From LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de Tue Oct 12 23:21:17 1999 From: LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de (LINCOM EUROPA) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 19:21:17 EDT Subject: New book: English historical syntax Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- HISTORICAL ENGLISH SYNTAX A statistical corpus-based study on the organisation of Early Modern English sentences JAVIER PIREZ-GUERRA University of Vigo In this monograph the author explores the syntactic organisation of declarative clauses from late Middle English to present-day English and pays special attention to the consequences which the location of the subject has for the determination of the unmarked word order in Early Modern English. The data have been taken from two electronic corpora, namely, The Helsinki Corpus of English Texts and the Lancaster/Oslo-Bergen Corpus of British English. The author outlines his own concept of 'theme,' which will be useful for the (explanatory and descriptive) purposes of describing syntactic (un)markedness. Such a concept leads to the existence of, on the one hand, an unmarked SV organisation and, on the other, of several marked patterns, viz sentences introduced by existential there, instances of subject extraposition and insertion of it, clefts, topicalisations, left-dislocations and subject inversions. The subsystems just mentioned are located on a scale of markedness, according to two variables: first, frequency, which is investigated by way of the statistical analysis of the data, and, second, 'linguistic functionality.' This second variable has been examined in the light of variables such as gender, textual category, discourse taxonomy, orality and informative principles such as 'given before new' or end-weight. JAVIER PIREZ-GUERRA lectures on English linguistics and corpus linguistics at the Department of English, University of Vigo. His research is focused on syntactic change from Early Modern English onwards. ISBN 3 89586 651 2. LINCOM Studies in Germanic Linguistics 11. Ca. 300pp. EUR 61.35 / USD 76 / DM 120 Ordering information for individuals: Please give us your creditcard no. / expiry date or send us a cheque. Prices in this information include shipment worldwide by airmail. A standing order for this series is available with special discounts offered to individual subscribers. LINCOM EUROPA, Paul-Preuss-Str. 25, D-80995 Muenchen, Germany; FAX +4989 3148909; http://home.t-online.de/home/LINCOM.EUROPA LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de. From LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de Tue Oct 12 23:23:02 1999 From: LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de (LINCOM EUROPA) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 19:23:02 EDT Subject: New books: Samoyed languages Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- ENETS AGO K\NNAP University of Tartu Enets is one of the Samoyed languages, fairly little investigated but of considerable interest from the point of view of historical linguistics. The native speakers of Enets live in Siberia, on the eastern bank of the Yenisey River, close to the estuary of the river. The written records about Enets were first fixed in the 17th century. Now there are about 200 Enetses, from them nearly 100 can yet speak Enets. All the Enetses can speak Russian and/or Nenets, partly also Nganasan. In the 18th century the number of the Enets population is supposed to have exceeded 3,000. The Enetses have never had their own written language or school instruction in their mother tongue. From all the other Samoyed languages, Nenets and Nganasan are the closest to Enets. Enets has received most of the outside influence from Nenets, more recently from Russian. Enets has two dialects: Bai (Forest) and Madu (Tundra). The dialects primarily differ phonetically and lexically, partly also morphologically. The present outline has been compiled on the basis of the Bai dialect. In the Enets phonology the opposition of short and long vowels can be observed. Although there is a fairly good survey about the grammar of Enets, very few longer texts have been recorded. Enets is typologically a rather common Uralic language. Agglutination predominates over flection, synthetical features over analytical ones. The parts of speech in Enets are nouns, adjectives, numerals, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, postpositions, conjunctions, particles and interjections. Grammatical gender is lacking. The category of case is primarily expressed by means of suffixes, there are seven cases. The nouns are used with the possessive suffix. There are also subject and object conjugations with differences in personal suffixes. The nouns may also be conjugated (nominal conjugation). The Enets modes are indicative, exadhortative, conjunctive, debitive, optative, imperative, auditive, interrogative and quotative. The tenses can be expressed by a common verbal aspect but in the preterite and future tenses separate suffixes can also be used. The separate orientation can be expressed by a trinominal distribution of locatives: to where? where? from where? In case of verbal negation a separate negative auxiliary is used. The verbal forms can indicate the subject person and, in addition to its number, also the number of the object. Enets has no compound sentences: instead of a subordinate clause participial, gerundial and infinitival constructions are used. An attribute precedes its main word. In Enets there are numerous loan words from Nenets, particularly concerning reindeer rearing, Nganasan loans in connection with reindeer hunting and Russian loans related to more modern spheres of activity. This outline is the first extensive modern survey about Enets. AGO K\NNAP is Professor of Uralic Languages of the University of. He has published numerous papers and a few books on Samoyed languages. ISBN 3 89586 229 0. Languages of the World/Materials 186. Ca. 50pp. EUR 25.46 / USD 32.50 / DM 49.30 Ordering information for individuals: Please give us your creditcard no. / expiry date or send us a cheque. Prices in this information include shipment worldwide by airmail. A standing order for this series is available with special discounts offered to individual subscribers. LINCOM EUROPA, Paul-Preuss-Str. 25, D-80995 Muenchen, Germany; FAX +4989 3148909; http://home.t-online.de/home/LINCOM.EUROPA LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de. KAMASS AGO K\NNAP University of Tartu Kamass is one of the Samoyed languages, extinct to date, relatively little investigated but of considerable interest from the point of view of historical linguistics. The Samoyed and Finno-Ugric languages together form the Uralic family of languages. The Kamass native speakers lived in Siberia, on the northern slopes of the Sayan mountains. Earlier they were reindeer rearers of shamanistic faith. Up to date they have changed to using Russian or some local Turkic language and become agriculturists. The first written records about the Kamass language date back to the year of 1721. The author of this outline is the last gleaner of the Kamass linguistic facts whose last informant died in 1989. Kamass is supposed to have had the Koibal dialect, the latter, however, has left us nothing more in writing than about 600 words. Likewise, the main Kamass dialect itself was divided into two subdialects. The number of the native speakers of Kamass was very small years ago already, perhaps a couple of hundreds only. Kamass never had an alphabet of its own, to say nothing about having its own written language or school instruction. In Kamass a strong phonetical and lexical influence by the neighbouring Turkic languages can be observed. Due to the scarcity of Kamass written records, it is possible to report only an approximate phonological characterization and a few basic features of syntax. On the other hand, a comparatively good picture can be obtained about its morphology and lexicology, there are also a few longer texts available. Typologically, Kamass is an agglutinative language with numerous flective markers. Synthetical features predominate over analytical ones. On the whole, Kamass is a rather typical Uralic language. The parts of speech in Kamass are nouns, adjectives, numerals, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, postpositions, conjunctions, particles and interjections. Grammatical gender is lacking. There are three numbers: singular, dual and plural. The category of case is predominantly expressed by suffixes, there are seven cases. Nouns can be used with possessive suffixes. The tenses can be used mostly by means of suffixes but, occasionally, may also be expressed by verbal aspects. Transitive and intransitive verbs may have different personal suffixes, in part. There are four modes: indicative, conjunctive, optative and imperative. The space orientation is expressed by a trinominal distribution of locatives: to where? where? from where? In case of verbal negation a separate negative auxiliary verb is used. The typical word order is SVAdO. The definite object is usually expressed by a suffixal accusative, the indefinite one by a 0-suffixal nominative. A compound sentence is not typical of Kamass: gerundial constructions can be found instead of a subordinate clause. About one-third of the word-stock has been borrowed from Turkic languages. The outline is the first extensive modern treatment of the Kamass language. ISBN 3 89586 230 4. Languages of the World/Materials 185. Ca. 50pp. EUR 25.46 / USD 32.50 / DM 49.30 / # 19.90. Ordering information for individuals: Please give us your creditcard no. / expiry date or send us a cheque. Prices in this information include shipment worldwide by airmail. A standing order for this series is available with special discounts offered to individual subscribers. LINCOM EUROPA, Paul-Preuss-Str. 25, D-80995 Muenchen, Germany; FAX +4989 3148909; http://home.t-online.de/home/LINCOM.EUROPA LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de. From LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de Tue Oct 12 23:23:24 1999 From: LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de (LINCOM EUROPA) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 19:23:24 EDT Subject: New book: Georgian grammar Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Georgian MARCELLO CHERCHI University of Chicago Georgian, spoken by over three million people in the southern Caucasus, is the only witten member of the Kartvelian language family, and has a literary history of a millenium and a half. The language provides a crucial resource for studying the cultures, languages, and history of the region. Among the linguistic points of interest are the phonological proclivity for consonant clusters, and the typological characteristics of mixed or split case marking and verb marking systems. The grammatical sketch will serve as a concise presentation of modern Georgian phonology, morphology and syntax with particular attention given to the complex verbal morphology and the morphosyntax of case government. A select bibliography will include materials available in Western languages. ISBN 3 89586 119 7. Languages of the World/Materials 147. Ca. 60pp. USD 32.50 / DM 49.30 / # 19.90. Ordering information for individuals: Please give us your creditcard no. / expiry date or send us a cheque. Prices in this information include shipment worldwide by airmail. A standing order for this series is available with special discounts offered to individual subscribers. LINCOM EUROPA, Paul-Preuss-Str. 25, D-80995 Muenchen, Germany; FAX +4989 3148909; http://home.t-online.de/home/LINCOM.EUROPA LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de. From DEHolt01 at gwm.sc.edu Tue Oct 12 23:24:18 1999 From: DEHolt01 at gwm.sc.edu (D. Eric Holt) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 19:24:18 EDT Subject: FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS: "OPTIMAL APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE CHANGE" Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- (Cross-posted to HISTLING, OPTIMAL and LINGUIST; apologies if you receive multiple copies of this message. This call is also attached as an rtf file for ease of printing on a legal-sized page.) FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS: "OPTIMAL APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE CHANGE" A special session to be held at the 45th Annual Conference of the International Linguistic Association April 7-9, 2000, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. The 45th ILA conference has as its major theme Language Contact/Language Change, and abstracts are solicited for a session on the application of Optimality Theory to language change. Background: Beginning shortly after the circulation of the earliest manuscripts in Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993, McCarthy and Prince 1993), various researchers began to investigate the application of OT to language change. Historical issues investigated in English, Slavic, a number of Romance languages and others have included the development of syllable structure, metrical structure, syncope and epenthesis, simplification of consonant clusters, changes in vowel and consonant length, diphthongization, Finnish leveling, and many others, including syntactic changes. Approaches have appealed to a variety of theoretical mechanisms, including lexicon optimization, re-ranking or partial ranking of constraints on markedness, faithfulness, alignment, sonority and others. Additionally, the role of perception and reinterpretation by the listener has been addressed in some of these works, as has the relationship between historical change and the first language acquisition of constraint rankings in the grammar of children and speakers of newer generations. Existing historical OT analyses, though they frequently rely heavily on traditional argumentation to sustain them, are often innovative and have often allowed for the establishment of a relation between the changes discussed in these works that could not or had not satisfactorily been seen as interrelated previously. Additionally, the application of Optimality Theory to the explanation of historical sound change arguably provides us with a firmer base for understanding the given phenomena analyzed, and suggests that this is an area for further fruitful investigation. Further, results from these studies also are beginning to inform synchronic OT analyses and help to shape our understanding of language more generally. However, to date there has been no gathering dedicated to bringing researchers in this area together to share their work and discuss it as primary issue, rather than as part of a larger more general meeting. This session solicits abstracts related to the analysis of some issue related to historical linguistics and/or to the application of OT to language change from a more general perspective. Submission Requirements: The 45th ILA conference will have as its major theme Language Contact/Language Change. While papers on that theme are especially welcomed, abstracts on any subject in theoretical and applied linguistics are also solicited. Invited speakers: Lila Gleitman, University of Pennsylvania and Lesley Milroy and Sarah Thomason, both of the University of Michigan. Local host: Father Solomon Sara. Single-spaced abstracts, bearing the title of the paper (but no author), of not more than 425 words should clearly state the problems or research questions addressed, and should give some indication of results or conclusions. Send via e-mail to the Session organizer (see below). Simultaneously, send via airmail 3 camera-ready hard copies of the abstract, plus a 3x5 card bearing name, title of paper, addresses, affiliation, and audio-visual equipment needed. (Anonymity will be preserved when abstracts are forwarded to the judges.) Presentations will be 20 minutes (plus discussion). Submissions on diskette will not be accepted. Deadline for submission of abstracts for the special session on OT: January 7, 2000. Any questions regarding the conference itself may be addressed to either the Conference Chair, Ruth Brend (rbrend at umich.edu) or the Conference Secretary Johanna Woltjer (ilaconf.woltjer at gte.net). Abstracts designed for this panel will be judged by the general conference committee, who will send direct notification regarding acceptance. Send e-mail and hard copies of abstracts and 3x5 information card to: D. Eric Holt Organizer, ILA session on OT and language change Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese & Program in Linguistics University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 holt at sc.edu [Please send abstracts in one of the following formats, listed in descending order of preference: Word97, RTF, WordPerfect, PDF, or as text in the body of an e-mail message.] From LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de Tue Oct 12 23:23:45 1999 From: LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de (LINCOM EUROPA) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 19:23:45 EDT Subject: New book: Chinese historical phonology Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- CHINESE HISTORICAL PHONOLOGY A Compendium of Beijing and Cantonese Pronunciations of Characters and their Derivations from Middle Chinese John Newman & Anand V. Raman; Massey University; John Hopkins University This volume is an explicit summary of the phonological histories of Beijing and Cantonese dialects, based on earlier accounts proposed by Matthew Chen and John Newman and which appeared in the Journal of Chinese Linguistics (1976, 1984/1985). Approximately 2,700 characters appear here with their Middle Chinese reconstructions (the 'Simplified Middle Chinese' reconstructions proposed by Chen) and arranged by their Middle Chinese rime, initial, and tone class. For each character, the complete derivations (as sequences of rule labels) from Middle Chinese to Beijing pronunciation and from Middle Chinese to Cantonese pronunciation are given, including indications of exceptional application or non-application of rules. A full statement of the regular phonological rules referred to in the derivations is provided. The meanings of the characters (in English) are also included. A Hanyu Pinyin-Middle Chinese index enables the reader to determine the Middle Chinese reconstruction from the Hanyu Pinyin representation. The detail of Beijing and Cantonese phonological histories is here made accessible to linguists outside the specialist field of Sinology. The material is explicit, comprehensive, and transparent in a way which will be appreciated by Sinologists and non-Sinologists alike. The enclosed disk contains the data relevant to Part 3 of Newman and Raman's "Chinese Historical Phonology". In particular, it contains approximately 2,700 Chinese characters (as encapsulated Postscript files), Simplified Middle Chinese reconstructions, the modern reflexes of these reconstructions in Beijing and Cantonese dialects, and the sequences of phonological rules to derive each of the modern reflexes. The material allows one to carry out original computational linguistic tasks on the data, such as searches for phonetic forms, rules, sequences of rules, and exceptions to rules. The data has been compiled for LaTeX (a free and easily downloadable software application) and users should have this software to enjoy the full benefit of the diskette. However, the files can also be opened and edited using ordinary text editors. The fonts are transcribed for processing with wsuipa, the Washington State University's IPA font for LaTeX. Characters and phonetic transcriptions do not appear as such on screen, but can be printed out as in Newman and Raman's book. Available for both PC and Mac. ISBN 3 89586 543 3. LINCOM Studies in Asian Linguistics 27. Ca. 240 pp. USD 70 / DM 107 / pound sterling 38. July 1999. CD-ROM ISBN 3 89586 588 5. USD 28 / DM 42 / # 16.40. July 1999. Ordering information for individuals: Please give us your creditcard no. / expiry date or send us a cheque. Prices in this information include shipment worldwide by airmail. A standing order for this series is available with special discounts offered to individual subscribers. LINCOM EUROPA, Paul-Preuss-Str. 25, D-80995 Muenchen, Germany; FAX +4989 3148909; New titles: http://home.t-online.de/home/LINCOM.EUROPA/new1.htm; LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de. From DEHolt01 at gwm.sc.edu Tue Oct 12 23:38:47 1999 From: DEHolt01 at gwm.sc.edu (D. Eric Holt) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 19:38:47 EDT Subject: HISTLING; "OPTIMAL APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE CHANGE" Message-ID: The previous announcement just sent out was incomplete; this is a complete version of Eric Holt's posting. My apologies for cluttering your mailboxes. -Dorothy Disterheft ******* (Cross-posted to HISTLING, OPTIMAL and LINGUIST; apologies if you receive multiple copies of this message. This call is also attached as an rtf file for ease of printing on a legal-sized page.) FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS: "OPTIMAL APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE CHANGE" A special session to be held at the 45th Annual Conference of the International Linguistic Association April 7-9, 2000, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. The 45th ILA conference has as its major theme Language Contact/Language Change, and abstracts are solicited for a session on the application of Optimality Theory to language change. Background: Beginning shortly after the circulation of the earliest manuscripts in Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993, McCarthy and Prince 1993), various researchers began to investigate the application of OT to language change. Historical issues investigated in English, Slavic, a number of Romance languages and others have included the development of syllable structure, metrical structure, syncope and epenthesis, simplification of consonant clusters, changes in vowel and consonant length, diphthongization, Finnish leveling, and many others, including syntactic changes. Approaches have appealed to a variety of theoretical mechanisms, including lexicon optimization, re-ranking or partial ranking of constraints on markedness, faithfulness, alignment, sonority and others. Additionally, the role of perception and reinterpretation by the listener has been addressed in some of these works, as has the relationship between historical change and the first language acquisition of constraint rankings in the grammar of children and speakers of newer generations. Existing historical OT analyses, though they frequently rely heavily on traditional argumentation to sustain them, are often innovative and have often allowed for the establishment of a relation between the changes discussed in these works that could not or had not satisfactorily been seen as interrelated previously. Additionally, the application of Optimality Theory to the explanation of historical sound change arguably provides us with a firmer base for understanding the given phenomena analyzed, and suggests that this is an area for further fruitful investigation. Further, results from these studies also are beginning to inform synchronic OT analyses and help to shape our understanding of language more generally. However, to date there has been no gathering dedicated to bringing researchers in this area together to share their work and discuss it as primary issue, rather than as part of a larger more general meeting. This session solicits abstracts related to the analysis of some issue related to historical linguistics and/or to the application of OT to language change from a more general perspective. Submission Requirements: The 45th ILA conference will have as its major theme Language Contact/Language Change. While papers on that theme are especially welcomed, abstracts on any subject in theoretical and applied linguistics are also solicited. Invited speakers: Lila Gleitman, University of Pennsylvania and Lesley Milroy and Sarah Thomason, both of the University of Michigan. Local host: Father Solomon Sara. Single-spaced abstracts, bearing the title of the paper (but no author), of not more than 425 words should clearly state the problems or research questions addressed, and should give some indication of results or conclusions. Send via e-mail to the Session organizer (see below). Simultaneously, send via airmail 3 camera-ready hard copies of the abstract, plus a 3x5 card bearing name, title of paper, addresses, affiliation, and audio-visual equipment needed. (Anonymity will be preserved when abstracts are forwarded to the judges.) Presentations will be 20 minutes (plus discussion). Submissions on diskette will not be accepted. Deadline for submission of abstracts for the special session on OT: January 7, 2000. Any questions regarding the conference itself may be addressed to either the Conference Chair, Ruth Brend (rbrend at umich.edu) or the Conference Secretary Johanna Woltjer (ilaconf.woltjer at gte.net). Abstracts designed for this panel will be judged by the general conference committee, who will send direct notification regarding acceptance. Send e-mail and hard copies of abstracts and 3x5 information card to: D. Eric Holt Organizer, ILA session on OT and language change Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese & Program in Linguistics University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 holt at sc.edu [Please send abstracts in one of the following formats, listed in descending order of preference: Word97, RTF, WordPerfect, PDF, or as text in the body of an e-mail message.] -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: ot_ila.rtf Type: application/msword Size: 8811 bytes Desc: not available URL: From promotion at benjamins.com Tue Oct 12 13:45:08 1999 From: promotion at benjamins.com (Andrew Gallinger) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 09:45:08 EDT Subject: New Books from John Benjamins Publishing Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Would you please distribute the following posting to the members of Histling: Thanks. John Benjamins Publishing would like to call your attention to the following new titles in the field of the History of Linguistics: LINGUISTIC HISTORIOGRAPHY. Projects & prospects. KOERNER, E.F.K. 1999 x, 236 pp. Studies in the History of the Language Sciences 92 US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 607 5 Price: USD 69.00 Rest of the World: Cloth: 90 272 4580 0 Price: NLG 138.00 The present volume brings together the author's most recent thinking on the tasks and methods of linguistic historiography and his critical assessment of the legacy of a number of major 20th-century scholars. Some of the chapters are revisions of previously published articles, which together with new materials have been welded into a coherent volume. Contents: Introduction: On the uses of the history of linguistics; Part I. Topics in the Historiography of Linguistics; Ch. 1 The History of Linguistics: Attainments and remaining challenges; Ch. 2 Linguistics and Ideology: A neglected aspect of 19th and 20th century historiography; Ch. 3 Immediate and not so Immediate Sources of the 'Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis': Methodological considerations; Ch. 4 The Concept of 'Revolution' in Linguistics: Historical, methodological, and philosophical issues; Ch. 5 The Idea of Reconstruction in Comparative Linguistics: History and some modern debates; Part II. Historical Perspectives on Individual Scholars; Ch. 6 Otto Jespersen as a Reader of the 'Cours de linguistique generale'; Ch. 7 On the Sources of Roman Jakobson's Linguistic Inspiration; Ch. 8 J. R. Firth's Musings on Saussurean Tenets; Ch. 9 Einar Haugen as a Historian of Linguistics; Ch. 10 The Authors of the Idea of Language as a System ou tout se t BIBLIOGRAPHIA CRONOLOGICA DE LA LINGUISTICA, LA GRAMATICA Y LA LEXICOGRAFIA DEL ESPANOL (BICRES II) Desde el año 1601 hasta el año 1700. Hans-Josef Niederehe 1999 vi, 472 pp. Studies in the History of the Language Sciences 91 US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 635 0 Price: USD 99.00 Rest of the World: Cloth: 90 272 4579 7 Price: NLG 198.00 Since the publication of the still very valuable Biblioteca historica de la filologia by Cipriano Munoz y Manzano, conde de la Viñaza, (Madrid, 1893), our knowledge of the history of the study of the Spanish language has grown considerably. It has been the purpose of BICRES I (from the beginnings to 1600), published in 1994 in the same series, to bring already available bibliographical information together with the more recent research findings, scattered in many places, books and articles and published during the past one hundred years. Now, the second volume, covering the years from 1601 to 1700, has been published, according to the same principles as the first one. Years of work in the major librairies of Spain and other European countries have gone into this new bibliography in order to offer as exhaustive as possible a description of all Spanish grammars and dictionaries, histories of the Spanish language as well studies devoted to particular facets of its evolution in the 17th century. BICRES II brings together in chronological order close to 1,300 titles. Access to the bibliographical information is facilitated by several detailed indexes, such as author index, short title index, index of places of production, index of printers and publishers, and a index of locations of the books described. -------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew Gallinger Tel: (215) 836-1200 Publicity/Marketing Fax: (215) 836-1204 John Benjamins Publishing Co e-mail:promotion at benjamins.com PO Box 27519 Philadelphia PA 19118-0519 John Benjamins web site: http://www.benjamins.com From Douglas.McNaughton at eup.ed.ac.uk Thu Oct 14 13:52:47 1999 From: Douglas.McNaughton at eup.ed.ac.uk (Douglas McNaughton) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 09:52:47 EDT Subject: No subject Message-ID: Now available in hardback - make sure your library has a copy! Historical Linguistics An Introduction Lyle Campbell Professor of Linguistics, University of Canterbury in New Zealand May 1998 288pp Hardback 0 7486 1114 2 £45.00 Paperback 0 7486 0775 7 £14.95 Historical Linguistics is an accessible, hands-on introduction to historical linguistics - the study of language change. This textbook not only takes students through the topics, but gives them abundant examples and exercises to practise the principles and procedures described. Using this book, students will learn how to do historical linguistics for themselves. Covers All The Essential Topics: * Grammaticalisation * Sociolinguistic contributions to linguistic change * Distant genetic relationships * Areal linguistics * Linguistic prehistory Lucid and engaging, this is an invaluable introduction by an established textbook author for students new to historical linguistics. Praise for Historical Linguistics - An Introduction "The textbook of choice for courses in historical linguistics." Professor William J. Poser, Stanford University "The absolutely best textbook in historical linguistics." Professor Theo Vennemann, University of Munich "The great strength of this textbook is its emphasis on practical methodology ... Campbell's text would be my first choice as a text for an introductory historical linguistics course. It is clear, concise and full of relevant examples and exercises." Claire Bowern, LINGUIST list Historical Linguistics has been widely adopted on introductory linguistics courses. Make sure your library has a copy on the shelf - tell your librarian to order from Marston Book Services on 01235 465500 or write to Edinburgh University Press at 22 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LF UK . Douglas McNaughton Edinburgh University Press 22 George Square Edinburgh EH8 9LF Tel. 0131 650 4220 From swheeler at richmond.edu Sun Oct 17 14:18:07 1999 From: swheeler at richmond.edu (Stuart Wheeler) Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 10:18:07 EDT Subject: your recent posting to LINGUIST Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- On March 17-19 of 2000 a colloquium entitled "Greater Anatolia and the Indo-Hittite Language Family" will be held at the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia. The conference will be hosted by Robert Drews, Professor of Classics and History at Vanderbilt University and visiting Professor of Classics at the University of Richmond. Assuming the Indo-Hittite theory as a point of departure, the organizers hope that the colloquium will explore but also narrow the possibilities for the relationship of Greater Anatolia (everything from the Aegean to the Caspian, and from the Caucasus to the Jazirah) to both the Anatolian and the "traditional" Indo-European branches of Indo-Hittite. The colloquium will begin on Friday evening with a public lecture by Professor Lord Colin Renfrew, followed by a reception for participants and registrants. The title of Professor Renfrew's address is, "IndoEuropean Origins: The Case for Anatolia." On Saturday and on Sunday morning invited speakers will present eight papers, approaching the topic from a wide variety of disciplines and perspectives, and the papers will be followed by two critical responses. It is hoped that all papers and responses will be intelligible to scholars outside the presenter's own specialty. Papers will be presented by Elizabeth Wayland Barber, William Darden, Margalit Finkelberg, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Peter Kuniholm, Alexander Lehrman, Colin Renfrew, and Paul Zimansky. Craig Melchert and Jeremy Rutter have agreed to present critical responses. Funding for the colloquium will be provided by a matching grant made to the University of Richmond by the National Endowment for the Humanities. All conference details can be accessed at . From dwanders at pacbell.net Tue Oct 19 23:50:39 1999 From: dwanders at pacbell.net (dwanders at pacbell.net) Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 19:50:39 EDT Subject: Indo-European Studies Bulletin Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- A new issue of the Indo-European Studies Bulletin has just appeared. The IES Bulletin is affiliated with the Indo-European Studies Program at UCLA. Volume 8, Number 2 August/September 1999 Contents Articles: “A Review of Recent Baltological Research” by Rick Derksen “The Cimmerians – Their Origin and Expansion” by Andrzej Pydyn “TheUse of Computers in Historical and Comparative Linguistics” by Javier Martínez and James Bisso Reviews: The Mummies of Ürümchi by Elizabeth W. Barber (K. Jones-Bley) Noah’sFlood: The new scientific discoveries about the event that changed history by William Ryan and Walter Pitman (J. P. Mallory) IndianEpigraphy, A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages by Richard Salomon (H. Scharfe) Conference Reports: Contacts between Indo-European and Uralic Speakers, Tvärminne Research Station, Finland, January 8–10, 1999 (J. P. Mallory) SegundasJornadas de Micenología de la Universidad de Alicante, Orihuela-Alicante, Spain, February 17-19, 1999 (E. Lujan) Notes and Brief Communications Electronic Resources for IE Upcoming Conferences New Books New Journals IE Dissertations Books for Review The IES Bulletin, affiliated with the Indo-European Studies Program at UCLA, is published twice yearly by the Friends and Alumni of Indo-European Studies. The Friends and Alumni of Indo-European Studies is a support group for the Indo-European Studies Program at UCLA. Contributions go toward the publication and mailing of the Bulletin, prizes at the annual IE conference for Best Paper by a New Scholar, as well as for bringing speakers to UCLA during the academic year and at the annual conference. The membership runs from 15 May-15 May. Contribution levels are $10 (student), $20 (regular member in US and Canada), $25 (regular member outside US and Canada). Checks, made payable in US dollars to "FAIES/UCLA Foundation" should be sent to: FAIES, 2143 Kelton Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90025. Credit cards are also accepted. For further information on how to pay by credit card or for any other questions, please contact D. Anderson at dwanders at socrates.berkeley.edu or FAIES, 2143 Kelton Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90025. Note: We are unable to accept Eurochecks at this time. From LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de Tue Oct 26 21:33:05 1999 From: LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de (LINCOM EUROPA) Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 17:33:05 EDT Subject: project line 10 : lingusitics & anthropology Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- PROJECT LINE 10 Linguistics & Anthropology A free copy of LINCOM's millenium catalogue is now available from LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de, FAX +49 89 3148909, or LINCOM EUROPA, Paul-Preuss-Str. 25, D-80995 Muenchen, Germany. From l.campbell at ling.canterbury.ac.nz Tue Oct 26 13:43:18 1999 From: l.campbell at ling.canterbury.ac.nz (Lyle Campbell) Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 09:43:18 EDT Subject: Postdoctoral fellowships Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- University of Canterbury Christchurch New Zealand, Department of Linguistics announces: Two Post-Doctoral fellowships in Linguistics are available from 1st February 2000. These fellowships are for the ONZE research project (ONZE stands for "origins and development of New Zealand English"). One is for a two-year period, and one for a three-year period, beginning Feb. 1st, 2000 or as soon thereafter as possible. (1) Acoustic phonetics (Funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand, Marsden Fund) This fellowship is for three years, at $45,000 NZ per year. (Interest in sociolinguistics and/or language change will also be of value.) (2) Auditory phonetics and sociolinguistics (Funded by the University of Canterbury) This fellowship is for two years at $45,000 NZ per year. (Interest in language change will also be of value.) Both fellowships include a return airfare. Note: the cost of living in New Zealand is lower than in many other countries - for example, the average wage is under $24,000 per year; the fellowship is comparable to the salary received by beginning lecturers in New Zealand (equivalent to assistant professors in North America.) The Origins and Development of New Zealand English (ONZE) Project leaders: Assoc.-Prof. Elizabeth Gordon, Department of Linguistics Professor Lyle Campbell, Department of Linguistics Dr Margaret Maclagan, Department of Speech-Language Therapy This is a sociolinguistic research project interested in the origin of New Zealand English and how it has changed. Since the European settlement of NZ dates back only 150 years, New Zealand English (NZE) has developed at a time when it is possible to have not only written accounts of the early speech heard in this country, but also actual recorded evidence. We have an archive of recorded interviews collected by the NZ National Broadcasting Corporation in 1946/47 containing the speech of over 200 old New Zealanders, some born as early as the 1850s (almost as early as the major colonisation, from 1840). This archive, along with other more recent recorded data, provides us with the complete history in apparent time of this new variety of English. This research, therefore, provides keys to resolving theoretical questions of how languages change, how dialects emerge, and how new colonial and postcolonial English varieties develop. The main objectives of the research are to establish the origin and development of NZE and to use developments in NZE to test general claims about language change and the emergence of new varieties of English. These will be achieved through the phonetic analysis of archives of recordings which collectively include the speech of New Zealanders born from 1850-c1975. The project will provide opportunities for the post-doctoral fellows to work in a rich research environment with an established team which includes Elizabeth Gordon, Lyle Campbell; Margaret Maclagan, and Peter Trudgill. For more information please contact: Associate Professor Elizabeth Gordon e.gordon at ling.canterbury.ac.nz Tel: 64 -3-364-2008 or Professor Lyle Campbell l.campbell at ling.canterbury.ac.nz Tel: 64-3-364-2242 Guidelines for applicants applying for a position are to be found at: http://www.research.canterbury.ac.nz/postdoc_candidates_frame.htm Position 1 (acoustic phonetics): Marsden Grant Position 2 (auditory phonetics and sociolinguistics): LG74 From LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de Tue Oct 12 23:21:17 1999 From: LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de (LINCOM EUROPA) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 19:21:17 EDT Subject: New book: English historical syntax Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- HISTORICAL ENGLISH SYNTAX A statistical corpus-based study on the organisation of Early Modern English sentences JAVIER PIREZ-GUERRA University of Vigo In this monograph the author explores the syntactic organisation of declarative clauses from late Middle English to present-day English and pays special attention to the consequences which the location of the subject has for the determination of the unmarked word order in Early Modern English. The data have been taken from two electronic corpora, namely, The Helsinki Corpus of English Texts and the Lancaster/Oslo-Bergen Corpus of British English. The author outlines his own concept of 'theme,' which will be useful for the (explanatory and descriptive) purposes of describing syntactic (un)markedness. Such a concept leads to the existence of, on the one hand, an unmarked SV organisation and, on the other, of several marked patterns, viz sentences introduced by existential there, instances of subject extraposition and insertion of it, clefts, topicalisations, left-dislocations and subject inversions. The subsystems just mentioned are located on a scale of markedness, according to two variables: first, frequency, which is investigated by way of the statistical analysis of the data, and, second, 'linguistic functionality.' This second variable has been examined in the light of variables such as gender, textual category, discourse taxonomy, orality and informative principles such as 'given before new' or end-weight. JAVIER PIREZ-GUERRA lectures on English linguistics and corpus linguistics at the Department of English, University of Vigo. His research is focused on syntactic change from Early Modern English onwards. ISBN 3 89586 651 2. LINCOM Studies in Germanic Linguistics 11. Ca. 300pp. EUR 61.35 / USD 76 / DM 120 Ordering information for individuals: Please give us your creditcard no. / expiry date or send us a cheque. Prices in this information include shipment worldwide by airmail. A standing order for this series is available with special discounts offered to individual subscribers. LINCOM EUROPA, Paul-Preuss-Str. 25, D-80995 Muenchen, Germany; FAX +4989 3148909; http://home.t-online.de/home/LINCOM.EUROPA LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de. From LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de Tue Oct 12 23:23:02 1999 From: LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de (LINCOM EUROPA) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 19:23:02 EDT Subject: New books: Samoyed languages Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- ENETS AGO K\NNAP University of Tartu Enets is one of the Samoyed languages, fairly little investigated but of considerable interest from the point of view of historical linguistics. The native speakers of Enets live in Siberia, on the eastern bank of the Yenisey River, close to the estuary of the river. The written records about Enets were first fixed in the 17th century. Now there are about 200 Enetses, from them nearly 100 can yet speak Enets. All the Enetses can speak Russian and/or Nenets, partly also Nganasan. In the 18th century the number of the Enets population is supposed to have exceeded 3,000. The Enetses have never had their own written language or school instruction in their mother tongue. From all the other Samoyed languages, Nenets and Nganasan are the closest to Enets. Enets has received most of the outside influence from Nenets, more recently from Russian. Enets has two dialects: Bai (Forest) and Madu (Tundra). The dialects primarily differ phonetically and lexically, partly also morphologically. The present outline has been compiled on the basis of the Bai dialect. In the Enets phonology the opposition of short and long vowels can be observed. Although there is a fairly good survey about the grammar of Enets, very few longer texts have been recorded. Enets is typologically a rather common Uralic language. Agglutination predominates over flection, synthetical features over analytical ones. The parts of speech in Enets are nouns, adjectives, numerals, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, postpositions, conjunctions, particles and interjections. Grammatical gender is lacking. The category of case is primarily expressed by means of suffixes, there are seven cases. The nouns are used with the possessive suffix. There are also subject and object conjugations with differences in personal suffixes. The nouns may also be conjugated (nominal conjugation). The Enets modes are indicative, exadhortative, conjunctive, debitive, optative, imperative, auditive, interrogative and quotative. The tenses can be expressed by a common verbal aspect but in the preterite and future tenses separate suffixes can also be used. The separate orientation can be expressed by a trinominal distribution of locatives: to where? where? from where? In case of verbal negation a separate negative auxiliary is used. The verbal forms can indicate the subject person and, in addition to its number, also the number of the object. Enets has no compound sentences: instead of a subordinate clause participial, gerundial and infinitival constructions are used. An attribute precedes its main word. In Enets there are numerous loan words from Nenets, particularly concerning reindeer rearing, Nganasan loans in connection with reindeer hunting and Russian loans related to more modern spheres of activity. This outline is the first extensive modern survey about Enets. AGO K\NNAP is Professor of Uralic Languages of the University of. He has published numerous papers and a few books on Samoyed languages. ISBN 3 89586 229 0. Languages of the World/Materials 186. Ca. 50pp. EUR 25.46 / USD 32.50 / DM 49.30 Ordering information for individuals: Please give us your creditcard no. / expiry date or send us a cheque. Prices in this information include shipment worldwide by airmail. A standing order for this series is available with special discounts offered to individual subscribers. LINCOM EUROPA, Paul-Preuss-Str. 25, D-80995 Muenchen, Germany; FAX +4989 3148909; http://home.t-online.de/home/LINCOM.EUROPA LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de. KAMASS AGO K\NNAP University of Tartu Kamass is one of the Samoyed languages, extinct to date, relatively little investigated but of considerable interest from the point of view of historical linguistics. The Samoyed and Finno-Ugric languages together form the Uralic family of languages. The Kamass native speakers lived in Siberia, on the northern slopes of the Sayan mountains. Earlier they were reindeer rearers of shamanistic faith. Up to date they have changed to using Russian or some local Turkic language and become agriculturists. The first written records about the Kamass language date back to the year of 1721. The author of this outline is the last gleaner of the Kamass linguistic facts whose last informant died in 1989. Kamass is supposed to have had the Koibal dialect, the latter, however, has left us nothing more in writing than about 600 words. Likewise, the main Kamass dialect itself was divided into two subdialects. The number of the native speakers of Kamass was very small years ago already, perhaps a couple of hundreds only. Kamass never had an alphabet of its own, to say nothing about having its own written language or school instruction. In Kamass a strong phonetical and lexical influence by the neighbouring Turkic languages can be observed. Due to the scarcity of Kamass written records, it is possible to report only an approximate phonological characterization and a few basic features of syntax. On the other hand, a comparatively good picture can be obtained about its morphology and lexicology, there are also a few longer texts available. Typologically, Kamass is an agglutinative language with numerous flective markers. Synthetical features predominate over analytical ones. On the whole, Kamass is a rather typical Uralic language. The parts of speech in Kamass are nouns, adjectives, numerals, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, postpositions, conjunctions, particles and interjections. Grammatical gender is lacking. There are three numbers: singular, dual and plural. The category of case is predominantly expressed by suffixes, there are seven cases. Nouns can be used with possessive suffixes. The tenses can be used mostly by means of suffixes but, occasionally, may also be expressed by verbal aspects. Transitive and intransitive verbs may have different personal suffixes, in part. There are four modes: indicative, conjunctive, optative and imperative. The space orientation is expressed by a trinominal distribution of locatives: to where? where? from where? In case of verbal negation a separate negative auxiliary verb is used. The typical word order is SVAdO. The definite object is usually expressed by a suffixal accusative, the indefinite one by a 0-suffixal nominative. A compound sentence is not typical of Kamass: gerundial constructions can be found instead of a subordinate clause. About one-third of the word-stock has been borrowed from Turkic languages. The outline is the first extensive modern treatment of the Kamass language. ISBN 3 89586 230 4. Languages of the World/Materials 185. Ca. 50pp. EUR 25.46 / USD 32.50 / DM 49.30 / # 19.90. Ordering information for individuals: Please give us your creditcard no. / expiry date or send us a cheque. Prices in this information include shipment worldwide by airmail. A standing order for this series is available with special discounts offered to individual subscribers. LINCOM EUROPA, Paul-Preuss-Str. 25, D-80995 Muenchen, Germany; FAX +4989 3148909; http://home.t-online.de/home/LINCOM.EUROPA LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de. From LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de Tue Oct 12 23:23:24 1999 From: LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de (LINCOM EUROPA) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 19:23:24 EDT Subject: New book: Georgian grammar Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Georgian MARCELLO CHERCHI University of Chicago Georgian, spoken by over three million people in the southern Caucasus, is the only witten member of the Kartvelian language family, and has a literary history of a millenium and a half. The language provides a crucial resource for studying the cultures, languages, and history of the region. Among the linguistic points of interest are the phonological proclivity for consonant clusters, and the typological characteristics of mixed or split case marking and verb marking systems. The grammatical sketch will serve as a concise presentation of modern Georgian phonology, morphology and syntax with particular attention given to the complex verbal morphology and the morphosyntax of case government. A select bibliography will include materials available in Western languages. ISBN 3 89586 119 7. Languages of the World/Materials 147. Ca. 60pp. USD 32.50 / DM 49.30 / # 19.90. Ordering information for individuals: Please give us your creditcard no. / expiry date or send us a cheque. Prices in this information include shipment worldwide by airmail. A standing order for this series is available with special discounts offered to individual subscribers. LINCOM EUROPA, Paul-Preuss-Str. 25, D-80995 Muenchen, Germany; FAX +4989 3148909; http://home.t-online.de/home/LINCOM.EUROPA LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de. From DEHolt01 at gwm.sc.edu Tue Oct 12 23:24:18 1999 From: DEHolt01 at gwm.sc.edu (D. Eric Holt) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 19:24:18 EDT Subject: FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS: "OPTIMAL APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE CHANGE" Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- (Cross-posted to HISTLING, OPTIMAL and LINGUIST; apologies if you receive multiple copies of this message. This call is also attached as an rtf file for ease of printing on a legal-sized page.) FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS: "OPTIMAL APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE CHANGE" A special session to be held at the 45th Annual Conference of the International Linguistic Association April 7-9, 2000, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. The 45th ILA conference has as its major theme Language Contact/Language Change, and abstracts are solicited for a session on the application of Optimality Theory to language change. Background: Beginning shortly after the circulation of the earliest manuscripts in Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993, McCarthy and Prince 1993), various researchers began to investigate the application of OT to language change. Historical issues investigated in English, Slavic, a number of Romance languages and others have included the development of syllable structure, metrical structure, syncope and epenthesis, simplification of consonant clusters, changes in vowel and consonant length, diphthongization, Finnish leveling, and many others, including syntactic changes. Approaches have appealed to a variety of theoretical mechanisms, including lexicon optimization, re-ranking or partial ranking of constraints on markedness, faithfulness, alignment, sonority and others. Additionally, the role of perception and reinterpretation by the listener has been addressed in some of these works, as has the relationship between historical change and the first language acquisition of constraint rankings in the grammar of children and speakers of newer generations. Existing historical OT analyses, though they frequently rely heavily on traditional argumentation to sustain them, are often innovative and have often allowed for the establishment of a relation between the changes discussed in these works that could not or had not satisfactorily been seen as interrelated previously. Additionally, the application of Optimality Theory to the explanation of historical sound change arguably provides us with a firmer base for understanding the given phenomena analyzed, and suggests that this is an area for further fruitful investigation. Further, results from these studies also are beginning to inform synchronic OT analyses and help to shape our understanding of language more generally. However, to date there has been no gathering dedicated to bringing researchers in this area together to share their work and discuss it as primary issue, rather than as part of a larger more general meeting. This session solicits abstracts related to the analysis of some issue related to historical linguistics and/or to the application of OT to language change from a more general perspective. Submission Requirements: The 45th ILA conference will have as its major theme Language Contact/Language Change. While papers on that theme are especially welcomed, abstracts on any subject in theoretical and applied linguistics are also solicited. Invited speakers: Lila Gleitman, University of Pennsylvania and Lesley Milroy and Sarah Thomason, both of the University of Michigan. Local host: Father Solomon Sara. Single-spaced abstracts, bearing the title of the paper (but no author), of not more than 425 words should clearly state the problems or research questions addressed, and should give some indication of results or conclusions. Send via e-mail to the Session organizer (see below). Simultaneously, send via airmail 3 camera-ready hard copies of the abstract, plus a 3x5 card bearing name, title of paper, addresses, affiliation, and audio-visual equipment needed. (Anonymity will be preserved when abstracts are forwarded to the judges.) Presentations will be 20 minutes (plus discussion). Submissions on diskette will not be accepted. Deadline for submission of abstracts for the special session on OT: January 7, 2000. Any questions regarding the conference itself may be addressed to either the Conference Chair, Ruth Brend (rbrend at umich.edu) or the Conference Secretary Johanna Woltjer (ilaconf.woltjer at gte.net). Abstracts designed for this panel will be judged by the general conference committee, who will send direct notification regarding acceptance. Send e-mail and hard copies of abstracts and 3x5 information card to: D. Eric Holt Organizer, ILA session on OT and language change Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese & Program in Linguistics University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 holt at sc.edu [Please send abstracts in one of the following formats, listed in descending order of preference: Word97, RTF, WordPerfect, PDF, or as text in the body of an e-mail message.] From LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de Tue Oct 12 23:23:45 1999 From: LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de (LINCOM EUROPA) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 19:23:45 EDT Subject: New book: Chinese historical phonology Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- CHINESE HISTORICAL PHONOLOGY A Compendium of Beijing and Cantonese Pronunciations of Characters and their Derivations from Middle Chinese John Newman & Anand V. Raman; Massey University; John Hopkins University This volume is an explicit summary of the phonological histories of Beijing and Cantonese dialects, based on earlier accounts proposed by Matthew Chen and John Newman and which appeared in the Journal of Chinese Linguistics (1976, 1984/1985). Approximately 2,700 characters appear here with their Middle Chinese reconstructions (the 'Simplified Middle Chinese' reconstructions proposed by Chen) and arranged by their Middle Chinese rime, initial, and tone class. For each character, the complete derivations (as sequences of rule labels) from Middle Chinese to Beijing pronunciation and from Middle Chinese to Cantonese pronunciation are given, including indications of exceptional application or non-application of rules. A full statement of the regular phonological rules referred to in the derivations is provided. The meanings of the characters (in English) are also included. A Hanyu Pinyin-Middle Chinese index enables the reader to determine the Middle Chinese reconstruction from the Hanyu Pinyin representation. The detail of Beijing and Cantonese phonological histories is here made accessible to linguists outside the specialist field of Sinology. The material is explicit, comprehensive, and transparent in a way which will be appreciated by Sinologists and non-Sinologists alike. The enclosed disk contains the data relevant to Part 3 of Newman and Raman's "Chinese Historical Phonology". In particular, it contains approximately 2,700 Chinese characters (as encapsulated Postscript files), Simplified Middle Chinese reconstructions, the modern reflexes of these reconstructions in Beijing and Cantonese dialects, and the sequences of phonological rules to derive each of the modern reflexes. The material allows one to carry out original computational linguistic tasks on the data, such as searches for phonetic forms, rules, sequences of rules, and exceptions to rules. The data has been compiled for LaTeX (a free and easily downloadable software application) and users should have this software to enjoy the full benefit of the diskette. However, the files can also be opened and edited using ordinary text editors. The fonts are transcribed for processing with wsuipa, the Washington State University's IPA font for LaTeX. Characters and phonetic transcriptions do not appear as such on screen, but can be printed out as in Newman and Raman's book. Available for both PC and Mac. ISBN 3 89586 543 3. LINCOM Studies in Asian Linguistics 27. Ca. 240 pp. USD 70 / DM 107 / pound sterling 38. July 1999. CD-ROM ISBN 3 89586 588 5. USD 28 / DM 42 / # 16.40. July 1999. Ordering information for individuals: Please give us your creditcard no. / expiry date or send us a cheque. Prices in this information include shipment worldwide by airmail. A standing order for this series is available with special discounts offered to individual subscribers. LINCOM EUROPA, Paul-Preuss-Str. 25, D-80995 Muenchen, Germany; FAX +4989 3148909; New titles: http://home.t-online.de/home/LINCOM.EUROPA/new1.htm; LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de. From DEHolt01 at gwm.sc.edu Tue Oct 12 23:38:47 1999 From: DEHolt01 at gwm.sc.edu (D. Eric Holt) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 19:38:47 EDT Subject: HISTLING; "OPTIMAL APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE CHANGE" Message-ID: The previous announcement just sent out was incomplete; this is a complete version of Eric Holt's posting. My apologies for cluttering your mailboxes. -Dorothy Disterheft ******* (Cross-posted to HISTLING, OPTIMAL and LINGUIST; apologies if you receive multiple copies of this message. This call is also attached as an rtf file for ease of printing on a legal-sized page.) FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS: "OPTIMAL APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE CHANGE" A special session to be held at the 45th Annual Conference of the International Linguistic Association April 7-9, 2000, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. The 45th ILA conference has as its major theme Language Contact/Language Change, and abstracts are solicited for a session on the application of Optimality Theory to language change. Background: Beginning shortly after the circulation of the earliest manuscripts in Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993, McCarthy and Prince 1993), various researchers began to investigate the application of OT to language change. Historical issues investigated in English, Slavic, a number of Romance languages and others have included the development of syllable structure, metrical structure, syncope and epenthesis, simplification of consonant clusters, changes in vowel and consonant length, diphthongization, Finnish leveling, and many others, including syntactic changes. Approaches have appealed to a variety of theoretical mechanisms, including lexicon optimization, re-ranking or partial ranking of constraints on markedness, faithfulness, alignment, sonority and others. Additionally, the role of perception and reinterpretation by the listener has been addressed in some of these works, as has the relationship between historical change and the first language acquisition of constraint rankings in the grammar of children and speakers of newer generations. Existing historical OT analyses, though they frequently rely heavily on traditional argumentation to sustain them, are often innovative and have often allowed for the establishment of a relation between the changes discussed in these works that could not or had not satisfactorily been seen as interrelated previously. Additionally, the application of Optimality Theory to the explanation of historical sound change arguably provides us with a firmer base for understanding the given phenomena analyzed, and suggests that this is an area for further fruitful investigation. Further, results from these studies also are beginning to inform synchronic OT analyses and help to shape our understanding of language more generally. However, to date there has been no gathering dedicated to bringing researchers in this area together to share their work and discuss it as primary issue, rather than as part of a larger more general meeting. This session solicits abstracts related to the analysis of some issue related to historical linguistics and/or to the application of OT to language change from a more general perspective. Submission Requirements: The 45th ILA conference will have as its major theme Language Contact/Language Change. While papers on that theme are especially welcomed, abstracts on any subject in theoretical and applied linguistics are also solicited. Invited speakers: Lila Gleitman, University of Pennsylvania and Lesley Milroy and Sarah Thomason, both of the University of Michigan. Local host: Father Solomon Sara. Single-spaced abstracts, bearing the title of the paper (but no author), of not more than 425 words should clearly state the problems or research questions addressed, and should give some indication of results or conclusions. Send via e-mail to the Session organizer (see below). Simultaneously, send via airmail 3 camera-ready hard copies of the abstract, plus a 3x5 card bearing name, title of paper, addresses, affiliation, and audio-visual equipment needed. (Anonymity will be preserved when abstracts are forwarded to the judges.) Presentations will be 20 minutes (plus discussion). Submissions on diskette will not be accepted. Deadline for submission of abstracts for the special session on OT: January 7, 2000. Any questions regarding the conference itself may be addressed to either the Conference Chair, Ruth Brend (rbrend at umich.edu) or the Conference Secretary Johanna Woltjer (ilaconf.woltjer at gte.net). Abstracts designed for this panel will be judged by the general conference committee, who will send direct notification regarding acceptance. Send e-mail and hard copies of abstracts and 3x5 information card to: D. Eric Holt Organizer, ILA session on OT and language change Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese & Program in Linguistics University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 holt at sc.edu [Please send abstracts in one of the following formats, listed in descending order of preference: Word97, RTF, WordPerfect, PDF, or as text in the body of an e-mail message.] -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: ot_ila.rtf Type: application/msword Size: 8811 bytes Desc: not available URL: From promotion at benjamins.com Tue Oct 12 13:45:08 1999 From: promotion at benjamins.com (Andrew Gallinger) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 09:45:08 EDT Subject: New Books from John Benjamins Publishing Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Would you please distribute the following posting to the members of Histling: Thanks. John Benjamins Publishing would like to call your attention to the following new titles in the field of the History of Linguistics: LINGUISTIC HISTORIOGRAPHY. Projects & prospects. KOERNER, E.F.K. 1999 x, 236 pp. Studies in the History of the Language Sciences 92 US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 607 5 Price: USD 69.00 Rest of the World: Cloth: 90 272 4580 0 Price: NLG 138.00 The present volume brings together the author's most recent thinking on the tasks and methods of linguistic historiography and his critical assessment of the legacy of a number of major 20th-century scholars. Some of the chapters are revisions of previously published articles, which together with new materials have been welded into a coherent volume. Contents: Introduction: On the uses of the history of linguistics; Part I. Topics in the Historiography of Linguistics; Ch. 1 The History of Linguistics: Attainments and remaining challenges; Ch. 2 Linguistics and Ideology: A neglected aspect of 19th and 20th century historiography; Ch. 3 Immediate and not so Immediate Sources of the 'Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis': Methodological considerations; Ch. 4 The Concept of 'Revolution' in Linguistics: Historical, methodological, and philosophical issues; Ch. 5 The Idea of Reconstruction in Comparative Linguistics: History and some modern debates; Part II. Historical Perspectives on Individual Scholars; Ch. 6 Otto Jespersen as a Reader of the 'Cours de linguistique generale'; Ch. 7 On the Sources of Roman Jakobson's Linguistic Inspiration; Ch. 8 J. R. Firth's Musings on Saussurean Tenets; Ch. 9 Einar Haugen as a Historian of Linguistics; Ch. 10 The Authors of the Idea of Language as a System ou tout se t BIBLIOGRAPHIA CRONOLOGICA DE LA LINGUISTICA, LA GRAMATICA Y LA LEXICOGRAFIA DEL ESPANOL (BICRES II) Desde el a?o 1601 hasta el a?o 1700. Hans-Josef Niederehe 1999 vi, 472 pp. Studies in the History of the Language Sciences 91 US/Canada: Cloth: 1 55619 635 0 Price: USD 99.00 Rest of the World: Cloth: 90 272 4579 7 Price: NLG 198.00 Since the publication of the still very valuable Biblioteca historica de la filologia by Cipriano Munoz y Manzano, conde de la Vi?aza, (Madrid, 1893), our knowledge of the history of the study of the Spanish language has grown considerably. It has been the purpose of BICRES I (from the beginnings to 1600), published in 1994 in the same series, to bring already available bibliographical information together with the more recent research findings, scattered in many places, books and articles and published during the past one hundred years. Now, the second volume, covering the years from 1601 to 1700, has been published, according to the same principles as the first one. Years of work in the major librairies of Spain and other European countries have gone into this new bibliography in order to offer as exhaustive as possible a description of all Spanish grammars and dictionaries, histories of the Spanish language as well studies devoted to particular facets of its evolution in the 17th century. BICRES II brings together in chronological order close to 1,300 titles. Access to the bibliographical information is facilitated by several detailed indexes, such as author index, short title index, index of places of production, index of printers and publishers, and a index of locations of the books described. -------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew Gallinger Tel: (215) 836-1200 Publicity/Marketing Fax: (215) 836-1204 John Benjamins Publishing Co e-mail:promotion at benjamins.com PO Box 27519 Philadelphia PA 19118-0519 John Benjamins web site: http://www.benjamins.com From Douglas.McNaughton at eup.ed.ac.uk Thu Oct 14 13:52:47 1999 From: Douglas.McNaughton at eup.ed.ac.uk (Douglas McNaughton) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 09:52:47 EDT Subject: No subject Message-ID: Now available in hardback - make sure your library has a copy! Historical Linguistics An Introduction Lyle Campbell Professor of Linguistics, University of Canterbury in New Zealand May 1998 288pp Hardback 0 7486 1114 2 ?45.00 Paperback 0 7486 0775 7 ?14.95 Historical Linguistics is an accessible, hands-on introduction to historical linguistics - the study of language change. This textbook not only takes students through the topics, but gives them abundant examples and exercises to practise the principles and procedures described. Using this book, students will learn how to do historical linguistics for themselves. Covers All The Essential Topics: * Grammaticalisation * Sociolinguistic contributions to linguistic change * Distant genetic relationships * Areal linguistics * Linguistic prehistory Lucid and engaging, this is an invaluable introduction by an established textbook author for students new to historical linguistics. Praise for Historical Linguistics - An Introduction "The textbook of choice for courses in historical linguistics." Professor William J. Poser, Stanford University "The absolutely best textbook in historical linguistics." Professor Theo Vennemann, University of Munich "The great strength of this textbook is its emphasis on practical methodology ... Campbell's text would be my first choice as a text for an introductory historical linguistics course. It is clear, concise and full of relevant examples and exercises." Claire Bowern, LINGUIST list Historical Linguistics has been widely adopted on introductory linguistics courses. Make sure your library has a copy on the shelf - tell your librarian to order from Marston Book Services on 01235 465500 or write to Edinburgh University Press at 22 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LF UK . Douglas McNaughton Edinburgh University Press 22 George Square Edinburgh EH8 9LF Tel. 0131 650 4220 From swheeler at richmond.edu Sun Oct 17 14:18:07 1999 From: swheeler at richmond.edu (Stuart Wheeler) Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 10:18:07 EDT Subject: your recent posting to LINGUIST Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- On March 17-19 of 2000 a colloquium entitled "Greater Anatolia and the Indo-Hittite Language Family" will be held at the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia. The conference will be hosted by Robert Drews, Professor of Classics and History at Vanderbilt University and visiting Professor of Classics at the University of Richmond. Assuming the Indo-Hittite theory as a point of departure, the organizers hope that the colloquium will explore but also narrow the possibilities for the relationship of Greater Anatolia (everything from the Aegean to the Caspian, and from the Caucasus to the Jazirah) to both the Anatolian and the "traditional" Indo-European branches of Indo-Hittite. The colloquium will begin on Friday evening with a public lecture by Professor Lord Colin Renfrew, followed by a reception for participants and registrants. The title of Professor Renfrew's address is, "IndoEuropean Origins: The Case for Anatolia." On Saturday and on Sunday morning invited speakers will present eight papers, approaching the topic from a wide variety of disciplines and perspectives, and the papers will be followed by two critical responses. It is hoped that all papers and responses will be intelligible to scholars outside the presenter's own specialty. Papers will be presented by Elizabeth Wayland Barber, William Darden, Margalit Finkelberg, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Peter Kuniholm, Alexander Lehrman, Colin Renfrew, and Paul Zimansky. Craig Melchert and Jeremy Rutter have agreed to present critical responses. Funding for the colloquium will be provided by a matching grant made to the University of Richmond by the National Endowment for the Humanities. All conference details can be accessed at . From dwanders at pacbell.net Tue Oct 19 23:50:39 1999 From: dwanders at pacbell.net (dwanders at pacbell.net) Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 19:50:39 EDT Subject: Indo-European Studies Bulletin Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- A new issue of the Indo-European Studies Bulletin has just appeared. The IES Bulletin is affiliated with the Indo-European Studies Program at UCLA. Volume 8, Number 2 August/September 1999 Contents Articles: ?A Review of Recent Baltological Research? by Rick Derksen ?The Cimmerians ? Their Origin and Expansion? by Andrzej Pydyn ?TheUse of Computers in Historical and Comparative Linguistics? by Javier Mart?nez and James Bisso Reviews: The Mummies of ?r?mchi by Elizabeth W. Barber (K. Jones-Bley) Noah?sFlood: The new scientific discoveries about the event that changed history by William Ryan and Walter Pitman (J. P. Mallory) IndianEpigraphy, A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages by Richard Salomon (H. Scharfe) Conference Reports: Contacts between Indo-European and Uralic Speakers, Tv?rminne Research Station, Finland, January 8?10, 1999 (J. P. Mallory) SegundasJornadas de Micenolog?a de la Universidad de Alicante, Orihuela-Alicante, Spain, February 17-19, 1999 (E. Lujan) Notes and Brief Communications Electronic Resources for IE Upcoming Conferences New Books New Journals IE Dissertations Books for Review The IES Bulletin, affiliated with the Indo-European Studies Program at UCLA, is published twice yearly by the Friends and Alumni of Indo-European Studies. The Friends and Alumni of Indo-European Studies is a support group for the Indo-European Studies Program at UCLA. Contributions go toward the publication and mailing of the Bulletin, prizes at the annual IE conference for Best Paper by a New Scholar, as well as for bringing speakers to UCLA during the academic year and at the annual conference. The membership runs from 15 May-15 May. Contribution levels are $10 (student), $20 (regular member in US and Canada), $25 (regular member outside US and Canada). Checks, made payable in US dollars to "FAIES/UCLA Foundation" should be sent to: FAIES, 2143 Kelton Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90025. Credit cards are also accepted. For further information on how to pay by credit card or for any other questions, please contact D. Anderson at dwanders at socrates.berkeley.edu or FAIES, 2143 Kelton Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90025. Note: We are unable to accept Eurochecks at this time. From LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de Tue Oct 26 21:33:05 1999 From: LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de (LINCOM EUROPA) Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 17:33:05 EDT Subject: project line 10 : lingusitics & anthropology Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- PROJECT LINE 10 Linguistics & Anthropology A free copy of LINCOM's millenium catalogue is now available from LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de, FAX +49 89 3148909, or LINCOM EUROPA, Paul-Preuss-Str. 25, D-80995 Muenchen, Germany. From l.campbell at ling.canterbury.ac.nz Tue Oct 26 13:43:18 1999 From: l.campbell at ling.canterbury.ac.nz (Lyle Campbell) Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 09:43:18 EDT Subject: Postdoctoral fellowships Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- University of Canterbury Christchurch New Zealand, Department of Linguistics announces: Two Post-Doctoral fellowships in Linguistics are available from 1st February 2000. These fellowships are for the ONZE research project (ONZE stands for "origins and development of New Zealand English"). One is for a two-year period, and one for a three-year period, beginning Feb. 1st, 2000 or as soon thereafter as possible. (1) Acoustic phonetics (Funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand, Marsden Fund) This fellowship is for three years, at $45,000 NZ per year. (Interest in sociolinguistics and/or language change will also be of value.) (2) Auditory phonetics and sociolinguistics (Funded by the University of Canterbury) This fellowship is for two years at $45,000 NZ per year. (Interest in language change will also be of value.) Both fellowships include a return airfare. Note: the cost of living in New Zealand is lower than in many other countries - for example, the average wage is under $24,000 per year; the fellowship is comparable to the salary received by beginning lecturers in New Zealand (equivalent to assistant professors in North America.) The Origins and Development of New Zealand English (ONZE) Project leaders: Assoc.-Prof. Elizabeth Gordon, Department of Linguistics Professor Lyle Campbell, Department of Linguistics Dr Margaret Maclagan, Department of Speech-Language Therapy This is a sociolinguistic research project interested in the origin of New Zealand English and how it has changed. Since the European settlement of NZ dates back only 150 years, New Zealand English (NZE) has developed at a time when it is possible to have not only written accounts of the early speech heard in this country, but also actual recorded evidence. We have an archive of recorded interviews collected by the NZ National Broadcasting Corporation in 1946/47 containing the speech of over 200 old New Zealanders, some born as early as the 1850s (almost as early as the major colonisation, from 1840). This archive, along with other more recent recorded data, provides us with the complete history in apparent time of this new variety of English. This research, therefore, provides keys to resolving theoretical questions of how languages change, how dialects emerge, and how new colonial and postcolonial English varieties develop. The main objectives of the research are to establish the origin and development of NZE and to use developments in NZE to test general claims about language change and the emergence of new varieties of English. These will be achieved through the phonetic analysis of archives of recordings which collectively include the speech of New Zealanders born from 1850-c1975. The project will provide opportunities for the post-doctoral fellows to work in a rich research environment with an established team which includes Elizabeth Gordon, Lyle Campbell; Margaret Maclagan, and Peter Trudgill. For more information please contact: Associate Professor Elizabeth Gordon e.gordon at ling.canterbury.ac.nz Tel: 64 -3-364-2008 or Professor Lyle Campbell l.campbell at ling.canterbury.ac.nz Tel: 64-3-364-2242 Guidelines for applicants applying for a position are to be found at: http://www.research.canterbury.ac.nz/postdoc_candidates_frame.htm Position 1 (acoustic phonetics): Marsden Grant Position 2 (auditory phonetics and sociolinguistics): LG74