From cfwoolhiser at mail.utexas.edu Thu Nov 1 18:01:34 2001 From: cfwoolhiser at mail.utexas.edu (curt fredric woolhiser) Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 13:01:34 EST Subject: query In-Reply-To: Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- This type of borrowing is dealt with by Ghil'ad Zuckermann in his DPhil Thesis "Camouflaged Borrowing: 'Folk-Etymological Nativization' in the Service of Puristic Language Engineering." He finds that what he calls 'folk-etymological nativization' is particularly common in 'reinvented' languages like modern Hebrew (an example he cites is "deme" < English dummy, which makes use of the Hebrew root d.m.h 'seem alike') and revolutionized Turkish, languages with a phono-logographic script like Chinese and Japanese, and minority languages like Yiddish and Romany. Curt Woolhiser ======================================== Curt F. Woolhiser Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures Calhoun 415 University of Texas Austin, TX 78713-7217 USA Tel. (512) 232-9133, (512) 471-3607 Fax: (512) 471-6710 Email: cfwoolhiser at mail.utexas.edu Slavic Department Home Page: http://www.dla.utexas.edu/depts/slavic/ ======================================== >----------------------------Original message---------------------------- >I know that Chinese is full of this sort of stuff. In Italian also there are > some examples: > >baco for (computer) bug. Baco is typically the silk worm or a worm in an apple > or a cherry. The millennium bug thus was commonly translated as il >baco del millennio. > >scannare jokingly as a translation of scanning. Scannare is cutting a pig's > throat for killing it, and by extension a very expressive word for >killing a person by slicing his throat. Some people also > say scannare un documento for scanning it, otherwise a more common >term is scannerizzare. > >I agree that there is no common term for this kind of borrowing. > >Best regards, > >Giorgio Banti >Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli > >Original Message: >----------------- >From: Robert R. Ratcliffe ratcliffe at tufs.ac.jp >Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 09:03:50 EST >To: HISTLING at VM.SC.EDU >Subject: query > > >I've recently had my attention draw to a process in borrowing and I >wonder if there is a name for it: > >When a concept is borrowed, rather than borrowing the word, or calquing >it, a word which sounds similar to the original with related semantics >is extended, or a compound is made which sounds close to the original >and is semantically plausible. > >For example "index" becomes in Chinese inde (formed from /in/ "pull", >/de/ "find") [source: student paper, so correct me if I'm wrong.] > >This is very common in East Asian languages, I believe. But I've come >across examples elsewhere. For example in Morocco the Arabic word /silk/ >"thread" is used to translate the Frence "cycle" /sikl/ as an academic >term, rather than the usual Arabic word for cycle /daura/. > >It is sort of the opposite of a calque-- in the sense of borrowing the >sound without the meaning-- but I don't know what to call it. By the way >does anyone have other examples? >____________________________________ >*NEW E-mail address: ratcliffe at tufs.ac.jp* > >Robert R. Ratcliffe >Associate Professor, Arabic and Linguistics >Tokyo University of Foreign Studies >Asahi-machi 3-11-1, Fuchu-shi, Tokyo 183-8534 Japan > > > >-------------------------------------------------------------------- >mail2web - Check your email from the web at >http://mail2web.com/ . From ibirks at club-internet.fr Thu Nov 1 13:30:28 2001 From: ibirks at club-internet.fr (ivan) Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 08:30:28 EST Subject: query In-Reply-To: <3BDF10E5.6E0214@tufs.ac.jp> Message-ID: In a similar vein, the French for sauerkraut (sour + cabbage) is choucroute (cabbage + crust/snack), the lexical swap, presumably, being motivated by the phonetic similarities. If a name doesn't already exist for this kind of motivation, then one ought to be invented... A paraphone, perhaps? (Or maybe interphone would be more appropriate ;-) Ivan Birks Paris X Nanterre De : "Robert R. Ratcliffe" Répondre à : ratcliffe at tufs.ac.jp Date : Tue, 30 Oct 2001 09:03:50 EST À : HISTLING at VM.SC.EDU Objet : query I've recently had my attention draw to a process in borrowing and I wonder if there is a name for it: When a concept is borrowed, rather than borrowing the word, or calquing it, a word which sounds similar to the original with related semantics is extended, or a compound is made which sounds close to the original and is semantically plausible. For example "index" becomes in Chinese inde (formed from /in/ "pull", /de/ "find") [source: student paper, so correct me if I'm wrong.] This is very common in East Asian languages, I believe. But I've come across examples elsewhere. For example in Morocco the Arabic word /silk/ "thread" is used to translate the Frence "cycle" /sikl/ as an academic term, rather than the usual Arabic word for cycle /daura/. It is sort of the opposite of a calque-- in the sense of borrowing the sound without the meaning-- but I don't know what to call it. By the way does anyone have other examples? ____________________________________ *NEW E-mail address: ratcliffe at tufs.ac.jp* Robert R. Ratcliffe Associate Professor, Arabic and Linguistics Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Asahi-machi 3-11-1, Fuchu-shi, Tokyo 183-8534 Japan -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Debra.P.Ziegeler at man.ac.uk Thu Nov 1 13:29:14 2001 From: Debra.P.Ziegeler at man.ac.uk (Debra.Ziegeler) Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 08:29:14 EST Subject: query Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Similar examples noted as appearing in the L1 of Italian (and other European) migrants in Australia are: Australian Italian: la biccia ('beach'), il tichetto ('ticket'), la fattoria ('factory' - originally 'farm' in Italian, but many of the original migrants came to work in factories), and hence farma ('a big farm'), Australian German: der Schauer ('shower of rain' - original meaning in German 'cheap thrill' or 'horror'); Australian Greek: roula ('ruler', the form being taken from a Greek girl's name). - These examples (and doubtless many more) are courtesy of Michael Clyne and an old undergraduate handbook. Debra Ziegeler Dr. Debra Ziegeler School of English and Linguistics University of Manchester Oxford Road Manchester M13 9PL UK Tel.: (0161) 275 3142 Fax: (0161) 275 3256 From gwhitta at gwdg.de Fri Nov 2 13:05:16 2001 From: gwhitta at gwdg.de (Gordon Whittaker) Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 08:05:16 EST Subject: query In-Reply-To: <46D218B3886@fs1.art.man.ac.uk> Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- I'm afraid you're confusing German Schauer with Schauder. Schauer is 'shower', like its English cognate going right back to Proto-Germanic ( and to IE for 'north wind, storm wind'). Schauer (in the meaning 'shower') did not originally mean 'cheap thrill' or 'horror'. Schauder, on the other hand, (which, indeed, does have a variant Schauer) is simply related to English shudder, which relates to the horror meaning. As for biccia, tichetto and farma, etc., I don't think that's the kind of case this thread has been discussing. Your examples are simply straightforward loans, with the English terms adapted to Italian phonology. Gordon Whittaker Seminar für Romanische Philologie Humboldtallee 19 37073 Göttingen Germany At 08:29 AM 11/1/2001 -0500, Debra.Ziegeler wrote: >----------------------------Original message---------------------------- >Similar examples noted as appearing in the >L1 of Italian (and other European) migrants in Australia >are: > >Australian Italian: la biccia ('beach'), il tichetto ('ticket'), la >fattoria ('factory' - originally 'farm' in Italian, but many of the >original migrants came to work in factories), and hence farma ('a big >farm'), Australian German: der Schauer ('shower of rain' - original >meaning in German 'cheap thrill' or 'horror'); Australian Greek: >roula ('ruler', the form being taken from a Greek girl's name). > >- These examples (and doubtless many more) are courtesy of Michael >Clyne and an old undergraduate handbook. > >Debra Ziegeler > >Dr. Debra Ziegeler >School of English and Linguistics >University of Manchester >Oxford Road >Manchester M13 9PL >UK >Tel.: (0161) 275 3142 >Fax: (0161) 275 3256 From bjarke.frellesvig at hertford.oxford.ac.uk Sat Nov 3 13:07:36 2001 From: bjarke.frellesvig at hertford.oxford.ac.uk (Bjarke Frellesvig) Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2001 08:07:36 EST Subject: Doctoral workshop on Japanese linguistics Message-ID: University of Oxford doctoral workshop on JAPANESE LINGUISTICS A workshop for doctoral students working on Japanese linguistics (in a wide sense) will be held 15-21 September 2002 in the University of Oxford. The workshop will be open to up to 20 students. Programme Participants will present their projects in plenary sessions followed by discussion. Each participant will also have at least one individual session with one of the teachers. Each day will have a lecture by one of the teachers. The working language of the workshop will be English. Participants will be expected to submit a 5-10 page summary of their research project to be circulated to the other participants and teachers before the workshop. Teachers The teachers in the workshop will be: Anthony Backhouse (University of Hokkaido) Richard Bowring (Cambridge University) Viktoria Eschbach-Szabo (Tübingen University) Bjarke Frellesvig (University of Oxford) Masayoshi Shibatani (University of Kobe) John Whitman (Cornell University) Funding Accommodation and meals will be provided (in Hertford College). In addition, funding is being sought for transportation costs to and from England for students from Europe. Every effort will be made to secure such funding and no one should be discouraged from applying for financial reasons. Application Application for participation will take the form of submission by 15 March 2002 of: a short description of the research project, a short CV, including description of previous study and schedule for completion, and a letter of reference from the supervisor. Interested students are, however, encouraged to express their interest as early as possible. Acceptance will be advised by medio April 2002. Contact: Enquiries: bjarke.frellesvig at hertford.ox.ac.uk Applications: Bjarke Frellesvig Oriental Institute University of Oxford Pusey Lane Oxford OX1 2LE UK -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kinoene at gipac.shinshu-u.ac.jp Sat Nov 3 21:40:10 2001 From: kinoene at gipac.shinshu-u.ac.jp (Kozo KATO) Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2001 16:40:10 EST Subject: Job Announcement Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Faculty of Arts Shinshu University Foreign Teacher of English Job Opening Position Details 1. Area Specialties: Fields related to Linguistics, the English Language, or Japan 2. Number of Positions: 1 3. Deadline for Application: Nov.30, 2001 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ Position Available To Whom It May Concern: Faculty of Arts, Shinshu University, has an opening for a Foreign Instructor of English beginning April 1, 2002. Interested parties should contact Professor Kozo Kato at the address below and send the following to him by Nov. 30, 2001: 1) resume with photo 2) list of publications/presentations 3) copies of publications/presentations 4) two letters of reference 5) essay on English teaching (500-600 words) Yours sincerely, Professor Seiji Ohshima, Dean Faculty of Arts General Information/Conditions/Duties Position: Foreign Teacher of English (as prescribed by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) Duties: maximum of 12 classes per academic year, including English, Linguistics, British/American Literature, British/American Culture Period of Employment: one year contract, with maximum extension of four additional annual contracts Salary: national university scale e.g. scholarly/teaching experience monthly salary after graduation 0-2 years \357,000 2-7 years \407,000 7-12 years \456,000 12-19 years \503,000 plus yearly bonus (4.75 monthly salary). Benefits: a furnished semi-detached house, travel fare to Matsumoto for yourself and family, commutation allowance, research allowance, retirement allowance, etc. Qualifications/Requirements Education: Master's Degree (required as of March 31, 2002) Experience: teaching experience at university level or equivalent (preferred). A flexible, inventive and devoted language teacher is desirable. Publications (or Presentations): minimum of three (preferred) Language: native speaker of English (required) Age: younger than 40 For Inquiries: Kozo KATO Faculty of Arts Shinshu University 3-1-1 Asahi, Matsumoto, Nagano 390-8621 email: kinoene at gipac.shinshu-u.ac.jp office phone: 0263-37-2256 fax: 0263-37-2256 Kozo KATO From Debra.P.Ziegeler at man.ac.uk Tue Nov 6 00:21:49 2001 From: Debra.P.Ziegeler at man.ac.uk (Debra.Ziegeler) Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 19:21:49 EST Subject: query In-Reply-To: <4.2.2.20011102132742.00aee550@pop3.norton.antivirus> Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2001 13:44:41 +0100 To: Debra.Ziegeler at man.ac.uk,HISTLING at VM.SC.EDU From: Gordon Whittaker Subject: Re: query I'm afraid you're confusing German Schauer with Schauder. Schauer is 'shower', like its English cognate going right back to Proto-Germanic ( and to IE for 'north wind, storm wind'). Schauer (in the meaning 'shower') did not originally mean 'cheap thrill' or 'horror'. Schauder, on the other hand, (which, indeed, does have a variant Schauer) is simply related to English shudder, which relates to the horror meaning. I'm grateful for your comments, though I was not confusing the word with Schauder - perhaps my faithful old German dictionary was. As for biccia, tichetto and farma, etc., I don't think that's the kind of case this thread has been discussing. Your examples are simply straightforward loans, with the English terms adapted to Italian phonology. Ah, I see. Maybe a better example might be found in the type of transference occurring in the Hong Kong (street) Cantonese example: Mouh di louh la ('no business, no work') This example does not necesarily result in any new lexical additions, but it is reputed to have influenced the eventual bankruptcy of the company Motorola in that part of the world. Debra Ziegeler Gordon Whittaker Seminar für Romanische Philologie Humboldtallee 19 37073 Göttingen Germany At 08:29 AM 11/1/2001 -0500, Debra.Ziegeler wrote: >----------------------------Original message---------------------------- >Similar examples noted as appearing in the >L1 of Italian (and other European) migrants in Australia >are: > >Australian Italian: la biccia ('beach'), il tichetto ('ticket'), la >fattoria ('factory' - originally 'farm' in Italian, but many of the >original migrants came to work in factories), and hence farma ('a big >farm'), Australian German: der Schauer ('shower of rain' - original >meaning in German 'cheap thrill' or 'horror'); Australian Greek: >roula ('ruler', the form being taken from a Greek girl's name). > >- These examples (and doubtless many more) are courtesy of Michael >Clyne and an old undergraduate handbook. > >Debra Ziegeler > >Dr. Debra Ziegeler >School of English and Linguistics >University of Manchester >Oxford Road >Manchester M13 9PL >UK >Tel.: (0161) 275 3142 >Fax: (0161) 275 3256 Dr. Debra Ziegeler School of English and Linguistics University of Manchester Oxford Road Manchester M13 9PL UK Tel.: (0161) 275 3142 Fax: (0161) 275 3256 From sschool at mail.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de Tue Nov 6 15:49:47 2001 From: sschool at mail.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de (Summer School) Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2001 10:49:47 EST Subject: LSA / DGfS Summer School 2002 Message-ID: First Special Linguistic Summer Program hosted by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Sprachwissenschaft and co-sponsored by the Linguistic Society of America FORMAL AND FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS at Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet Duesseldorf 14 July - 3 August 2002 The event will offer basic and advanced specialized credit courses on the model of the Summer Schools of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft and the Linguistic Institutes of the LSA. There will be a range of special events on the state of the art in formal and functional lines of inquiry that have dominated general linguistics, as well as on the relevance of these two approaches to specialized disciplines like language acquisition, language change, and language contact. An optional program in German language and culture, focusing on the Rhinelands (the Duesseldorf and Cologne area) will be offered for foreign participants. Director: Dieter Stein, Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet Duesseldorf Associate Director: Ellen Prince, University of Pennsylvania Contact: Summer Program Anglistik III Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet Duesseldorf Universitaetsstr. 1 D-40225 Düsseldorf Germany email: summerschool at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/summerschool2002/ Fon: +49 211 81-12963 Fax: +49 211 81-15292 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From sschool at mail.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de Tue Nov 6 15:49:31 2001 From: sschool at mail.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de (Summer School) Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2001 10:49:31 EST Subject: Call For Papers Message-ID: LSA / DGfS Summer School - Duesseldorf 2002 CALL FOR PAPERS STUDENT EVENING SESSIONS Students (undergraduates and Ph.D. students) participating in the special DGfS/LSA Summer School in Duesseldorf are invited to present a paper in student evening sessions. There will be two sessions, each consisting of two thirty-minute talks, followed by a discussant's comment and further discussion from the floor. We invite anonymous abstracts for papers that (a) present new empirical data from any field of linguistics, and (b) discuss to what extent these data call for a functional or formal explanation. Abstracts must not exceed one page in length (11 point font, 2cm margins, single-spaced). A second page is allowed for data and references. Authors may submit no more than one individual or joint abstract. Joint abstracts should designate one address for communication with the organizers. Programm committee: Barbara Stiebels (Chair, Duesseldorf, Ger), Kai von Fintel (MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA), Martin Haspelmath (MPI, Leipzig, Ger), Richard Wiese (Marburg, Ger), Ellen Prince (UPennsylvania, USA) The anonymous abstract should preferably be sent as an e-mail attachment in one of the following formats: pdf, rtf, postscript, or plain text. For any unusual fonts, please attach the font file. No other formats will be accepted, electronic submissions should be sent to the following e-mail address: sschool at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de When writing to our postal address (cf. below), please add the keyword "Student Sessions" to the address. Please use "Abstract for Student Session" as the subject header and include, besides the attached abstract, the following information in the body of the message: 1.Name(s) of author(s) 2.Title of talk 3.Area of specialization 4.Affiliation(s) 5.E-mail address(es) 6.Postal address(es) The deadline for receipt of abstracts is March 31, 2002, 6p.m. (CET). The receipt of abstracts will be acknowledged by e-mail. Notification of acceptance will be received by May 31, 2002. The final version of the paper, which is sent to the discussant, must reach us by July 1, 2002. The discussant will be selected from the teacher's panel of the Summer School according to the paper's area of specialization. This is a rare and perfect opportunity for students to present their own research. We hope that lots of you will take advantage of this. Contact: Summer Program Anglistik III Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf Universitätsstr. 1 D-40225 Düsseldorf Germany email: summerschool at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/summerschool2002/ Fon: +49 211 81-12963Fax: +49 211 81-15292 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lsa at lsadc.org Fri Nov 16 20:30:24 2001 From: lsa at lsadc.org (LSA) Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2001 15:30:24 EST Subject: October Bulletin Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- The October LSA Bulletin is now available at http://www.lsadc.org From larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk Wed Nov 21 12:14:47 2001 From: larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk (Larry Trask) Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2001 07:14:47 EST Subject: Q: source of modal particle Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- This is a question about the historical source of a puzzling modal particle in Basque. The universal Basque word for 'road', 'way' is , recorded from 1090 -- very early, by Basque standards. Like English 'way', this word commonly also means 'way', 'manner' (of doing something), and it also commonly expresses 'means' (of doing something). No problem here. In the eastern dialects (only), it forms a compound verb 'be licit', 'be proper' (+ 'be'), a sense recorded from our first published text, in 1545. I find this semantically puzzling, but that's not really my question. In the central dialects, there exists a modal particle 'apparently', 'probably', 'undoubtedly'. Example: 'He has gone crazy.' 'He has apparently/probably/undoubtedly gone crazy.' This use too is recorded from 1545. Now, the lexicographers commonly treat modal as a separate item from the noun . The few linguists who have considered the modal particle are all inclined to see it as being the same word as the noun, but their proposals about the semantic development are sketchy and speculative, for lack of material. The only possibly relevant examples I've been able to dig up date from the 16th and early 17th century. We have one text in which occurs just once with the sense of deontic 'must': the sense of the phrase containing it is 'as one must', 'as is necessary'. And we have one other text in which occurs just once with the sense of epistemic 'must': the sense of the expression this time is 'I must have gone crazy'. These two examples must be relevant to the history of modal , but they seem perhaps to muddy the waters more than otherwise. So, my question is this. Does anybody know of another case in which a word meaning 'road' (or something similar) has developed a modal sense comparable to that of Basque ? Please reply to me directly, and I'll post a summary if I hear anything. Larry Trask COGS University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9QH UK larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk Tel: (01273)-678693 (from UK); +44-1273-678693 (from abroad) Fax: (01273)-671320 (from UK); +44-1273-671320 (from abroad) From larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk Fri Nov 23 19:41:02 2001 From: larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk (Larry Trask) Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 14:41:02 EST Subject: Sum: Basque modal particle Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- The other day I posted a question asking for possible parallels for the apparent development of the Basque noun 'road, way' into a modal particle meaning 'apparently, probably, undoubtedly'. I received a number of interesting replies. So far, no one has reported a strong parallel for such a development, but several people have drawn attention to other developments which are not dissimilar. To start with, one respondent asked me to clarify the behavior of modal . OK. This is a particle, with three noteworthy properties. (1) It is invariant in form, and it can take no affixes. This is not an especially common property in morphologically rich Basque. (2) Its presence has no morphological or ordering consequences for other elements in the sentence. It's just "plonked in" directly before the finite verb or auxiliary. (3) When the verb-form is periphrastic, stands between the non-finite and finite parts of the verb. This is a position which can be occupied only by a handful of particles. No other elements, including adverbials of any kind, can stand in this position. So, to recap a bit. My base sentence was 'He has gone crazy', where is a participle of the verb meaning 'go crazy' and is a finite auxiliary, third singular. With : 'He has apparently/probably/undoubtedly gone crazy.' With the reportative particle 'they say', 'I hear': 'They say he has gone crazy', 'I hear he has gone crazy'. With the yes-no question particle : 'Has he gone crazy?' With the "doubtful" or "surprised" question particle : 'Do you suppose he's gone crazy?', 'Has he really gone crazy?' Very few other items can behave like this. The negative particle 'not' almost does, but it induces a change in word order: 'He hasn't gone crazy'. Now, several respondents pointed to the use of what is etymologically a noun meaning 'way' in various languages -- English, German, French, Friulian -- to express things we might regard as modalities. All the examples are interesting, but all involve the presence of additional morphology or syntax, rather than the use of the bare noun. Two respondents observed that the passive of Latin 'see' has developed modal or hedge-like functions in Occitan and Catalan (at least), and they wondered whether the Basque particle might have been borrowed from one of these Romance items and then folk-etymologized to the phonologically similar (Latin /w/ and Romance /v/ are always borrowed into Basque as /b/; Basque has neither /w/ nor /v/). All this is fascinating, but I was really hoping to find something that fitted well with what little historical evidence we have. Recall that eastern Basque has a compound verb 'be proper, be licit', and that modal is very sparsely attested in early texts with the functions of deontic 'must' and epistemic 'must'. My favorite of the proposals so far is therefore this one. In English, 'way' can have the sense of 'proper or conventional way of doing things', as in that fine phrase 'the American way'. If we assume that the same semantic development might have occurred in Basque, then we have a sequence of semantic developments which is appealing and which moreover accords with the historical data. It goes like this: 'road, way' (the source word) > 'proper way of doing things' (well attested in the compound verb 'be proper') > deontic 'must' (sparsely recorded) > epistemic 'must' (sparsely recorded) > 'undoubtedly, probably' (the target sense) This looks good to me. Strictly speaking, 'it's the way' is in Basque, with the article attached to the noun, but the absence of the article inside a compound verb is perfectly normal. So, the syntactic development required to make all of this work is as follows. The invariant form 'it's proper', with a third-singular auxiliary , must have occurred often enough with a third-singular subject (sentence-initial in verb-final Basque) that this subject NP came to be interpreted as the subject of , rather than of , with then taken as a modal particle. This development then allowed a non-third-singular NP to occur in the same construction, with the finite copula now required to agree with it normally -- the position in the modern language. My thanks to Alexis Manaster Ramer, Ton van der Wouden, Miguel Carrasquer Vidal, John Hewson, Elizabeth Traugott, Paolo Ramat, Benji Wald, and Mark Jones. Larry Trask COGS University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9QH UK larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk Tel: (01273)-678693 (from UK); +44-1273-678693 (from abroad) Fax: (01273)-671320 (from UK); +44-1273-671320 (from abroad) From EvolPub at aol.com Mon Nov 26 19:18:52 2001 From: EvolPub at aol.com (Tony Schiavo) Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 14:18:52 EST Subject: Now Available - A Vocabulary of Seneca (1836) Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Evolution Publishing is pleased to announce publication of the following volume from the American Language Reprint (ALR) series: Volume 22: A Vocabulary of Seneca Taken from Gallatin's "Synopsis of the Indian Tribes" Anonymous, 1836 This volume offers a list of over 400 words of the Seneca language compiled by an anonymous collector in the War Department in the late 1820s. It also contains an additional 89 Seneca words derived from a manuscript of J. Parish collected prior to 1820. Both of these were originally published in Albert Gallatin's "Synopsis of the Indian Tribes" in 1836. October 2001 ~ clothbound ~ 75pp. ~ ISBN 1-889758-20-5 ~ US$28.00 Evolution Publishing is dedicated to preserving and consolidating early primary source records of native and early colonial America with the goal of making them more accessible and readily available to the academic community. For further information on this and other titles in the ALR series: http://www.evolpub.com/ALR/ALRhome.html Evolution Publishing evolpub at aol.com From larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk Fri Nov 30 12:30:25 2001 From: larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk (Larry Trask) Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 07:30:25 EST Subject: Q: Two questions on carrots Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- According to the Britannica, carrots were cultivated in Mediterranean Europe in pre-Christian times and in northwest Europe by the 13th century. But our English word 'carrot', of French origin, is not recorded before 1533, though the earliest attestations suggest that the word was already familiar by that time. So,two questions. 1. Is any earlier name recorded in English for the vegetable? I've looked in the OED for combinations involving 'parsnip', 'turnip' and 'neep', but found nothing. 2. What color-term was applied to carrots before the label 'orange' became usual in English? The simple color-term 'orange' is not clearly recorded before 1620, though there are earlier attestations of things like 'of orange hue', in which the word appears to be used as we would use, say, 'a lemon-colored scarf'. I am guessing that carrots might once have been 'red', since carrot-colored hair has been called 'red' in English for centuries, and still is today. But I can't find any documentation. If you know anything about this, please reply to me privately, and I'll post a summary. Larry Trask COGS University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9QH UK larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk Tel: (01273)-678693 (from UK); +44-1273-678693 (from abroad) Fax: (01273)-671320 (from UK); +44-1273-671320 (from abroad) From cfwoolhiser at mail.utexas.edu Thu Nov 1 18:01:34 2001 From: cfwoolhiser at mail.utexas.edu (curt fredric woolhiser) Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 13:01:34 EST Subject: query In-Reply-To: Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- This type of borrowing is dealt with by Ghil'ad Zuckermann in his DPhil Thesis "Camouflaged Borrowing: 'Folk-Etymological Nativization' in the Service of Puristic Language Engineering." He finds that what he calls 'folk-etymological nativization' is particularly common in 'reinvented' languages like modern Hebrew (an example he cites is "deme" < English dummy, which makes use of the Hebrew root d.m.h 'seem alike') and revolutionized Turkish, languages with a phono-logographic script like Chinese and Japanese, and minority languages like Yiddish and Romany. Curt Woolhiser ======================================== Curt F. Woolhiser Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures Calhoun 415 University of Texas Austin, TX 78713-7217 USA Tel. (512) 232-9133, (512) 471-3607 Fax: (512) 471-6710 Email: cfwoolhiser at mail.utexas.edu Slavic Department Home Page: http://www.dla.utexas.edu/depts/slavic/ ======================================== >----------------------------Original message---------------------------- >I know that Chinese is full of this sort of stuff. In Italian also there are > some examples: > >baco for (computer) bug. Baco is typically the silk worm or a worm in an apple > or a cherry. The millennium bug thus was commonly translated as il >baco del millennio. > >scannare jokingly as a translation of scanning. Scannare is cutting a pig's > throat for killing it, and by extension a very expressive word for >killing a person by slicing his throat. Some people also > say scannare un documento for scanning it, otherwise a more common >term is scannerizzare. > >I agree that there is no common term for this kind of borrowing. > >Best regards, > >Giorgio Banti >Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli > >Original Message: >----------------- >From: Robert R. Ratcliffe ratcliffe at tufs.ac.jp >Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 09:03:50 EST >To: HISTLING at VM.SC.EDU >Subject: query > > >I've recently had my attention draw to a process in borrowing and I >wonder if there is a name for it: > >When a concept is borrowed, rather than borrowing the word, or calquing >it, a word which sounds similar to the original with related semantics >is extended, or a compound is made which sounds close to the original >and is semantically plausible. > >For example "index" becomes in Chinese inde (formed from /in/ "pull", >/de/ "find") [source: student paper, so correct me if I'm wrong.] > >This is very common in East Asian languages, I believe. But I've come >across examples elsewhere. For example in Morocco the Arabic word /silk/ >"thread" is used to translate the Frence "cycle" /sikl/ as an academic >term, rather than the usual Arabic word for cycle /daura/. > >It is sort of the opposite of a calque-- in the sense of borrowing the >sound without the meaning-- but I don't know what to call it. By the way >does anyone have other examples? >____________________________________ >*NEW E-mail address: ratcliffe at tufs.ac.jp* > >Robert R. Ratcliffe >Associate Professor, Arabic and Linguistics >Tokyo University of Foreign Studies >Asahi-machi 3-11-1, Fuchu-shi, Tokyo 183-8534 Japan > > > >-------------------------------------------------------------------- >mail2web - Check your email from the web at >http://mail2web.com/ . From ibirks at club-internet.fr Thu Nov 1 13:30:28 2001 From: ibirks at club-internet.fr (ivan) Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 08:30:28 EST Subject: query In-Reply-To: <3BDF10E5.6E0214@tufs.ac.jp> Message-ID: In a similar vein, the French for sauerkraut (sour + cabbage) is choucroute (cabbage + crust/snack), the lexical swap, presumably, being motivated by the phonetic similarities. If a name doesn't already exist for this kind of motivation, then one ought to be invented... A paraphone, perhaps? (Or maybe interphone would be more appropriate ;-) Ivan Birks Paris X Nanterre De?: "Robert R. Ratcliffe" R?pondre ??: ratcliffe at tufs.ac.jp Date?: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 09:03:50 EST ??: HISTLING at VM.SC.EDU Objet?: query I've recently had my attention draw to a process in borrowing and I wonder if there is a name for it: When a concept is borrowed, rather than borrowing the word, or calquing it, a word which sounds similar to the original with related semantics is extended, or a compound is made which sounds close to the original and is semantically plausible. For example "index" becomes in Chinese inde (formed from /in/ "pull", /de/ "find") [source: student paper, so correct me if I'm wrong.] This is very common in East Asian languages, I believe. But I've come across examples elsewhere. For example in Morocco the Arabic word /silk/ "thread" is used to translate the Frence "cycle" /sikl/ as an academic term, rather than the usual Arabic word for cycle /daura/. It is sort of the opposite of a calque-- in the sense of borrowing the sound without the meaning-- but I don't know what to call it. By the way does anyone have other examples? ____________________________________ *NEW E-mail address: ratcliffe at tufs.ac.jp* Robert R. Ratcliffe Associate Professor, Arabic and Linguistics Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Asahi-machi 3-11-1, Fuchu-shi, Tokyo 183-8534 Japan -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Debra.P.Ziegeler at man.ac.uk Thu Nov 1 13:29:14 2001 From: Debra.P.Ziegeler at man.ac.uk (Debra.Ziegeler) Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 08:29:14 EST Subject: query Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Similar examples noted as appearing in the L1 of Italian (and other European) migrants in Australia are: Australian Italian: la biccia ('beach'), il tichetto ('ticket'), la fattoria ('factory' - originally 'farm' in Italian, but many of the original migrants came to work in factories), and hence farma ('a big farm'), Australian German: der Schauer ('shower of rain' - original meaning in German 'cheap thrill' or 'horror'); Australian Greek: roula ('ruler', the form being taken from a Greek girl's name). - These examples (and doubtless many more) are courtesy of Michael Clyne and an old undergraduate handbook. Debra Ziegeler Dr. Debra Ziegeler School of English and Linguistics University of Manchester Oxford Road Manchester M13 9PL UK Tel.: (0161) 275 3142 Fax: (0161) 275 3256 From gwhitta at gwdg.de Fri Nov 2 13:05:16 2001 From: gwhitta at gwdg.de (Gordon Whittaker) Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 08:05:16 EST Subject: query In-Reply-To: <46D218B3886@fs1.art.man.ac.uk> Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- I'm afraid you're confusing German Schauer with Schauder. Schauer is 'shower', like its English cognate going right back to Proto-Germanic ( and to IE for 'north wind, storm wind'). Schauer (in the meaning 'shower') did not originally mean 'cheap thrill' or 'horror'. Schauder, on the other hand, (which, indeed, does have a variant Schauer) is simply related to English shudder, which relates to the horror meaning. As for biccia, tichetto and farma, etc., I don't think that's the kind of case this thread has been discussing. Your examples are simply straightforward loans, with the English terms adapted to Italian phonology. Gordon Whittaker Seminar f?r Romanische Philologie Humboldtallee 19 37073 G?ttingen Germany At 08:29 AM 11/1/2001 -0500, Debra.Ziegeler wrote: >----------------------------Original message---------------------------- >Similar examples noted as appearing in the >L1 of Italian (and other European) migrants in Australia >are: > >Australian Italian: la biccia ('beach'), il tichetto ('ticket'), la >fattoria ('factory' - originally 'farm' in Italian, but many of the >original migrants came to work in factories), and hence farma ('a big >farm'), Australian German: der Schauer ('shower of rain' - original >meaning in German 'cheap thrill' or 'horror'); Australian Greek: >roula ('ruler', the form being taken from a Greek girl's name). > >- These examples (and doubtless many more) are courtesy of Michael >Clyne and an old undergraduate handbook. > >Debra Ziegeler > >Dr. Debra Ziegeler >School of English and Linguistics >University of Manchester >Oxford Road >Manchester M13 9PL >UK >Tel.: (0161) 275 3142 >Fax: (0161) 275 3256 From bjarke.frellesvig at hertford.oxford.ac.uk Sat Nov 3 13:07:36 2001 From: bjarke.frellesvig at hertford.oxford.ac.uk (Bjarke Frellesvig) Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2001 08:07:36 EST Subject: Doctoral workshop on Japanese linguistics Message-ID: University of Oxford doctoral workshop on JAPANESE LINGUISTICS A workshop for doctoral students working on Japanese linguistics (in a wide sense) will be held 15-21 September 2002 in the University of Oxford. The workshop will be open to up to 20 students. Programme Participants will present their projects in plenary sessions followed by discussion. Each participant will also have at least one individual session with one of the teachers. Each day will have a lecture by one of the teachers. The working language of the workshop will be English. Participants will be expected to submit a 5-10 page summary of their research project to be circulated to the other participants and teachers before the workshop. Teachers The teachers in the workshop will be: Anthony Backhouse (University of Hokkaido) Richard Bowring (Cambridge University) Viktoria Eschbach-Szabo (T?bingen University) Bjarke Frellesvig (University of Oxford) Masayoshi Shibatani (University of Kobe) John Whitman (Cornell University) Funding Accommodation and meals will be provided (in Hertford College). In addition, funding is being sought for transportation costs to and from England for students from Europe. Every effort will be made to secure such funding and no one should be discouraged from applying for financial reasons. Application Application for participation will take the form of submission by 15 March 2002 of: a short description of the research project, a short CV, including description of previous study and schedule for completion, and a letter of reference from the supervisor. Interested students are, however, encouraged to express their interest as early as possible. Acceptance will be advised by medio April 2002. Contact: Enquiries: bjarke.frellesvig at hertford.ox.ac.uk Applications: Bjarke Frellesvig Oriental Institute University of Oxford Pusey Lane Oxford OX1 2LE UK -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kinoene at gipac.shinshu-u.ac.jp Sat Nov 3 21:40:10 2001 From: kinoene at gipac.shinshu-u.ac.jp (Kozo KATO) Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2001 16:40:10 EST Subject: Job Announcement Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Faculty of Arts Shinshu University Foreign Teacher of English Job Opening Position Details 1. Area Specialties: Fields related to Linguistics, the English Language, or Japan 2. Number of Positions: 1 3. Deadline for Application: Nov.30, 2001 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ Position Available To Whom It May Concern: Faculty of Arts, Shinshu University, has an opening for a Foreign Instructor of English beginning April 1, 2002. Interested parties should contact Professor Kozo Kato at the address below and send the following to him by Nov. 30, 2001: 1) resume with photo 2) list of publications/presentations 3) copies of publications/presentations 4) two letters of reference 5) essay on English teaching (500-600 words) Yours sincerely, Professor Seiji Ohshima, Dean Faculty of Arts General Information/Conditions/Duties Position: Foreign Teacher of English (as prescribed by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) Duties: maximum of 12 classes per academic year, including English, Linguistics, British/American Literature, British/American Culture Period of Employment: one year contract, with maximum extension of four additional annual contracts Salary: national university scale e.g. scholarly/teaching experience monthly salary after graduation 0-2 years \357,000 2-7 years \407,000 7-12 years \456,000 12-19 years \503,000 plus yearly bonus (4.75 monthly salary). Benefits: a furnished semi-detached house, travel fare to Matsumoto for yourself and family, commutation allowance, research allowance, retirement allowance, etc. Qualifications/Requirements Education: Master's Degree (required as of March 31, 2002) Experience: teaching experience at university level or equivalent (preferred). A flexible, inventive and devoted language teacher is desirable. Publications (or Presentations): minimum of three (preferred) Language: native speaker of English (required) Age: younger than 40 For Inquiries: Kozo KATO Faculty of Arts Shinshu University 3-1-1 Asahi, Matsumoto, Nagano 390-8621 email: kinoene at gipac.shinshu-u.ac.jp office phone: 0263-37-2256 fax: 0263-37-2256 Kozo KATO From Debra.P.Ziegeler at man.ac.uk Tue Nov 6 00:21:49 2001 From: Debra.P.Ziegeler at man.ac.uk (Debra.Ziegeler) Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 19:21:49 EST Subject: query In-Reply-To: <4.2.2.20011102132742.00aee550@pop3.norton.antivirus> Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2001 13:44:41 +0100 To: Debra.Ziegeler at man.ac.uk,HISTLING at VM.SC.EDU From: Gordon Whittaker Subject: Re: query I'm afraid you're confusing German Schauer with Schauder. Schauer is 'shower', like its English cognate going right back to Proto-Germanic ( and to IE for 'north wind, storm wind'). Schauer (in the meaning 'shower') did not originally mean 'cheap thrill' or 'horror'. Schauder, on the other hand, (which, indeed, does have a variant Schauer) is simply related to English shudder, which relates to the horror meaning. I'm grateful for your comments, though I was not confusing the word with Schauder - perhaps my faithful old German dictionary was. As for biccia, tichetto and farma, etc., I don't think that's the kind of case this thread has been discussing. Your examples are simply straightforward loans, with the English terms adapted to Italian phonology. Ah, I see. Maybe a better example might be found in the type of transference occurring in the Hong Kong (street) Cantonese example: Mouh di louh la ('no business, no work') This example does not necesarily result in any new lexical additions, but it is reputed to have influenced the eventual bankruptcy of the company Motorola in that part of the world. Debra Ziegeler Gordon Whittaker Seminar f?r Romanische Philologie Humboldtallee 19 37073 G?ttingen Germany At 08:29 AM 11/1/2001 -0500, Debra.Ziegeler wrote: >----------------------------Original message---------------------------- >Similar examples noted as appearing in the >L1 of Italian (and other European) migrants in Australia >are: > >Australian Italian: la biccia ('beach'), il tichetto ('ticket'), la >fattoria ('factory' - originally 'farm' in Italian, but many of the >original migrants came to work in factories), and hence farma ('a big >farm'), Australian German: der Schauer ('shower of rain' - original >meaning in German 'cheap thrill' or 'horror'); Australian Greek: >roula ('ruler', the form being taken from a Greek girl's name). > >- These examples (and doubtless many more) are courtesy of Michael >Clyne and an old undergraduate handbook. > >Debra Ziegeler > >Dr. Debra Ziegeler >School of English and Linguistics >University of Manchester >Oxford Road >Manchester M13 9PL >UK >Tel.: (0161) 275 3142 >Fax: (0161) 275 3256 Dr. Debra Ziegeler School of English and Linguistics University of Manchester Oxford Road Manchester M13 9PL UK Tel.: (0161) 275 3142 Fax: (0161) 275 3256 From sschool at mail.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de Tue Nov 6 15:49:47 2001 From: sschool at mail.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de (Summer School) Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2001 10:49:47 EST Subject: LSA / DGfS Summer School 2002 Message-ID: First Special Linguistic Summer Program hosted by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Sprachwissenschaft and co-sponsored by the Linguistic Society of America FORMAL AND FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS at Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet Duesseldorf 14 July - 3 August 2002 The event will offer basic and advanced specialized credit courses on the model of the Summer Schools of the Deutsche Gesellschaft f?r Sprachwissenschaft and the Linguistic Institutes of the LSA. There will be a range of special events on the state of the art in formal and functional lines of inquiry that have dominated general linguistics, as well as on the relevance of these two approaches to specialized disciplines like language acquisition, language change, and language contact. An optional program in German language and culture, focusing on the Rhinelands (the Duesseldorf and Cologne area) will be offered for foreign participants. Director: Dieter Stein, Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet Duesseldorf Associate Director: Ellen Prince, University of Pennsylvania Contact: Summer Program Anglistik III Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet Duesseldorf Universitaetsstr. 1 D-40225 D?sseldorf Germany email: summerschool at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/summerschool2002/ Fon: +49 211 81-12963 Fax: +49 211 81-15292 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From sschool at mail.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de Tue Nov 6 15:49:31 2001 From: sschool at mail.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de (Summer School) Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2001 10:49:31 EST Subject: Call For Papers Message-ID: LSA / DGfS Summer School - Duesseldorf 2002 CALL FOR PAPERS STUDENT EVENING SESSIONS Students (undergraduates and Ph.D. students) participating in the special DGfS/LSA Summer School in Duesseldorf are invited to present a paper in student evening sessions. There will be two sessions, each consisting of two thirty-minute talks, followed by a discussant's comment and further discussion from the floor. We invite anonymous abstracts for papers that (a) present new empirical data from any field of linguistics, and (b) discuss to what extent these data call for a functional or formal explanation. Abstracts must not exceed one page in length (11 point font, 2cm margins, single-spaced). A second page is allowed for data and references. Authors may submit no more than one individual or joint abstract. Joint abstracts should designate one address for communication with the organizers. Programm committee: Barbara Stiebels (Chair, Duesseldorf, Ger), Kai von Fintel (MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA), Martin Haspelmath (MPI, Leipzig, Ger), Richard Wiese (Marburg, Ger), Ellen Prince (UPennsylvania, USA) The anonymous abstract should preferably be sent as an e-mail attachment in one of the following formats: pdf, rtf, postscript, or plain text. For any unusual fonts, please attach the font file. No other formats will be accepted, electronic submissions should be sent to the following e-mail address: sschool at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de When writing to our postal address (cf. below), please add the keyword "Student Sessions" to the address. Please use "Abstract for Student Session" as the subject header and include, besides the attached abstract, the following information in the body of the message: 1.Name(s) of author(s) 2.Title of talk 3.Area of specialization 4.Affiliation(s) 5.E-mail address(es) 6.Postal address(es) The deadline for receipt of abstracts is March 31, 2002, 6p.m. (CET). The receipt of abstracts will be acknowledged by e-mail. Notification of acceptance will be received by May 31, 2002. The final version of the paper, which is sent to the discussant, must reach us by July 1, 2002. The discussant will be selected from the teacher's panel of the Summer School according to the paper's area of specialization. This is a rare and perfect opportunity for students to present their own research. We hope that lots of you will take advantage of this. Contact: Summer Program Anglistik III Heinrich-Heine-Universit?t D?sseldorf Universit?tsstr. 1 D-40225 D?sseldorf Germany email: summerschool at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/summerschool2002/ Fon: +49 211 81-12963Fax: +49 211 81-15292 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lsa at lsadc.org Fri Nov 16 20:30:24 2001 From: lsa at lsadc.org (LSA) Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2001 15:30:24 EST Subject: October Bulletin Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- The October LSA Bulletin is now available at http://www.lsadc.org From larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk Wed Nov 21 12:14:47 2001 From: larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk (Larry Trask) Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2001 07:14:47 EST Subject: Q: source of modal particle Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- This is a question about the historical source of a puzzling modal particle in Basque. The universal Basque word for 'road', 'way' is , recorded from 1090 -- very early, by Basque standards. Like English 'way', this word commonly also means 'way', 'manner' (of doing something), and it also commonly expresses 'means' (of doing something). No problem here. In the eastern dialects (only), it forms a compound verb 'be licit', 'be proper' (+ 'be'), a sense recorded from our first published text, in 1545. I find this semantically puzzling, but that's not really my question. In the central dialects, there exists a modal particle 'apparently', 'probably', 'undoubtedly'. Example: 'He has gone crazy.' 'He has apparently/probably/undoubtedly gone crazy.' This use too is recorded from 1545. Now, the lexicographers commonly treat modal as a separate item from the noun . The few linguists who have considered the modal particle are all inclined to see it as being the same word as the noun, but their proposals about the semantic development are sketchy and speculative, for lack of material. The only possibly relevant examples I've been able to dig up date from the 16th and early 17th century. We have one text in which occurs just once with the sense of deontic 'must': the sense of the phrase containing it is 'as one must', 'as is necessary'. And we have one other text in which occurs just once with the sense of epistemic 'must': the sense of the expression this time is 'I must have gone crazy'. These two examples must be relevant to the history of modal , but they seem perhaps to muddy the waters more than otherwise. So, my question is this. Does anybody know of another case in which a word meaning 'road' (or something similar) has developed a modal sense comparable to that of Basque ? Please reply to me directly, and I'll post a summary if I hear anything. Larry Trask COGS University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9QH UK larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk Tel: (01273)-678693 (from UK); +44-1273-678693 (from abroad) Fax: (01273)-671320 (from UK); +44-1273-671320 (from abroad) From larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk Fri Nov 23 19:41:02 2001 From: larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk (Larry Trask) Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 14:41:02 EST Subject: Sum: Basque modal particle Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- The other day I posted a question asking for possible parallels for the apparent development of the Basque noun 'road, way' into a modal particle meaning 'apparently, probably, undoubtedly'. I received a number of interesting replies. So far, no one has reported a strong parallel for such a development, but several people have drawn attention to other developments which are not dissimilar. To start with, one respondent asked me to clarify the behavior of modal . OK. This is a particle, with three noteworthy properties. (1) It is invariant in form, and it can take no affixes. This is not an especially common property in morphologically rich Basque. (2) Its presence has no morphological or ordering consequences for other elements in the sentence. It's just "plonked in" directly before the finite verb or auxiliary. (3) When the verb-form is periphrastic, stands between the non-finite and finite parts of the verb. This is a position which can be occupied only by a handful of particles. No other elements, including adverbials of any kind, can stand in this position. So, to recap a bit. My base sentence was 'He has gone crazy', where is a participle of the verb meaning 'go crazy' and is a finite auxiliary, third singular. With : 'He has apparently/probably/undoubtedly gone crazy.' With the reportative particle 'they say', 'I hear': 'They say he has gone crazy', 'I hear he has gone crazy'. With the yes-no question particle : 'Has he gone crazy?' With the "doubtful" or "surprised" question particle : 'Do you suppose he's gone crazy?', 'Has he really gone crazy?' Very few other items can behave like this. The negative particle 'not' almost does, but it induces a change in word order: 'He hasn't gone crazy'. Now, several respondents pointed to the use of what is etymologically a noun meaning 'way' in various languages -- English, German, French, Friulian -- to express things we might regard as modalities. All the examples are interesting, but all involve the presence of additional morphology or syntax, rather than the use of the bare noun. Two respondents observed that the passive of Latin 'see' has developed modal or hedge-like functions in Occitan and Catalan (at least), and they wondered whether the Basque particle might have been borrowed from one of these Romance items and then folk-etymologized to the phonologically similar (Latin /w/ and Romance /v/ are always borrowed into Basque as /b/; Basque has neither /w/ nor /v/). All this is fascinating, but I was really hoping to find something that fitted well with what little historical evidence we have. Recall that eastern Basque has a compound verb 'be proper, be licit', and that modal is very sparsely attested in early texts with the functions of deontic 'must' and epistemic 'must'. My favorite of the proposals so far is therefore this one. In English, 'way' can have the sense of 'proper or conventional way of doing things', as in that fine phrase 'the American way'. If we assume that the same semantic development might have occurred in Basque, then we have a sequence of semantic developments which is appealing and which moreover accords with the historical data. It goes like this: 'road, way' (the source word) > 'proper way of doing things' (well attested in the compound verb 'be proper') > deontic 'must' (sparsely recorded) > epistemic 'must' (sparsely recorded) > 'undoubtedly, probably' (the target sense) This looks good to me. Strictly speaking, 'it's the way' is in Basque, with the article attached to the noun, but the absence of the article inside a compound verb is perfectly normal. So, the syntactic development required to make all of this work is as follows. The invariant form 'it's proper', with a third-singular auxiliary , must have occurred often enough with a third-singular subject (sentence-initial in verb-final Basque) that this subject NP came to be interpreted as the subject of , rather than of , with then taken as a modal particle. This development then allowed a non-third-singular NP to occur in the same construction, with the finite copula now required to agree with it normally -- the position in the modern language. My thanks to Alexis Manaster Ramer, Ton van der Wouden, Miguel Carrasquer Vidal, John Hewson, Elizabeth Traugott, Paolo Ramat, Benji Wald, and Mark Jones. Larry Trask COGS University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9QH UK larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk Tel: (01273)-678693 (from UK); +44-1273-678693 (from abroad) Fax: (01273)-671320 (from UK); +44-1273-671320 (from abroad) From EvolPub at aol.com Mon Nov 26 19:18:52 2001 From: EvolPub at aol.com (Tony Schiavo) Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 14:18:52 EST Subject: Now Available - A Vocabulary of Seneca (1836) Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Evolution Publishing is pleased to announce publication of the following volume from the American Language Reprint (ALR) series: Volume 22: A Vocabulary of Seneca Taken from Gallatin's "Synopsis of the Indian Tribes" Anonymous, 1836 This volume offers a list of over 400 words of the Seneca language compiled by an anonymous collector in the War Department in the late 1820s. It also contains an additional 89 Seneca words derived from a manuscript of J. Parish collected prior to 1820. Both of these were originally published in Albert Gallatin's "Synopsis of the Indian Tribes" in 1836. October 2001 ~ clothbound ~ 75pp. ~ ISBN 1-889758-20-5 ~ US$28.00 Evolution Publishing is dedicated to preserving and consolidating early primary source records of native and early colonial America with the goal of making them more accessible and readily available to the academic community. For further information on this and other titles in the ALR series: http://www.evolpub.com/ALR/ALRhome.html Evolution Publishing evolpub at aol.com From larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk Fri Nov 30 12:30:25 2001 From: larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk (Larry Trask) Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 07:30:25 EST Subject: Q: Two questions on carrots Message-ID: ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- According to the Britannica, carrots were cultivated in Mediterranean Europe in pre-Christian times and in northwest Europe by the 13th century. But our English word 'carrot', of French origin, is not recorded before 1533, though the earliest attestations suggest that the word was already familiar by that time. So,two questions. 1. Is any earlier name recorded in English for the vegetable? I've looked in the OED for combinations involving 'parsnip', 'turnip' and 'neep', but found nothing. 2. What color-term was applied to carrots before the label 'orange' became usual in English? The simple color-term 'orange' is not clearly recorded before 1620, though there are earlier attestations of things like 'of orange hue', in which the word appears to be used as we would use, say, 'a lemon-colored scarf'. I am guessing that carrots might once have been 'red', since carrot-colored hair has been called 'red' in English for centuries, and still is today. But I can't find any documentation. If you know anything about this, please reply to me privately, and I'll post a summary. Larry Trask COGS University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9QH UK larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk Tel: (01273)-678693 (from UK); +44-1273-678693 (from abroad) Fax: (01273)-671320 (from UK); +44-1273-671320 (from abroad)