From dan_everett at SIL.ORG Wed Aug 2 12:10:14 2000 From: dan_everett at SIL.ORG (dan everett) Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2000 08:10:14 -0400 Subject: Workshop on the phonetics and phonology of prosody Message-ID: Workshop on the phonetics and phonology of prosody, 2001 First Announcement The analysis of stress, intonation, and tone in natural languages is notoriously difficult. Yet these phenomena and others closely associated with them are vital for a thorough understanding of the grammar of many languages. The difficulties of analysis in these domains are both phonological and phonetic. Phonologically, a proper understanding of prosody requires analysis of many interlocking areas of linguistics. The research needs to know about syllables, moras, morphophonology, syntax, and, quite often, discourse to make headway. Consequently, prosody is frequently underanalyzed and misanalyzed crosslinguistically. More generally, understanding in this area is impeded when there is a lack of systematic analysis of the phonetics underlying the phonology of prosody. The 'Phonetics and Phonology of Prosody' workshop offered through the University of North Dakota-SIL International Summer 2001 Session will offer the following helps for researchers from any part of the world: 1) Instruction in the acoustic phonetics bases and correlates of intonation, stress, and tone crosslinguistically, along with hands-on learning of PC and MAC tools for speech analysis (especially SIL International's _Speech Analyzer_ software and the _PRAAT_ program developed by researchers at the University of Amsterdam); 2) Regular individual sessions with participants on analyzing prosodic features of their languages of concern; 3) Presentations from workshop organizers and participants on the phonological and phonetic nature of prosody in different areas of the world; 4) Help and instruction in writing research results for publication. Helped will be offered for writing either descriptive or more theoretically-oriented reports. We hope to edit and publish a volume of research reports from the workshop. This workshop is available to linguists currently engaged in fieldwork who have a minimum of one course each in phonology and grammar/morphosyntax. No particular theoretical background is required, nor is any previous training in acoustics phonetics. Participants in the workshop must be enrolled as students of the University of North Dakota - SIL summer session. Those linguists who do not need or wish to receive academic credit for their participation will still need to enroll to audit the workshop as a course. (This will enable them to receive special rates for room & board during the workshop.) Participants wishing to receive academic credit for the workshop may enroll for 2-5 graduate credits, depending on the type and level of research they plan to engage in. The workshop will begin during the second week of June and will run until the second week of August, 2001. Exact dates will be provided in a later announcement. For further information, contact dan_everett at sil.org or visit the website of the University of North Dakota - SIL summer session: http://www.nd.sil.org From brucerichman at HOTMAIL.COM Wed Aug 2 14:39:38 2000 From: brucerichman at HOTMAIL.COM (bruce richman) Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2000 14:39:38 GMT Subject: Language Origins Society 2000 conference Message-ID: THE LANGUAGE ORIGINS SOCIETY 2000 CONFERENCE AT RUTGERS UNIVERSITY ON SEPT.4&5 WILL BE PRESENTING SOME REMARKABLE EVIDENCE ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF HUMAN LANGUAGE. ALTERNATIVES TO CHOMSKY: For 40 years Chomsky and his followers have claimed that the structure of language was innately implanted in people's brains -- with no empirical or scientific evidence to back this up! Scholars from around the world will present evidence to show how empty and without scientific merit Chomsky's claims really are. And they will discuss how to set up a new kind of language study that will apply real scientific methods to real human language. TERRENCE DEACON of Boston University will give a provocative talk on "Why language must be older than Homo sapiens. The neurological evidence for two million years of brain-language coevolution" MARC HAUSER of Harvard University will give a provocative talk on "The speech as special debate: New data from nonhuman animals and human infants" WE WOULD LIKE TO INVITE YOU TO ATTEND OUR CONFERENCE FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Bruce Richman email brucerichman at hotmail.com phone 216-381-7510 3805 Woodridge Rd. Cleveland Hts. OH 44121 ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com From d.brown at SURREY.AC.UK Fri Aug 4 16:58:46 2000 From: d.brown at SURREY.AC.UK (Dunstan Brown) Date: Fri, 4 Aug 2000 17:58:46 +0100 Subject: Job posting - Suppletion Project University of Surrey Message-ID: University of Surrey School of Language, Law and International Studies Research Fellowship in the Surrey Morphology Group (Ref: 2562/AF) Salary: #16,775 - #18,731 per annum Applications are invited for a research post in the Surrey Morphology Group within the School, for two years and seven months. The Group specialises in typology, particularly the application of formal and statistical approaches. This post is for an AHRB-funded project The notion possible word and its limits: a typology of suppletion , directed by Professor Greville Corbett, Dr Dunstan Brown and Dr Andrew Hippisley. Professor Peter Lutzeier will also be associated with the project. Candidates should have wide-ranging interests within linguistics. A good post-graduate degree in linguistics is highly desirable, and expertise in any of the following would be advantageous: Russian, typology, morphological theory. The job will involve working with a corpus, collecting and analysing cross-linguistic data, maintaining a database, compiling a bibliography and contributing to joint papers. Details of the Surrey Morphology Group can be found at: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/LIS/SMG/ Informal enquiries may be made to Dunstan Brown (d.brown at surrey.ac.uk). For an application pack, please contact Mrs A R Fleming by telephone on 01483 873846 (24 hours), or by e-mail at a.fleming at surrey.ac.uk or at the University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH. Please supply your postal address and the reference number 2562/AF. Please do not submit any documentation until you have received this pack. The closing date for written applications is Tuesday 12th September 2000. It is intended to interview shortlisted candidates on Wednesday 4th October 2000, and the starting date is 1st November, or as soon as possible thereafter. Visit the University Web Site at http://www.surrey.ac.uk/ The University is committed to an Equal Opportunities Policy. -- Dr Dunstan Brown Lecturer in Linguistics and Russian Language LIS University of Surrey Guildford Surrey GU2 5XH Tel: +44 1483 259957 Fax: +44 1483 259527 Email: d.brown at surrey.ac.uk From li.l at 371.net Sat Aug 5 02:07:19 2000 From: li.l at 371.net (Li Li) Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2000 10:07:19 +0800 Subject: No subject Message-ID: sign off -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tomas at EVA.MPG.DE Sun Aug 6 06:39:59 2000 From: tomas at EVA.MPG.DE (Michael Tomasello) Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2000 07:39:59 +0100 Subject: Review of Pinker? Message-ID: Johanna, There is a review of Pinker's new book by Morris Halle (believe it or not) in the latest Trends in Cognitive Science (July, 2000, p. 289). Although he says some complementary things (and also makes some snide remarks about all of the bppk's anecdotes, jokes, and cartoons), the main thrust seems to be: "As the reason for the failure [to account for German plurals] lies in Pinker's theory, which excludes rules that apply to lists, the theory must be modified. The modified theory, however, differs little from that of Chomsky and Halle (1968). Mike Tomasello From edith at CSD.UWM.EDU Mon Aug 7 14:12:10 2000 From: edith at CSD.UWM.EDU (Edith A Moravcsik) Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 09:12:10 -0500 Subject: adjectival phrases in English (fwd) Message-ID: Below you will find a message from Mike Tomasello and a response by me. Mike has allowed me to send this on to FUNKNET. Edith ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 09:26:24 -0500 (CDT) From: Edith A Moravcsik To: Michael Tomasello Subject: Re: adjectival phrases in English On Thu, 27 Jul 2000, Michael Tomasello wrote: > I'm sure I'm missing something (I am not a linguist), but isn't the > reason exceptional adjective phrases take a different form is that they > come from genetives. Many people say: > > this big of an apple > too big of an apple > > Just as they say > > He's too much of a friend to do that. > > I saw no talk of this genetive structure as responisble for many of the > characteristics enumerated. Did I miss something? > > Mike Tomasello > > *************************************************************************** Dear Mike, Thank you for your contribution! The fact that constructions such as "too Adj a N", "this Adj a N" also have alternative expressions with an "of" inserted, such as "too Adj OF a N", "this Adj OF a N" may indeed somehow be related to the fact that in "too Adj a N" etc., the adjectival phrase precedes the article. The question is exactly what this relationship is. The proposed relationship would be perfect if all exceptional adjectival phrases had an alternative "of-ful" version and if all "of-ful" constructions had an "of-less" alternative. But this does not seem to be the case. First, when the modifier in the adjectival phrase is "this" or "that", rather than "too", the "of-ful" alternative is not available I believe: this/that important an event ?/*this/that important of an event Second, not all "of-ful" constructions admit the "of-less" alternative: too much of a friend ?too much a friend Thus, the "of-deletion rule" would need to be formulated as a less-than- fully general rule. Also, one would still want to know why the "of" is optional in just these constructions when it is not optional in other constructions: the leg of the table *the leg the table suspicious of his sister *suspicious his sister The only other case that I can think of right now where "of" is optional is the complement of the verb "approve": He approved of the proposal. He approved the proposal. In sum: there may indeed be some relationship between the "of-less" and "of-ful" constructions; but it would take further work to specify the details of the relationship. Best - Edith ************************************************************************ Edith A. Moravcsik Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413 USA E-mail: edith at uwm.edu Telephone: (414) 229-6794 /office/ (414) 332-0141 /home/ Fax: (414) 229-2741 From edith at CSD.UWM.EDU Mon Aug 7 14:16:11 2000 From: edith at CSD.UWM.EDU (Edith A Moravcsik) Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 09:16:11 -0500 Subject: adjectival phrases in English (fwd) Message-ID: Here is Mike Tomasello's response to my response to his original message. The latter two texts have already been sent on to FUNKNET. Edith **************************************************************** ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 06 Aug 2000 09:09:31 +0100 From: Michael Tomasello To: Edith A Moravcsik Subject: Re: adjectival phrases in English Edith, Of course you can share the correspondence. 1. But I will say that I do not share your intuitions about: ?/*this/that important of an event Both variants seem fine to me. 2. Also, the conterpart to "too much of a friend" is the also-OK-in-my-dialect too little of a friend (or, not enough of a friend) 3. You ask: "Also, one would still want to know why the "of" is optional in just these constructions when it is not optional in other constructions: the leg of the table *the leg the table But this genitive does not involve quantification. (And 'suspicious of his sister' is simply a verb-particle construction, no?). 4. Final point. You say" The only other case that I can think of right now where "of" is optional is the complement of the verb "approve": He approved of the proposal. He approved the proposal. But these mean two very different things - so 'of' is not optional here in the same way as in the contruction being discussed. Best, Mike From edith at CSD.UWM.EDU Mon Aug 7 19:45:34 2000 From: edith at CSD.UWM.EDU (Edith A Moravcsik) Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 14:45:34 -0500 Subject: REQUEST from Max Enrique Figueroa-Estava Message-ID: The following is a message that I am forwarding to FUNKNET on Max Enrique's request. If you want to respond to him directly, please use the following address: maxestev at rtn.uson.mx Edith ************************************************************** Not long ago, David Tuggy and others engaged in a very interesting discussion about flip-flop constructions. Whether or not there was a final summing up, it in any case escaped me. A colleague and myself are seriously interested in contrastively studying English & Spanish flip-flop verbs from various points of view. Could co-listers help us out here with respect to literature on the general subject of flip-flop (behaviour of) items and/or any suggestions whatsoever? Thanx in advance! Max Figueroa From crubino at ANSWERLOGIC.COM Mon Aug 7 21:00:59 2000 From: crubino at ANSWERLOGIC.COM (Carl Rubino) Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 17:00:59 -0400 Subject: Positions in Linguistic Software Testing/Development Message-ID: Positions in Linguistic Software Testing AnswerLogic, a Washington D.C. based software company that delivers online question-answering solutions for businesses is currently seeking experienced linguists with a combination of the listed skill sets: B.A. or higher in Linguistics or Computational Linguistics. Good knowledge of English syntax and semantics (lexicographic experience and a functional orientation are a plus). Some knowledge of computer languages such as C++, Visual Basic, Java, or Perl. Experience in QA and/or software development is a plus. Qualified candidates please send resume and cover letter to crubino at answerlogic.com. Please note that applications without a detailed cover letter will not be considered. AnswerLogic offers competitive salaries, stock options, flexible hours and full benefits, as well as a stimulating environment with opportunity for advancement. From copelan at RICE.EDU Wed Aug 9 16:23:51 2000 From: copelan at RICE.EDU (James E Copeland) Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2000 11:23:51 -0500 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Rice University Open Rank Position in Linguistics The Department of Linguistics, Rice University, is seeking to fill a tenured or tenure-track position in linguistics at the level of assistant, associate or full professor beginning fall, 2001. The Ph.D. is required. The Department of Linguistics at Rice has a strongly functionalist, usage- based orientation. The Department adopts an integrative approach that is sensitive to language and its many contexts: discourse, social, cognitive, historical, etc. We emphasize language description and typology, generalizing from personal fieldwork experience. Fieldwork on a non-Indo-European language and an interest in language description and its implications are essential. Rice University is a private, selective institution with undergraduate and graduate strengths in science, engineering, the social sciences and the humanities. Rice places strong emphasis on research and excellence in classroom teaching. We expect the successful candidate to share the orientation of the Department and to have an outstanding record in those areas. In addition, the candidate should have demonstrated excellence in teaching undergraduate and graduate courses. The normal course load is six hours per semester. Interviews will be held in January, 2001 at the LSA meeting in Washington, D.C. For full consideration, applications including cover letter, CV, three names of references, and one representative article must be received by November 15, 2000. Reply to: Faculty Search, Department of Linguistics MS23, Rice University, 6100 Main St., Houston, TX 77005. E-mail: ling at ruf.rice. edu. AA/EOE Jim Copeland Professor Department of Linguistics Rice University Houston, TX 77252-1892 Office: (713) 348-5150 Home: (713) 666-8809 Fax: (713) 348-4718 copeland at rice.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From copelan at RICE.EDU Wed Aug 9 16:19:42 2000 From: copelan at RICE.EDU (James E Copeland) Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2000 11:19:42 -0500 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Rice University Open Rank Position in Linguistics The Department of Linguistics, Rice University, is seeking to fill a tenured or tenure-track position in linguistics at the level of assistant, associate or full professor beginning fall, 2001. The Ph.D. is required. The Department of Linguistics at Rice has a strongly functionalist, usage- based orientation. The Department adopts an integrative approach that is sensitive to language and its many contexts: discourse, social, cognitive, historical, etc. We emphasize language description and typology, generalizing from personal fieldwork experience. Fieldwork on a non-Indo-European language and an interest in language description and its implications are essential. Rice University is a private, selective institution with undergraduate and graduate strengths in science, engineering, the social sciences and the humanities. Rice places strong emphasis on research and excellence in classroom teaching. We expect the successful candidate to share the orientation of the Department and to have an outstanding record in those areas. In addition, the candidate should have demonstrated excellence in teaching undergraduate and graduate courses. The normal course load is six hours per semester. Interviews will be held in January, 2001 at the LSA meeting in Washington, D.C. For full consideration, applications including cover letter, CV, three names of references, and one representative article must be received by November 15, 2000. Reply to: Faculty Search, Department of Linguistics MS23, Rice University, 6100 Main St., Houston, TX 77005. E-mail: ling at ruf.rice. edu. AA/EOE -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maxestev at RTN.USON.MX Wed Aug 9 18:01:59 2000 From: maxestev at RTN.USON.MX (Max E. Figueroa Esteva) Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2000 11:01:59 -0700 Subject: flip-flop Message-ID: A colleague and myself are interested in contrastively studying English & Spanish flip-flop verbal behaviour from various points of view. Could co-listers help us out here with respect to literature on the general subject of flip-flop (behaviour of) items, advantages and/or disadvantages of alternative theoretico-methodological approaches (i. e., cognitive, functional, etc.) or any suggestions whatsoever? We'd very much appreciate it! Max E. Figueroa-Esteva -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jaejung.song at STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ Wed Aug 9 21:02:18 2000 From: jaejung.song at STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ (Jae Jung Song) Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 09:02:18 +1200 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Book announcement: LINGUISTIC TYPOLOGY: Morphology and Syntax By Jae Jung Song Pearson Education: Harlow and London August 2000, 406pp ISBN 0-582-31220-5 (Hardback) £60.00 ISBN 0-582-31221-3 (Paperback) £19.99 There are generally estimated to be about 4,000 to 6,000 languages in the world. This number alone gives us an idea of the immense diversity of languages of the world, but despite their differences, there also has to be an underlying unity to human languages. Linguistic typology is the study of the structural variation within human language with a view to establishing limits on this variation and seeking explanations for the limits. In this volume, Jae Jung Song uses data from a wide range of languages to provide an up-to-date critical introduction to linguistic typology. Focusing on major topics ranging from basic word order to causative constructions, the book demonstrates how systematic patterns can be uncovered, and limits on, and explanations for, these systematic patterns can be sought and formulated. Practical and methodological issues such as data collection and language sampling are also discussed, as well as the application of linguistic typology and a brief survey of major European approaches to linguistic typology. _Linguistic Typology_ will be essential reading for students involved in linguistic typology and language universals, comparative morphology and syntax, historical linguistics, first or second language acquisition, and language and cognition. Jae Jung Song is a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Pearson Education books are available from most booksellers, or can be ordered direct from (Postage: add £2.50 for all orders under £50): Pearson Education Customer Services (Orders) PO Box 88, Harlow Essex CM19 5SR United Kingdom Fax: +44 (0) 1279 623627 From jaejung.song at STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ Wed Aug 9 21:09:56 2000 From: jaejung.song at STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ (Jae Jung Song) Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 09:09:56 +1200 Subject: New Book - Typology Message-ID: New Book --- New Book --- New Book --- New Book --- New Book --- New Book LINGUISTIC TYPOLOGY: Morphology and Syntax By Jae Jung Song Pearson Education: Harlow and London August 2000, 406pp ISBN 0-582-31220-5 (Hardback) £60.00 ISBN 0-582-31221-3 (Paperback) £19.99 There are generally estimated to be about 4,000 to 6,000 languages in the world. This number alone gives us an idea of the immense diversity of languages of the world, but despite their differences, there also has to be an underlying unity to human languages. Linguistic typology is the study of the structural variation within human language with a view to establishing limits on this variation and seeking explanations for the limits. In this volume, Jae Jung Song uses data from a wide range of languages to provide an up-to-date critical introduction to linguistic typology. Focusing on major topics ranging from basic word order to causative constructions, the book demonstrates how systematic patterns can be uncovered, and limits on, and explanations for, these systematic patterns can be sought and formulated. Practical and methodological issues such as data collection and language sampling are also discussed, as well as the application of linguistic typology and a brief survey of major European approaches to linguistic typology. _Linguistic Typology_ will be essential reading for students involved in linguistic typology and language universals, comparative morphology and syntax, historical linguistics, first or second language acquisition, and language and cognition. Jae Jung Song is a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Pearson Education books are available from most booksellers, or can be ordered direct from (Postage: add £2.50 for all orders under £50): Pearson Education Customer Services (Orders) PO Box 88, Harlow Essex CM19 5SR United Kingdom Fax: +44 (0) 1279 623627 nzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonz Dr Jae Jung Song Linguistics Programme Department of Communication Studies School of Language, Literature and Performing Arts University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin NEW ZEALAND Tel: +64 3 479 8103; Fax: +64 3 479 8558 http://www.otago.ac.nz/Linguistics/home.html nzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonz From W.Schulze at LRZ.UNI-MUENCHEN.DE Thu Aug 10 13:44:54 2000 From: W.Schulze at LRZ.UNI-MUENCHEN.DE (Wolfgang Schulze) Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 15:44:54 +0200 Subject: Crash Course: GSS and Language Typology Message-ID: [Please excuse any cross-posting!] The Institute of General and Indoeuropean Linguistics of the University of Munich (Germany) announces a: Crash Course The ‚Grammar of Scenes and Scenarios’ (GSS) Its Application in Language Typology October 11 - 12, 2000 [10 a.m. – 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.– 5 p.m.] University of Munich - Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 München Room 454 The theoretical framework underlying the 'Grammar of Scenes and Scenarios' GSS (Schulze 1998) can be described as a strong diachronic model that owes much to (holistic) cognitivism, constructivism, and pragmatism. Modularity is only accepted as a secondary ‘construction’ (or mental hypothesis) of users about their language. Rather it is the structural coupling of adequate network components together with their emergent activities that have to be described as primary: This coupling results in language as a complex ‘cognitive event’ - as an emergent activity of this polycentric complex. According to GSS, the linguistic reaction to event images heavily depends on the cognitive and communicative defaults of such events. It is assumed that there is a (in parts strongly metaphorized) correlation between the cognitive and communicative architecture of linguistically oriented event imaging (‘scenes’ – or (in (co)textual coupling) ‘scenarios’) and their grammaticalization that is based on the Operating System of a given language. The architectures of scenes (and scenarios) represent strongly ritualized systems that are metaphorized from (system) space and (system) time experience and the embodiment of environmental experience. These systems are characterized among others by a) the topology of their paradigmatic space (formal architecture or ‘blueprint’), and b) by parameters of figure-ground relations and their location in the deictic, communicative, and pragmatic space and time as well as by further strategies of modalization. Their linguistic instantiation as Operating Systems that control the dynamic organization of linguistic paradigms establishes the typological parameters relevant for the explanation of the architecture of ‘simple sentences’. Their diversification in terms of different and prototypically organized grammatical systems is mainly explained as the particularization of universal techniques of categorization within the organization of scenes and scenarios that is conditioned by history and transmitted by collective (social) experience. The crash course will concentrate on the impliciations for language typology emerging from the GSS framework (‘Cognitive Typology’). Introducing the notion of ‘particularization’ we will discuss the architecture of ‘Operating Systems’ as well as the conditions that shape these architectures. (Cognition-Communication Interface; Linguistic, Communicative and Cultural Habitus; Grammaticalization; System Diachronics etc.). A major issue will be to elaborate the ‘Accusative Ergative Continuum’ as the most central part of Operating Systems, and to test its descriptive and explanatory power against the empirics of Language Typology. Ref.: Schulze, W. 1998. Person, Klasse, Kongruenz. Vol. 1 (in two parts). Munich/Newcastle: Lincom Europa (see also http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~wschulze/pkk_1abs.htm http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~wschulze/gss_main.html ) For further information and registration please contact Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulze: W.Schulze at lrz.uni-muenchen.de. -- ***************************** Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulze Institut fuer Allgemeine und Indogermanische Sprachwissenschaft Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet München Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1 D-80539 München Tel.: +89-21805343 / Fax: +89-21805345 Email: W.Schulze at lrz.uni-muenchen.de http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~wschulze/ ***************************** From edith at CSD.UWM.EDU Mon Aug 14 18:20:24 2000 From: edith at CSD.UWM.EDU (Edith A Moravcsik) Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 13:20:24 -0500 Subject: "exceptional AdjPh-s" Message-ID: This is an update on "exceptional adjectival phrases". Below I will summarize the responses that I received to my message posted at the end of July (25th?), most of which came directly to my e-mail address. The responses have been from the following: Hartmut Haberland, Dick Hudson, Bingfu Lu, Lise Menn, Jason Merchant, and Michael Tomasello. The issue pertains to English adjectival phrases like those occurring in "This is TOO GOOD a bargain to give up.", or "You would not expect THIS FAMOUS a person to mingle with the crowds." Such phrases differ from other adjectival phrases in both their linear and in some of their selectional properties. POSITIONALLY, either they occur preceding the indefinite article (see the examples above) or they are postposed to the noun (e.g. "a person THIS FAMOUS"), neither of which is an option for "regular" adjectival phrases of the same general structure, such as "very famous". Regarding COOCCURRENCE: the modifiers that occur in them ("too", "this", "how", etc.) form a limited set and the noun that occurs with these phrases must be singular and have the indefinite article if the adjectival phrase is preposed, while in postposed position the noun may be plural (e.g. "cars this shiny"). The question is why these phrases behave differently from others and exactly the way they do. In what follows, I will refer to these constructions as "exceptional adjectival phrases". The responses address three issues: - preposed position - postposed position - crosslinguistic distribution l. PREPOSED POSITION A/ Bingfu pointed out that the term "pre-article position" used in my summary seemed misleading because it gave the false impression that these phrases could occur in front of any article rather than just in front of the in definite article. B/ Jason Merchant called attention to his article co-authored with Chris Kennedy which just appeared in _Natural Language and Linguistics Theory_ ("Attributive and comparative deletion", NLLT, 2000, 18.1, 89-146). It is mostly on pages 104-109 and 124-125 that such phrases are discussed in pre-nominal position. The paper also contains a number of relevant references including D. Bolinger's 1972 book on degree words. C/ Both Lise Menn and Michael Tomasello pointed out the similarity between "this big a problem" and "this big of a problem" and suggested that the "of-less" exceptional adjectival phrases, jus as the "of-ful" ones, be considered quantificational genitive (Tomasello) or partitive (Menn) phrases. This is an attractive proposal although I believe these adjectival phrases are still somewhat special even in comparison to quantificational/partitive phrases. They may nonetheless be seen as a proper subclass of the latter although, according to Lise, not all of-less phrases have entirely grammatical of-ful versions, at least from a prescriptivist point of view. She said "too much of a politician" was OK but "too nice of a day" would seem questionable for copy editors and teachers. On the varying judgments about the grammaticality of of-ful phrases, see also the Kennedy-Merchant paper mentioned above (125-126, footnote 24). The ways in which exceptional adjectival phrases differ from other quantificational/partitive phrase are as follows: (a) In preposed position, the "of" is optional in these phrases while it is not in other quantificational/partitive phrases: this important of an event this important an event three tons of coal *three tons coal (b) The constraint that preposed exceptional adjectival phrases must occur with singular nouns and the indefinite article does not hold for other quantitative/partitive phrases: there is three tons of COAL; but also three tons of THE COAL three tons of APPLES (c) Exceptional adjectival phrases can be postposed to the noun while other quantitative/partitive phrases cannot: an event this important *coal three tons D/ Bingfu addressed the issue of what the common semantic denominator might be to the adjectival phrases that behave exceptionally and suggested a generalization somewhat broader than the one he proposed in his earlier message. The earlier formulation was this: "Modifiers contributing more referentiality to their mother NP tend to precede." Since this would not apply to some of the exceptional adjectival phrases since they include an indefinite article and are thus not necessarily referential, he proposes the revised version: "Modifiers that contribute more referentiality to their mother NP or that themselves are more referential tend to precede." He says that "such Adj", "this Adj" (and "that Adj") are clearly deictic and are thus covered by this generalization. In addition, he feels the other subtypes of exceptional adjectival phrases are also covered. Regarding "too Adj" he notes: "Too Adj" is deictic in the sense that it implies the meaning of 'outstanding'." Re "how Adj" and "what Adj", he says that they imply "that the related NP is likely at least a specific entity". - Although I fully agree that "this" is deictic, I am less certain about the evaluation of the other modifiers. What seems to me to be needed is definitions of "deictic", "referential" and "specific" to form the basis of these evaluations. 2. POSTPOSED POSITION A/ Dick Hudson pointed out that my use of the term "peripheral position" in reference to both the pre-article and the post-noun positions of exceptional adjectival phrases was imprecise: in post-nominal position, these phrases do not have to be final, such as in "a picture this big of Mary" or "a fish about this big that I caught last week". This is clearly so; although if we analyze "a picture this big" and "the fish about this big" as a "smaller" nominal phrase included in the larger NP, it may hold that exceptional adjectival phrases are peripheral to SOME nominal phrase, although not necessarily to the entire noun phrase. B/ Jason mentioned Karen Lattewitz's l998 dissertation (U. of Groningen), which contains some comparative discussion on "heaviness" as a condition for postposability, which, Jason suggests, is part of what is involved in exceptional adjectives being postposable. While the Mod+Adj structure is not a sufficient condition for postposing (cf. "a house too big" but *"a house very big"), it may still be a factor. 3. CROSSLINGUISTIC DISTRIBUTION A/ MANDARIN CHINESE Bingfu points out that the Mandarin Chinese equivalents of "this Adj", "so Adj", and "how Adj" differ from other adjectival phrases in the same way the English versions do: they precede, rather than follow, "yi-ge" ("one-classifier"), where "ye" corresponds to the English indefinite article. However, Mandarin "too Adj" does not have this property. His examples: Zheme congming yi-ge haizi! so/this smart one-CL boy 'So/this smart a boy!' Hac/duo congming yi-ge haizi! how smart one-CL boy 'How smart a boy!' *Tai congming yi-ge haizi! too smart one-CL boy 'Too big an boy!' B/ GERMAN Hartmut Haberland says that, unlike in English, phrases like "zu gross" 'too big' normally cannot occur in postnominal position in German: "ein Klavier zu gross" "a piano too big" is not possible with the meaning that the corresponding English phrase has (although it can be used in a sense where "ein Klavier" is a measure term; thus, if a line of pianos is to be fitted into a concert hall and it does not fit, one can say that the line is "ein Klavier zu gross" 'one piano too long' (cf. English "We drove one exit too far.")). He points out, however, that in poetic or slightly stilted language, the post-nominal position for some such phrases is possible, as in "die Donau so blau, so blau, so blau...: 'the (River) Danube so blue, so blue, so blue'. - He also notes that if phrases like "so gross" have a complement - e.g. "so gross wie..." - such phrases must be post-nominal. Thus, the equivalents of English exceptional adjectival phrases are not exceptional on German in that they normally do not occur in post-nominal position. Whether they are exceptional in pre-nominal position in that they precede the indefinite article (e.g. "So gross ein Klavier habe ich noch nie gesehen!" 'Such big a piano I have never seen!') or whether they take the regular post-article position ("Ein so grosses Klavier habe ich noch nie gesehen."), or perhaps both options are fine, remains to be seen. ************************************************************************ Edith A. Moravcsik Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413 USA E-mail: edith at uwm.edu Telephone: (414) 229-6794 /office/ (414) 332-0141 /home/ Fax: (414) 229-2741 From edith at CSD.UWM.EDU Thu Aug 17 14:35:54 2000 From: edith at CSD.UWM.EDU (Edith A Moravcsik) Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 09:35:54 -0500 Subject: "exceptional AdjPh-s" (fwd) Message-ID: This is a message sent on behalf of Jason Merchant. Edith ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 11:45:25 +0200 From: Jason Merchant To: Edith A Moravcsik Subject: Re: "exceptional AdjPh-s" Dear Edith, Thanks for the update. Just a couple brief comments. 1. AP prenominal "inversion" with "a" also occurs with "very", but in a more restricted set of environments: M. Borroff presented a paper at the 2000 LSA in which she claimed such inversion tracked negative-polarity licensing environments, pretty good as a first approximation: (1) John is *(not) [very good a student]. (her bracketing) (She's at SUNY Stony Brook, a student of Larson's, I think; Mlborroff at aol.com) 2. I have some discussion of some Dutch and German data in my dissertation (pp. 200-205), which I'd be happy to send you a copy of (it's also downloadable from my webpage -- ch 5 would be the relevant one; it's also going to appear next year with OUP, but I don't know exactly when), though I'm mostly interested there in the "how AP a N" versions, since they're relevant to sluicing. I'll copy and paste some of the data here, though: In some southern dialects, however, { REF _Ref425575190 \* MERGEFORMAT }(23e) is grammatical (the data presented here are from the Brabant dialect; thanks to N. Corver, I. Mulders, and R. van Rooy for discussion): ({ SEQ ( \* ARABIC }24) Hoe�n lange man hebben zij aangesteld? [Brabants] This strategy is found in standard Dutch with zo �so�, though not with hoe �how�, and compares with similar constructions found in German and English (cf. Corver 1990:319 for the middle Dutch equivalent). ({ SEQ ( \* ARABIC }25) a. Zo�n lange man heb ik nooit eerder gezien! [standard Dutch] so a tall-agr man have I never before seen b. So einen gro�en Mann hab ich nie zuvor gesehen! [German] so a tall man have I never before seen c. I�ve never seen such a tall man before. d. I�ve never seen so tall a man before. Standard Dutch is more restricted wrt inversion with "how": ({ SEQ ( \* ARABIC }23) a. * Hoe lang(e) een man hebben zij aangesteld? how tall(agr) a man have they hired b. * Hoe lang(e) man hebben zij aangesteld? how tall(agr) man have they hired c. * Hoe een lang(e) man hebben zij aangesteld? how a tall(agr) man have they hired d. * Hoe�n lang man hebben zij aangesteld? how a tall man have they hired e. * Hoe�n lange man hebben zij aangesteld? how a tall-agr man have they hired (How tall a man did they hire?) f. Een HOE lange man hebben zij aangesteld? [echoic] a how tall-agr man have they hired �A HOW tall man did they hire?� The German equivalents seem to be out: ({ SEQ ( \* ARABIC }29) a. * Wie gro�(en) einen Center haben sie eingestellt? how tall(agr) a center have they hired (�How tall a center did they hire?�) b. Einen WIE gro�en Center haben sie eingestellt? [echoic] a-agr how tall-agr center have they hired Also, *"So gross(en) einen Mann habe ich nie gesehen!" In German and standard Dutch, then, the morpheme "so" seems to correspond more with Eng "such" than with Eng "so". (Cf. also "So einen Kerl habe ich nie gesehen!" 'Such a guy I've never seen'.) Thanks again, --Jason ======================================================================== Jason Merchant Dept. of Dutch, Frisian, and Low Saxon merchant at let.rug.nl University of Groningen http://www.let.rug.nl~merchant PO Box 716 Office phone: +31 50 363-5632 9700 AS Groningen Department fax: +31 50 363-6855 The Netherlands From v.ferreira at GMX.DE Thu Aug 31 23:13:07 2000 From: v.ferreira at GMX.DE (Vera Ferreira) Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 00:13:07 +0100 Subject: Portuguese Dialects Message-ID: Hi, does anyone know where I can find some information (articles, magazines, grammars, ...) - about the portuguese dialects, namely "mirandês" (officially recognized), "barranquenho", "mindríco")? I will appreciate your answers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vera Ferreira Institut für Allgemeine und Indogermanische Sprachwissenschaft Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1 D-80539 München Email: v.ferreira at gmx.de -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dan_everett at SIL.ORG Wed Aug 2 12:10:14 2000 From: dan_everett at SIL.ORG (dan everett) Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2000 08:10:14 -0400 Subject: Workshop on the phonetics and phonology of prosody Message-ID: Workshop on the phonetics and phonology of prosody, 2001 First Announcement The analysis of stress, intonation, and tone in natural languages is notoriously difficult. Yet these phenomena and others closely associated with them are vital for a thorough understanding of the grammar of many languages. The difficulties of analysis in these domains are both phonological and phonetic. Phonologically, a proper understanding of prosody requires analysis of many interlocking areas of linguistics. The research needs to know about syllables, moras, morphophonology, syntax, and, quite often, discourse to make headway. Consequently, prosody is frequently underanalyzed and misanalyzed crosslinguistically. More generally, understanding in this area is impeded when there is a lack of systematic analysis of the phonetics underlying the phonology of prosody. The 'Phonetics and Phonology of Prosody' workshop offered through the University of North Dakota-SIL International Summer 2001 Session will offer the following helps for researchers from any part of the world: 1) Instruction in the acoustic phonetics bases and correlates of intonation, stress, and tone crosslinguistically, along with hands-on learning of PC and MAC tools for speech analysis (especially SIL International's _Speech Analyzer_ software and the _PRAAT_ program developed by researchers at the University of Amsterdam); 2) Regular individual sessions with participants on analyzing prosodic features of their languages of concern; 3) Presentations from workshop organizers and participants on the phonological and phonetic nature of prosody in different areas of the world; 4) Help and instruction in writing research results for publication. Helped will be offered for writing either descriptive or more theoretically-oriented reports. We hope to edit and publish a volume of research reports from the workshop. This workshop is available to linguists currently engaged in fieldwork who have a minimum of one course each in phonology and grammar/morphosyntax. No particular theoretical background is required, nor is any previous training in acoustics phonetics. Participants in the workshop must be enrolled as students of the University of North Dakota - SIL summer session. Those linguists who do not need or wish to receive academic credit for their participation will still need to enroll to audit the workshop as a course. (This will enable them to receive special rates for room & board during the workshop.) Participants wishing to receive academic credit for the workshop may enroll for 2-5 graduate credits, depending on the type and level of research they plan to engage in. The workshop will begin during the second week of June and will run until the second week of August, 2001. Exact dates will be provided in a later announcement. For further information, contact dan_everett at sil.org or visit the website of the University of North Dakota - SIL summer session: http://www.nd.sil.org From brucerichman at HOTMAIL.COM Wed Aug 2 14:39:38 2000 From: brucerichman at HOTMAIL.COM (bruce richman) Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2000 14:39:38 GMT Subject: Language Origins Society 2000 conference Message-ID: THE LANGUAGE ORIGINS SOCIETY 2000 CONFERENCE AT RUTGERS UNIVERSITY ON SEPT.4&5 WILL BE PRESENTING SOME REMARKABLE EVIDENCE ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF HUMAN LANGUAGE. ALTERNATIVES TO CHOMSKY: For 40 years Chomsky and his followers have claimed that the structure of language was innately implanted in people's brains -- with no empirical or scientific evidence to back this up! Scholars from around the world will present evidence to show how empty and without scientific merit Chomsky's claims really are. And they will discuss how to set up a new kind of language study that will apply real scientific methods to real human language. TERRENCE DEACON of Boston University will give a provocative talk on "Why language must be older than Homo sapiens. The neurological evidence for two million years of brain-language coevolution" MARC HAUSER of Harvard University will give a provocative talk on "The speech as special debate: New data from nonhuman animals and human infants" WE WOULD LIKE TO INVITE YOU TO ATTEND OUR CONFERENCE FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Bruce Richman email brucerichman at hotmail.com phone 216-381-7510 3805 Woodridge Rd. Cleveland Hts. OH 44121 ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com From d.brown at SURREY.AC.UK Fri Aug 4 16:58:46 2000 From: d.brown at SURREY.AC.UK (Dunstan Brown) Date: Fri, 4 Aug 2000 17:58:46 +0100 Subject: Job posting - Suppletion Project University of Surrey Message-ID: University of Surrey School of Language, Law and International Studies Research Fellowship in the Surrey Morphology Group (Ref: 2562/AF) Salary: #16,775 - #18,731 per annum Applications are invited for a research post in the Surrey Morphology Group within the School, for two years and seven months. The Group specialises in typology, particularly the application of formal and statistical approaches. This post is for an AHRB-funded project The notion possible word and its limits: a typology of suppletion , directed by Professor Greville Corbett, Dr Dunstan Brown and Dr Andrew Hippisley. Professor Peter Lutzeier will also be associated with the project. Candidates should have wide-ranging interests within linguistics. A good post-graduate degree in linguistics is highly desirable, and expertise in any of the following would be advantageous: Russian, typology, morphological theory. The job will involve working with a corpus, collecting and analysing cross-linguistic data, maintaining a database, compiling a bibliography and contributing to joint papers. Details of the Surrey Morphology Group can be found at: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/LIS/SMG/ Informal enquiries may be made to Dunstan Brown (d.brown at surrey.ac.uk). For an application pack, please contact Mrs A R Fleming by telephone on 01483 873846 (24 hours), or by e-mail at a.fleming at surrey.ac.uk or at the University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH. Please supply your postal address and the reference number 2562/AF. Please do not submit any documentation until you have received this pack. The closing date for written applications is Tuesday 12th September 2000. It is intended to interview shortlisted candidates on Wednesday 4th October 2000, and the starting date is 1st November, or as soon as possible thereafter. Visit the University Web Site at http://www.surrey.ac.uk/ The University is committed to an Equal Opportunities Policy. -- Dr Dunstan Brown Lecturer in Linguistics and Russian Language LIS University of Surrey Guildford Surrey GU2 5XH Tel: +44 1483 259957 Fax: +44 1483 259527 Email: d.brown at surrey.ac.uk From li.l at 371.net Sat Aug 5 02:07:19 2000 From: li.l at 371.net (Li Li) Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2000 10:07:19 +0800 Subject: No subject Message-ID: sign off -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tomas at EVA.MPG.DE Sun Aug 6 06:39:59 2000 From: tomas at EVA.MPG.DE (Michael Tomasello) Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2000 07:39:59 +0100 Subject: Review of Pinker? Message-ID: Johanna, There is a review of Pinker's new book by Morris Halle (believe it or not) in the latest Trends in Cognitive Science (July, 2000, p. 289). Although he says some complementary things (and also makes some snide remarks about all of the bppk's anecdotes, jokes, and cartoons), the main thrust seems to be: "As the reason for the failure [to account for German plurals] lies in Pinker's theory, which excludes rules that apply to lists, the theory must be modified. The modified theory, however, differs little from that of Chomsky and Halle (1968). Mike Tomasello From edith at CSD.UWM.EDU Mon Aug 7 14:12:10 2000 From: edith at CSD.UWM.EDU (Edith A Moravcsik) Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 09:12:10 -0500 Subject: adjectival phrases in English (fwd) Message-ID: Below you will find a message from Mike Tomasello and a response by me. Mike has allowed me to send this on to FUNKNET. Edith ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 09:26:24 -0500 (CDT) From: Edith A Moravcsik To: Michael Tomasello Subject: Re: adjectival phrases in English On Thu, 27 Jul 2000, Michael Tomasello wrote: > I'm sure I'm missing something (I am not a linguist), but isn't the > reason exceptional adjective phrases take a different form is that they > come from genetives. Many people say: > > this big of an apple > too big of an apple > > Just as they say > > He's too much of a friend to do that. > > I saw no talk of this genetive structure as responisble for many of the > characteristics enumerated. Did I miss something? > > Mike Tomasello > > *************************************************************************** Dear Mike, Thank you for your contribution! The fact that constructions such as "too Adj a N", "this Adj a N" also have alternative expressions with an "of" inserted, such as "too Adj OF a N", "this Adj OF a N" may indeed somehow be related to the fact that in "too Adj a N" etc., the adjectival phrase precedes the article. The question is exactly what this relationship is. The proposed relationship would be perfect if all exceptional adjectival phrases had an alternative "of-ful" version and if all "of-ful" constructions had an "of-less" alternative. But this does not seem to be the case. First, when the modifier in the adjectival phrase is "this" or "that", rather than "too", the "of-ful" alternative is not available I believe: this/that important an event ?/*this/that important of an event Second, not all "of-ful" constructions admit the "of-less" alternative: too much of a friend ?too much a friend Thus, the "of-deletion rule" would need to be formulated as a less-than- fully general rule. Also, one would still want to know why the "of" is optional in just these constructions when it is not optional in other constructions: the leg of the table *the leg the table suspicious of his sister *suspicious his sister The only other case that I can think of right now where "of" is optional is the complement of the verb "approve": He approved of the proposal. He approved the proposal. In sum: there may indeed be some relationship between the "of-less" and "of-ful" constructions; but it would take further work to specify the details of the relationship. Best - Edith ************************************************************************ Edith A. Moravcsik Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413 USA E-mail: edith at uwm.edu Telephone: (414) 229-6794 /office/ (414) 332-0141 /home/ Fax: (414) 229-2741 From edith at CSD.UWM.EDU Mon Aug 7 14:16:11 2000 From: edith at CSD.UWM.EDU (Edith A Moravcsik) Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 09:16:11 -0500 Subject: adjectival phrases in English (fwd) Message-ID: Here is Mike Tomasello's response to my response to his original message. The latter two texts have already been sent on to FUNKNET. Edith **************************************************************** ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 06 Aug 2000 09:09:31 +0100 From: Michael Tomasello To: Edith A Moravcsik Subject: Re: adjectival phrases in English Edith, Of course you can share the correspondence. 1. But I will say that I do not share your intuitions about: ?/*this/that important of an event Both variants seem fine to me. 2. Also, the conterpart to "too much of a friend" is the also-OK-in-my-dialect too little of a friend (or, not enough of a friend) 3. You ask: "Also, one would still want to know why the "of" is optional in just these constructions when it is not optional in other constructions: the leg of the table *the leg the table But this genitive does not involve quantification. (And 'suspicious of his sister' is simply a verb-particle construction, no?). 4. Final point. You say" The only other case that I can think of right now where "of" is optional is the complement of the verb "approve": He approved of the proposal. He approved the proposal. But these mean two very different things - so 'of' is not optional here in the same way as in the contruction being discussed. Best, Mike From edith at CSD.UWM.EDU Mon Aug 7 19:45:34 2000 From: edith at CSD.UWM.EDU (Edith A Moravcsik) Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 14:45:34 -0500 Subject: REQUEST from Max Enrique Figueroa-Estava Message-ID: The following is a message that I am forwarding to FUNKNET on Max Enrique's request. If you want to respond to him directly, please use the following address: maxestev at rtn.uson.mx Edith ************************************************************** Not long ago, David Tuggy and others engaged in a very interesting discussion about flip-flop constructions. Whether or not there was a final summing up, it in any case escaped me. A colleague and myself are seriously interested in contrastively studying English & Spanish flip-flop verbs from various points of view. Could co-listers help us out here with respect to literature on the general subject of flip-flop (behaviour of) items and/or any suggestions whatsoever? Thanx in advance! Max Figueroa From crubino at ANSWERLOGIC.COM Mon Aug 7 21:00:59 2000 From: crubino at ANSWERLOGIC.COM (Carl Rubino) Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 17:00:59 -0400 Subject: Positions in Linguistic Software Testing/Development Message-ID: Positions in Linguistic Software Testing AnswerLogic, a Washington D.C. based software company that delivers online question-answering solutions for businesses is currently seeking experienced linguists with a combination of the listed skill sets: B.A. or higher in Linguistics or Computational Linguistics. Good knowledge of English syntax and semantics (lexicographic experience and a functional orientation are a plus). Some knowledge of computer languages such as C++, Visual Basic, Java, or Perl. Experience in QA and/or software development is a plus. Qualified candidates please send resume and cover letter to crubino at answerlogic.com. Please note that applications without a detailed cover letter will not be considered. AnswerLogic offers competitive salaries, stock options, flexible hours and full benefits, as well as a stimulating environment with opportunity for advancement. From copelan at RICE.EDU Wed Aug 9 16:23:51 2000 From: copelan at RICE.EDU (James E Copeland) Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2000 11:23:51 -0500 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Rice University Open Rank Position in Linguistics The Department of Linguistics, Rice University, is seeking to fill a tenured or tenure-track position in linguistics at the level of assistant, associate or full professor beginning fall, 2001. The Ph.D. is required. The Department of Linguistics at Rice has a strongly functionalist, usage- based orientation. The Department adopts an integrative approach that is sensitive to language and its many contexts: discourse, social, cognitive, historical, etc. We emphasize language description and typology, generalizing from personal fieldwork experience. Fieldwork on a non-Indo-European language and an interest in language description and its implications are essential. Rice University is a private, selective institution with undergraduate and graduate strengths in science, engineering, the social sciences and the humanities. Rice places strong emphasis on research and excellence in classroom teaching. We expect the successful candidate to share the orientation of the Department and to have an outstanding record in those areas. In addition, the candidate should have demonstrated excellence in teaching undergraduate and graduate courses. The normal course load is six hours per semester. Interviews will be held in January, 2001 at the LSA meeting in Washington, D.C. For full consideration, applications including cover letter, CV, three names of references, and one representative article must be received by November 15, 2000. Reply to: Faculty Search, Department of Linguistics MS23, Rice University, 6100 Main St., Houston, TX 77005. E-mail: ling at ruf.rice. edu. AA/EOE Jim Copeland Professor Department of Linguistics Rice University Houston, TX 77252-1892 Office: (713) 348-5150 Home: (713) 666-8809 Fax: (713) 348-4718 copeland at rice.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From copelan at RICE.EDU Wed Aug 9 16:19:42 2000 From: copelan at RICE.EDU (James E Copeland) Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2000 11:19:42 -0500 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Rice University Open Rank Position in Linguistics The Department of Linguistics, Rice University, is seeking to fill a tenured or tenure-track position in linguistics at the level of assistant, associate or full professor beginning fall, 2001. The Ph.D. is required. The Department of Linguistics at Rice has a strongly functionalist, usage- based orientation. The Department adopts an integrative approach that is sensitive to language and its many contexts: discourse, social, cognitive, historical, etc. We emphasize language description and typology, generalizing from personal fieldwork experience. Fieldwork on a non-Indo-European language and an interest in language description and its implications are essential. Rice University is a private, selective institution with undergraduate and graduate strengths in science, engineering, the social sciences and the humanities. Rice places strong emphasis on research and excellence in classroom teaching. We expect the successful candidate to share the orientation of the Department and to have an outstanding record in those areas. In addition, the candidate should have demonstrated excellence in teaching undergraduate and graduate courses. The normal course load is six hours per semester. Interviews will be held in January, 2001 at the LSA meeting in Washington, D.C. For full consideration, applications including cover letter, CV, three names of references, and one representative article must be received by November 15, 2000. Reply to: Faculty Search, Department of Linguistics MS23, Rice University, 6100 Main St., Houston, TX 77005. E-mail: ling at ruf.rice. edu. AA/EOE -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From maxestev at RTN.USON.MX Wed Aug 9 18:01:59 2000 From: maxestev at RTN.USON.MX (Max E. Figueroa Esteva) Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2000 11:01:59 -0700 Subject: flip-flop Message-ID: A colleague and myself are interested in contrastively studying English & Spanish flip-flop verbal behaviour from various points of view. Could co-listers help us out here with respect to literature on the general subject of flip-flop (behaviour of) items, advantages and/or disadvantages of alternative theoretico-methodological approaches (i. e., cognitive, functional, etc.) or any suggestions whatsoever? We'd very much appreciate it! Max E. Figueroa-Esteva -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jaejung.song at STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ Wed Aug 9 21:02:18 2000 From: jaejung.song at STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ (Jae Jung Song) Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 09:02:18 +1200 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Book announcement: LINGUISTIC TYPOLOGY: Morphology and Syntax By Jae Jung Song Pearson Education: Harlow and London August 2000, 406pp ISBN 0-582-31220-5 (Hardback) ?60.00 ISBN 0-582-31221-3 (Paperback) ?19.99 There are generally estimated to be about 4,000 to 6,000 languages in the world. This number alone gives us an idea of the immense diversity of languages of the world, but despite their differences, there also has to be an underlying unity to human languages. Linguistic typology is the study of the structural variation within human language with a view to establishing limits on this variation and seeking explanations for the limits. In this volume, Jae Jung Song uses data from a wide range of languages to provide an up-to-date critical introduction to linguistic typology. Focusing on major topics ranging from basic word order to causative constructions, the book demonstrates how systematic patterns can be uncovered, and limits on, and explanations for, these systematic patterns can be sought and formulated. Practical and methodological issues such as data collection and language sampling are also discussed, as well as the application of linguistic typology and a brief survey of major European approaches to linguistic typology. _Linguistic Typology_ will be essential reading for students involved in linguistic typology and language universals, comparative morphology and syntax, historical linguistics, first or second language acquisition, and language and cognition. Jae Jung Song is a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Pearson Education books are available from most booksellers, or can be ordered direct from (Postage: add ?2.50 for all orders under ?50): Pearson Education Customer Services (Orders) PO Box 88, Harlow Essex CM19 5SR United Kingdom Fax: +44 (0) 1279 623627 From jaejung.song at STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ Wed Aug 9 21:09:56 2000 From: jaejung.song at STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ (Jae Jung Song) Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 09:09:56 +1200 Subject: New Book - Typology Message-ID: New Book --- New Book --- New Book --- New Book --- New Book --- New Book LINGUISTIC TYPOLOGY: Morphology and Syntax By Jae Jung Song Pearson Education: Harlow and London August 2000, 406pp ISBN 0-582-31220-5 (Hardback) ?60.00 ISBN 0-582-31221-3 (Paperback) ?19.99 There are generally estimated to be about 4,000 to 6,000 languages in the world. This number alone gives us an idea of the immense diversity of languages of the world, but despite their differences, there also has to be an underlying unity to human languages. Linguistic typology is the study of the structural variation within human language with a view to establishing limits on this variation and seeking explanations for the limits. In this volume, Jae Jung Song uses data from a wide range of languages to provide an up-to-date critical introduction to linguistic typology. Focusing on major topics ranging from basic word order to causative constructions, the book demonstrates how systematic patterns can be uncovered, and limits on, and explanations for, these systematic patterns can be sought and formulated. Practical and methodological issues such as data collection and language sampling are also discussed, as well as the application of linguistic typology and a brief survey of major European approaches to linguistic typology. _Linguistic Typology_ will be essential reading for students involved in linguistic typology and language universals, comparative morphology and syntax, historical linguistics, first or second language acquisition, and language and cognition. Jae Jung Song is a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Pearson Education books are available from most booksellers, or can be ordered direct from (Postage: add ?2.50 for all orders under ?50): Pearson Education Customer Services (Orders) PO Box 88, Harlow Essex CM19 5SR United Kingdom Fax: +44 (0) 1279 623627 nzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonz Dr Jae Jung Song Linguistics Programme Department of Communication Studies School of Language, Literature and Performing Arts University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin NEW ZEALAND Tel: +64 3 479 8103; Fax: +64 3 479 8558 http://www.otago.ac.nz/Linguistics/home.html nzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonzuonz From W.Schulze at LRZ.UNI-MUENCHEN.DE Thu Aug 10 13:44:54 2000 From: W.Schulze at LRZ.UNI-MUENCHEN.DE (Wolfgang Schulze) Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 15:44:54 +0200 Subject: Crash Course: GSS and Language Typology Message-ID: [Please excuse any cross-posting!] The Institute of General and Indoeuropean Linguistics of the University of Munich (Germany) announces a: Crash Course The ?Grammar of Scenes and Scenarios? (GSS) Its Application in Language Typology October 11 - 12, 2000 [10 a.m. ? 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.? 5 p.m.] University of Munich - Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 M?nchen Room 454 The theoretical framework underlying the 'Grammar of Scenes and Scenarios' GSS (Schulze 1998) can be described as a strong diachronic model that owes much to (holistic) cognitivism, constructivism, and pragmatism. Modularity is only accepted as a secondary ?construction? (or mental hypothesis) of users about their language. Rather it is the structural coupling of adequate network components together with their emergent activities that have to be described as primary: This coupling results in language as a complex ?cognitive event? - as an emergent activity of this polycentric complex. According to GSS, the linguistic reaction to event images heavily depends on the cognitive and communicative defaults of such events. It is assumed that there is a (in parts strongly metaphorized) correlation between the cognitive and communicative architecture of linguistically oriented event imaging (?scenes? ? or (in (co)textual coupling) ?scenarios?) and their grammaticalization that is based on the Operating System of a given language. The architectures of scenes (and scenarios) represent strongly ritualized systems that are metaphorized from (system) space and (system) time experience and the embodiment of environmental experience. These systems are characterized among others by a) the topology of their paradigmatic space (formal architecture or ?blueprint?), and b) by parameters of figure-ground relations and their location in the deictic, communicative, and pragmatic space and time as well as by further strategies of modalization. Their linguistic instantiation as Operating Systems that control the dynamic organization of linguistic paradigms establishes the typological parameters relevant for the explanation of the architecture of ?simple sentences?. Their diversification in terms of different and prototypically organized grammatical systems is mainly explained as the particularization of universal techniques of categorization within the organization of scenes and scenarios that is conditioned by history and transmitted by collective (social) experience. The crash course will concentrate on the impliciations for language typology emerging from the GSS framework (?Cognitive Typology?). Introducing the notion of ?particularization? we will discuss the architecture of ?Operating Systems? as well as the conditions that shape these architectures. (Cognition-Communication Interface; Linguistic, Communicative and Cultural Habitus; Grammaticalization; System Diachronics etc.). A major issue will be to elaborate the ?Accusative Ergative Continuum? as the most central part of Operating Systems, and to test its descriptive and explanatory power against the empirics of Language Typology. Ref.: Schulze, W. 1998. Person, Klasse, Kongruenz. Vol. 1 (in two parts). Munich/Newcastle: Lincom Europa (see also http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~wschulze/pkk_1abs.htm http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~wschulze/gss_main.html ) For further information and registration please contact Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulze: W.Schulze at lrz.uni-muenchen.de. -- ***************************** Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulze Institut fuer Allgemeine und Indogermanische Sprachwissenschaft Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet M?nchen Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1 D-80539 M?nchen Tel.: +89-21805343 / Fax: +89-21805345 Email: W.Schulze at lrz.uni-muenchen.de http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~wschulze/ ***************************** From edith at CSD.UWM.EDU Mon Aug 14 18:20:24 2000 From: edith at CSD.UWM.EDU (Edith A Moravcsik) Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 13:20:24 -0500 Subject: "exceptional AdjPh-s" Message-ID: This is an update on "exceptional adjectival phrases". Below I will summarize the responses that I received to my message posted at the end of July (25th?), most of which came directly to my e-mail address. The responses have been from the following: Hartmut Haberland, Dick Hudson, Bingfu Lu, Lise Menn, Jason Merchant, and Michael Tomasello. The issue pertains to English adjectival phrases like those occurring in "This is TOO GOOD a bargain to give up.", or "You would not expect THIS FAMOUS a person to mingle with the crowds." Such phrases differ from other adjectival phrases in both their linear and in some of their selectional properties. POSITIONALLY, either they occur preceding the indefinite article (see the examples above) or they are postposed to the noun (e.g. "a person THIS FAMOUS"), neither of which is an option for "regular" adjectival phrases of the same general structure, such as "very famous". Regarding COOCCURRENCE: the modifiers that occur in them ("too", "this", "how", etc.) form a limited set and the noun that occurs with these phrases must be singular and have the indefinite article if the adjectival phrase is preposed, while in postposed position the noun may be plural (e.g. "cars this shiny"). The question is why these phrases behave differently from others and exactly the way they do. In what follows, I will refer to these constructions as "exceptional adjectival phrases". The responses address three issues: - preposed position - postposed position - crosslinguistic distribution l. PREPOSED POSITION A/ Bingfu pointed out that the term "pre-article position" used in my summary seemed misleading because it gave the false impression that these phrases could occur in front of any article rather than just in front of the in definite article. B/ Jason Merchant called attention to his article co-authored with Chris Kennedy which just appeared in _Natural Language and Linguistics Theory_ ("Attributive and comparative deletion", NLLT, 2000, 18.1, 89-146). It is mostly on pages 104-109 and 124-125 that such phrases are discussed in pre-nominal position. The paper also contains a number of relevant references including D. Bolinger's 1972 book on degree words. C/ Both Lise Menn and Michael Tomasello pointed out the similarity between "this big a problem" and "this big of a problem" and suggested that the "of-less" exceptional adjectival phrases, jus as the "of-ful" ones, be considered quantificational genitive (Tomasello) or partitive (Menn) phrases. This is an attractive proposal although I believe these adjectival phrases are still somewhat special even in comparison to quantificational/partitive phrases. They may nonetheless be seen as a proper subclass of the latter although, according to Lise, not all of-less phrases have entirely grammatical of-ful versions, at least from a prescriptivist point of view. She said "too much of a politician" was OK but "too nice of a day" would seem questionable for copy editors and teachers. On the varying judgments about the grammaticality of of-ful phrases, see also the Kennedy-Merchant paper mentioned above (125-126, footnote 24). The ways in which exceptional adjectival phrases differ from other quantificational/partitive phrase are as follows: (a) In preposed position, the "of" is optional in these phrases while it is not in other quantificational/partitive phrases: this important of an event this important an event three tons of coal *three tons coal (b) The constraint that preposed exceptional adjectival phrases must occur with singular nouns and the indefinite article does not hold for other quantitative/partitive phrases: there is three tons of COAL; but also three tons of THE COAL three tons of APPLES (c) Exceptional adjectival phrases can be postposed to the noun while other quantitative/partitive phrases cannot: an event this important *coal three tons D/ Bingfu addressed the issue of what the common semantic denominator might be to the adjectival phrases that behave exceptionally and suggested a generalization somewhat broader than the one he proposed in his earlier message. The earlier formulation was this: "Modifiers contributing more referentiality to their mother NP tend to precede." Since this would not apply to some of the exceptional adjectival phrases since they include an indefinite article and are thus not necessarily referential, he proposes the revised version: "Modifiers that contribute more referentiality to their mother NP or that themselves are more referential tend to precede." He says that "such Adj", "this Adj" (and "that Adj") are clearly deictic and are thus covered by this generalization. In addition, he feels the other subtypes of exceptional adjectival phrases are also covered. Regarding "too Adj" he notes: "Too Adj" is deictic in the sense that it implies the meaning of 'outstanding'." Re "how Adj" and "what Adj", he says that they imply "that the related NP is likely at least a specific entity". - Although I fully agree that "this" is deictic, I am less certain about the evaluation of the other modifiers. What seems to me to be needed is definitions of "deictic", "referential" and "specific" to form the basis of these evaluations. 2. POSTPOSED POSITION A/ Dick Hudson pointed out that my use of the term "peripheral position" in reference to both the pre-article and the post-noun positions of exceptional adjectival phrases was imprecise: in post-nominal position, these phrases do not have to be final, such as in "a picture this big of Mary" or "a fish about this big that I caught last week". This is clearly so; although if we analyze "a picture this big" and "the fish about this big" as a "smaller" nominal phrase included in the larger NP, it may hold that exceptional adjectival phrases are peripheral to SOME nominal phrase, although not necessarily to the entire noun phrase. B/ Jason mentioned Karen Lattewitz's l998 dissertation (U. of Groningen), which contains some comparative discussion on "heaviness" as a condition for postposability, which, Jason suggests, is part of what is involved in exceptional adjectives being postposable. While the Mod+Adj structure is not a sufficient condition for postposing (cf. "a house too big" but *"a house very big"), it may still be a factor. 3. CROSSLINGUISTIC DISTRIBUTION A/ MANDARIN CHINESE Bingfu points out that the Mandarin Chinese equivalents of "this Adj", "so Adj", and "how Adj" differ from other adjectival phrases in the same way the English versions do: they precede, rather than follow, "yi-ge" ("one-classifier"), where "ye" corresponds to the English indefinite article. However, Mandarin "too Adj" does not have this property. His examples: Zheme congming yi-ge haizi! so/this smart one-CL boy 'So/this smart a boy!' Hac/duo congming yi-ge haizi! how smart one-CL boy 'How smart a boy!' *Tai congming yi-ge haizi! too smart one-CL boy 'Too big an boy!' B/ GERMAN Hartmut Haberland says that, unlike in English, phrases like "zu gross" 'too big' normally cannot occur in postnominal position in German: "ein Klavier zu gross" "a piano too big" is not possible with the meaning that the corresponding English phrase has (although it can be used in a sense where "ein Klavier" is a measure term; thus, if a line of pianos is to be fitted into a concert hall and it does not fit, one can say that the line is "ein Klavier zu gross" 'one piano too long' (cf. English "We drove one exit too far.")). He points out, however, that in poetic or slightly stilted language, the post-nominal position for some such phrases is possible, as in "die Donau so blau, so blau, so blau...: 'the (River) Danube so blue, so blue, so blue'. - He also notes that if phrases like "so gross" have a complement - e.g. "so gross wie..." - such phrases must be post-nominal. Thus, the equivalents of English exceptional adjectival phrases are not exceptional on German in that they normally do not occur in post-nominal position. Whether they are exceptional in pre-nominal position in that they precede the indefinite article (e.g. "So gross ein Klavier habe ich noch nie gesehen!" 'Such big a piano I have never seen!') or whether they take the regular post-article position ("Ein so grosses Klavier habe ich noch nie gesehen."), or perhaps both options are fine, remains to be seen. ************************************************************************ Edith A. Moravcsik Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413 USA E-mail: edith at uwm.edu Telephone: (414) 229-6794 /office/ (414) 332-0141 /home/ Fax: (414) 229-2741 From edith at CSD.UWM.EDU Thu Aug 17 14:35:54 2000 From: edith at CSD.UWM.EDU (Edith A Moravcsik) Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 09:35:54 -0500 Subject: "exceptional AdjPh-s" (fwd) Message-ID: This is a message sent on behalf of Jason Merchant. Edith ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 11:45:25 +0200 From: Jason Merchant To: Edith A Moravcsik Subject: Re: "exceptional AdjPh-s" Dear Edith, Thanks for the update. Just a couple brief comments. 1. AP prenominal "inversion" with "a" also occurs with "very", but in a more restricted set of environments: M. Borroff presented a paper at the 2000 LSA in which she claimed such inversion tracked negative-polarity licensing environments, pretty good as a first approximation: (1) John is *(not) [very good a student]. (her bracketing) (She's at SUNY Stony Brook, a student of Larson's, I think; Mlborroff at aol.com) 2. I have some discussion of some Dutch and German data in my dissertation (pp. 200-205), which I'd be happy to send you a copy of (it's also downloadable from my webpage -- ch 5 would be the relevant one; it's also going to appear next year with OUP, but I don't know exactly when), though I'm mostly interested there in the "how AP a N" versions, since they're relevant to sluicing. I'll copy and paste some of the data here, though: In some southern dialects, however, { REF _Ref425575190 \* MERGEFORMAT }(23e) is grammatical (the data presented here are from the Brabant dialect; thanks to N. Corver, I. Mulders, and R. van Rooy for discussion): ({ SEQ ( \* ARABIC }24) Hoe?n lange man hebben zij aangesteld? [Brabants] This strategy is found in standard Dutch with zo ?so?, though not with hoe ?how?, and compares with similar constructions found in German and English (cf. Corver 1990:319 for the middle Dutch equivalent). ({ SEQ ( \* ARABIC }25) a. Zo?n lange man heb ik nooit eerder gezien! [standard Dutch] so a tall-agr man have I never before seen b. So einen gro?en Mann hab ich nie zuvor gesehen! [German] so a tall man have I never before seen c. I?ve never seen such a tall man before. d. I?ve never seen so tall a man before. Standard Dutch is more restricted wrt inversion with "how": ({ SEQ ( \* ARABIC }23) a. * Hoe lang(e) een man hebben zij aangesteld? how tall(agr) a man have they hired b. * Hoe lang(e) man hebben zij aangesteld? how tall(agr) man have they hired c. * Hoe een lang(e) man hebben zij aangesteld? how a tall(agr) man have they hired d. * Hoe?n lang man hebben zij aangesteld? how a tall man have they hired e. * Hoe?n lange man hebben zij aangesteld? how a tall-agr man have they hired (How tall a man did they hire?) f. Een HOE lange man hebben zij aangesteld? [echoic] a how tall-agr man have they hired ?A HOW tall man did they hire?? The German equivalents seem to be out: ({ SEQ ( \* ARABIC }29) a. * Wie gro?(en) einen Center haben sie eingestellt? how tall(agr) a center have they hired (?How tall a center did they hire??) b. Einen WIE gro?en Center haben sie eingestellt? [echoic] a-agr how tall-agr center have they hired Also, *"So gross(en) einen Mann habe ich nie gesehen!" In German and standard Dutch, then, the morpheme "so" seems to correspond more with Eng "such" than with Eng "so". (Cf. also "So einen Kerl habe ich nie gesehen!" 'Such a guy I've never seen'.) Thanks again, --Jason ======================================================================== Jason Merchant Dept. of Dutch, Frisian, and Low Saxon merchant at let.rug.nl University of Groningen http://www.let.rug.nl~merchant PO Box 716 Office phone: +31 50 363-5632 9700 AS Groningen Department fax: +31 50 363-6855 The Netherlands From v.ferreira at GMX.DE Thu Aug 31 23:13:07 2000 From: v.ferreira at GMX.DE (Vera Ferreira) Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 00:13:07 +0100 Subject: Portuguese Dialects Message-ID: Hi, does anyone know where I can find some information (articles, magazines, grammars, ...) - about the portuguese dialects, namely "mirand?s" (officially recognized), "barranquenho", "mindr?co")? I will appreciate your answers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vera Ferreira Institut f?r Allgemeine und Indogermanische Sprachwissenschaft Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit?t M?nchen Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1 D-80539 M?nchen Email: v.ferreira at gmx.de -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: