From tomasello at eva.mpg.de Tue Dec 2 09:06:58 2003 From: tomasello at eva.mpg.de (Michael Tomasello) Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 10:06:58 +0100 Subject: question In-Reply-To: <000101c3b793$59aa14a0$37757d81@rugkhxjrwupwrw> Message-ID: I am interested in specific proposals about precisely what is in Universal Grammar - like a list or inventory (Jackendoff's new book provides one example). Please send references to me directly, and I will share results if there are interesting responses. Thanks in advance, Mike Tomasello From Zygmunt.Frajzyngier at colorado.edu Wed Dec 3 00:21:23 2003 From: Zygmunt.Frajzyngier at colorado.edu (Zygmunt Frajzyngier) Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 17:21:23 -0700 Subject: Book notice Message-ID: Dear Friends, Attached is a book notice that may be of interest to some of you. Apologies for multiple postings, if any. Zygmunt. Till Dec. 23, 2003 RCLT Institute of Advanced Study La Trobe University Bundoora, Victoria 3086 Fax: 61 3 9467 3053 Phone: 61 3 9479 6420 Australia Permanent address: Dept. of Linguistics Box 295, University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado 80309 Phone: 303-492-6959 Fax: 303-492-4416 From Zygmunt.Frajzyngier at colorado.edu Wed Dec 3 01:39:20 2003 From: Zygmunt.Frajzyngier at colorado.edu (Zygmunt Frajzyngier) Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 18:39:20 -0700 Subject: Book notice Message-ID: Dear Friends, Apologies for the previous message that was supposed to contain an attachment. Since the attachment didn't got through below is the information about the new book with potential interest to Funknetters, Zygmunt Explaining Language Structure through Systems Interaction Zygmunt Frajzyngier and Erin Shay University of Colorado Typological Studies in Language 55 2003. xviii, 309 pp. This book is available Hardbound 1 58811 436 8 / USD 105.00 90 272 2963 5 / EUR 105.00 Add to shopping cart Add to wish list This book proposes a framework for describing languages through the description of relationships among lexicon, morphology, syntax, and phonology. The framework is based on the notion of formal coding means; the principle of functional transparency; the notion of functional domains; and the notion of systems interaction in the coding of functional domains. The study is based on original analyses of cross-linguistic data. The fundamental finding of the study is that different languages may code different functional domains, which must be discovered by analyzing the formal means available in each language. The first part of the book proposes a methodology for discovering functional domains and the second part describes the properties of various functional domains. The book presents new cross-linguistic analyses of theoretical issues including agreement; phenomena attributed to government; nominal classification; prerequisites for and implications of linear order coding; and defining characteristics of lexical categories. The study also contributes new analyses of specific problems in individual languages. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Table of contents Acknowledgments xiii Abbreviations xiv 1. Introduction: Theoretical and methodological foundations 1–36 2. Interaction of the lexicon with other coding means 37–56 3. Coding through linear order 57–88 4. Coding through nominal inflection 89–113 5. Interaction of phonology with other coding means 115–151 6. Agreement, or coding on other constituents 153–168 7. Interaction of nominal classification with other coding means 169–181 8. Matrix clause coding 183–210 9. Determining the function of a linguistic form: The indirectly affected argument and the external possessor 211–231 10. Systems interaction in the coding of locative predication 233–246 11. Systems interaction in the coding of reference 247–282 12. Conclusions, implications, and open questions 283–288 Notes 289–290 References 291–300 Index of authors 301–302 Index of languages 303–304 Index of subjects 305–307 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Subject classification Linguistics Typology Zygmunt Frajzyngier Till Dec. 23, 2003 RCLT Institute of Advanced Study La Trobe University Bundoora, Victoria 3086 Fax: 61 3 9467 3053 Phone: 61 3 9479 6420 Australia Permanent address: Dept. of Linguistics Box 295, University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado 80309 Phone: 303-492-6959 Fax: 303-492-4416 From language at sprynet.com Wed Dec 10 21:23:01 2003 From: language at sprynet.com (Alexander Gross) Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 16:23:01 -0500 Subject: Professor Botha's new book... Message-ID: Forgive me if you have already received the following announcement for Professor Botha's new book. I am honored to have been included among the first group of scholars who received it. It is preceded by some of my own reactions to the announcement. ------------------------------------- I'm truly pleased to hear Professor Botha feels that much work in the "evolution of language" is not sufficiently "restrictive" and lacks a scientific basis. During the winter and autumn of 2000 I advanced this view a bit differently in a paper presented in New York and Mexico City: http://language.home.sprynet.com/trandex/hermes.htm#totop (If it's too long to read, search for the word "conjecture.") I can only wish that Professor Botha had been equally concerned with the scientific underpinnings of much linguistic theory in one of his earlier works, as I point out in the 41st segment of the following piece: http://language.home.sprynet.com/lingdex/chomrong.htm#totop Finally, I believe that language studies in general continue to suffer from the failings I have outlined in "Suggested Minimal Requirements for the Advanced Study of Linguistics" at: http://language.home.sprynet.com/lingdex/minimum.htm#totop What is truly needed within the parameters of balanced scientific research is a more inclusive approach, not a more restrictive one, nor can the cramped and dated shibboleths of syntactic structure ever hope to account for the rich physiological and biological underpinnings of language. Questions concerning the origins of language may perhaps be best answered by those language professionals who today still perform a task analogous to the one they performed in prehistoric times. Respectfully, Alexander Gross The announcement for the book follows. If you go to the URL it provides, you will be able to read the book's Preamble and a fair amount more about it. ------------------------- Dear Colleague Please find attached a description of Rudolf Botha's new book on language genesis, Unravelling the Evolution of Language, published by Elsevier in 2003. Further information, including the Preamble of the book, can be viewed at the following URL: ____________________________ Department of General Linguistics Stellenbosch University Private Bag X1 MATIELAND South Africa 7602 Tel: +27 21 808 2052 Fax: +27 21 808 2009 From john at research.haifa.ac.il Thu Dec 11 10:05:16 2003 From: john at research.haifa.ac.il (John Myhill) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 12:05:16 +0200 Subject: German ethnonyms Message-ID: Does anyone out there have any idea of why there are so many different words meaning `German' in different languages? Aside from English German, there's German Deutsche, Spanish alleman, Italian tedesco, and Russian nemyetski? Also, does anyone know others? Thanks, John Myhill -- From dcyr at yorku.ca Thu Dec 11 14:46:47 2003 From: dcyr at yorku.ca (Danielle E. Cyr) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 09:46:47 -0500 Subject: German ethnonyms In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Hi John, Yes there is also Swedish Tyska But we have to consider Tyska, Deutsche and Tedesco as one only since they are only phonetic adaptations of the same etymon I suppose. As for why there are many others, to my knowledge each different one comes from the name of the tribe after which the name was taken. In the Antiquity and Early Middle Age, there were still al lot of German tribes living separate political existence. This is only my intuition. Cheers, Danielle Cyr Quoting John Myhill : > Does anyone out there have any idea of why there are so many > different words meaning `German' in different languages? Aside > from English German, there's German Deutsche, Spanish alleman, Italian > tedesco, and Russian nemyetski? > Also, does anyone know others? > Thanks, John Myhill > -- > From dedaicm at georgetown.edu Thu Dec 11 15:09:56 2003 From: dedaicm at georgetown.edu (Mirjana Dedaic) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 10:09:56 -0500 Subject: German ethnonyms Message-ID: Slavic names for Germans come from the root 'nem' (=mute). Germans were "people who did not speak" (the same language). Best, Mirjana Dedaic ----- Original Message ----- From: dcyr at yorku.ca Date: Thursday, December 11, 2003 9:46 am Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] German ethnonyms > Hi John, > > Yes there is also Swedish Tyska > But we have to consider Tyska, Deutsche and Tedesco as one only > since they are > only phonetic adaptations of the same etymon I suppose. > > As for why there are many others, to my knowledge each different > one comes from > the name of the tribe after which the name was taken. In the > Antiquity and Early > Middle Age, there were still al lot of German tribes living > separate political > existence. This is only my intuition. > > Cheers, > > Danielle Cyr > > > Quoting John Myhill : > > > Does anyone out there have any idea of why there are so many > > different words meaning `German' in different languages? Aside > > from English German, there's German Deutsche, Spanish alleman, > Italian> tedesco, and Russian nemyetski? > > Also, does anyone know others? > > Thanks, John Myhill > > -- > > > > > From mewinters at wayne.edu Thu Dec 11 15:20:04 2003 From: mewinters at wayne.edu (Margaret Winters) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 10:20:04 -0500 Subject: German ethonyms Message-ID: Yes, as Danielle Cyr says, they are names of tribes (or via Latin versions of the name as in in the case of Allemani). The Russian comes from a negative nye- and the word for, if I remember correctly, language or mouth - it was not the same language. Other Germanic tribe names have spread as well - Goths, Vandals as English non-geographic words (also Deutsch etc. mentioned by Danielle as the adjective tutonic), Burgundy as the now French place-name, and probably a lot of others I'm not thinking of. Margaret Margaret E. Winters Associate Provost for Academic Personnel 656 Kirby #4092 Wayne State University Detroit, MI 48202 phone: 313 577-2256 fax: 313 577-5666 e-mail: mewinters at wayne.edu From W.Schulze at lrz.uni-muenchen.de Thu Dec 11 15:26:27 2003 From: W.Schulze at lrz.uni-muenchen.de (W. Schulze) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 16:26:27 +0100 Subject: German ethnonyms Message-ID: Dear John, I guess all this has to do with historical and political issues: The lack of a cultural / administrative / politic center in 'Germany' conditioned that a cover term for the 'members' of the 'German society' was rarely promoted by such a center. Instead, foreign communities were used to refer to 'the Germans' in terms of a synecdoche, expoiting the name of a German 'community' that was close to their experience. Such a name could then be easily transmitted to other communities that stood not in closer contact with Germans. In more details: English 'German' seems to be a learnt latinism; interstingly enough, it also is present in e.g. Albanian gjerman, Georgian germanuli etc.... Italian 'tedesco' obviously is a local derivation from the Germanic teuta-term ('people' etc.) that also underlies the term 'Deutsch' (> 'Dutch' used by English for the 'closest' communities, that is for those in the Netherlands') [compare Latvian tauta 'people', Old Irish tuath 'people, land' and so more cognates...]. The same term is also present in e.g. Swedish Tysk. French 'Allemand' relates to the Upper Rhenanian neighbors, the 'allemans', a former southern German gentile group (perhaps 'all (free) men'). It was then transmitted to Spain, probably already in Franconian times. Russian 'Nemec' 'German' is derived from nem- 'not able to communicate', used in early Russian times to denote any person who could not be understood by a native (contrary for instance to speakers of Slvaic sister languages). As Russians by that time were predominantly confronted with German speaking foreigners (both ethnic and Hanse-related), the term was later narrowed down to 'German'. Arabic: Older form: namsi:y etc.: Probably taken from Osmanic (which used the term for the Austrians, being the closest 'Germans' to them), which again has taken the term from Slavic Nemec (?). But note that both Modern Arabic and Persian have taken their terms from French (alma:ni:). The same holds for Modern Turkish (alman). In addition, you find Latvian va:cu 'German' (in fact a gen.pl.) and Lithuanian vokietis 'German'. Unfortunately, I do not have at hands Fränkel's etymological dictionary, but there you will surely find a suggestion where to derive this form from.... Hope this helps, Wolfgang John Myhill schrieb: > Does anyone out there have any idea of why there are so many > different words meaning `German' in different languages? Aside > from English German, there's German Deutsche, Spanish alleman, Italian > tedesco, and Russian nemyetski? > Also, does anyone know others? > Thanks, John Myhill > -- -- Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulze Institut für Allgemeine und Typologische Sprachwissenschaft - General Linguistics and Language Typology - Dept. II - Kommunikation und Sprachen F 13/14 - Universitaet München Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1 D-80539 Muenchen Tel.: ++49-(0)89-2180-2486 / -5343 Fax: ++49-(0)89-2180-5345 Email: W.Schulze at lrz.uni-muenchen.de Web: http://www.ats.uni-muenchen.de/wschulze.html From parkvall at ling.su.se Thu Dec 11 16:07:48 2003 From: parkvall at ling.su.se (Mikael Parkvall) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 17:07:48 +0100 Subject: German ethonyms In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.2.20031211095423.020e1100@mail.wayne.edu> Message-ID: While we're at it: >Other Germanic tribe names have spread as well - Goths, Vandals as English >non-geographic words Actually, they sort of are geographic words, since I remember seeing somewhere that Andalusia < Vandalusia and Catalonia < Gothalonia. I can't vouch for the reliability of the claims, though. /MP * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Mikael Parkvall Institutionen för lingvistik Stockholms Universitet SE-10691 STOCKHOLM (rum 276) +46 (0)8 16 14 41, +46 (0)8 656 68 24 (hem) Fax: +46 (0)8 15 53 89 parkvall at ling.su.se From jaakko.leino at helsinki.fi Thu Dec 11 16:12:56 2003 From: jaakko.leino at helsinki.fi (Jaakko Leino) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 18:12:56 +0200 Subject: German ethonyms Message-ID: Some more, from the Fenno-Ugrian languages around the Baltic sea: Finnish: 'saksa' (language), 'saksalainen' (ethnonyme), from the same Germanic root as Saxon, either directly from a Germanic source (cf. e.g. Old Frisian 'saxa') or via Old Scandinavian Estonian: 'saksa keel' (language), 'saksalane' (ethnonyme), obviously same as above Sami (more accurately, Northern Sami): 'duiskkagiella' (language), 'duiskalaš' (i.e. roughly 'duiskalash', ethnonyme), from Scandinavian (cf. 'duiska' ~ Swedish 'tyska') In other words, names of tribes and loan words from Indo-European neighbours here. Best regards, Jaakko Leino -- +---+---+ Jaakko Leino / /| |\ PhD, research coordinator +---+ +---+ + National graduate school Langnet | |/ \ \| University of Helsinki +---+ +---+ department of Finnish / researchers |\ \ /| | P.O. Box 4, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki + +---+ +---+ jaakko.leino at helsinki.fi \| |/ / www.helsinki.fi/~jaaleino +---+---+ +358-9-191 23393, +358-400-62 62 73 From clements at indiana.edu Thu Dec 11 16:20:33 2003 From: clements at indiana.edu (clements) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 11:20:33 -0500 Subject: German ethnonyms In-Reply-To: <1071154007.3fd88357df4d6@webmail.yorku.ca> Message-ID: > As for why there are many others, to my knowledge each different one comes from > the name of the tribe after which the name was taken. In the Antiquity and Early > Middle Age, there were still al lot of German tribes living separate political > existence. This is only my intuition. In southern Germany today, near the French border, is the area where Alemannisch is spoken, a German dialect. My guess is that those in the nation of the Franks (Frankreich) referred to them as Alemans, which then became the name for all those who speak different varieties of German. The etymon of Deutsch, Tedesco, etc. might go back to the form Teuton-. Clancy > > Quoting John Myhill : > > > Does anyone out there have any idea of why there are so many > > different words meaning `German' in different languages? Aside > > from English German, there's German Deutsche, Spanish alleman, Italian > > tedesco, and Russian nemyetski? > > Also, does anyone know others? > > Thanks, John Myhill > > -- > > > > > > ************************************************* J. Clancy Clements Department of Spanish and Portuguese, BH844, IU-B 1020 East Kirkwood Avenue Bloomington, IN 47401 USA Tel 812-855-8612 Fax 812-855-4526 Email clements at indiana.edu Webpage http://www.indiana.edu/~spanport/clements.html ************************************************* From john at research.haifa.ac.il Thu Dec 11 22:04:47 2003 From: john at research.haifa.ac.il (john at research.haifa.ac.il) Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 00:04:47 +0200 Subject: (no subject) Message-ID: Dear Funknetters. You-all sent me more answers than I can answer individually to my question about German ethnonyms! So I'm just going to thank everyone who helped me together. Thanks! John ------------------------------------------------------ This mail sent through IMP Webmail of Haifa University http://webmail.haifa.ac.il From dedaicm at georgetown.edu Thu Dec 11 23:01:36 2003 From: dedaicm at georgetown.edu (Mirjana Dedaic) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 18:01:36 -0500 Subject: Journal Call for Papers Message-ID: Essays in Arts and Sciences is a peer reviewed interdisciplinary journal issued twice a year (fall and spring) devoted to critical, provocative, and innovative essays regarding the arts, culture, humanities, and the social implications of science. The journal seeks submissions from any discipline in the arts, sciences, or humanities and welcomes work from both junior and senior scholars. Please visit the EAS website, www.newhaven.edu/easweb99about.html or inquire by email at EAS at newhaven.edu. Acting Editor in Chief: Robert D. Greenberg (University of New Haven) Editor: Michael Morris (University of New Haven) Editorial Board: Michael Kaloyanides (University of New Haven), Alan Lelchuk (Dartmouth College), Slobodan P. Novak (Yale University), William H. Race (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill), Brenda Williams (University of New Haven) Editorial Assistant Amanda Sherman From russo at inrete.it Thu Dec 18 21:47:52 2003 From: russo at inrete.it (Sonia Cristofaro) Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 22:47:52 +0100 Subject: Questionnaire on the relativization of circumnstantials Message-ID: ************Apologies for cross-posting************** Dear all, my colleague Anna Giacalone Ramat and I are working on a project on the relativization of circumstantials of time, place, manner, and reason, as exemplified in the following English sentences (1) The day we met it rained (2) The place where we had dinner was packed with people (3) The reason why he did that is really stupid (4) The way you do that is very important Working on languages such as Hebrew, Maltese and several Romance languages, we found out that these relativization types are often expressed by means of -case relativization strategies, that is, strategies providing no indication about the syntactic role of the relativized item. This is the case even if the language expresses other relativization types by means of strategies providing explicit indication about the role of the relativized item (+case strategies). For instance, Italian has a relative pronoun ('il quale') inflected for the syntactic role of the relativized item. This pronoun can be used for indirect object, possessor and oblique relativization, as in (5) below. However, Italian also has an invariable relative marker ('che') that provides no indication about the role of the relativized item, and this marker can be used for subject relativization, direct object relativization, and the relativization of time circumstantials, as in (6) and (7). (5) L'uomo *al quale* ho dato le chiavi e' un mio collega `The man I gave the keys to is a colleague of mine' (6) L'uomo *che* e' venuto qui ieri sera e' un mio collega `The man who came here last night is a colleague of mine' (7) Il giorno *che* ci siamo incontrati pioveva `The day we met it rained' Similarly, relativization in Hebrew involves the use of an invariable relative marker. This marker is usually accompanied by personal pronouns indicating the role of the relativized item in indirect object, possessor, and oblique relativization, but not in subject and direct object relativization, or the relativization of time, place, manner, and reason circumstantials. Our data also suggest that the use of -case strategies in the relativization of circumstantials is favored when the head noun is accompanied by universal quantifiers such as 'every' and 'all', when the head noun is semantically less specific and less referential, and when the head noun is itself in circumstantial function in the main clause. We would like to investigate these phenomena in as many languages as possible. Therefore we set out a questionnaire on the relativization of circumstantials, and we would be extremely grateful if you could fill it out for your native language or language of expertise, if this language allows for the use of both -case and +case relativization strategies. The questionnaire can be found on my homepage, at the address http://dobc.unipv.it/linguistica/paginadocente.php?idd=121&id=121 The questionnaire consists of 35 sentences, that should be translated in your native language or language of expertise. In addition to that, we would really appreciate if you could provide us with some basic description of relativization strategies in the language. Ideally, translations should be provided with (minimal!) glosses, but as we understand that would be extremely time-consuming, it will suffice to specify which of the relativization strategies available in the language is being used in each case. Please send your responses both to me and to Anna Giacalone Ramat (annaram at unipv.it). Many thanks in advance for your help, Sonia Cristofaro -- Sonia Cristofaro Dipartimento di Linguistica Universita' di Pavia Strada Nuova, 65 I-27100 Pavia Italy Te. +390382504484 Fax +390382504487 e-mail: sonia.cristofaro at unipv.it, russo at inrete.it From P.C.Hengeveld at uva.nl Mon Dec 22 18:31:25 2003 From: P.C.Hengeveld at uva.nl (Hengeveld, P.C.) Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 19:31:25 +0100 Subject: (no subject) Message-ID: Dear colleagues, The 11th International Conference on Functional Grammar (ICFG11) and the preceding 2nd International Postgraduate Course on Functional Grammar will take place from 20-25 September 2004, and will be hosted by the Universidad de Oviedo (Gijón campus) in Asturias, Spain. The conference programme includes a workshop on The noun phrase in Functional Grammar. The first announcement and call for papers may be requested from: fg-fgw at uva.nl. Best, Kees Hengeveld From jrubba at calpoly.edu Tue Dec 30 20:53:19 2003 From: jrubba at calpoly.edu (Johanna Rubba) Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 12:53:19 -0800 Subject: S. Taub e-mail address needed Message-ID: Hi, I'm sorry for the general broadcast. I am hoping someone can send me Sarah Taub's e-mail address. For some reason I can't access the LSA website and the Gallaudet website does not have e-mail addresses for faculty. Thanks, Jo Rubba ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johanna Rubba Associate Professor, Linguistics English Department, California Polytechnic State University One Grand Avenue • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 Tel. (805)-756-2184 • Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone. 756-2596 • E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu • Home page: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From language at sprynet.com Tue Dec 30 22:08:53 2003 From: language at sprynet.com (Alexander Gross) Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 17:08:53 -0500 Subject: Tidings of Holiday Joy to All Linguists Everywhere!!! Message-ID: I am delighted to extend the warmest of greetings to all my colleagues on the occasion of Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, the Solstice, and all other such festivals regardless of name or alleged occasion. And of course New Year's as well. And I am also pleased to announce the publication of my most recent paper by J. Benjamins, entitled "Teaching Translation as a Form of Writing" and contained in "Beyond the Ivory Tower: Rethinking Translation Pedagogy," Vol. XII of the American Translators Association Scholarly Monograph Series, Amsterdam/Philadelphia, 2003, edited by Brian Baer and Geoffrey Koby. In this paper by means of a simple and transparently commonsensical Gedankenexperiment, I manage--without once mentioning the names of those connected with the Cambridge-on-Charles school of linguistics--to demolish the basic assumptions advanced by members of that school. It starts from the notion that everybody is translating all the time, even within a single language, continually explaining events, processes, and arguments to each other so that the people they are talking to can share--or at least come to appreciate--their understanding. And in so doing, they often have to come up with slightly different explanations for different people. We may prefer to call this process paraphrase rather than translation when the process is carried out in only one language, but what is truly going on is remarkably similar. This can be proved by the simple Gedankenexperiment of seating a group of trained journalists in a room, handing them a paragraph, and asking each of them to write a paraphrase of it. Each of the journalists, even if they have all attended the same journalism school under the same professors, will turn in clearly different paraphrases of that paragraph, just as a group of professional translators will all turn in different translations from a passage in a foreign language. And if you read all the paraphrases aloud to the class, since all people have their own idiolects and understand even their native language somewhat differently, you will find quite a few questionable departures from the original paragraph, just as can be the case with translations from foreign languages. And in a few cases, you will even find so great a departure from the sense of the original paragraph that you will be obliged to call it an "error in paraphrase," similar to the "errors in translation" that unfortunately also crop up. Said another way, translation is a form of paraphrase, one that merely happens to be dependent on the structures, available vocabulary, and cultural outlook of two languages rather than one. Or, alternately, paraphrase is a form of translation carried out in a single language. This means that the flaws so often imagined to be inherent in the process of translation are in fact entirely inherent in the process of language itself and little more than a reflection of those more basic flaws. In other words, it's not translation that is basically at fault, but in fact language. Which in turn means that language itself is subject to its own indeterminacy, a basic imperfection which can be partially remedied in the case of written or spoken language only by highly skilled writers and speakers and in the case of translation only by highly skilled translators and interpreters. This applies to all languages, to any language, and to the abstract construct of "Language." What is patently true within a single language is also even more true for a process expressing one language and culture in the terms of another. In this context, the notion of any ultimate universal scheme providing a foundation for all languages everywhere, whether structural or theoretical, such as the ruminations from Cambridge-on-Charles, becomes so untenable as to be risible. Once more, with all possible joy for the holidays! alex gross From jrubba at calpoly.edu Tue Dec 30 22:33:16 2003 From: jrubba at calpoly.edu (Johanna Rubba) Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 14:33:16 -0800 Subject: Got S. Taub's e-mail, thanks! Message-ID: I've got the e-mail address I needed. No need for further responses .... thanks! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johanna Rubba Associate Professor, Linguistics English Department, California Polytechnic State University One Grand Avenue • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 Tel. (805)-756-2184 • Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone. 756-2596 • E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu • Home page: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From tomasello at eva.mpg.de Tue Dec 2 09:06:58 2003 From: tomasello at eva.mpg.de (Michael Tomasello) Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 10:06:58 +0100 Subject: question In-Reply-To: <000101c3b793$59aa14a0$37757d81@rugkhxjrwupwrw> Message-ID: I am interested in specific proposals about precisely what is in Universal Grammar - like a list or inventory (Jackendoff's new book provides one example). Please send references to me directly, and I will share results if there are interesting responses. Thanks in advance, Mike Tomasello From Zygmunt.Frajzyngier at colorado.edu Wed Dec 3 00:21:23 2003 From: Zygmunt.Frajzyngier at colorado.edu (Zygmunt Frajzyngier) Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 17:21:23 -0700 Subject: Book notice Message-ID: Dear Friends, Attached is a book notice that may be of interest to some of you. Apologies for multiple postings, if any. Zygmunt. Till Dec. 23, 2003 RCLT Institute of Advanced Study La Trobe University Bundoora, Victoria 3086 Fax: 61 3 9467 3053 Phone: 61 3 9479 6420 Australia Permanent address: Dept. of Linguistics Box 295, University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado 80309 Phone: 303-492-6959 Fax: 303-492-4416 From Zygmunt.Frajzyngier at colorado.edu Wed Dec 3 01:39:20 2003 From: Zygmunt.Frajzyngier at colorado.edu (Zygmunt Frajzyngier) Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 18:39:20 -0700 Subject: Book notice Message-ID: Dear Friends, Apologies for the previous message that was supposed to contain an attachment. Since the attachment didn't got through below is the information about the new book with potential interest to Funknetters, Zygmunt Explaining Language Structure through Systems Interaction Zygmunt Frajzyngier and Erin Shay University of Colorado Typological Studies in Language 55 2003. xviii, 309 pp. This book is available Hardbound 1 58811 436 8 / USD 105.00 90 272 2963 5 / EUR 105.00 Add to shopping cart Add to wish list This book proposes a framework for describing languages through the description of relationships among lexicon, morphology, syntax, and phonology. The framework is based on the notion of formal coding means; the principle of functional transparency; the notion of functional domains; and the notion of systems interaction in the coding of functional domains. The study is based on original analyses of cross-linguistic data. The fundamental finding of the study is that different languages may code different functional domains, which must be discovered by analyzing the formal means available in each language. The first part of the book proposes a methodology for discovering functional domains and the second part describes the properties of various functional domains. The book presents new cross-linguistic analyses of theoretical issues including agreement; phenomena attributed to government; nominal classification; prerequisites for and implications of linear order coding; and defining characteristics of lexical categories. The study also contributes new analyses of specific problems in individual languages. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Table of contents Acknowledgments xiii Abbreviations xiv 1. Introduction: Theoretical and methodological foundations 1?36 2. Interaction of the lexicon with other coding means 37?56 3. Coding through linear order 57?88 4. Coding through nominal inflection 89?113 5. Interaction of phonology with other coding means 115?151 6. Agreement, or coding on other constituents 153?168 7. Interaction of nominal classification with other coding means 169?181 8. Matrix clause coding 183?210 9. Determining the function of a linguistic form: The indirectly affected argument and the external possessor 211?231 10. Systems interaction in the coding of locative predication 233?246 11. Systems interaction in the coding of reference 247?282 12. Conclusions, implications, and open questions 283?288 Notes 289?290 References 291?300 Index of authors 301?302 Index of languages 303?304 Index of subjects 305?307 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Subject classification Linguistics Typology Zygmunt Frajzyngier Till Dec. 23, 2003 RCLT Institute of Advanced Study La Trobe University Bundoora, Victoria 3086 Fax: 61 3 9467 3053 Phone: 61 3 9479 6420 Australia Permanent address: Dept. of Linguistics Box 295, University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado 80309 Phone: 303-492-6959 Fax: 303-492-4416 From language at sprynet.com Wed Dec 10 21:23:01 2003 From: language at sprynet.com (Alexander Gross) Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 16:23:01 -0500 Subject: Professor Botha's new book... Message-ID: Forgive me if you have already received the following announcement for Professor Botha's new book. I am honored to have been included among the first group of scholars who received it. It is preceded by some of my own reactions to the announcement. ------------------------------------- I'm truly pleased to hear Professor Botha feels that much work in the "evolution of language" is not sufficiently "restrictive" and lacks a scientific basis. During the winter and autumn of 2000 I advanced this view a bit differently in a paper presented in New York and Mexico City: http://language.home.sprynet.com/trandex/hermes.htm#totop (If it's too long to read, search for the word "conjecture.") I can only wish that Professor Botha had been equally concerned with the scientific underpinnings of much linguistic theory in one of his earlier works, as I point out in the 41st segment of the following piece: http://language.home.sprynet.com/lingdex/chomrong.htm#totop Finally, I believe that language studies in general continue to suffer from the failings I have outlined in "Suggested Minimal Requirements for the Advanced Study of Linguistics" at: http://language.home.sprynet.com/lingdex/minimum.htm#totop What is truly needed within the parameters of balanced scientific research is a more inclusive approach, not a more restrictive one, nor can the cramped and dated shibboleths of syntactic structure ever hope to account for the rich physiological and biological underpinnings of language. Questions concerning the origins of language may perhaps be best answered by those language professionals who today still perform a task analogous to the one they performed in prehistoric times. Respectfully, Alexander Gross The announcement for the book follows. If you go to the URL it provides, you will be able to read the book's Preamble and a fair amount more about it. ------------------------- Dear Colleague Please find attached a description of Rudolf Botha's new book on language genesis, Unravelling the Evolution of Language, published by Elsevier in 2003. Further information, including the Preamble of the book, can be viewed at the following URL: ____________________________ Department of General Linguistics Stellenbosch University Private Bag X1 MATIELAND South Africa 7602 Tel: +27 21 808 2052 Fax: +27 21 808 2009 From john at research.haifa.ac.il Thu Dec 11 10:05:16 2003 From: john at research.haifa.ac.il (John Myhill) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 12:05:16 +0200 Subject: German ethnonyms Message-ID: Does anyone out there have any idea of why there are so many different words meaning `German' in different languages? Aside from English German, there's German Deutsche, Spanish alleman, Italian tedesco, and Russian nemyetski? Also, does anyone know others? Thanks, John Myhill -- From dcyr at yorku.ca Thu Dec 11 14:46:47 2003 From: dcyr at yorku.ca (Danielle E. Cyr) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 09:46:47 -0500 Subject: German ethnonyms In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Hi John, Yes there is also Swedish Tyska But we have to consider Tyska, Deutsche and Tedesco as one only since they are only phonetic adaptations of the same etymon I suppose. As for why there are many others, to my knowledge each different one comes from the name of the tribe after which the name was taken. In the Antiquity and Early Middle Age, there were still al lot of German tribes living separate political existence. This is only my intuition. Cheers, Danielle Cyr Quoting John Myhill : > Does anyone out there have any idea of why there are so many > different words meaning `German' in different languages? Aside > from English German, there's German Deutsche, Spanish alleman, Italian > tedesco, and Russian nemyetski? > Also, does anyone know others? > Thanks, John Myhill > -- > From dedaicm at georgetown.edu Thu Dec 11 15:09:56 2003 From: dedaicm at georgetown.edu (Mirjana Dedaic) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 10:09:56 -0500 Subject: German ethnonyms Message-ID: Slavic names for Germans come from the root 'nem' (=mute). Germans were "people who did not speak" (the same language). Best, Mirjana Dedaic ----- Original Message ----- From: dcyr at yorku.ca Date: Thursday, December 11, 2003 9:46 am Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] German ethnonyms > Hi John, > > Yes there is also Swedish Tyska > But we have to consider Tyska, Deutsche and Tedesco as one only > since they are > only phonetic adaptations of the same etymon I suppose. > > As for why there are many others, to my knowledge each different > one comes from > the name of the tribe after which the name was taken. In the > Antiquity and Early > Middle Age, there were still al lot of German tribes living > separate political > existence. This is only my intuition. > > Cheers, > > Danielle Cyr > > > Quoting John Myhill : > > > Does anyone out there have any idea of why there are so many > > different words meaning `German' in different languages? Aside > > from English German, there's German Deutsche, Spanish alleman, > Italian> tedesco, and Russian nemyetski? > > Also, does anyone know others? > > Thanks, John Myhill > > -- > > > > > From mewinters at wayne.edu Thu Dec 11 15:20:04 2003 From: mewinters at wayne.edu (Margaret Winters) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 10:20:04 -0500 Subject: German ethonyms Message-ID: Yes, as Danielle Cyr says, they are names of tribes (or via Latin versions of the name as in in the case of Allemani). The Russian comes from a negative nye- and the word for, if I remember correctly, language or mouth - it was not the same language. Other Germanic tribe names have spread as well - Goths, Vandals as English non-geographic words (also Deutsch etc. mentioned by Danielle as the adjective tutonic), Burgundy as the now French place-name, and probably a lot of others I'm not thinking of. Margaret Margaret E. Winters Associate Provost for Academic Personnel 656 Kirby #4092 Wayne State University Detroit, MI 48202 phone: 313 577-2256 fax: 313 577-5666 e-mail: mewinters at wayne.edu From W.Schulze at lrz.uni-muenchen.de Thu Dec 11 15:26:27 2003 From: W.Schulze at lrz.uni-muenchen.de (W. Schulze) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 16:26:27 +0100 Subject: German ethnonyms Message-ID: Dear John, I guess all this has to do with historical and political issues: The lack of a cultural / administrative / politic center in 'Germany' conditioned that a cover term for the 'members' of the 'German society' was rarely promoted by such a center. Instead, foreign communities were used to refer to 'the Germans' in terms of a synecdoche, expoiting the name of a German 'community' that was close to their experience. Such a name could then be easily transmitted to other communities that stood not in closer contact with Germans. In more details: English 'German' seems to be a learnt latinism; interstingly enough, it also is present in e.g. Albanian gjerman, Georgian germanuli etc.... Italian 'tedesco' obviously is a local derivation from the Germanic teuta-term ('people' etc.) that also underlies the term 'Deutsch' (> 'Dutch' used by English for the 'closest' communities, that is for those in the Netherlands') [compare Latvian tauta 'people', Old Irish tuath 'people, land' and so more cognates...]. The same term is also present in e.g. Swedish Tysk. French 'Allemand' relates to the Upper Rhenanian neighbors, the 'allemans', a former southern German gentile group (perhaps 'all (free) men'). It was then transmitted to Spain, probably already in Franconian times. Russian 'Nemec' 'German' is derived from nem- 'not able to communicate', used in early Russian times to denote any person who could not be understood by a native (contrary for instance to speakers of Slvaic sister languages). As Russians by that time were predominantly confronted with German speaking foreigners (both ethnic and Hanse-related), the term was later narrowed down to 'German'. Arabic: Older form: namsi:y etc.: Probably taken from Osmanic (which used the term for the Austrians, being the closest 'Germans' to them), which again has taken the term from Slavic Nemec (?). But note that both Modern Arabic and Persian have taken their terms from French (alma:ni:). The same holds for Modern Turkish (alman). In addition, you find Latvian va:cu 'German' (in fact a gen.pl.) and Lithuanian vokietis 'German'. Unfortunately, I do not have at hands Fr?nkel's etymological dictionary, but there you will surely find a suggestion where to derive this form from.... Hope this helps, Wolfgang John Myhill schrieb: > Does anyone out there have any idea of why there are so many > different words meaning `German' in different languages? Aside > from English German, there's German Deutsche, Spanish alleman, Italian > tedesco, and Russian nemyetski? > Also, does anyone know others? > Thanks, John Myhill > -- -- Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulze Institut f?r Allgemeine und Typologische Sprachwissenschaft - General Linguistics and Language Typology - Dept. II - Kommunikation und Sprachen F 13/14 - Universitaet M?nchen Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1 D-80539 Muenchen Tel.: ++49-(0)89-2180-2486 / -5343 Fax: ++49-(0)89-2180-5345 Email: W.Schulze at lrz.uni-muenchen.de Web: http://www.ats.uni-muenchen.de/wschulze.html From parkvall at ling.su.se Thu Dec 11 16:07:48 2003 From: parkvall at ling.su.se (Mikael Parkvall) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 17:07:48 +0100 Subject: German ethonyms In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.2.20031211095423.020e1100@mail.wayne.edu> Message-ID: While we're at it: >Other Germanic tribe names have spread as well - Goths, Vandals as English >non-geographic words Actually, they sort of are geographic words, since I remember seeing somewhere that Andalusia < Vandalusia and Catalonia < Gothalonia. I can't vouch for the reliability of the claims, though. /MP * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Mikael Parkvall Institutionen f?r lingvistik Stockholms Universitet SE-10691 STOCKHOLM (rum 276) +46 (0)8 16 14 41, +46 (0)8 656 68 24 (hem) Fax: +46 (0)8 15 53 89 parkvall at ling.su.se From jaakko.leino at helsinki.fi Thu Dec 11 16:12:56 2003 From: jaakko.leino at helsinki.fi (Jaakko Leino) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 18:12:56 +0200 Subject: German ethonyms Message-ID: Some more, from the Fenno-Ugrian languages around the Baltic sea: Finnish: 'saksa' (language), 'saksalainen' (ethnonyme), from the same Germanic root as Saxon, either directly from a Germanic source (cf. e.g. Old Frisian 'saxa') or via Old Scandinavian Estonian: 'saksa keel' (language), 'saksalane' (ethnonyme), obviously same as above Sami (more accurately, Northern Sami): 'duiskkagiella' (language), 'duiskala?' (i.e. roughly 'duiskalash', ethnonyme), from Scandinavian (cf. 'duiska' ~ Swedish 'tyska') In other words, names of tribes and loan words from Indo-European neighbours here. Best regards, Jaakko Leino -- +---+---+ Jaakko Leino / /| |\ PhD, research coordinator +---+ +---+ + National graduate school Langnet | |/ \ \| University of Helsinki +---+ +---+ department of Finnish / researchers |\ \ /| | P.O. Box 4, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki + +---+ +---+ jaakko.leino at helsinki.fi \| |/ / www.helsinki.fi/~jaaleino +---+---+ +358-9-191 23393, +358-400-62 62 73 From clements at indiana.edu Thu Dec 11 16:20:33 2003 From: clements at indiana.edu (clements) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 11:20:33 -0500 Subject: German ethnonyms In-Reply-To: <1071154007.3fd88357df4d6@webmail.yorku.ca> Message-ID: > As for why there are many others, to my knowledge each different one comes from > the name of the tribe after which the name was taken. In the Antiquity and Early > Middle Age, there were still al lot of German tribes living separate political > existence. This is only my intuition. In southern Germany today, near the French border, is the area where Alemannisch is spoken, a German dialect. My guess is that those in the nation of the Franks (Frankreich) referred to them as Alemans, which then became the name for all those who speak different varieties of German. The etymon of Deutsch, Tedesco, etc. might go back to the form Teuton-. Clancy > > Quoting John Myhill : > > > Does anyone out there have any idea of why there are so many > > different words meaning `German' in different languages? Aside > > from English German, there's German Deutsche, Spanish alleman, Italian > > tedesco, and Russian nemyetski? > > Also, does anyone know others? > > Thanks, John Myhill > > -- > > > > > > ************************************************* J. Clancy Clements Department of Spanish and Portuguese, BH844, IU-B 1020 East Kirkwood Avenue Bloomington, IN 47401 USA Tel 812-855-8612 Fax 812-855-4526 Email clements at indiana.edu Webpage http://www.indiana.edu/~spanport/clements.html ************************************************* From john at research.haifa.ac.il Thu Dec 11 22:04:47 2003 From: john at research.haifa.ac.il (john at research.haifa.ac.il) Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 00:04:47 +0200 Subject: (no subject) Message-ID: Dear Funknetters. You-all sent me more answers than I can answer individually to my question about German ethnonyms! So I'm just going to thank everyone who helped me together. Thanks! John ------------------------------------------------------ This mail sent through IMP Webmail of Haifa University http://webmail.haifa.ac.il From dedaicm at georgetown.edu Thu Dec 11 23:01:36 2003 From: dedaicm at georgetown.edu (Mirjana Dedaic) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 18:01:36 -0500 Subject: Journal Call for Papers Message-ID: Essays in Arts and Sciences is a peer reviewed interdisciplinary journal issued twice a year (fall and spring) devoted to critical, provocative, and innovative essays regarding the arts, culture, humanities, and the social implications of science. The journal seeks submissions from any discipline in the arts, sciences, or humanities and welcomes work from both junior and senior scholars. Please visit the EAS website, www.newhaven.edu/easweb99about.html or inquire by email at EAS at newhaven.edu. Acting Editor in Chief: Robert D. Greenberg (University of New Haven) Editor: Michael Morris (University of New Haven) Editorial Board: Michael Kaloyanides (University of New Haven), Alan Lelchuk (Dartmouth College), Slobodan P. Novak (Yale University), William H. Race (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill), Brenda Williams (University of New Haven) Editorial Assistant Amanda Sherman From russo at inrete.it Thu Dec 18 21:47:52 2003 From: russo at inrete.it (Sonia Cristofaro) Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 22:47:52 +0100 Subject: Questionnaire on the relativization of circumnstantials Message-ID: ************Apologies for cross-posting************** Dear all, my colleague Anna Giacalone Ramat and I are working on a project on the relativization of circumstantials of time, place, manner, and reason, as exemplified in the following English sentences (1) The day we met it rained (2) The place where we had dinner was packed with people (3) The reason why he did that is really stupid (4) The way you do that is very important Working on languages such as Hebrew, Maltese and several Romance languages, we found out that these relativization types are often expressed by means of -case relativization strategies, that is, strategies providing no indication about the syntactic role of the relativized item. This is the case even if the language expresses other relativization types by means of strategies providing explicit indication about the role of the relativized item (+case strategies). For instance, Italian has a relative pronoun ('il quale') inflected for the syntactic role of the relativized item. This pronoun can be used for indirect object, possessor and oblique relativization, as in (5) below. However, Italian also has an invariable relative marker ('che') that provides no indication about the role of the relativized item, and this marker can be used for subject relativization, direct object relativization, and the relativization of time circumstantials, as in (6) and (7). (5) L'uomo *al quale* ho dato le chiavi e' un mio collega `The man I gave the keys to is a colleague of mine' (6) L'uomo *che* e' venuto qui ieri sera e' un mio collega `The man who came here last night is a colleague of mine' (7) Il giorno *che* ci siamo incontrati pioveva `The day we met it rained' Similarly, relativization in Hebrew involves the use of an invariable relative marker. This marker is usually accompanied by personal pronouns indicating the role of the relativized item in indirect object, possessor, and oblique relativization, but not in subject and direct object relativization, or the relativization of time, place, manner, and reason circumstantials. Our data also suggest that the use of -case strategies in the relativization of circumstantials is favored when the head noun is accompanied by universal quantifiers such as 'every' and 'all', when the head noun is semantically less specific and less referential, and when the head noun is itself in circumstantial function in the main clause. We would like to investigate these phenomena in as many languages as possible. Therefore we set out a questionnaire on the relativization of circumstantials, and we would be extremely grateful if you could fill it out for your native language or language of expertise, if this language allows for the use of both -case and +case relativization strategies. The questionnaire can be found on my homepage, at the address http://dobc.unipv.it/linguistica/paginadocente.php?idd=121&id=121 The questionnaire consists of 35 sentences, that should be translated in your native language or language of expertise. In addition to that, we would really appreciate if you could provide us with some basic description of relativization strategies in the language. Ideally, translations should be provided with (minimal!) glosses, but as we understand that would be extremely time-consuming, it will suffice to specify which of the relativization strategies available in the language is being used in each case. Please send your responses both to me and to Anna Giacalone Ramat (annaram at unipv.it). Many thanks in advance for your help, Sonia Cristofaro -- Sonia Cristofaro Dipartimento di Linguistica Universita' di Pavia Strada Nuova, 65 I-27100 Pavia Italy Te. +390382504484 Fax +390382504487 e-mail: sonia.cristofaro at unipv.it, russo at inrete.it From P.C.Hengeveld at uva.nl Mon Dec 22 18:31:25 2003 From: P.C.Hengeveld at uva.nl (Hengeveld, P.C.) Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 19:31:25 +0100 Subject: (no subject) Message-ID: Dear colleagues, The 11th International Conference on Functional Grammar (ICFG11) and the preceding 2nd International Postgraduate Course on Functional Grammar will take place from 20-25 September 2004, and will be hosted by the Universidad de Oviedo (Gij?n campus) in Asturias, Spain. The conference programme includes a workshop on The noun phrase in Functional Grammar. The first announcement and call for papers may be requested from: fg-fgw at uva.nl. Best, Kees Hengeveld From jrubba at calpoly.edu Tue Dec 30 20:53:19 2003 From: jrubba at calpoly.edu (Johanna Rubba) Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 12:53:19 -0800 Subject: S. Taub e-mail address needed Message-ID: Hi, I'm sorry for the general broadcast. I am hoping someone can send me Sarah Taub's e-mail address. For some reason I can't access the LSA website and the Gallaudet website does not have e-mail addresses for faculty. Thanks, Jo Rubba ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johanna Rubba Associate Professor, Linguistics English Department, California Polytechnic State University One Grand Avenue ? San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 Tel. (805)-756-2184 ? Fax: (805)-756-6374 ? Dept. Phone. 756-2596 ? E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu ? Home page: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From language at sprynet.com Tue Dec 30 22:08:53 2003 From: language at sprynet.com (Alexander Gross) Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 17:08:53 -0500 Subject: Tidings of Holiday Joy to All Linguists Everywhere!!! Message-ID: I am delighted to extend the warmest of greetings to all my colleagues on the occasion of Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, the Solstice, and all other such festivals regardless of name or alleged occasion. And of course New Year's as well. And I am also pleased to announce the publication of my most recent paper by J. Benjamins, entitled "Teaching Translation as a Form of Writing" and contained in "Beyond the Ivory Tower: Rethinking Translation Pedagogy," Vol. XII of the American Translators Association Scholarly Monograph Series, Amsterdam/Philadelphia, 2003, edited by Brian Baer and Geoffrey Koby. In this paper by means of a simple and transparently commonsensical Gedankenexperiment, I manage--without once mentioning the names of those connected with the Cambridge-on-Charles school of linguistics--to demolish the basic assumptions advanced by members of that school. It starts from the notion that everybody is translating all the time, even within a single language, continually explaining events, processes, and arguments to each other so that the people they are talking to can share--or at least come to appreciate--their understanding. And in so doing, they often have to come up with slightly different explanations for different people. We may prefer to call this process paraphrase rather than translation when the process is carried out in only one language, but what is truly going on is remarkably similar. This can be proved by the simple Gedankenexperiment of seating a group of trained journalists in a room, handing them a paragraph, and asking each of them to write a paraphrase of it. Each of the journalists, even if they have all attended the same journalism school under the same professors, will turn in clearly different paraphrases of that paragraph, just as a group of professional translators will all turn in different translations from a passage in a foreign language. And if you read all the paraphrases aloud to the class, since all people have their own idiolects and understand even their native language somewhat differently, you will find quite a few questionable departures from the original paragraph, just as can be the case with translations from foreign languages. And in a few cases, you will even find so great a departure from the sense of the original paragraph that you will be obliged to call it an "error in paraphrase," similar to the "errors in translation" that unfortunately also crop up. Said another way, translation is a form of paraphrase, one that merely happens to be dependent on the structures, available vocabulary, and cultural outlook of two languages rather than one. Or, alternately, paraphrase is a form of translation carried out in a single language. This means that the flaws so often imagined to be inherent in the process of translation are in fact entirely inherent in the process of language itself and little more than a reflection of those more basic flaws. In other words, it's not translation that is basically at fault, but in fact language. Which in turn means that language itself is subject to its own indeterminacy, a basic imperfection which can be partially remedied in the case of written or spoken language only by highly skilled writers and speakers and in the case of translation only by highly skilled translators and interpreters. This applies to all languages, to any language, and to the abstract construct of "Language." What is patently true within a single language is also even more true for a process expressing one language and culture in the terms of another. In this context, the notion of any ultimate universal scheme providing a foundation for all languages everywhere, whether structural or theoretical, such as the ruminations from Cambridge-on-Charles, becomes so untenable as to be risible. Once more, with all possible joy for the holidays! alex gross From jrubba at calpoly.edu Tue Dec 30 22:33:16 2003 From: jrubba at calpoly.edu (Johanna Rubba) Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 14:33:16 -0800 Subject: Got S. Taub's e-mail, thanks! Message-ID: I've got the e-mail address I needed. No need for further responses .... thanks! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johanna Rubba Associate Professor, Linguistics English Department, California Polytechnic State University One Grand Avenue ? San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 Tel. (805)-756-2184 ? Fax: (805)-756-6374 ? Dept. Phone. 756-2596 ? E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu ? Home page: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~