618 549-0106 GEOFFN at SIU.EDU From kemmer at RUF.RICE.EDU Wed Feb 14 16:32:16 1996 From: kemmer at RUF.RICE.EDU (Suzanne E Kemmer) Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 10:32:16 -0600 Subject: optimality and lexical rules Message-ID: Here's the crux of the lexicon-based objection to OT, for those who don't want to wade through the correspondence. [The author says that evidence has been mounting since SPE days that lexical rules are emergent generalizations that do not exist beyond the forms they describe -- e.g. they generalize to novel forms on an ad hoc "analogical" basis; at intermediate stages the "rules" are scattered messily across individual lexical items; they can interact with "analogical," non-rule-like patterns of irregular inflection in a way requiring reference to individual items or sets of items...] " The insight I THOUGHT we were coming to, then, was that lexical rules are neither rules nor constraints but something like emergent properties of lexical items. You can get this with connectionism or you can get it some other way, but it's got to be gotten sooner or later, don't you think? OT is thus especially irritating because it sidetracks and tames the more heretical students with the misleading claim that OT is sort of like connectionism, but then it just goes ahead and replaces general rules with even more general constraints, neither of which makes sense given what we already know about the lexicon. OT constraints may or may not be a notational variants of rules, but you can bet OT will be there with rules, up against the wall when the real revolution comes. " From barlow at RUF.RICE.EDU Wed Feb 14 17:35:49 1996 From: barlow at RUF.RICE.EDU (Michael Barlow) Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 11:35:49 -0600 Subject: Job announcement: Korean Language Message-ID: Director of Korean Language Studies -- RICE UNIVERSITY The Department of Linguistics invites applications for a one year, renewable, non-tenure-track appointment as Director of Korean Language Studies at Rice University. Native or near native competency in Korean is required. Preference will be given to candidates with a PhD. in Korean Language or Linguistics, who have specific training and experience in teaching Korean as a second language. A research interest in language acquisition or language teaching methodology is also desired. The person chosen will have responsibility for developing the Korean language program and expanding enrollments and course offerings. She or he will interact with other relevant programs at Rice, including the Asian Studies Program and the Rice Language Center. Course load will initially be three language courses per semester, one of which may eventually be in Korean culture and literature or Korean linguistics. Rice University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. Minorities and nontraditional applicants are encouraged to apply. Salary for 1996-97 will be approximately $49,000. Review of applications will begin April 1, 1996 with applications accepted until the position is filled. Letters of application, together with a curriculum vitae and including a list of four references, should be sent to: James E. Copeland, Chair Department of Linguistics Rice University, MS-23 6100 Main Street Houston, TX 77005-1892 From barlow at RUF.RICE.EDU Sat Feb 17 22:21:20 1996 From: barlow at RUF.RICE.EDU (Michael Barlow) Date: Sat, 17 Feb 1996 16:21:20 -0600 Subject: Windows concordancer -- beta test version Message-ID: I have been working on a Windows concordance program (MonoConc for Windows), which I hope will be used by language teachers and students. MfW is designed to be easy to use, but powerful enough for useful text-analysis investigations. Before releasing the commercial version, I'd like to have the program tested on a variety of systems. The program has the following basic features: multiple files (several million words) can be loaded as a corpus files can be added to or deleted from the corpus searching by word or phrase (using wild cards *, ?, %) "append search" -- results from different searches can be accumulated set of word delimiters can be customised sorting -- (2L (second left), 1L, 1R, 2R, searchword, text order) deletion of concordance lines frequency of collocates (2L, 1L, 1R, 2R) total frequency of words in the corpus save/print options If you would like to try out a beta version, send me a note. I can either mail a disk or email you a zipped file. Michael ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Barlow (barlow at ruf.rice.edu) Dept of Linguistics Home page: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~barlow/ Rice University Athelstan: http://www.nol.net/~athel/athel.html From jarek at FIL.LU.SE Tue Feb 20 14:58:11 1996 From: jarek at FIL.LU.SE (Jaroslaw Pluciennik) Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 15:58:11 +0100 Subject: Qs: Kantian adjectives Message-ID: Dear collegues, we are investigating the group of adjectives below, which, for several reasons, we would like to call "Kantian adjectives". We are able ourselves to compare the adjectives to their Czech, German, Polish, Slovene, Swedish, and Russian correspondents. It would however be very useful for us to have access to translations also into a few other languages. We would like to ask those of you who know other languages to help us by providing: 1) lexical translations of the adjectives, and especially 2) the negative morhological elements in the translated items (if any). We will share the results of the inquiry via the listserver. Soory about the mysterious term "Kantian adjectives". If there is interest in this choice, we are ready to explain the reasons for it. Hope you will find the group inspiring... bottomless boundless ceaseless countless dateless endless exhaustless fathomless formless illimited immeasurable incalculable incessant indefinite inexhaustible infinite innumerable interminable limitless measureless numberless quenchless timeless unbounded unending unfathomable unlimited unmeasured unnumbered unquenchable Thanks in advance Jaroslaw Pluciennik Lund University Cognitive Science Kungshuset, Lundagard S-222 22 Lund, Sweden Phone: +46 (0) 46 222 97 58 fax: +46 (0) 46 222 48 17 e-mail: jarek at fil.lu.se, or jarrek at plunlo51.bitnet www: http://lucs.fil.lu.se/ From r.hudson at LINGUISTICS.UCL.AC.UK Wed Feb 21 03:44:07 1996 From: r.hudson at LINGUISTICS.UCL.AC.UK (Richard Hudson) Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 21:44:07 -0600 Subject: Fw: New journal Message-ID: NEW JOURNAL In May 1997 Cambridge University Press will be publishing the first issue of a new journal entitled English Language and Linguistics The journal is edited by Bas Aarts of University College London and Richard Hogg and David Denison of the University of Manchester. Associate editors are Valerie Adams of UCL (Reviews) and Douglas Biber of Northern Arizona University (North America). There is a distinguished international Editorial Board. ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS, published twice a year, is an international journal which focuses on the description of the English language within the framework of contemporary linguistics. The journal is concerned equally with the synchronic and the diachronic aspects of English language studies and will publish articles of the highest quality which make a substantial contribution to our understanding of the structure and development of the English language and which are informed by a knowledge and appreciation of linguistic theory. ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS will carry articles and short discussion papers or squibs on all core aspects of English from its beginnings to the present day, including syntax, morphology, phonology, semantics, pragmatics, corpus linguistics and lexis. There will also be a major review section including from time to time articles that give an overview of current research in particular specialist areas. From time to time an issue will be devoted to a special topic, when a guest editor will be invited to commission articles from leading specialists in the field. A number of papers have been commissioned, and we invite contributions and inquiries. The stylesheet for contributors will be available shortly. The journal address is: English Language and Linguistics c/o Department of English Language and Literature University College London Gower Street London WC1E 6BT U.K. E-mail addresses for editorial queries: ell at ucl.ac.uk for subscription queries: journals_marketing at cup.cam.ac.uk Information about the journal will also be found on the Cambridge University Press WWW server. A home page for the journal is in preearation: URL in Europe http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk/ URL in North America http://www.cup.org/ Bas Aarts David Denison Richard Hogg =========================================================================== Prof Richard Hudson Tel: +44 171 387 7050 ext 3152 E-mail: r.hudson at ling.ucl.ac.uk Dept. of Phonetics and Linguistics Tel: +44 171 380 7172 Fax: +44 171 383 4108 UCL Gower Street London WC1E 6BT UK From bmcmah at MEYOSP.MECON.AR Thu Feb 22 03:08:06 1996 From: bmcmah at MEYOSP.MECON.AR (Brian McMahon) Date: Wed, 21 Feb 1996 19:08:06 -0800 Subject: Summary and new issues on English acquisition as first or second language Message-ID: In the two weeks since my message was originally posted, it has generated 34 replies and they are still trickling in. The majority of the responses came from persons from bilingual families. Unfortunately, many did not say whether they are linguistics professionals but, given where the message was posted, I assume that they are unless they indicated otherwise. Given the level of interest that has been generated in the issue, anyone who wants to repost the message elsewhere may do so, although be warned that one reposting to the Languages and Educational Mobility section of Inter-EU angered a subscriber from Ireland (for lack of relevance), a country that is officially bilingual. It may also be useful to get the opinions of child psychologists and pediatricians (and give them your opinions), since professionals from these fields gave the now-questioned advice. To briefly review: As a sideline I hold English conversation sessions. One of my students has two children, 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 years of age. The family lives in Crdoba, a monolingual/monocultural city of one million in the center of Argentina. The father works elsewhere and is with the children every weekend. The city has no international schools but does have "bilingual" schools with varying quality of instruction in English. At the advice of "experts" they held off the introduction of English to the older child solely because they were told that it would delay his capacity in Spanish. However, the goal was always to ensure first language, native proficiency in both languages. They have done the same with the smaller child, a little girl. I asked for opinions on this decision and also requested responses to a number of questions: 1) The advisability of hiring an English tutor; 2) Whether the situation is becoming urgent for the older child and if there is an age limit for acquiring first language proficiency; 3) Whether any structured materials (texts, storybooks, etc.) would be helpful and to name them; and 4) When to introduce the younger child to English. Although there were some differences of opinion on the effects, all the responses said that the parents should have introduced English immediately in the case of a normally developing child (thus also answering the last question). The differences of opinion concerned variations in children's abilities in their languages. The one language/one parent rule was endorsed by everyone with one exception who said that both parents should speak English at home since the kids would pick up the local language anyway. Several said that children who speak more than one language, after sorting them out, show greater cognitive flexibility and generally greater abilities in language-related activities. Only two respondents said that a tutor would be advisable. The rest favored au pairs, small children (native speakers), and vacations in English speaking countries. Most agreed that the situation was not becoming urgent if the one parent/one language rule is enforced and supplemented by stories, videos, rhymes and other vocabulary building activities. Opinions about the "cut-off" age ran from seven years of age to adolescence. It was interesting that most addressed the question in absolute terms rather than relative terms: I believe that given their unanimous opinion about when to introduce English, they might have wanted to say "the more exposure the better, especially before adolescence when it is probably too late to attain first language proficiency." One (academic) reply said that the question of native proficiency is not important. I would reply that it is very important in a world of standardized tests that can dramatically affect a person's future choices. I hope that we can generate some more discussion of this issue. The question about structured materials generated recommendations for "The Bilingual Family Newsletter" (if anyone from the newsletter or Multilingual Matters is reading this, please contact me with information); Sesame Street, Raffi and Curious George books and/or videos; stories (in both their Spanish and English versions in one case); etc. The only text was "I Like English." Nearly all emphasized the use of English while playing. I would appreciate it if anyone with other recommendations would post them or send them directly to me. Finally, the responses to the posting and an article in Newsweek since the posting have generated more issues for further discussion: 1) The Newsweek article (February 19) "Your Child's Brain" includes a section about perceptual maps and language learning. The findings about language learning discussed in this article, coming from another discipline, are certainly fodder for discussion among linguists and are very relevant to this case; 2) The parents are now considering whether to send the older child to a bilingual nursery school for a half-day session with 90 minutes of instruction in English (the school has one teacher who is a native speaker). They would like your opinions; 3) One respondent said that correcting a child's pronunciation is taboo. Agreed?; 4) An unresolved issue concerns whether the American father should speak English only and inflexibly or leave the possibility of speaking Spanish open for brief specific circumstances (emergencies, safety, heart-to-heart talks). Opinions? In addition to being of possible academic interest, this discussion is a clear demonstration of the power of the Internet to contribute to the solution of practical problems. Many thanks to everyone who participated or will participate. Brian McMahon bmcmah at meyosp.mecon.ar From Michel.Launey at LINGUIST.JUSSIEU.FR Fri Feb 23 09:37:11 1996 From: Michel.Launey at LINGUIST.JUSSIEU.FR (Michel Launey) Date: Fri, 23 Feb 1996 10:37:11 +0100 Subject: XVIth International Congress Message-ID: ANNOUNCEMENT: XVIth International Congress of Linguists DATE AND LOCATION July 20-25, 1997 Paris, France ACCOMODATION Hotels in all price ranges and limited accomodation in University residences. All applications for accomodation must be sent to: A.T.I. Congres 1 villa Boissiere F 75116 PARIS (FRANCE) Tel. (33-1) 47-27-15-15 Fax (33-1) 47-27-05-87 REGISTRATION FEES Participants Accompanying Students Before April 30, 1996 FF. 1200 FF. 600 FF. 300 May 1 through Dec. 31, 1996 FF. 1450 FF. 725 FF. 400 Jan 1 through Jul 20, 1997 FF. 1750 FF. 875 FF. 500 OFFICIAL LANGUAGES All widespread languages are accepted for oral presentations in parallel sessions. The summaries should, like the circulars, be written both in French and in English PLENARY SESSIONS The topics of these sessions are: 1. The development of linguistics in the 2nd half of the XXth century 2. Language families, areas and types 3. Linguistic structures and mental activities 4. Linguistic structures and communication The topic of each plenary session will be developed by three speakers. This will be followed by a general discussion. PAPERS Conference papers may take the form of oral presentations in PARALLEL SESSIONS or POSTERS. Oral presentations are scheduled to last 20 minutes, including question period. Participants choosing the poster session will be allowed two hours. In the present state, the list of topics for parallel sessions is: 1. History of linguistics 2. Philosophy of linguistics 3. Typology and invariants 4. Language policies in the contemporary world 5. Dialectology and sociolinguistics 6. Psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics 7. Language acquisition and learning 8. Phonetics and phonology 9. Morphology 1O. Syntax 11. Generative grammars and formal types of syntax 12. Semantics 13. Lexicology 14. Pragmatics and text linguistics 15. Pidgins, creoles and languages in contact 16. Historical linguistics 17. Reconstruction and etymology 18. Computational linguistics and computer sciences 19. Sign languages 20. Boundaries and overlapping of the various fields of linguistics Participants wishing to present a paper will be requested to send an abstract before October 1, 1996 PANEL DISCUSSIONS The Organizing Committee invites congressists to propose topics for panel discussions by March 1, 1996, with a list of possible participants. The persons whose topics is chosen will be responsible for organizing their panel discussion. They must send the final list of participants before January 1, 1997. TO OBTAIN AN EARLY REGISTRATION CARD AND CONGRESS CIRCULARS Address all correspondance to: CIL 16 Bernard Caron CNRS LLACAN 4 ter route des Gardes F - 92190 MEUDON (FRANCE) Tel. (33-1) 45-07-50-21 Fax (33-1) 45-07-51-12 E-mail: cil16 at cnrs-bellevue.fr From acomblai at VM1.ULG.AC.BE Fri Feb 23 16:05:31 1996 From: acomblai at VM1.ULG.AC.BE (Annick Comblain) Date: Fri, 23 Feb 1996 17:05:31 +0100 Subject: Unsuscribe Message-ID: Please unsuscribe Annick Comblain ________________________________________________________________ ANNICK COMBLAIN, Assistante Facultaire Universite de Liege Laboratoire de Psycholinguistique Faculte de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education Boulevard du Rectorat, 5 (B32) B-4000 Liege (Belgique) Tel.: ++/32/(0)41/66.20.07 Fax.: ++/32/(0)41/66.29.06 e.mail : acomblai at vm1.ulg.ac.be ________________________________________________________________ From bmcmah at MEYOSP.MECON.AR Thu Feb 29 03:11:59 1996 From: bmcmah at MEYOSP.MECON.AR (Brian McMahon) Date: Wed, 28 Feb 1996 19:11:59 -0800 Subject: Discussion on summary and further disc English acquisition Message-ID: Thanks to everyone who replied to my summary posting last week (Feb 21). My original posting was on Feb 6. I will present a new summary when the rate of responses slows down. 1. I mentioned that the decision of the parents to postpone the introduction of English to their 3 1/2 year old son was due to the advice of experts. All respondents were against that decision. This week, the parents gave me one of the factors they considered: "What to Expect the First Year" by Arlene Eisenberg, Heidi Murkoff and Sandee Hathaway, Workman Publishing, 708 Broadway, New York (1989) is one of the most popular books for new parents in the US. On pp. 161-162 they discuss the issue. They say that the ability to use a second language "is an invaluable skill" that may help a child to "think in different ways" and connect the child with ancestral or parental "roots" in certain cases, they also state the following: "There is less agreement on just when to introduce the second language, however. Some experts suggest beginning as soon as a baby is born, but others believe that this puts the child at a disadvantage in both languages-though probably for only a while. They generally recommend waiting until a child is two and a half or three before putting on the Berlitz. By this time she usually has a pretty good grasp of English but is still able to pick up a new language easily and naturally. It is generally agreed that waiting to introduce the second language until after a child can read will impede her fluency in it." The rest of the section tells how to introduce the second language and is consistent with the responses to my postings. This would appear to be an excellent example of how such misconceptions occur. Given the popularity of the book, I believe that it would be advisable for several first language acquisition experts to get in touch with the authors and the publishers to encourage them to consider what appears, given the resposes, to be the mainstream opinion of linguists. 2. Very disappointingly, there has been no discussion of the language acquisition section of the Newsweek (Feb 19) article, "Your Child's Brain." One respondent said "it is certainly worth more discussion." Does anybody want to pick up the ball on this one? 3. There has only been one response to the issue of the advisability of sending the 3 1/2 year old to a bilingual nursery school for a four-hour daily session including 90 minutes with a teacher who is a native speaker. Any other takers? Brian McMahon bmcmah at meyosp.mecon.ar