From doug at nwg.nectec.or.th Fri May 2 16:07:24 1997 From: doug at nwg.nectec.or.th (Doug Cooper) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 12:07:24 EDT Subject: Reviving the SEALANG list Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Dear SEAlangers and interested parties: In case you haven't noticed, the Southeast Asian Languages discussion group, SEALANG-L, has been out of operation since January. Files were not backed up, so it is neither possible to restore the list nor to find the subscribers (this mailing was scavanged by hand from old posts and conference papers). After discussion with Khun Marut of NECTEC (given responsibility by the very busy Khun Trin), we agreed that with NECTEC's financial and security constraints (eg. backups are still not done, uploads cannot be permitted), managing the list from elsewhere would be more reliable and allow expanded services. Accordingly, I have established a "new" list, called SEALANG, at the domain seasrc.th.net. List focus and policies remain as before. Key e-addresses are: http://seasrc.th.net/sealang (the new SEALANG Web site) majordomo at seasrc.th.net (to subscribe -- see details below) sealang at seasrc.th.net (to post messages; pls subscribe first) doug at nwg.nectec.or.th (list mgr.; questions and suggestions) Many thanks to NECTEC for their long-time support of this effort; and as always, a moment of remembrance for SEALANG's prime mover, Mr. Gwyn Williams, who died at a tragically young age last year. The remainder of this letter describes the purpose of SEALANG, and explains how to post and subscribe to the group. Sincerely, Doug Cooper Southeast Asian Software Research Center, Bangkok -- http://seasrc.th.net ABOUT SEALANG SEALANG is a non-moderated mailing list originally founded by Gwyn Williams and Trin Tantsetthi in 1994, and devoted to scholarly discussion relevant to Southeast Asian languages. The core SEA languages belong to five major families: Austronesian (AN); Mon-Khmer (Austro-Asiatic; AA, including Munda); Tai-Kadai (TK); Tibeto-Burman (TB; a branch of Sino-Tibetan ST); and Hmong-Mien (HM; also known as Miao-Yao). SEALANG interests also extend to languages of the Sino-Tibetan family, as well as the Austronesian family, spoken in Vietnam and Cambodia, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Java, and the Micronesian, Melanesian, Polynesian, and Madagascar regions. Languages of historical importance, particularly Pali and Sanskrit, and more recent European languages (eg. English) are included in the discussion to the extent to which they bear on SEA. Most past discussion has focused on linguistics. I would like to encourage greater participation from computational linguistics and computer science, especially in regard to building research tools for SEA languages. Typical postings include: Queries and discussion related to SEA languages. Posting of calls for conference papers and participation. Announcements of the release of books, software, data, etc. Job and funding announcements. The overall high quality of SEALANG posts is widely believed to be due to the good judgement, self-restraint, and mutual respect of its subscribers ;-) TO SUBSCRIBE TO SEALANG: Send a message to: majordomo at seasrc.th.net In the body of your letter, include the line: subscribe sealang yourname at your.email.address Don't forget to use your actual name and e-mail address. Note that you will not receive messages posted to SEALANG until you subscribe. TO POST MESSAGES ON SEALANG: Send your message to: sealang at seasrc.th.net FOR FURTHER DETAILS: Please visit the SEALANG Web site at http://seasrc.th.net/sealang ABOUT SEASRC: SEASRC is a non-profit research center, based in Bangkok, and focused on computational linguistics and software development for non-Roman alphabet SEA languages. The TH.NET domain is hosted in the US with a T3 link to the Internet; it is backed up daily. Posts through the old sealang-l address at NECTEC will remain valid. From reusch at uclink4.berkeley.edu Wed May 7 18:43:10 1997 From: reusch at uclink4.berkeley.edu (B. Reusch) Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 14:43:10 EDT Subject: Where to study Bedic-Greek-Hittite comp. ling. Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- To the list: A friend of mine is asking a question, which I wonder whether you'd like to help me with. He has a PhD in Skt. from Harvard and is now interested in studying Old Greek and Hittite for the sake of Vedic-Greek-Hittite comparative analysis. He does not live on a tight budget, as I do, and is practically free next year to concentrate on his own studies. Where would you advice this person to go? What he has in mind is the IE program at UCLA or Germany. Yet from speaking, very briefly indeed, with Prof. Antilla two years ago I got the impression that the IE program at UCLA is sort of dying out. Am I wrong? Then if Germany is a good place, where specifically should he look? He is attending some academic conference somewhere in Germany in the first week of June, and would stay in Germany for a year or more if that's the best for him. I'd appreciate your kind help. With best wishes, Beatrice From iyeiri at inst.kobe-cufs.ac.jp Mon May 12 13:55:46 1997 From: iyeiri at inst.kobe-cufs.ac.jp (Yoko Iyeiri) Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 09:55:46 EDT Subject: Kobe City University of Foreign Studies Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- May 9, 1997 Kobe City University of Foreign Studies now invites applications for a full-time instructor or assistant professor under the following conditions. $B!!!! (J1. The applicant's field of specialization should be linguistic studies of English. $B!!!! (J2. The applicant's first language should be English. The successful applicant will teach practical English (oral English, writing, etc.) and English linguistics to English majors in both daytime and evening classes. $B!!!! (J3. The successful applicant will be employed as a language teaching faculty member (instructor or assistant professor). $B!!!! (J4. Required academic degree is M.A. or Ph.D. $B!!!! (J5. The applicant's age should be 45 or under at the time of employment (the first of April, 1998). $B!!!! (J6. Documents requisite for application are: $B!!!!!! (J a) Curriculum vitae $B!!!!!! (J b) List of publications $B!!!!!! (J c) Originals or photocopies of selected academic papers or books $B!!!!!! (J d) Originals or photocopies of diplomas $B!!!!!! (J e) Recommendations or references $B!!!! (J7. The documents for application should be received by mail (not by fax or e-mail) by 5:00 p.m. on September 5, 1997. Address of the University office: $B!!!!!! (J Shomu-ka (The General Affairs Section) $B!!!!!! (J Kobe City University of Foreign Studies $B!!!!!! (J 9-1 Gakuen-higashi-machi $B!!!!!! (J Nishi-ku, Kobe 651-21 $B!!!!!! (J Japan $B!!!!!! (J Phone: 81-78-794-8111 $B!!!!!! (J Fax: 81-78-792-9020 $B!!!!!! (J e-mail: english-dept at inst.kobe-cufs.ac.jp *For more details, please write, fax, or e-mail (not telephone) to the above address or number. *Send your application documents by registered mail (not by fax or e-mail). Write in red on the envelope: Application: English Department. From alotz at aimnet.com Tue May 13 11:26:38 1997 From: alotz at aimnet.com (Deborah W. Anderson) Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 07:26:38 EDT Subject: IE Newsletter Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- A new edition of the IE Newsletter has just appeared. The essays contained in this issue focus on ancient Greece and adjacent areas: Ivo Hajnal (Indogermanisches Seminar der Universitaet Zuerich) writes an update on Mycenaean Andreas Schachner (Vorgeschichtliches Seminar der Philipps- Universitaet, Marburg) reviews recent research in the archaeology of western Anatolia, which has ramifications for the prehistory of Greece Mark Hall (Archaeological Research Facility, UC Berkeley) discusses advances in radiocarbon dating and suggests what this new work may mean for dating prehistoric Greece. In "Notes & Brief Communications": We mark the passing of Oswald Szemerenyi with a short piece by Alfred Bammesberger; Konstantin Woebking (Universitaet Innsbruck) summarizes the September Indogermanische Gesellschaft meeting; Alfred Bammesberger provides a brief review of Helmut Birkhan's new book, Kelten: Versuch einer Gesamtdarstellung; Henning Andersen has written a synopsis of his latest work, Reconstructing Prehistorical Dialects: Initial vowels in Slavic and Baltic. In "Report from the Field", Igor Manzura and Mark Tkachuk write on their Moldovan excavation that may represent a significant new Sarmatian site. The Newsletter includes listings of new books, an update on electronic resources for IE, a list of upcoming conferences, as well as IE books available for review in the journals Word and Language. Contributions (which go towards the newsletter and events at UCLA) are $10 (student), $20 (U.S./Canada), $25 (outside N. America). Single issues may be purchased for $5 (U.S./Canada), $8 (outside N. America). Checks (made payable to "FAIES/UCLA Foundation") should be sent to: FAIES, 2143 Kelton Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90025. Contributions may be charged on a credit card. For further information, please contact: dwanders at socrates.berkeley.edu The newsletter is affiliated with the Indo-European Studies program at UCLA and appears twice yearly. From H.Pinkster at let.uva.nl Fri May 16 15:14:16 1997 From: H.Pinkster at let.uva.nl (H. Pinkster) Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 11:14:16 EDT Subject: message to members Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS To all members of ISHL Dear colleagues I am writing to you on behalf of the Nominating Committee of the ISHL. The committe is preparing suggestions for names of future officers of the Society and for a venue for the 2001 meeting (you will recall that 1999 is already decided on: Vancouver). I invite members to assist us in this task by sending us names of candidates for the following positions: Executive Committee: Member: Vacancy due to end of term of John Charles Smith (until 2003) [Remaining members: Laurel Brinton, future conference director (future President); Dieter Stein (former) President; Sheila Embleton (1999); Alice Harris (2001)] Nominating Committee: Member: Vacancy due to end of term of Harm Pinkster (until 2005) [Remaining members: Marianne Mithun (1999) (future chair); Roger Wright (2001); Bernd Heine (2003)] Future Venue: Barry Blake has recently restated the interest of La Trobe University in cooperation with the University of Melbourne (Australia) to host the 2001 meeting. There is also an offer from Trondheim University (Norway). You must be a current member of ISHL in order to nominate someone or to be nominated. The Committee will keep in mind a balance between the sexes and geographical areas when considering nominations. Deadline for suggestions to the Executive Committee is May 31th. Please send your suggestions to Prof. Harm Pinkster, Klassiek Seminarium, Oude Turfmarkt 129, 1012 GC Amsterdam; fax 31 20 5252544, e-mail H.Pinkster at let.uva.nl Kind regards, Harm Pinkster Prof. dr Harm Pinkster tel.(0)20 5252524 fax. (0)20 5252544 e-mail H.Pinkster at let.uva.nl From fcosws at prairienet.org Tue May 20 00:24:30 1997 From: fcosws at prairienet.org (Steven Schaufele) Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 20:24:30 EDT Subject: Sum: questions on African affiliations Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Back in early April i posted the following query in LINGUIST and HISTLING: > Recent browsing in some general texts has made me aware that >there are or have been recently some questions raised about >certain putative affiliations amongst certain languages on the >African continent. Not being an Africanist, this is in no way >an area i am particularly knowledgeable about, but i have hopes >someday of teaching a seminar in which students are called upon >to examine critically the literature arguing pro & con certain >hypotheses in the field of historical linguistics, and i would >therefore like some references to good discussions in the >literature on the following topics: > > 1. There is presumably no question that all the so-called >`Cushitic' languages are members of the Afro-Asiatic family. >But do they constitute a well-defined sub-family, or are they >merely a `miscellaneous' category? > > 2. Are the so-called `Nilo-Saharan' languages a well-defined >glosso-genetic family or merely a geographically-defined group? > > 3. Ditto the `Khoisan' languages. I would first of all like to thank the following scholars for their informative esponses, whether in the way of elucidatory discussion or direction towards worthwhile literature or both: David Anderson M. Lionel Bender Ronald Cosper Miguel Carrasquer Vidal Peter Daniels Alice Faber Thomas J. Hinnebusch Robert Nicolai Derek Nurse Bonny Sands Robin Thelwall Below i give my summary of some of the more substantive remarks i received wrt African affiliation; comments in square brackets are my own. This is followed by the combined list of references i received. With regard to Cushitic, Ron Cosper's statement seems to best summarize the consensus i detected in the messages i got: `For Cushitic, it is now thought that some of the erstwhile branches may in fact constitute separate families. West Cushitic has been called Omotic, and North Cushitic, Beja as a separate branch. To my knowledge East and South Cushitic are still put together as more recently diverged.' Miguel Carrasquer Vidal: Paul Newman ... would exclude Omotic from Afroasiatic altogether. Alice Faber: `At Phil Baldi's workshop on reconstruction at the Stanford institute (10 years ago, gasp!) ... Russ Schuh [remarked] that [Greenberg's] African stuff was incredibly useful and, while wrong in details, had set the agenda for discussion of linguistic filiation in Africa. [Which i take to mean that, even if Greenberg is wrong, he has provided motivation for a lot of good work.] That said, many of the classifications in the Afri- can system have shifted with more data. Omotic as a group in Afroasiatic was a subgroup of Cushitic in Greenberg's original classification. Now, it's mostly still considered Afroasiatic, but coordinate to Cushitic, Chadic, etc. I definitely got the impression that Nilo-Saharan is on rather uneasy ground. Alice Faber: `My impression of the literature is that Nilo- Saharan is pretty well accepted but that there's disagreement about its internal structure.' Peter Daniels: `it's Nilo-Saharan that's more a grab bag.' Miguel Carrasquer Vidal's response included an outline of how even Greenberg's early attempts at organizing African glossogenetic affiliations were reluctant to admit of such a family, and of Ruhlen's proposed internal organization of Nilo-Saharan (about which MCV seemed to be expressing some scepticism, though that may be a misapprehension on my part). Robert Nicolai (whose remarks i am translating from French) ex- presses much uncertainty about the coherence of Nilo-Saharan as a lan- guage family, though he admits his perception on this subject may be in part due to his primary interest in Songhay, whose affiliation with (the rest of) Nilo-Saharan is particularly doubtful, as shown in his own pub- lished research on the subject. He sums up the situation by saying that `in this area not a single question has been [persuasively] resolved.' On the subject of Khoisan, Carrasquer Vidal said, `The position of Sandawe and Hatsa (Hadza) is of course disputed (neither is particularly close to Southern African Khoisan or to the other). Nor is the relation- ship between the North, Central and South groups of S. African Khoisan universally accepted.' Peter Daniels also referred to Sandawe and Hadza, saying, `I think Khoisan is unquestioned for the South African languages but the two "outliers" in Tanzania may have been included in it only be- cause they have clicks.' [In responding, i pointed out that Zulu has clicks, too, but as far as i know nobody's tried to affiliate it with Khoisan, at least not recently.] Several people referred me to Bonny Sands' recent dissertation on the subject, a copy of which i am ordering from UCLA. References: Bender, M. Lionel. 1975. Omotic: A New Afroasiatic Family. Carbondale: University Museum, SIU. ___, ed. 1976. The Non-Semitic Languages of Ethiopia. (Occasional Papers Series, Committee on Ethiopian Studies; Monograph no. 5) East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, African Languages Center. ___. 1983. Nilo-Saharan Language Studies. (Committee on Northeast African Studies monograph no. 13) East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, African Studies Center. Ehret, C. 1979. `Omotic and the subgrouping of the Afroasiatic language family' in R.L. Hess, ed. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Ethiopian Studies, Session B, April 13-18, 1979, pp. 51-62. Chicago: Office of Publication Services, UI Chicago-Circle. ___. A Comparative-Historical Reconstruction of Nilo-Saharan, `which was in manuscript form last I heard of it.' -- Cosper Fleming, Hal. 1969. `The Classification of West Cushitic within Hamito Semitic' in J. Butler, ed. Eastern African History, pp. 3-27. NY: Praeger. ___. 1974. `Omotic as an Afroasiatic family' Studies in African Linguistics, Supplement 5, pp. 81-94. ___. 1976. `Cushitic and Omotic' in M.L. Bender, ed. Language in Ethiopia, pp. 34-53. London: OUP. Newman, Paul. 1980. The Classification of Chadic Within Afroasiatic. Leiden R. Nicolai, Robert. 1990. Parentes linguistiques (a propos du songhay), 209 p. Collection "Sciences du Langage", Editions du CNRS, Paris. ___. 1995. `Parentes du songhay : repondre aux questions, questionner les reponses' Proceedings 5th Nilo-Saharan Colloquium, Rudiger Koeppe Verlag, Koeln, pp. 391-412 ___. 1996. Problems of Grouping and Subgrouping : the Question of Songhay, 6th Nilo-saharan Conference , Santa Monica, AAP N0 45 Koeln, pp. 27-52. ___. 1996. Thoughts on a model for describing linguistic relationships, 26thAnnual Conference on African Linguistics, Los Angeles Nurse, Derek. [1997.] The Contributions of Linguistics to the Study of History in Africa. To appear in Journal of African History. Ruhlen, Merritt. 1987. A Guide to the World's Languages, Stanford: Stanford UP. Sands, Bonny. 1995 Evaluating Claims of Distant Linguistic Relation- ships: The Case of Khoisan. (UCLA Dissertations in Linguistics 14). Los Angeles: UCLA Linguistics Dept. --Website: `There's an on-line bibliography that contains listings of articles about African languages including Khoisan languages:' http://bantu.berkeley.edu/CBOLDBibs/BibAu.31.html Once again, thanks to all who responded! I'm adding all this to the list of potential readings & subject-matter for the seminar i mentioned in my original posting, hoping to teach it someday! Best, Steven --------------------- Dr. Steven Schaufele 712 West Washington Urbana, IL 61801 217-344-8240 fcosws at prairienet.org http://www.prairienet.org/~fcosws/homepage.html **** O syntagmata linguarum liberemini humanarum! *** *** Nihil vestris privari nisi obicibus potestis! *** From martinez at em.uni-frankfurt.de Tue May 20 14:54:04 1997 From: martinez at em.uni-frankfurt.de (Fco. Javier Mart nez Garc a) Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 10:54:04 EDT Subject: Confs: Indoarian, Iranian and IE-Studies Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- This posting is going out to the Linguist-list, the IE-List, the HISTLING-list and to the Indology-list; apologies to those who will get it twice (thrice!). -------------- http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/curric/erl-97.html -------------- Arbeitstagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft Das Tagungsthema lautet: Indoarisch, Iranisch und die Indogermanistik. Erlangen, vom 2. bis zum 4. Oktober 1997 FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER-UNIVERSITDT Bureau/Contacting Address: Institut f|r Vergleichende Indogermanische Sprachwissenschaft Kochstra_e 4 D-91054 Erlangen-N|rnberg Tel: +49-9131-85-9376 oder -85-2404 Fax: +49-9131-85-6390 email: p2indog at phil.uni-erlangen.de 1st circular / Erstes Rundschreiben - Bitte weiterleiten und bekanntmachen! - Vom 2. bis zum 4. Oktober 1997 soll in Erlangen eine Arbeitstagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft stattfinden. Das Tagungsthema lautet: Indoarisch, Iranisch und die Indogermanistik. Zu dieser Tagung laden wir die Mitglieder und andere Interessenten herzlich ein. Folgende Hauptvortrdge |ber Sondergebiete sind bereits vereinbart: Religion des Rigveda (T. Oberlies, Freiburg i.B.); Vedische Schulen und Texte (K. Klaus, Bochum); Mittelindoarisch (O. von Hin|ber, Freiburg i.B.); Akkadisch der Achaimenidenzeit (K.H. Kessler, Erlangen); Mittelpersisch (G. Klingenschmitt, Regensburg). Um die Anmeldung von Kurzvortrdgen (20 Minuten) zum Tagungsthema wird gebeten. Wir hoffen, da_ auch zahlreiche junge Fachgenossen als ortragende und Zuhvrer teilnehmen, und bitten, alle Vortrdge entsprechend zu gestalten. Bitte senden Sie den anhdngenden Abschnitt bis zum 15. April 1997 ausgef|llt an die obige Anschrift. Alle, die sich anmelden, erhalten anschlie_end eine Bestdtigung, das zweite Rundschreiben mit dem vorldufigen Programm und die Unterlagen des Erlanger Verkehrsb|ros. Dessen Anschrift lautet: Verkehrsverein Erlangen e.V., Rathausplatz 1, 91052 Erlangen (Tel.: 09131 / 8951-0; Fax: 8951-51). Vielleicht wird es mvglich sein, einige Studenten in einfachen Quartieren unterzubringen. Die Tagungsgeb|hr in Hvhe von DM 40.- mvge bei der Anmeldung auf folgendes Konto eingezahlt werden: Sparkasse Erlangen 34-123331, BLZ 763 500 00 (Bernhard Forssman; Kennwort "Arbeitstagung"). Teilnehmer aus den fr|heren sozialistischen Staaten, Studenten und Arbeitslose sind von der Zahlung befreit. Bernhard Forssman - Johanna Narten - Robert Plath ___________________________________________________________________ ANMELDUNG An der Arbeitstagung "Indoarisch, Iranisch und die Indogermanistik" in Erlangen, 2.-4.10.1997, nehme ich teil. Ich melde einen Kurzvortrag (20 Minuten) |ber folgendes Thema an: Ich bitte, den Vortrag auf folgenden Tag zu legen: 2./3./4.10.1997 (Bitte nur bei Bedarf unterstreichen). (F|r Studenten:) Mir ist an einer einfachen Unterbringung gelegen: Ja / Nein. Name und Anschrift: Telefon: Telefax: E-mail: From tony at benjamins.com Fri May 23 23:33:14 1997 From: tony at benjamins.com (Tony Schiavo) Date: Fri, 23 May 1997 19:33:14 EDT Subject: New Books: Historical Linguistics Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- NEW TITLES FROM JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING Historical Linguistics HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS 1993. SELECTED PAPERS FROM THE 11TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS, LOS ANGELES, 16-20 AUGUST 1993. Henning Andersen (ed.) 1995 x, 460 pp. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 124 US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 578 8 Price: US$110.00 Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 3627 5 Price: Hfl. 190,-- John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com For further information via e-mail: service at benjamins.com This volume contains a selection of papers from the 11th International Conference on Historical Linguistics; among them are a few presented at the workshop on Typology and Parameters organized during the conference. The 34 papers discuss a variety of topics, reflecting the latest developments in research in historical linguistics and covering a wide range of languages. Contributions by: Andrew Allen; Gregory S. Anderson; Julie Auger; Laurel Brinton & Dieter Stein; Vít Bubenik; Kate Burridge; Concepción Company; C. Jac Conradie; Thomas D. Cravens & Luciano Giannelli; Naomi Cull; Andrei Danchev; Bridget Drinka; Richard Epstein; Jadranka Gvozdanovic; Kaoru Horie; Masataka Ishikawa; Bernard Jacquinod; Dieter Kastovsky; Ritva Laury; Leena Löfstedt, Silvia Luraghi; Maria Manoliu-Manea; Jaap van Marle; Ana Maria Martins; Chantal Melis; Robert W. Murray; Johanna Nichols; Jairo Nunes; Claudia Parodi; Betty S. Philips; Susan Pintzuk; Pieter van Reenen & Lene Schosler; Elke Ronneberger-Sibold; Nigel Vincent. COMPARATIVE INDO-EUROPEAN LINGUISTICS. AN INTRODUCTION Robert S.P. Beekes 1995 xxii, 376 pp. US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 504 4 Price: US$75.00 Paper: 1 55619 505 2 Price: $24.95 Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 2150 2 Price: Hfl. 125,-- Paper: 90 272 2151 0 Price: Hfl. 50,-- John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com For further information via e-mail: service at benjamins.com This book gives a comprehensive introduction to Comparative Indo-European Linguistics, the first to appear in English. It starts with a presentation of the languages of the family (from English and the other Germanic languages, the Celtic and Slavic languages, Latin, Greek and Sanskrit through Armenian and Albanian) and a discussion of the culture and origin of the Indo-Europeans, the speakers of the Indo-European proto-language, who are considered to have lived in what is today the Ukraine. The book gives an introduction into the nature of language change and the methods of reconstruction of older language stages, with many examples (from the Indo-European languages). A full description is given of the sound changes, which makes it possible to follow the origin of the different Indo-European languages step by step. This is followed by a discussion of the development of all the morphological categories of Proto-Indo-European. The book presents the latest in scholarly insights, like the laryngeal and glottalic theory, accentuation, the ablaut patterns and these are systematically integrated into the treatment. While the book presents a large amount of material and discusses many principles and the relevant terminology, it is written in a very readable and lucid style. Use of the book is facilitated by an appendix on phonetics, a glossary, full indexes, and an extensive bibliography. The book can be used as a first introduction to the field, and at the same time brings the reader to the current moment of research. ZUR GESCHICHTE DER DEUTSCHEN SPRACHE. NEW EDITION WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ARTICLE BY KURT R. JANKOWSKY Wilhelm Scherer 1995 lxii, 246 pp. Amsterdam Classics in Linguistics, 16 US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 770 5 Price: US$97.00 Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 1994 X Price: Hfl. 170,-- John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com For further information via e-mail: service at benjamins.com Wilhelm Scherer (1841-1886) has gained wide recognition for his extraordinary accomplishments in linguistics as well as in literary studies. His first and most important contribution to the development of linguistic science was his monumental work of 508 pages Zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache, published in 1868. His stated objective was "to subject all aspects of the Germanic grammar to a new treatment." While such a wording sounds rather modest, the actual implementation in his book, if viewed within the framework of his time, might very appropriately be called revolutionary. He broke with August Schleicher's distinction between 'development' (in prehistorical time) and 'decay' (in historical time) in the history of language and replaced it with his notion of continuous, uninterrupted development. His survey of the relevant literature of his time is almost exhaustive, and his findings serve as the solid stepping stone for his own advances. To facilitate reading, the editor has supplied an index of names (with life dates), a complete listing of the literature referred to by Scherer as well as an introduction to Scherer's life and his general scholarly achievements. TOWARDS A HISTORY OF THE BASQUE LANGUAGE Jose Ignacio Hualde, Joseba A. Lakarra & R.L. Trask (eds.) 1995 365 pp. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 131 US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 585 0 Price: US$90.00 Rest of world: Cloth: 90 272 3634 8 Price: Hfl. 150,-- John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com For further information via e-mail: service at benjamins.com Questions related to the origin and history of the Basque language spark considerable interest, since it is the only surviving pre-Indo-European language in western Europe. However, until now, there was no readily available source in English providing answers to these questions or giving an overview of past and current research in this area. This book is intended to partly fill this void. The book contains both state-of-the-art papers which summarize our knowledge about particular areas of Basque historical linguistics, and articles presenting new hypotheses and points of view based on hard evidence and careful analysis. All contributors to this volume have demonstrated expertise in the topic within Basque historical linguistics that their chapter addresses. Two classical articles by the late Luis Michelena are included in English translation. In addition, the book includes studies on diachronic phonology, morphology and syntax. The relation of Basque to other languages is also investigated in a couple of chapters. ENGLISH HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS 1994. PAPERS FROM THE 8TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENGLISH HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS (8 ICEHL, EDINBURGH, 19-23 SEPTEMBER 1994) 1996 viii, 403 pp. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 135 US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 590 7 Price: US$84.00 Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 3639 9 Price: Hfl. 150,-- John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com For further information via e-mail: service at benjamins.com This volume offers a selection of 19 papers from those read at the 8th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics. The topics discussed span the whole history of English from the Common Germanic period to the present century. The book also includes, as appropriate to the conference venue, a number of papers on the aspects of the historical development of Scots and Scottish English. HISTORICAL PRAGMATICS. PRAGMATIC DEVELOPMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH Andreas H. Jucker (ed.) 1995 xvi, 624 pp. Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 35 US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 328 9 Price: US$97.00 Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 5047 2 Price: Hfl. 170,-- John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com For further information via e-mail: service at benjamins.com Until very recently, pragmatics has been restricted to the analysis of contemporary spoken language while historical linguistics has studied historical texts and language change in a decontextualized way. This has now radically changed and scholars from around the world are trying to build a new theoretical framework that integrates recent advances both in pragmatics and in historical linguistics. This volume, which contains 22 originaI titles,starts with an introduction that is both a state-of-the-art account of historical pragmatics and a programmatic statement of its future potential and its different subfields. Part I contains seven pragmaphilological papers that deal with historical texts and their interpretations by paying close attention to the communicative context of these texts. The second and third parts comprise papers in diachronic pragmatics. The ten papers of Part II take a linguistic form as their starting point, e.g. particular lexical items or syntactic constructions, and study their pragmatic functions at different times (diachronic form-to-function mappings), while the four papers of Part III take a particular pragmatic function as their starting point. e.g. discourse strategies or politeness, and study their linguistic realisation at different times (diachronic function-to-form mappings). Contributions by: C. Allen; U. Bach; H. Bergrer; E. Bernárdez & P. Tejada; M. Fludernik: G. Fritz; W. Hüllen; A. Jacobs & A. Jucker; R. Kopytko; S. Kryk-Kastovsky; J. Lennard; J. de Lima; P. Navarro-Errasti; T, Nevalainen & H. Raumolin-Brunberg; N. Onodera; G. Ronberg, S. Schwenter & E. Traugott; I. Taavistainen; T. Virtanen; K. Wales; S. Wårvik; R. Watts SEMITIC AND INDO-EUROPEAN: THE PRINCIPAL ETYMOLOGIES. WITH OBSERVATIONS ON AFRO-ASIATIC Saul Levin 1995 xxii, 514 pp. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 129 US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 583 4 Price: US$97.00 Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 3632 1 Price: Hfl. 170,-- John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com For further information via e-mail: service at benjamins.com This volume presents the key examples of morphological correspondences between Indo-European and Semitic languages, afforded by nouns, verbal roots, pronouns, prepositions, and numerals. Its focus is on shared morphology embodied in the cognate vocabulary. The facts that are brought out in this volume do not fit comfortably within either the Indo-Europeanists' or the Semitists' conception of the prehistoric development of their languages. Nonetheless they are so fundamental that many would take them for evidence of a single original source, 'Proto-Nostratic'. In this book, however, it is considered unsettled whether proto-IE and proto-Semitic had a common forerunner. But the IE-Semitic combinations testify at least to prehistoric language communities in truly intimate contact. Questions? Contact Bernie Keck Email: service at benjamins.com From lsa at lsadc.org Thu May 29 15:58:48 1997 From: lsa at lsadc.org (LSA) Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 11:58:48 EDT Subject: LSA Searches Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- The Linguistic Society would greatly appreciate your posting the following announcements on your listserver. Thank you. Call for Nominations for Secretary-Treasurer of the Linguistic Society of America The Secretary-Treasurer is the constitutionally designated chief fiscal officer of the Society. The responsibilities of the Secretary-Treasurer shall include keeping the records of the deliberations of the Society and the Executive Committee, presenting an annual report to the Society, which shall be published by the Society, supervising publications of the Society which are not the responsibility of the Editor, and such functions as may be assigned by the President and the Executive Committee. Although the Secretary-Treasurer is elected annually, the recent tradition has been to serve for five consecutive years. During their term in office, all past Secretary-Treasurers have been faculty members in residence although this is not a requirement. They have been able to continue to pursue their own professional commitments, interests and responsibilities because the work of the Society is generally carried out by the Secretariat in Washington. The Secretariat, currently staffed by three employees, administers and manages the work of the Society under the direction of and in frequent communication with the Secretary-Treasurer. Each year, the Secretary-Treasurer receives a modest honorarium in recognition of service and is reimbursed for office supplies and the expense of a telephone at his or her office, as well as for travel on LSA business. The members of the Ad Hoc Secretary-Treasurer Search Committee (Frederick J. Newmeyer, Chair; Paul Angelis and Dawn Bates) welcome applications and nominations from any member. The Committee would also be pleased to respond to inquiries about the position and to supply detailed information on the responsibilities. The deadline for receipt of materials is 1 July 1997. All applications and nominations should be accompanied by a curriculum vitae and be sent to: Ad Hoc Secretary-Treasurer Search Committee, c/o LSA Secretariat, 1325 18th Street, NW, Suite 211, Washington, DC 20036-6501. ******************************* Web Page Editor The Linguistic Society of America seeks applicants for the position of Web Page Editor. Responsibilities include: * developing policy concerning electronic communication * designing and supervising the maintenance of the LSA web site * soliciting and editing materials to be placed on the web. Applicants should be members of the LSA and be familiar with the Society as well as with the field of linguistics. Good contacts with other relevant learned societies are a plus since links to other sites of likely interest to the LSA membership should be maintained at the LSA site. Finally, a good working knowledge of HTML and web page design issues is an important asset for someone interested in this position. It is estimated that designing and maintaining the site will require at least 50 hours per year. The editor will be assisted by a paid parttime student intern and will be able to call on the LSA Committee on Computing for advice. In recognition for this service to the Society, the Web Page Editor will be paid an honorarium of $1,000. The Search Committee (D. Terence Langendoen, Chair; Mary Dalrymple and Richard Sproat) requests candidates send a letter summarizing web page experience and special qualifications for the position with a c.v. to: Linguistic Society of America, 1325 18th St., NW, Suite 211, Washington, DC 20036. The deadline for letters of interest is 15 September 1997. For further information, please contact the LSA Secretariat (lsa at lsadc.org) From doug at nwg.nectec.or.th Fri May 2 16:07:24 1997 From: doug at nwg.nectec.or.th (Doug Cooper) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 12:07:24 EDT Subject: Reviving the SEALANG list Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Dear SEAlangers and interested parties: In case you haven't noticed, the Southeast Asian Languages discussion group, SEALANG-L, has been out of operation since January. Files were not backed up, so it is neither possible to restore the list nor to find the subscribers (this mailing was scavanged by hand from old posts and conference papers). After discussion with Khun Marut of NECTEC (given responsibility by the very busy Khun Trin), we agreed that with NECTEC's financial and security constraints (eg. backups are still not done, uploads cannot be permitted), managing the list from elsewhere would be more reliable and allow expanded services. Accordingly, I have established a "new" list, called SEALANG, at the domain seasrc.th.net. List focus and policies remain as before. Key e-addresses are: http://seasrc.th.net/sealang (the new SEALANG Web site) majordomo at seasrc.th.net (to subscribe -- see details below) sealang at seasrc.th.net (to post messages; pls subscribe first) doug at nwg.nectec.or.th (list mgr.; questions and suggestions) Many thanks to NECTEC for their long-time support of this effort; and as always, a moment of remembrance for SEALANG's prime mover, Mr. Gwyn Williams, who died at a tragically young age last year. The remainder of this letter describes the purpose of SEALANG, and explains how to post and subscribe to the group. Sincerely, Doug Cooper Southeast Asian Software Research Center, Bangkok -- http://seasrc.th.net ABOUT SEALANG SEALANG is a non-moderated mailing list originally founded by Gwyn Williams and Trin Tantsetthi in 1994, and devoted to scholarly discussion relevant to Southeast Asian languages. The core SEA languages belong to five major families: Austronesian (AN); Mon-Khmer (Austro-Asiatic; AA, including Munda); Tai-Kadai (TK); Tibeto-Burman (TB; a branch of Sino-Tibetan ST); and Hmong-Mien (HM; also known as Miao-Yao). SEALANG interests also extend to languages of the Sino-Tibetan family, as well as the Austronesian family, spoken in Vietnam and Cambodia, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Java, and the Micronesian, Melanesian, Polynesian, and Madagascar regions. Languages of historical importance, particularly Pali and Sanskrit, and more recent European languages (eg. English) are included in the discussion to the extent to which they bear on SEA. Most past discussion has focused on linguistics. I would like to encourage greater participation from computational linguistics and computer science, especially in regard to building research tools for SEA languages. Typical postings include: Queries and discussion related to SEA languages. Posting of calls for conference papers and participation. Announcements of the release of books, software, data, etc. Job and funding announcements. The overall high quality of SEALANG posts is widely believed to be due to the good judgement, self-restraint, and mutual respect of its subscribers ;-) TO SUBSCRIBE TO SEALANG: Send a message to: majordomo at seasrc.th.net In the body of your letter, include the line: subscribe sealang yourname at your.email.address Don't forget to use your actual name and e-mail address. Note that you will not receive messages posted to SEALANG until you subscribe. TO POST MESSAGES ON SEALANG: Send your message to: sealang at seasrc.th.net FOR FURTHER DETAILS: Please visit the SEALANG Web site at http://seasrc.th.net/sealang ABOUT SEASRC: SEASRC is a non-profit research center, based in Bangkok, and focused on computational linguistics and software development for non-Roman alphabet SEA languages. The TH.NET domain is hosted in the US with a T3 link to the Internet; it is backed up daily. Posts through the old sealang-l address at NECTEC will remain valid. From reusch at uclink4.berkeley.edu Wed May 7 18:43:10 1997 From: reusch at uclink4.berkeley.edu (B. Reusch) Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 14:43:10 EDT Subject: Where to study Bedic-Greek-Hittite comp. ling. Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- To the list: A friend of mine is asking a question, which I wonder whether you'd like to help me with. He has a PhD in Skt. from Harvard and is now interested in studying Old Greek and Hittite for the sake of Vedic-Greek-Hittite comparative analysis. He does not live on a tight budget, as I do, and is practically free next year to concentrate on his own studies. Where would you advice this person to go? What he has in mind is the IE program at UCLA or Germany. Yet from speaking, very briefly indeed, with Prof. Antilla two years ago I got the impression that the IE program at UCLA is sort of dying out. Am I wrong? Then if Germany is a good place, where specifically should he look? He is attending some academic conference somewhere in Germany in the first week of June, and would stay in Germany for a year or more if that's the best for him. I'd appreciate your kind help. With best wishes, Beatrice From iyeiri at inst.kobe-cufs.ac.jp Mon May 12 13:55:46 1997 From: iyeiri at inst.kobe-cufs.ac.jp (Yoko Iyeiri) Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 09:55:46 EDT Subject: Kobe City University of Foreign Studies Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- May 9, 1997 Kobe City University of Foreign Studies now invites applications for a full-time instructor or assistant professor under the following conditions. $B!!!! (J1. The applicant's field of specialization should be linguistic studies of English. $B!!!! (J2. The applicant's first language should be English. The successful applicant will teach practical English (oral English, writing, etc.) and English linguistics to English majors in both daytime and evening classes. $B!!!! (J3. The successful applicant will be employed as a language teaching faculty member (instructor or assistant professor). $B!!!! (J4. Required academic degree is M.A. or Ph.D. $B!!!! (J5. The applicant's age should be 45 or under at the time of employment (the first of April, 1998). $B!!!! (J6. Documents requisite for application are: $B!!!!!! (J a) Curriculum vitae $B!!!!!! (J b) List of publications $B!!!!!! (J c) Originals or photocopies of selected academic papers or books $B!!!!!! (J d) Originals or photocopies of diplomas $B!!!!!! (J e) Recommendations or references $B!!!! (J7. The documents for application should be received by mail (not by fax or e-mail) by 5:00 p.m. on September 5, 1997. Address of the University office: $B!!!!!! (J Shomu-ka (The General Affairs Section) $B!!!!!! (J Kobe City University of Foreign Studies $B!!!!!! (J 9-1 Gakuen-higashi-machi $B!!!!!! (J Nishi-ku, Kobe 651-21 $B!!!!!! (J Japan $B!!!!!! (J Phone: 81-78-794-8111 $B!!!!!! (J Fax: 81-78-792-9020 $B!!!!!! (J e-mail: english-dept at inst.kobe-cufs.ac.jp *For more details, please write, fax, or e-mail (not telephone) to the above address or number. *Send your application documents by registered mail (not by fax or e-mail). Write in red on the envelope: Application: English Department. From alotz at aimnet.com Tue May 13 11:26:38 1997 From: alotz at aimnet.com (Deborah W. Anderson) Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 07:26:38 EDT Subject: IE Newsletter Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- A new edition of the IE Newsletter has just appeared. The essays contained in this issue focus on ancient Greece and adjacent areas: Ivo Hajnal (Indogermanisches Seminar der Universitaet Zuerich) writes an update on Mycenaean Andreas Schachner (Vorgeschichtliches Seminar der Philipps- Universitaet, Marburg) reviews recent research in the archaeology of western Anatolia, which has ramifications for the prehistory of Greece Mark Hall (Archaeological Research Facility, UC Berkeley) discusses advances in radiocarbon dating and suggests what this new work may mean for dating prehistoric Greece. In "Notes & Brief Communications": We mark the passing of Oswald Szemerenyi with a short piece by Alfred Bammesberger; Konstantin Woebking (Universitaet Innsbruck) summarizes the September Indogermanische Gesellschaft meeting; Alfred Bammesberger provides a brief review of Helmut Birkhan's new book, Kelten: Versuch einer Gesamtdarstellung; Henning Andersen has written a synopsis of his latest work, Reconstructing Prehistorical Dialects: Initial vowels in Slavic and Baltic. In "Report from the Field", Igor Manzura and Mark Tkachuk write on their Moldovan excavation that may represent a significant new Sarmatian site. The Newsletter includes listings of new books, an update on electronic resources for IE, a list of upcoming conferences, as well as IE books available for review in the journals Word and Language. Contributions (which go towards the newsletter and events at UCLA) are $10 (student), $20 (U.S./Canada), $25 (outside N. America). Single issues may be purchased for $5 (U.S./Canada), $8 (outside N. America). Checks (made payable to "FAIES/UCLA Foundation") should be sent to: FAIES, 2143 Kelton Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90025. Contributions may be charged on a credit card. For further information, please contact: dwanders at socrates.berkeley.edu The newsletter is affiliated with the Indo-European Studies program at UCLA and appears twice yearly. From H.Pinkster at let.uva.nl Fri May 16 15:14:16 1997 From: H.Pinkster at let.uva.nl (H. Pinkster) Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 11:14:16 EDT Subject: message to members Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS To all members of ISHL Dear colleagues I am writing to you on behalf of the Nominating Committee of the ISHL. The committe is preparing suggestions for names of future officers of the Society and for a venue for the 2001 meeting (you will recall that 1999 is already decided on: Vancouver). I invite members to assist us in this task by sending us names of candidates for the following positions: Executive Committee: Member: Vacancy due to end of term of John Charles Smith (until 2003) [Remaining members: Laurel Brinton, future conference director (future President); Dieter Stein (former) President; Sheila Embleton (1999); Alice Harris (2001)] Nominating Committee: Member: Vacancy due to end of term of Harm Pinkster (until 2005) [Remaining members: Marianne Mithun (1999) (future chair); Roger Wright (2001); Bernd Heine (2003)] Future Venue: Barry Blake has recently restated the interest of La Trobe University in cooperation with the University of Melbourne (Australia) to host the 2001 meeting. There is also an offer from Trondheim University (Norway). You must be a current member of ISHL in order to nominate someone or to be nominated. The Committee will keep in mind a balance between the sexes and geographical areas when considering nominations. Deadline for suggestions to the Executive Committee is May 31th. Please send your suggestions to Prof. Harm Pinkster, Klassiek Seminarium, Oude Turfmarkt 129, 1012 GC Amsterdam; fax 31 20 5252544, e-mail H.Pinkster at let.uva.nl Kind regards, Harm Pinkster Prof. dr Harm Pinkster tel.(0)20 5252524 fax. (0)20 5252544 e-mail H.Pinkster at let.uva.nl From fcosws at prairienet.org Tue May 20 00:24:30 1997 From: fcosws at prairienet.org (Steven Schaufele) Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 20:24:30 EDT Subject: Sum: questions on African affiliations Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Back in early April i posted the following query in LINGUIST and HISTLING: > Recent browsing in some general texts has made me aware that >there are or have been recently some questions raised about >certain putative affiliations amongst certain languages on the >African continent. Not being an Africanist, this is in no way >an area i am particularly knowledgeable about, but i have hopes >someday of teaching a seminar in which students are called upon >to examine critically the literature arguing pro & con certain >hypotheses in the field of historical linguistics, and i would >therefore like some references to good discussions in the >literature on the following topics: > > 1. There is presumably no question that all the so-called >`Cushitic' languages are members of the Afro-Asiatic family. >But do they constitute a well-defined sub-family, or are they >merely a `miscellaneous' category? > > 2. Are the so-called `Nilo-Saharan' languages a well-defined >glosso-genetic family or merely a geographically-defined group? > > 3. Ditto the `Khoisan' languages. I would first of all like to thank the following scholars for their informative esponses, whether in the way of elucidatory discussion or direction towards worthwhile literature or both: David Anderson M. Lionel Bender Ronald Cosper Miguel Carrasquer Vidal Peter Daniels Alice Faber Thomas J. Hinnebusch Robert Nicolai Derek Nurse Bonny Sands Robin Thelwall Below i give my summary of some of the more substantive remarks i received wrt African affiliation; comments in square brackets are my own. This is followed by the combined list of references i received. With regard to Cushitic, Ron Cosper's statement seems to best summarize the consensus i detected in the messages i got: `For Cushitic, it is now thought that some of the erstwhile branches may in fact constitute separate families. West Cushitic has been called Omotic, and North Cushitic, Beja as a separate branch. To my knowledge East and South Cushitic are still put together as more recently diverged.' Miguel Carrasquer Vidal: Paul Newman ... would exclude Omotic from Afroasiatic altogether. Alice Faber: `At Phil Baldi's workshop on reconstruction at the Stanford institute (10 years ago, gasp!) ... Russ Schuh [remarked] that [Greenberg's] African stuff was incredibly useful and, while wrong in details, had set the agenda for discussion of linguistic filiation in Africa. [Which i take to mean that, even if Greenberg is wrong, he has provided motivation for a lot of good work.] That said, many of the classifications in the Afri- can system have shifted with more data. Omotic as a group in Afroasiatic was a subgroup of Cushitic in Greenberg's original classification. Now, it's mostly still considered Afroasiatic, but coordinate to Cushitic, Chadic, etc. I definitely got the impression that Nilo-Saharan is on rather uneasy ground. Alice Faber: `My impression of the literature is that Nilo- Saharan is pretty well accepted but that there's disagreement about its internal structure.' Peter Daniels: `it's Nilo-Saharan that's more a grab bag.' Miguel Carrasquer Vidal's response included an outline of how even Greenberg's early attempts at organizing African glossogenetic affiliations were reluctant to admit of such a family, and of Ruhlen's proposed internal organization of Nilo-Saharan (about which MCV seemed to be expressing some scepticism, though that may be a misapprehension on my part). Robert Nicolai (whose remarks i am translating from French) ex- presses much uncertainty about the coherence of Nilo-Saharan as a lan- guage family, though he admits his perception on this subject may be in part due to his primary interest in Songhay, whose affiliation with (the rest of) Nilo-Saharan is particularly doubtful, as shown in his own pub- lished research on the subject. He sums up the situation by saying that `in this area not a single question has been [persuasively] resolved.' On the subject of Khoisan, Carrasquer Vidal said, `The position of Sandawe and Hatsa (Hadza) is of course disputed (neither is particularly close to Southern African Khoisan or to the other). Nor is the relation- ship between the North, Central and South groups of S. African Khoisan universally accepted.' Peter Daniels also referred to Sandawe and Hadza, saying, `I think Khoisan is unquestioned for the South African languages but the two "outliers" in Tanzania may have been included in it only be- cause they have clicks.' [In responding, i pointed out that Zulu has clicks, too, but as far as i know nobody's tried to affiliate it with Khoisan, at least not recently.] Several people referred me to Bonny Sands' recent dissertation on the subject, a copy of which i am ordering from UCLA. References: Bender, M. Lionel. 1975. Omotic: A New Afroasiatic Family. Carbondale: University Museum, SIU. ___, ed. 1976. The Non-Semitic Languages of Ethiopia. (Occasional Papers Series, Committee on Ethiopian Studies; Monograph no. 5) East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, African Languages Center. ___. 1983. Nilo-Saharan Language Studies. (Committee on Northeast African Studies monograph no. 13) East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, African Studies Center. Ehret, C. 1979. `Omotic and the subgrouping of the Afroasiatic language family' in R.L. Hess, ed. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Ethiopian Studies, Session B, April 13-18, 1979, pp. 51-62. Chicago: Office of Publication Services, UI Chicago-Circle. ___. A Comparative-Historical Reconstruction of Nilo-Saharan, `which was in manuscript form last I heard of it.' -- Cosper Fleming, Hal. 1969. `The Classification of West Cushitic within Hamito Semitic' in J. Butler, ed. Eastern African History, pp. 3-27. NY: Praeger. ___. 1974. `Omotic as an Afroasiatic family' Studies in African Linguistics, Supplement 5, pp. 81-94. ___. 1976. `Cushitic and Omotic' in M.L. Bender, ed. Language in Ethiopia, pp. 34-53. London: OUP. Newman, Paul. 1980. The Classification of Chadic Within Afroasiatic. Leiden R. Nicolai, Robert. 1990. Parentes linguistiques (a propos du songhay), 209 p. Collection "Sciences du Langage", Editions du CNRS, Paris. ___. 1995. `Parentes du songhay : repondre aux questions, questionner les reponses' Proceedings 5th Nilo-Saharan Colloquium, Rudiger Koeppe Verlag, Koeln, pp. 391-412 ___. 1996. Problems of Grouping and Subgrouping : the Question of Songhay, 6th Nilo-saharan Conference , Santa Monica, AAP N0 45 Koeln, pp. 27-52. ___. 1996. Thoughts on a model for describing linguistic relationships, 26thAnnual Conference on African Linguistics, Los Angeles Nurse, Derek. [1997.] The Contributions of Linguistics to the Study of History in Africa. To appear in Journal of African History. Ruhlen, Merritt. 1987. A Guide to the World's Languages, Stanford: Stanford UP. Sands, Bonny. 1995 Evaluating Claims of Distant Linguistic Relation- ships: The Case of Khoisan. (UCLA Dissertations in Linguistics 14). Los Angeles: UCLA Linguistics Dept. --Website: `There's an on-line bibliography that contains listings of articles about African languages including Khoisan languages:' http://bantu.berkeley.edu/CBOLDBibs/BibAu.31.html Once again, thanks to all who responded! I'm adding all this to the list of potential readings & subject-matter for the seminar i mentioned in my original posting, hoping to teach it someday! Best, Steven --------------------- Dr. Steven Schaufele 712 West Washington Urbana, IL 61801 217-344-8240 fcosws at prairienet.org http://www.prairienet.org/~fcosws/homepage.html **** O syntagmata linguarum liberemini humanarum! *** *** Nihil vestris privari nisi obicibus potestis! *** From martinez at em.uni-frankfurt.de Tue May 20 14:54:04 1997 From: martinez at em.uni-frankfurt.de (Fco. Javier Mart nez Garc a) Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 10:54:04 EDT Subject: Confs: Indoarian, Iranian and IE-Studies Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- This posting is going out to the Linguist-list, the IE-List, the HISTLING-list and to the Indology-list; apologies to those who will get it twice (thrice!). -------------- http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/curric/erl-97.html -------------- Arbeitstagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft Das Tagungsthema lautet: Indoarisch, Iranisch und die Indogermanistik. Erlangen, vom 2. bis zum 4. Oktober 1997 FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER-UNIVERSITDT Bureau/Contacting Address: Institut f|r Vergleichende Indogermanische Sprachwissenschaft Kochstra_e 4 D-91054 Erlangen-N|rnberg Tel: +49-9131-85-9376 oder -85-2404 Fax: +49-9131-85-6390 email: p2indog at phil.uni-erlangen.de 1st circular / Erstes Rundschreiben - Bitte weiterleiten und bekanntmachen! - Vom 2. bis zum 4. Oktober 1997 soll in Erlangen eine Arbeitstagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft stattfinden. Das Tagungsthema lautet: Indoarisch, Iranisch und die Indogermanistik. Zu dieser Tagung laden wir die Mitglieder und andere Interessenten herzlich ein. Folgende Hauptvortrdge |ber Sondergebiete sind bereits vereinbart: Religion des Rigveda (T. Oberlies, Freiburg i.B.); Vedische Schulen und Texte (K. Klaus, Bochum); Mittelindoarisch (O. von Hin|ber, Freiburg i.B.); Akkadisch der Achaimenidenzeit (K.H. Kessler, Erlangen); Mittelpersisch (G. Klingenschmitt, Regensburg). Um die Anmeldung von Kurzvortrdgen (20 Minuten) zum Tagungsthema wird gebeten. Wir hoffen, da_ auch zahlreiche junge Fachgenossen als ortragende und Zuhvrer teilnehmen, und bitten, alle Vortrdge entsprechend zu gestalten. Bitte senden Sie den anhdngenden Abschnitt bis zum 15. April 1997 ausgef|llt an die obige Anschrift. Alle, die sich anmelden, erhalten anschlie_end eine Bestdtigung, das zweite Rundschreiben mit dem vorldufigen Programm und die Unterlagen des Erlanger Verkehrsb|ros. Dessen Anschrift lautet: Verkehrsverein Erlangen e.V., Rathausplatz 1, 91052 Erlangen (Tel.: 09131 / 8951-0; Fax: 8951-51). Vielleicht wird es mvglich sein, einige Studenten in einfachen Quartieren unterzubringen. Die Tagungsgeb|hr in Hvhe von DM 40.- mvge bei der Anmeldung auf folgendes Konto eingezahlt werden: Sparkasse Erlangen 34-123331, BLZ 763 500 00 (Bernhard Forssman; Kennwort "Arbeitstagung"). Teilnehmer aus den fr|heren sozialistischen Staaten, Studenten und Arbeitslose sind von der Zahlung befreit. Bernhard Forssman - Johanna Narten - Robert Plath ___________________________________________________________________ ANMELDUNG An der Arbeitstagung "Indoarisch, Iranisch und die Indogermanistik" in Erlangen, 2.-4.10.1997, nehme ich teil. Ich melde einen Kurzvortrag (20 Minuten) |ber folgendes Thema an: Ich bitte, den Vortrag auf folgenden Tag zu legen: 2./3./4.10.1997 (Bitte nur bei Bedarf unterstreichen). (F|r Studenten:) Mir ist an einer einfachen Unterbringung gelegen: Ja / Nein. Name und Anschrift: Telefon: Telefax: E-mail: From tony at benjamins.com Fri May 23 23:33:14 1997 From: tony at benjamins.com (Tony Schiavo) Date: Fri, 23 May 1997 19:33:14 EDT Subject: New Books: Historical Linguistics Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- NEW TITLES FROM JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING Historical Linguistics HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS 1993. SELECTED PAPERS FROM THE 11TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS, LOS ANGELES, 16-20 AUGUST 1993. Henning Andersen (ed.) 1995 x, 460 pp. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 124 US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 578 8 Price: US$110.00 Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 3627 5 Price: Hfl. 190,-- John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com For further information via e-mail: service at benjamins.com This volume contains a selection of papers from the 11th International Conference on Historical Linguistics; among them are a few presented at the workshop on Typology and Parameters organized during the conference. The 34 papers discuss a variety of topics, reflecting the latest developments in research in historical linguistics and covering a wide range of languages. Contributions by: Andrew Allen; Gregory S. Anderson; Julie Auger; Laurel Brinton & Dieter Stein; V?t Bubenik; Kate Burridge; Concepci?n Company; C. Jac Conradie; Thomas D. Cravens & Luciano Giannelli; Naomi Cull; Andrei Danchev; Bridget Drinka; Richard Epstein; Jadranka Gvozdanovic; Kaoru Horie; Masataka Ishikawa; Bernard Jacquinod; Dieter Kastovsky; Ritva Laury; Leena L?fstedt, Silvia Luraghi; Maria Manoliu-Manea; Jaap van Marle; Ana Maria Martins; Chantal Melis; Robert W. Murray; Johanna Nichols; Jairo Nunes; Claudia Parodi; Betty S. Philips; Susan Pintzuk; Pieter van Reenen & Lene Schosler; Elke Ronneberger-Sibold; Nigel Vincent. COMPARATIVE INDO-EUROPEAN LINGUISTICS. AN INTRODUCTION Robert S.P. Beekes 1995 xxii, 376 pp. US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 504 4 Price: US$75.00 Paper: 1 55619 505 2 Price: $24.95 Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 2150 2 Price: Hfl. 125,-- Paper: 90 272 2151 0 Price: Hfl. 50,-- John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com For further information via e-mail: service at benjamins.com This book gives a comprehensive introduction to Comparative Indo-European Linguistics, the first to appear in English. It starts with a presentation of the languages of the family (from English and the other Germanic languages, the Celtic and Slavic languages, Latin, Greek and Sanskrit through Armenian and Albanian) and a discussion of the culture and origin of the Indo-Europeans, the speakers of the Indo-European proto-language, who are considered to have lived in what is today the Ukraine. The book gives an introduction into the nature of language change and the methods of reconstruction of older language stages, with many examples (from the Indo-European languages). A full description is given of the sound changes, which makes it possible to follow the origin of the different Indo-European languages step by step. This is followed by a discussion of the development of all the morphological categories of Proto-Indo-European. The book presents the latest in scholarly insights, like the laryngeal and glottalic theory, accentuation, the ablaut patterns and these are systematically integrated into the treatment. While the book presents a large amount of material and discusses many principles and the relevant terminology, it is written in a very readable and lucid style. Use of the book is facilitated by an appendix on phonetics, a glossary, full indexes, and an extensive bibliography. The book can be used as a first introduction to the field, and at the same time brings the reader to the current moment of research. ZUR GESCHICHTE DER DEUTSCHEN SPRACHE. NEW EDITION WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ARTICLE BY KURT R. JANKOWSKY Wilhelm Scherer 1995 lxii, 246 pp. Amsterdam Classics in Linguistics, 16 US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 770 5 Price: US$97.00 Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 1994 X Price: Hfl. 170,-- John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com For further information via e-mail: service at benjamins.com Wilhelm Scherer (1841-1886) has gained wide recognition for his extraordinary accomplishments in linguistics as well as in literary studies. His first and most important contribution to the development of linguistic science was his monumental work of 508 pages Zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache, published in 1868. His stated objective was "to subject all aspects of the Germanic grammar to a new treatment." While such a wording sounds rather modest, the actual implementation in his book, if viewed within the framework of his time, might very appropriately be called revolutionary. He broke with August Schleicher's distinction between 'development' (in prehistorical time) and 'decay' (in historical time) in the history of language and replaced it with his notion of continuous, uninterrupted development. His survey of the relevant literature of his time is almost exhaustive, and his findings serve as the solid stepping stone for his own advances. To facilitate reading, the editor has supplied an index of names (with life dates), a complete listing of the literature referred to by Scherer as well as an introduction to Scherer's life and his general scholarly achievements. TOWARDS A HISTORY OF THE BASQUE LANGUAGE Jose Ignacio Hualde, Joseba A. Lakarra & R.L. Trask (eds.) 1995 365 pp. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 131 US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 585 0 Price: US$90.00 Rest of world: Cloth: 90 272 3634 8 Price: Hfl. 150,-- John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com For further information via e-mail: service at benjamins.com Questions related to the origin and history of the Basque language spark considerable interest, since it is the only surviving pre-Indo-European language in western Europe. However, until now, there was no readily available source in English providing answers to these questions or giving an overview of past and current research in this area. This book is intended to partly fill this void. The book contains both state-of-the-art papers which summarize our knowledge about particular areas of Basque historical linguistics, and articles presenting new hypotheses and points of view based on hard evidence and careful analysis. All contributors to this volume have demonstrated expertise in the topic within Basque historical linguistics that their chapter addresses. Two classical articles by the late Luis Michelena are included in English translation. In addition, the book includes studies on diachronic phonology, morphology and syntax. The relation of Basque to other languages is also investigated in a couple of chapters. ENGLISH HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS 1994. PAPERS FROM THE 8TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENGLISH HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS (8 ICEHL, EDINBURGH, 19-23 SEPTEMBER 1994) 1996 viii, 403 pp. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 135 US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 590 7 Price: US$84.00 Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 3639 9 Price: Hfl. 150,-- John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com For further information via e-mail: service at benjamins.com This volume offers a selection of 19 papers from those read at the 8th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics. The topics discussed span the whole history of English from the Common Germanic period to the present century. The book also includes, as appropriate to the conference venue, a number of papers on the aspects of the historical development of Scots and Scottish English. HISTORICAL PRAGMATICS. PRAGMATIC DEVELOPMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH Andreas H. Jucker (ed.) 1995 xvi, 624 pp. Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 35 US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 328 9 Price: US$97.00 Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 5047 2 Price: Hfl. 170,-- John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com For further information via e-mail: service at benjamins.com Until very recently, pragmatics has been restricted to the analysis of contemporary spoken language while historical linguistics has studied historical texts and language change in a decontextualized way. This has now radically changed and scholars from around the world are trying to build a new theoretical framework that integrates recent advances both in pragmatics and in historical linguistics. This volume, which contains 22 originaI titles,starts with an introduction that is both a state-of-the-art account of historical pragmatics and a programmatic statement of its future potential and its different subfields. Part I contains seven pragmaphilological papers that deal with historical texts and their interpretations by paying close attention to the communicative context of these texts. The second and third parts comprise papers in diachronic pragmatics. The ten papers of Part II take a linguistic form as their starting point, e.g. particular lexical items or syntactic constructions, and study their pragmatic functions at different times (diachronic form-to-function mappings), while the four papers of Part III take a particular pragmatic function as their starting point. e.g. discourse strategies or politeness, and study their linguistic realisation at different times (diachronic function-to-form mappings). Contributions by: C. Allen; U. Bach; H. Bergrer; E. Bern?rdez & P. Tejada; M. Fludernik: G. Fritz; W. H?llen; A. Jacobs & A. Jucker; R. Kopytko; S. Kryk-Kastovsky; J. Lennard; J. de Lima; P. Navarro-Errasti; T, Nevalainen & H. Raumolin-Brunberg; N. Onodera; G. Ronberg, S. Schwenter & E. Traugott; I. Taavistainen; T. Virtanen; K. Wales; S. W?rvik; R. Watts SEMITIC AND INDO-EUROPEAN: THE PRINCIPAL ETYMOLOGIES. WITH OBSERVATIONS ON AFRO-ASIATIC Saul Levin 1995 xxii, 514 pp. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 129 US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 583 4 Price: US$97.00 Rest of the world: Cloth: 90 272 3632 1 Price: Hfl. 170,-- John Benjamins Publishing web site: http://www.benjamins.com For further information via e-mail: service at benjamins.com This volume presents the key examples of morphological correspondences between Indo-European and Semitic languages, afforded by nouns, verbal roots, pronouns, prepositions, and numerals. Its focus is on shared morphology embodied in the cognate vocabulary. The facts that are brought out in this volume do not fit comfortably within either the Indo-Europeanists' or the Semitists' conception of the prehistoric development of their languages. Nonetheless they are so fundamental that many would take them for evidence of a single original source, 'Proto-Nostratic'. In this book, however, it is considered unsettled whether proto-IE and proto-Semitic had a common forerunner. But the IE-Semitic combinations testify at least to prehistoric language communities in truly intimate contact. Questions? Contact Bernie Keck Email: service at benjamins.com From lsa at lsadc.org Thu May 29 15:58:48 1997 From: lsa at lsadc.org (LSA) Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 11:58:48 EDT Subject: LSA Searches Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- The Linguistic Society would greatly appreciate your posting the following announcements on your listserver. Thank you. Call for Nominations for Secretary-Treasurer of the Linguistic Society of America The Secretary-Treasurer is the constitutionally designated chief fiscal officer of the Society. The responsibilities of the Secretary-Treasurer shall include keeping the records of the deliberations of the Society and the Executive Committee, presenting an annual report to the Society, which shall be published by the Society, supervising publications of the Society which are not the responsibility of the Editor, and such functions as may be assigned by the President and the Executive Committee. Although the Secretary-Treasurer is elected annually, the recent tradition has been to serve for five consecutive years. During their term in office, all past Secretary-Treasurers have been faculty members in residence although this is not a requirement. They have been able to continue to pursue their own professional commitments, interests and responsibilities because the work of the Society is generally carried out by the Secretariat in Washington. The Secretariat, currently staffed by three employees, administers and manages the work of the Society under the direction of and in frequent communication with the Secretary-Treasurer. Each year, the Secretary-Treasurer receives a modest honorarium in recognition of service and is reimbursed for office supplies and the expense of a telephone at his or her office, as well as for travel on LSA business. The members of the Ad Hoc Secretary-Treasurer Search Committee (Frederick J. Newmeyer, Chair; Paul Angelis and Dawn Bates) welcome applications and nominations from any member. The Committee would also be pleased to respond to inquiries about the position and to supply detailed information on the responsibilities. The deadline for receipt of materials is 1 July 1997. All applications and nominations should be accompanied by a curriculum vitae and be sent to: Ad Hoc Secretary-Treasurer Search Committee, c/o LSA Secretariat, 1325 18th Street, NW, Suite 211, Washington, DC 20036-6501. ******************************* Web Page Editor The Linguistic Society of America seeks applicants for the position of Web Page Editor. Responsibilities include: * developing policy concerning electronic communication * designing and supervising the maintenance of the LSA web site * soliciting and editing materials to be placed on the web. Applicants should be members of the LSA and be familiar with the Society as well as with the field of linguistics. Good contacts with other relevant learned societies are a plus since links to other sites of likely interest to the LSA membership should be maintained at the LSA site. Finally, a good working knowledge of HTML and web page design issues is an important asset for someone interested in this position. It is estimated that designing and maintaining the site will require at least 50 hours per year. The editor will be assisted by a paid parttime student intern and will be able to call on the LSA Committee on Computing for advice. In recognition for this service to the Society, the Web Page Editor will be paid an honorarium of $1,000. The Search Committee (D. Terence Langendoen, Chair; Mary Dalrymple and Richard Sproat) requests candidates send a letter summarizing web page experience and special qualifications for the position with a c.v. to: Linguistic Society of America, 1325 18th St., NW, Suite 211, Washington, DC 20036. The deadline for letters of interest is 15 September 1997. For further information, please contact the LSA Secretariat (lsa at lsadc.org)