From hyams at humnet.ucla.edu Mon Aug 2 18:11:22 1999 From: hyams at humnet.ucla.edu (Nina Hyams) Date: Mon, 2 Aug 1999 10:11:22 PST Subject: 2nd call Child Language Seminar Message-ID: Dear colleague, I would very much appreciate knowing the status my abstract submission. I have heard nothing about my abstract or about the conference more generally. Nina Hyams From sg985102 at shirayuri.ac.jp Wed Aug 4 06:55:13 1999 From: sg985102 at shirayuri.ac.jp (Eriko Kurosaki) Date: Wed, 4 Aug 1999 15:55:13 +0900 Subject: change of address Message-ID: My email has been changed from sg985102 at shirayuri.ac.jp to kuroeri at mb.infoweb.ne.jp Please change my address. Thank you! From D.C.Vigil at newcastle.ac.uk Thu Aug 5 16:21:54 1999 From: D.C.Vigil at newcastle.ac.uk (D.C. Vigil) Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 17:21:54 +0100 Subject: address change? Message-ID: How do I change my e-mail address for the list? Debra C. Vigil Department of Speech, University of Newcastle Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, United Kingdom Ph: +44 (191) 222 6528 Fax: +44 (191) 222 6518 From kschaper at midwest.net Fri Aug 6 22:46:20 1999 From: kschaper at midwest.net (Kirsten Hodge) Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 17:46:20 -0500 Subject: mor and syn tier Message-ID: I am currently working on a large collection of narratives by seven year olds. The professor I work for (Dennis Molfese) had decided we should include the mor and syn tiers on the files. I am having trouble finding a good book of descriptive English grammar for which to base these on (especially the syntax tier). The CHILDES book I'm working out of (the 2nd edition 1995) doesn't tell much about the syn tier and includes only a few codes. I've been making up my own codes, but I'm basing all the syntax on my own knowledge (which is pretty good - I'm getting my master's in linguistics) and the few grammar books that I've found (which are more prescriptive that descriptive). Has anyone out there worked with the mor and/or syn tiers? If so, what did you use for your grammar reference? Much thanks, Kirsten Schaper Developmental Neuropsychology Lab Southern Illinois University Carbondale, IL From lmenn at psych.colorado.edu Sat Aug 7 18:16:16 1999 From: lmenn at psych.colorado.edu (Lise Menn) Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999 12:16:16 -0600 Subject: mor and syn tier Message-ID: while I haven't worked directly with these tiers, for me the ultimate reference for English is Quirk et al.'s A Comprehensive Grammar of English. Lise Menn Professor Department of Linguistics University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309-0295 303-492-1609 On Fri, 6 Aug 1999, Kirsten Hodge wrote: > > I am currently working on a large collection of narratives by seven year > olds. The professor I work for (Dennis Molfese) had decided we should > include the mor and syn tiers on the files. I am having trouble finding a > good book of descriptive English grammar for which to base these on > (especially the syntax tier). The CHILDES book I'm working out of (the 2nd > edition 1995) doesn't tell much about the syn tier and includes only a few > codes. I've been making up my own codes, but I'm basing all the syntax on > my own knowledge (which is pretty good - I'm getting my master's in > linguistics) and the few grammar books that I've found (which are more > prescriptive that descriptive). Has anyone out there worked with the mor > and/or syn tiers? If so, what did you use for your grammar reference? > Much thanks, > Kirsten Schaper > Developmental Neuropsychology Lab > Southern Illinois University > Carbondale, IL > > > From ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk Sun Aug 8 12:11:35 1999 From: ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk (Ann Dowker) Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 13:11:35 +0100 Subject: word frequency databases Message-ID: Since several people on the list asked me to let them know if I received any information about spoken word frequency databases, I am forwarding the messages to the list. Ann ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 09 Jul 1999 15:37:07 -0400 From: William Hall To: ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk Subject: Re: word frequency databases Yes. Try: Hall, William S., Nagy, William, and Linn, Robert, (1984) Spoken Words, Norwood, New Jersey: Erlbaum. >>> Ann Dowker 07/09/99 03:28PM >>> Does anyone know of any databases of spoken English word frequencies,other than the MRC psycholinguistic database? Many thanks, Ann From ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk Sun Aug 8 12:12:37 1999 From: ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk (Ann Dowker) Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 13:12:37 +0100 Subject: word frequency databases (fwd) Message-ID: Here is the other message! Ann ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 07:27:54 +0100 (BST) From: "Judy E. Turner" To: Ann Dowker Subject: Re: word frequency databases Dear Ann, Try the CELEX - centre for Lexical Information lexical database (1993) produced in Nijmegen which is available in Oxford - one of our Reading students located it there. As I remember it has a British English spoken word frequency based on 1million words. Judy *************************************************************************** Dr. Judy Turner Department of Psychology Tel: 01189 316669 University of Reading Earley Gate Reading RG6 6AL *************************************************************************** On Fri, 9 Jul 1999, Ann Dowker wrote: > Does anyone know of any databases of spoken English word frequencies,other > than the MRC psycholinguistic database? > > Many thanks, > > Ann > > From vhouwer at uia.ua.ac.be Sun Aug 8 13:27:31 1999 From: vhouwer at uia.ua.ac.be (Annick.DeHouwer) Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 15:27:31 +0200 Subject: mor and syn tier Message-ID: I second Lise Menn's opinion wholeheartedly, and have in fact used Quirk et al.'s Grammar in coding the data for my subject Kate (available through CHILDES; see dehouwer.sit in http://childes.psy.cmu.edu/ftp/mac/biling/). However, the very new Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, itself based on a 40 million words corpus, (by D. Biber, S. Johansson, G. Leech, S. Conrad and E. Finegan) might be a good source, too. --Annick De Houwer On Sat, 7 Aug 1999, Lise Menn wrote: > while I haven't worked directly with these tiers, for me the ultimate > reference for English is Quirk et al.'s A Comprehensive Grammar of > English. > > On Fri, 6 Aug 1999, Kirsten Hodge wrote: > > > > > I am currently working on a large collection of narratives by seven year > > olds. The professor I work for (Dennis Molfese) had decided we should > > include the mor and syn tiers on the files. I am having trouble finding a > > good book of descriptive English grammar for which to base these on > > (especially the syntax tier). The CHILDES book I'm working out of (the 2nd > > edition 1995) doesn't tell much about the syn tier and includes only a few > > codes. I've been making up my own codes, but I'm basing all the syntax on > > my own knowledge (which is pretty good - I'm getting my master's in > > linguistics) and the few grammar books that I've found (which are more > > prescriptive that descriptive). Has anyone out there worked with the mor > > and/or syn tiers? If so, what did you use for your grammar reference? > > Much thanks, > > Kirsten Schaper > > Developmental Neuropsychology Lab > > Southern Illinois University > > Carbondale, IL From vhouwer at uia.ua.ac.be Sun Aug 8 13:32:30 1999 From: vhouwer at uia.ua.ac.be (Annick.DeHouwer) Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 15:32:30 +0200 Subject: word frequency databases Message-ID: There is also the Longman Spoken and Written English Corpus that contains over 40 million words of text, and that was the basis for the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English by D. Biber, S. Johansson, G. Leech, S, Conrad and E. Finegan (just published). --Annick De Houwer PS For those of you who are wondering (given this and my previous message on the list) -- no, I am *NOT* a Longman shareholder. On Sun, 8 Aug 1999, Ann Dowker wrote: > Since several people on the list asked me to let them know if I received > any information about spoken word frequency databases, I am forwarding the > messages to the list. > > Ann > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Fri, 09 Jul 1999 15:37:07 -0400 > From: William Hall > To: ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk > Subject: Re: word frequency databases > > Yes. Try: Hall, William S., Nagy, William, and Linn, Robert, (1984) > Spoken Words, Norwood, New Jersey: Erlbaum. > > >>> Ann Dowker 07/09/99 03:28PM >>> > Does anyone know of any databases of spoken English word frequencies,other > than the MRC psycholinguistic database? > > Many thanks, > > Ann > > > > > > From JIBZ at aol.com Sun Aug 8 17:38:02 1999 From: JIBZ at aol.com (JIBZ at aol.com) Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 13:38:02 EDT Subject: Mor and Syn tiers Message-ID: A good general reference is Pence and Emery's A Grammar of Present Day English, New York: MacMillan, (I have the 1963 reprint). If you have a reference grammar you prefer, you might use it. The key is consistency. J. Betz From eckert at server.ufbi.ufl.edu Tue Aug 10 21:41:25 1999 From: eckert at server.ufbi.ufl.edu (Mark Eckert) Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 17:41:25 -0400 Subject: Phonological Assessment Tool? Message-ID: Hi, I am in search of a test to assess phonological development in 1-2 year olds. Is there one out there? Thanks, Mark From a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk Wed Aug 11 11:38:16 1999 From: a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk (Annette Karmiloff-Smith) Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 12:38:16 +0100 Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE Message-ID: In many languages there are examples of the way adolescents in particular change the meanings of words. e.g. in British English "wicked" now means "something terrific" i.e. it went from negative to positive connotation.. Could people kindly send me any examples they have of American English or other languages where words have taken on new connotations. Also any examples of changing grammar like "between you and I" (but not "between you and he") which is becoming grammatized even amongst well-educated speakers. I've heard people self correct from "between you and m..you and I". many thanks Annette ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith Head, Neurocognitive Development Unit Institute of Child Health 30 Guilford Street, London WC1H ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From JIBZ at aol.com Thu Aug 12 13:37:02 1999 From: JIBZ at aol.com (JIBZ at aol.com) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 09:37:02 EDT Subject: Language change Message-ID: An example of language change, not necessarily adolescent, in the general population and akin to the example of 'between you and me' replacing 'between you and I' is the following: "Would the person who left the back door open please close it?" has become "Would the person that left the back door open please close it?" A logical reason is the who/whom problem found in other contexts. 'That' solves any such problems nicely. On the topic of 'wicked' as a positive intensifier, the folks of Maine have been using that word for a very long time. We were there in the early-mid '70's and heard it. A colleague from Maine tells me that she has always used it and heard it used by her parents and grandparents when she was a child. Maybe a native Mainer can give more info on this. My interest is slips of the tongue so I cannot be much help here. I'll ask some young friends for their help!! Jacquie Betz formerly of SIU-C Carbondale, Illinois From aholland at U.Arizona.EDU Thu Aug 12 14:10:45 1999 From: aholland at U.Arizona.EDU (Audrey L Holland) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 07:10:45 -0700 Subject: Language change Message-ID: A particularly lovely example is the way "yeah,right" has come to mean "no", or perhaps more explicitly "no way". Audrey Holland From jonmach at informix.com Thu Aug 12 14:27:53 1999 From: jonmach at informix.com (Jon Machtynger) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 15:27:53 +0100 Subject: Language change Message-ID: Reminds me of an old joke... A linguistics professor was lecturing to his class one day. > > "In English," he said, "a double negative forms a positive. In some > languages though, such as Russian, a double negative is still > considered a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double > positive can form a negative." > > A voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah. Right." > A particularly lovely example is the way "yeah,right" has come to mean > "no", or perhaps more explicitly "no way". Audrey Holland > > > - +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Jon Machtynger (jonmach at informix.com) | | Principal Systems Engineer - Strategic Technology | | Informix Software Ltd. | | 6 New Square, Bedfont Lakes, Feltham TW14 8HA, UK | | Ph: +44 (0181) 818 1216 or (07801) 684216 (mobile) | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ From s.v.tetzchner at psykologi.uio.no Thu Aug 12 14:54:09 1999 From: s.v.tetzchner at psykologi.uio.no (Stephen von Tetzchner) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 16:54:09 +0200 Subject: Language change Message-ID: At 07:10 12.08.99 -0700, you wrote: >A particularly lovely example is the way "yeah,right" has come to mean >"no", or perhaps more explicitly "no way". Audrey Holland In Norwegian child and youth slang, negation may actually increase the strength of a statement instead of negating it: "Not good at all" will then mean "very good". Also in youth slang: "fat" and "discrete" have taken a meaning of similar to "cool". Stephen Stephen von Tetzchner Institute of psychology University of Oslo P.O. Box 1094 Blindern N-0317 Oslo, Norway Tel: +47 22855344 (direct) /+47 22855233 (main office) Fax: +47 22854419 /+47 22854366 From dgohre at indiana.edu Thu Aug 12 15:02:04 1999 From: dgohre at indiana.edu (David Gohre) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 10:02:04 -0500 Subject: Language change Message-ID: It was told :) > A linguistics professor was lecturing to his class one day. > > > > "In English," he said, "a double negative forms a positive. In some > > languages though, such as Russian, a double negative is still > > considered a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double > > positive can form a negative." > > > > A voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah. Right." But this "Yeah, right," is said with a falling intonation, rather than a rising intonation, wouldn't you all agree? As such, wouldn't the consideration of intonation imply either a triple or a single negation? Thus, it'd be natural to consider this "Yeah, right," as a standard utilization of English, rather than an abberation? Dave (not an intonation expert) From jeffp at llsys.com Thu Aug 12 15:30:34 1999 From: jeffp at llsys.com (Jeffrey Pascoe) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 11:30:34 -0400 Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE Message-ID: Hi Annette, (Since you brought it up) When I was in college in Boston in the mid 1970's, we used "wicked" to mean terrific (a wicked party!) and as an intensifier (the disco band is wicked good!). Another word with evolving connotations is "whatever." These days one commonly hears this used to communicate indifference, and we also hear it used to acknowledge the indifference of others (especially when it's hurtful): "I can't go to your play tonight because Seinfeld is on." "Whatever" Then, of course, there are "awesome" and "sweet" -the latest in a continuing series (hip/cool/neat/groovy/out-a-sight...). An example of a grammatical colloquialism used by many in this area (and elsewhere?) is "alls" for "all that": "Alls I did was..." "Alls I said was..." Sounds like a fun project! Cheers, Jeffrey P. _____________________________________________________________ Jeffrey P. Pascoe, Ph.D. /\ Laureate Learning Systems / \/\ 110 East Spring Street /\/ \ \ Winooski, VT 05404 USA /==\=====\=\ Tel# (802) 655-4755 ext# 26 Fax# (802) 655-4757 V E R M O N T http://www.LaureateLearning.com _____________________________________________________________ From ejlesbb at root.indstate.edu Thu Aug 12 15:49:42 1999 From: ejlesbb at root.indstate.edu (Leslie Barratt) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 10:49:42 -0500 Subject: language change among young people Message-ID: The use of 'fat' to mean great that was cited in Norwegian is also common in some U.S. English communities. Another example of language change among young people is the replacement of 'on accident' for 'by accident' (It happened on accident; he did it on accident). I am working on a paper on this right now, and we have found that the correlation to age is significant far beyond the .05 level (in some questions .000). One more that I have noticed but not studied is the use of 'fun' as an attributive adjective as well as predicative. I do not remember saying or hearing 'a fun time' etc. until about 15 years ago. Does anyone know about this one? Leslie Barratt From macgibbon at mediaone.net Thu Aug 12 15:51:02 1999 From: macgibbon at mediaone.net (Ann MacGibbon) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 11:51:02 -0400 Subject: Language change Message-ID: Isn't it spelled "phat" ? Ann ----- Original Message ----- From: Stephen von Tetzchner To: Sent: Thursday, August 12, 1999 10:54 AM Subject: Language change > Also in youth slang: "fat" and "discrete" have taken a meaning of similar > to "cool". > > Stephen From sxl12 at po.cwru.edu Thu Aug 12 16:05:15 1999 From: sxl12 at po.cwru.edu (Steven Long) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 12:05:15 -0400 Subject: Language change Message-ID: > Isn't it spelled "phat" ? See http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us/cybereng/slang/ for details on this and others. From slobin at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU Thu Aug 12 16:16:31 1999 From: slobin at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU (Dan I. SLOBIN) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 09:16:31 -0700 Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE Message-ID: "Between you and I" is hardly a recent change. The New York Times criticized Bill Clinton in his first election campaign for saying, "I hope you'll vote for Al Gore and I." I hear it used routinely by academic colleagues in their 50s and younger at Berkeley. A similar longstanding conjunction is the use of "me and Bill" in subject position (as opposed to "Bill and I"). There's been a good deal of linguistic writing about these forms in English. I doubt that they are particularly "adolescent." Innovative extensions of evaluative terms are also not limited to adolescence. Consider, for example, the spread of "arguably" in academic and media discourse to mean something like "(probably) definitely." -Dan Slobin From s.v.tetzchner at psykologi.uio.no Thu Aug 12 16:32:31 1999 From: s.v.tetzchner at psykologi.uio.no (Stephen von Tetzchner) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 18:32:31 +0200 Subject: Language change Message-ID: Norwegian: "fett" og "diskret" Stephen At 11:51 12.08.99 -0400, you wrote: >Isn't it spelled "phat" ? > >Ann > > > >> Also in youth slang: "fat" and "discrete" have taken a meaning of similar >> to "cool". >> >> Stephen > > > Stephen von Tetzchner Institute of psychology University of Oslo P.O. Box 1094 Blindern N-0317 Oslo, Norway Tel: +47 22855344 (direct) /+47 22855233 (main office) Fax: +47 22854419 /+47 22854366 From dbarne at PO-Box.McGill.ca Thu Aug 12 12:53:07 1999 From: dbarne at PO-Box.McGill.ca (David Barner) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 12:53:07 +0000 Subject: language change Message-ID: Hi, My favorite example of language change is taken from Quebec french: ecouerant (sp?) which literally means sickening (or disgusting) but is often used to mean cool or great, particularly among adolescents but also a large number of "adult" speakers. On a similar note, Quebec French is known for converting names of sacred (Catholic) places and objects into curses (I'll spare examples for fear of offending French readers...) Sincerely, David Barner From ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk Thu Aug 12 17:22:52 1999 From: ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk (Ann Dowker) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 18:22:52 +0100 Subject: Language change Message-ID: "Cool" itself seems to have slightly shifted meaning, at least in England. 15 years ago, it was definitely teen-scene slang. Nowadays, it is colloquial but standard among youngish people, to mean "fine", "O.K.!", *great!" Oxford students would not yet write in an essay, "X's experiments were really cool"(!), but it's *very* common for a student to say to a tutor: "A tutorial at 3:30 on Tuesday would be cool", and the like. Ann On Thu, 12 Aug 1999, Stephen von Tetzchner wrote: > Norwegian: "fett" og "diskret" > > Stephen > > At 11:51 12.08.99 -0400, you wrote: > >Isn't it spelled "phat" ? > > > >Ann > > > > > > > >> Also in youth slang: "fat" and "discrete" have taken a meaning of similar > >> to "cool". > >> > >> Stephen > > > > > > > > Stephen von Tetzchner > Institute of psychology > University of Oslo > P.O. Box 1094 Blindern > N-0317 Oslo, Norway > Tel: +47 22855344 (direct) /+47 22855233 (main office) > Fax: +47 22854419 /+47 22854366 > > From ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk Thu Aug 12 16:50:15 1999 From: ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk (Ann Dowker) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 17:50:15 +0100 Subject: language change among young people Message-ID: I spemt a year in Edmonton, Alberta in 1970-1971. At that time and place, children used "fun" as an adjective *very* frequently, e.g. "It's a fun game" and - the one that startled my English ears the most- "It's a rough game, but sometimes it's very fun." Ann On Thu, 12 Aug 1999, Leslie Barratt wrote: > > One more that I have noticed but not studied is the use of 'fun' as > an attributive adjective as well as predicative. I do not remember > saying or hearing 'a fun time' etc. until about 15 years ago. Does > anyone know about this one? > > Leslie Barratt From molsen at umiacs.umd.edu Thu Aug 12 21:12:12 1999 From: molsen at umiacs.umd.edu (Mari Broman Olsen) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 17:12:12 -0400 Subject: calculating average age Message-ID: What is the easiest way to calculate average age (expressed in year;month;day)? Is there a utility somewhere, or do I have to convert and do it manually? Thanks, ******** Mari Broman Olsen, Research Associate University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies 3141 A.V. Williams Building University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 EMAIL: molsen at umiacs.umd.edu PHONE: (301) 405-6754 FAX: (301) 314-9658 WEB: http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/~molsen ********* From heather at wfc.com.tw Fri Aug 13 03:08:41 1999 From: heather at wfc.com.tw (heather at wfc.com.tw) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 11:08:41 +0800 Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE Message-ID: Hello, Many words go from bad to good: It might sound out dated but Michael Jackson sang a line 'Who's Bad?' This is still used today. As in 'He's bad.' Meaning very impressive, admirable. "License to Ill" album title by the Beastie Boys. They meant not 'permitted to make sick.' 'Ill' here means very good. This is still used today. "That's Ill" meaning, that's impressive. "Bithchin." Very good. "That's gnarly." That's such an impressive trick or move, as in skating or surfing. "That's killer!" I'm so glad to hear that! "It blew my mind." It really made me think about things differently. "Dope, yo." Very good. "She's fly." She's very pretty. "That's the shit." That's a great thing. "He's bad ass". He's very tough, 'cool.' "You kick ass." You're the best. "That's da Bomb!" That's the best thing. A simple word like 'postal' went a different route recently: "Go Postal." (also 'went postal') I cannot be sure if this had anything but a benign meaning before it began to connote someone who has started to become randomly violent- as in the case of a few US postal workers. I hope this helps! I bet there's alot of stuff on the internet, but it'd be difficult to sift through. a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk (Annette Karmiloff-Smith) on 08/11/99 07:38:16 PM To: info-childes at childes.psy.cmu.edu cc: (bcc: HEATHER/ALE) Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE In many languages there are examples of the way adolescents in particular change the meanings of words. e.g. in British English "wicked" now means "something terrific" i.e. it went from negative to positive connotation.. Could people kindly send me any examples they have of American English or other languages where words have taken on new connotations. Also any examples of changing grammar like "between you and I" (but not "between you and he") which is becoming grammatized even amongst well-educated speakers. I've heard people self correct from "between you and m..you and I". many thanks Annette ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith Head, Neurocognitive Development Unit Institute of Child Health 30 Guilford Street, London WC1H ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From s.campbell at uws.edu.au Fri Aug 13 03:04:20 1999 From: s.campbell at uws.edu.au (Stuart Campbell) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 13:04:20 +1000 Subject: language change Message-ID: Audrey Holland's comment (yeah, right = no) strongly suggests that irony could be the engine driving some of this change. Interesting social factors here: Alienation of youth? Mistrust of mainstream institutions? Stuart Campbell From s.campbell at uws.edu.au Fri Aug 13 03:23:33 1999 From: s.campbell at uws.edu.au (Stuart Campbell) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 13:23:33 +1000 Subject: language change again Message-ID: Can't resist another contribution, but a bit off the focus. My young relatives in Watford use "well" as a sort of intensifying adverb. The historical development is probabably: well + participle (positive attribute): well played well + participle (negative attribute): well pissed (at which point it becomes merely an intensifier) well + adjective: well nice, well stupid Phonologically, the final l seems always to be pronounced as a bilabial glide, not a lateral. Back to irony: I get the sense in England that there is an ironic satisfaction among young professionals in introducing non-standard elements into their language - result of the social churning that has occurred since Thatcher's time? Sydney adolescents use "heaps" (heaps good etc). I'll shut up now. Stuart Campbell From crutchley at fs1.ed.man.ac.uk Fri Aug 13 10:39:27 1999 From: crutchley at fs1.ed.man.ac.uk (Alison Crutchley) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 10:39:27 GMT Subject: debra kerbel Message-ID: Does anyone have Debra Kerbel's email address? Thanks, Alison ................................................................... Dr Alison Crutchley Centre for Human Communication and Deafness, [formerly CAEDSP] School of Education, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK. Tel: +44 (0)161 275 3390 (direct) / 3389 (office) Fax: +44 (0)161 275 3373 alison.crutchley at man.ac.uk Visit the Centre website: http://www.man.ac.uk/CHCD ................................................................... From velleman at comdis.umass.edu Fri Aug 13 13:51:22 1999 From: velleman at comdis.umass.edu (Shelley Velleman) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 09:51:22 -0400 Subject: lang. change Message-ID: I remember exactly when "bad" came to mean "really good" among mainstream teenagers in the U.S. I was in France on my junior year abroad in 1974-1975, with a bunch of other college students from all over the U.S. We drove around France during the Easter Break, staying in youth yostels and therefore running into other Americans our age for the first time in several months. We were asking one group about other hostels they had stayed in, and they said that a certain youth hostel had a pool, full breakfasts, etc. -- "It was really bad!". We were confused, and had to ask for clarification. Shelley Velleman U.Mass. From JIBZ at aol.com Fri Aug 13 15:36:42 1999 From: JIBZ at aol.com (JIBZ at aol.com) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 11:36:42 EDT Subject: Language change - revisited... Message-ID: Dan Slobin writes: "Between you and I" is hardly a recent change. The New York Times criticized Bill Clinton in his first election campaign for saying, "I hope you'll vote for Al Gore and I." I hear it used routinely by academic colleagues in their 50s and younger at Berkeley. A similar longstanding conjunction is the use of "me and Bill" in subject position (as opposed to "Bill and I"). There's been a good deal of linguistic writing about these forms in English. I doubt that they are particularly "adolescent." Innovative extensions of evaluative terms are also not limited to adolescence. Consider, for example, the spread of "arguably" in academic and media discourse to mean something like "(probably) definitely." - -Dan Slobin Sorry to all if the allied example I used to illustrate yet another general shift of usage from '...who opened the door...' to '...that opened the door...' confused you. Of course 'between you and I' has been around for a long time just as 'they' in the construction 'everyone said they had enough to eat' to avoid the he/she selection. However, I think I qualified my example by indicating its general usage. One example of adolescent slang which intrigues me is the use of 'dis' to represent, I'm told, 'disrespect' as in 'you dissed (sp?) me and I don't like it'. Another such beauty is 'rad' for 'radical'. Has anyone done any study addressing the use of these monosyllabics? J. Betz From csg at u.washington.edu Fri Aug 13 17:03:22 1999 From: csg at u.washington.edu (Carol Stoel-Gammon) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 10:03:22 -0700 Subject: Language change Message-ID: I haven't seen any mention of the "new" ways to report dialogue using either "go" (the oldest and most widespread form), "like" or "all" as in: ... and then he goes "Did you see what Joe was wearing?" and I go "Yeah, his outfit was rad" OR: ... and then he's like "Did you see what Joe was wearing?" and I'm like "Yeah, his outfit was rad" OR" ... and then he's all "Did you see what Joe was wearing?" and I'm all "Yeah, his outfit was rad" A new use that I hear frequently around Seattle (and is probably typical of the west coast) is the use of "way" as an intensifier meaning "very" as in "way cool" or "way close." I even had a clerk tell me that the box he was unwrapping was "way packed." Carol Stoel-Gammon Speech and Hearing Sciences University of Washington From santelmannl at pdx.edu Fri Aug 13 17:18:40 1999 From: santelmannl at pdx.edu (Lynn Santelmann) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 10:18:40 -0700 Subject: language change among young people Message-ID: The discussion on language change among young people has reminded me of a similar discussion that took place on the Linguist List last year. This discussion was confined to English, but there are a number of interesting postings. (Try searching the linguist list (www.linguistlist.org for "recent change" to read these.) One of the things that struck me after the discussion went on for several weeks was that for many of the "recent changes" that someone brought up, someone else would then reply that this "change" had been active in regional (or historical) use for some time. That's what happened with my contribution of the increased use of headless relatives such as "Can I help who's next?" The question was raised as to whether we were noticing true change or simply the spreading of regional variants. By the way, I believe the linguist list also had a discussion on the changing status of "fun" - though I didn't follow it, because to my post-baby-boom, American ears, "It's a rough game, but sometimes it's very fun." sounds completely normal. --Lynn Santelmann ****************************************************** Lynn Santelmann, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Applied Linguistics Portland State University 467 Neuberger Hall 724 SW Harrison Ave. Portland, OR 97201 Phone: (503) 725-4140 Fax: (503) 725-4139 e-mail: santelmannl at pdx.edu ****************************************************** From clal-mailbox at cornell.edu Fri Aug 13 19:23:17 1999 From: clal-mailbox at cornell.edu (Cornell Language Acquisition Laboratory) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 15:23:17 -0400 Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE Message-ID: I have a few examples of meaning change from Peruvian Spanish. Around the late 70's or early 80's the word for 'cool' or 'great' was "mostro" a derivation from "monstruo" which means 'monster', and though "monstruo" is a noun, "mostro" is an adjective; so you could says things like "Vi una película mostra ayer" 'I saw a great movie yesterday' or "Ese disco es mostro" 'That record is great'. Later, in the mid 80's I guess, the adjective used was "bestial" 'beastly', and the last one I've heard, probably still being used is "maldito" 'cursed'. Another interesting case is the use of the equivalent of 'shit' (please, excuse my language) in Peru. That's a word that has been in use at least since the late 70's . The interesting aspect is the use of the article, if one says that some is "una cagada" 'a shit' it's bad, but if one says something is "la cagada" 'the shit' then is the coolest thing of all. I've heard English does a similar thing. María Blume Cornell University ==================================== | Cornell Language Acquisition Lab | | NG29, Martha van Rensselaer Hall | | Cornell University | | Ithaca, NY | | 14853 | | (607) 255-8090 | | clal at cornell.edu | ==================================== From nippold at OREGON.UOREGON.EDU Fri Aug 13 19:50:41 1999 From: nippold at OREGON.UOREGON.EDU (uo-nippold) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 12:50:41 -0700 Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE Message-ID: An interesting discussion of language change (with many examples from British English) is contained in David Crystal's (1988) book, "The English Language." For a review of research on the development of slang in adolescents, see the chapter in Later Language Development (2nd ed) by Nippold (1998), entitled, "Idioms and Slang Terms." Marilyn Nippold University of Oregon Eugene . -----Original Message----- From: Annette Karmiloff-Smith To: info-childes at childes.psy.cmu.edu Date: Wednesday, August 11, 1999 4:33 Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE >In many languages there are examples of the way adolescents in particular >change the meanings of words. e.g. in British English "wicked" now means >"something terrific" i.e. it went from negative to positive connotation.. >Could people kindly send me any examples they have of American English or >other languages where words have taken on new connotations. Also any >examples of changing grammar like "between you and I" (but not "between you >and he") which is becoming grammatized even amongst well-educated speakers. >I've heard people self correct from "between you and m..you and I". >many thanks >Annette > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith >Head, Neurocognitive Development Unit >Institute of Child Health >30 Guilford Street, >London WC1H >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > > From asanord at ling.gu.se Sun Aug 15 12:01:23 1999 From: asanord at ling.gu.se (Asa Nordqvist) Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 08:01:23 -0400 Subject: Language change Message-ID: >I haven't seen any mention of the "new" ways to report dialogue using >either "go" (the oldest and most widespread form), "like" or "all" In Swedish it's very common among teenagers to use the Swedish word "bara" ('just') when reporting dialogue, like: Ah han bara "gillar du verkligen Backstreet Boys?", ah daa bara hon liksom "jaa...". 'And he just "do you really like Backstreet boys?", and then she just kind of "yeah...".' Asa Nordqvist ******************************************************************** AAsa Nordqvist Dept of Linguistics phone: +46-31-7734627 Goeteborg University fax: +46-31-7734853 Box 200 e-mail: asanord at ling.gu.se SE-405 30 Goeteborg http://www.ling.gu.se/~asanord/ Sweden ******************************************************************** From ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk Sun Aug 15 19:04:45 1999 From: ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk (Ann Dowker) Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 20:04:45 +0100 Subject: Language change Message-ID: Coincidentally, an overseas visitor to England who was last here in the early 80s has just spontaneously pointed out what he perceives as language changes: (1) People used to say "Cheerio!" all the time; now they rarely do. (2) People used to use interrogative endings in casual conversation ("It's a nice day, isn't it?", etc.) far more often than now. (I'm not sure he's right there; I think such endings are still used quite frequently.) (3) People use "Brilliant!" a great deal nowadays to mean not necessarily "clever", but "fine!", "great!" etc. He was initially rather startled when a student kept saying "Brilliant!" to him to express agreement - he thought at first that the student was putting himself in the position of a judge of his, the tutor's, intellectual performance. (I am so accustomed to "Brilliant!" used in this way that it hadn't occurred to me that it is an example of language change; but he is right - it wasn't used much in this way during my childhood. I do remember "Brilliant!" being used in a very different, ironic sense by children in Edmonton, Alberta in the early 70s - the implication was "How stupid can one get!!!") Ann From LloyAl at aol.com Mon Aug 16 02:30:17 1999 From: LloyAl at aol.com (LloyAl at aol.com) Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 22:30:17 EDT Subject: language change among young people Message-ID: Subj: Re: language change among young people Date: 8/15/99 9:28:31 PM EST From: LloyAl To: santelmannl at pdx.edu I'm not sure my observation come under the heading of language change, but here it is. I have noticed quite often in recent years the use of what I call a "declarative question". That is the use of a rising inflection at the end of a statement that almost turns the statement into a question. The listener usually responds as though a question has been asked. Has anyone else observed this? From lmenn at psych.colorado.edu Mon Aug 16 03:11:15 1999 From: lmenn at psych.colorado.edu (Lise Menn) Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 21:11:15 -0600 Subject: language change among young people: 'uptalk?' Message-ID: That one's been around for a while, and probably another case of gradual regional spread, because in the PBS video American Tongues, which is quite old now, a New York comedian makes fun of it as 'southern', and then later it was documented, I think by Pam Munro of UCLA, as a California Valley Girl talk pattern. The rise - which has by now become part of my speech also (and I'm past 55 and from the northeast) - functionally replaces 'y'know' as an appeal to shared experience. Lise Menn Professor Department of Linguistics University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309-0295 303-492-1609 On Sun, 15 Aug 1999 LloyAl at aol.com wrote: > Subj: Re: language change among young people > Date: 8/15/99 9:28:31 PM EST > From: LloyAl > To: santelmannl at pdx.edu > > I'm not sure my observation come under the heading of language change, but > here it is. I have noticed quite often in recent years the use of what I > call a "declarative question". That is the use of a rising inflection at the > end of a statement that almost turns the statement into a question. The > listener usually responds as though a question has been asked. Has anyone > else observed this? > > From cchaney at sfsu.edu Mon Aug 16 04:17:50 1999 From: cchaney at sfsu.edu (Carolyn Chaney) Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 21:17:50 -0700 Subject: language change among young people: 'uptalk?' Message-ID: My experience is a bit different...I notice the rise as a place holder...a way of regulating conversation (I'm not done yet). It seems like the way intonation is used in a list...so my turn at talk becomes a list of things I have to say, and when I'm ready to give up my turn, my pitch goes down. I also observe this form in the context of public speaking, where one should not have to hold onto the speaking turn...but nonetheless, many of my students in public speaking-type courses do big chunks of a speech like a list. Carolyn Chaney SFSU On Sun, 15 Aug 1999, Lise Menn wrote: > That one's been around for a while, and probably another case of gradual > regional spread, because in the PBS video American Tongues, which is > quite old now, a New York comedian makes fun of it as 'southern', and then > later it was documented, I think by Pam Munro of UCLA, as a California > Valley Girl talk pattern. The rise - which has by now become part of my > speech also (and I'm past 55 and from the northeast) - functionally > replaces 'y'know' as an appeal to shared experience. > > Lise Menn > Professor > Department of Linguistics > University of Colorado > Boulder, CO 80309-0295 > 303-492-1609 > > On Sun, 15 Aug 1999 LloyAl at aol.com wrote: > > > Subj: Re: language change among young people > > Date: 8/15/99 9:28:31 PM EST > > From: LloyAl > > To: santelmannl at pdx.edu > > > > I'm not sure my observation come under the heading of language change, but > > here it is. I have noticed quite often in recent years the use of what I > > call a "declarative question". That is the use of a rising inflection at the > > end of a statement that almost turns the statement into a question. The > > listener usually responds as though a question has been asked. Has anyone > > else observed this? > > > > > > > From debbie.james at flinders.edu.au Mon Aug 16 07:10:54 1999 From: debbie.james at flinders.edu.au (Debbie James) Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 16:10:54 +0900 Subject: Language change Message-ID: This pattern of using "go" and "like" is also seen in South Australia. I have not noticed the use of "all" however At 10:03 AM 8/13/99 -0700, Carol Stoel-Gammon wrote: >I haven't seen any mention of the "new" ways to report dialogue using >either "go" (the oldest and most widespread form), "like" or "all" as in: > >... and then he goes "Did you see what Joe was wearing?" and I go "Yeah, >his outfit was rad" > >OR: ... and then he's like "Did you see what Joe was wearing?" and I'm >like "Yeah, his outfit was rad" > >OR" ... and then he's all "Did you see what Joe was wearing?" and I'm all >"Yeah, his outfit was rad" > >A new use that I hear frequently around Seattle (and is probably typical >of the west coast) is the use of "way" as an intensifier meaning "very" as >in "way cool" or "way close." I even had a clerk tell me that the box he >was unwrapping was "way packed." > >Carol Stoel-Gammon >Speech and Hearing Sciences >University of Washington > > > > Debbie James Senior Lecturer in Speech Pathology (Child language and speech) Department of Speech Pathology Flinders University GPO Box 2100 Adelaide South Australia 5001 Ph 61+412 804048 email debbbie.james at flinders.edu.au From debbie.james at flinders.edu.au Mon Aug 16 07:24:32 1999 From: debbie.james at flinders.edu.au (Debbie James) Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 16:24:32 +0900 Subject: language change among young people Message-ID: pervasive here in Australia amongst all ages. I hasten to add thtat many people dislike it and attest to the fact that they do not use it taiAt 10:30 PM 8/15/99 EDT, LloyAl at aol.com wrote: >Subj: Re: language change among young people >Date: 8/15/99 9:28:31 PM EST >From: LloyAl >To: santelmannl at pdx.edu > >I'm not sure my observation come under the heading of language change, but >here it is. I have noticed quite often in recent years the use of what I >call a "declarative question". That is the use of a rising inflection at the >end of a statement that almost turns the statement into a question. The >listener usually responds as though a question has been asked. Has anyone >else observed this? > > > Debbie James Senior Lecturer in Speech Pathology (Child language and speech) Department of Speech Pathology Flinders University GPO Box 2100 Adelaide South Australia 5001 Ph 61+412 804048 email debbbie.james at flinders.edu.au From a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk Mon Aug 16 07:29:12 1999 From: a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk (Annette Karmiloff-Smith) Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 08:29:12 +0100 Subject: wow, what a response! Message-ID: My little question about adolescent language (I needed a few US examples, different to those used in Britain) generated some very interesting facts and discussion. Thank you all. Most of you replied cc'ing info-childes, but a few wrote directly to me. Rather than flood the system with the other examples, would anyone particularly interested simply email me and I will send them the extra examples. Thanks again for all your replies. Annette ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith Head, Neurocognitive Development Unit Institute of Child Health 30 Guilford Street, London WC1H ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk Mon Aug 16 07:29:06 1999 From: a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk (Annette Karmiloff-Smith) Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 08:29:06 +0100 Subject: language change among young people: 'uptalk?' Message-ID: Ages ago when I was a simultaneous interpreter at the UN, rising intonation was used as a device to keep the headphone-listeneing audience's attention when the actual speaker sat down but you were a couple of sentences behind and wanted your audience to continue listening. So it functioned as an attention holder rather than turning statements into questions. I recall an Australian consecutive interpreter explaining that he used body position in a similar way, exaggerated the lean forwards when the real speaker slumped back having finished. Annette At 21:17 15/8/99, Carolyn Chaney wrote: >My experience is a bit different...I notice the rise as a place holder...a >way of regulating conversation (I'm not done yet). It seems like >the way intonation is used in a list...so my turn at talk becomes a list >of things I have to say, and when I'm ready to give up my turn, my pitch >goes down. I also observe this form in the context of public speaking, >where one should not have to hold onto the speaking turn...but >nonetheless, many of my students in public speaking-type courses do big >chunks of a speech like a list. > >Carolyn Chaney >SFSU > >On Sun, 15 Aug 1999, Lise Menn wrote: > >> That one's been around for a while, and probably another case of gradual >> regional spread, because in the PBS video American Tongues, which is >> quite old now, a New York comedian makes fun of it as 'southern', and then >> later it was documented, I think by Pam Munro of UCLA, as a California >> Valley Girl talk pattern. The rise - which has by now become part of my >> speech also (and I'm past 55 and from the northeast) - functionally >> replaces 'y'know' as an appeal to shared experience. >> >> Lise Menn >> Professor >> Department of Linguistics >> University of Colorado >> Boulder, CO 80309-0295 >> 303-492-1609 >> >> On Sun, 15 Aug 1999 LloyAl at aol.com wrote: >> >> > Subj: Re: language change among young people >> > Date: 8/15/99 9:28:31 PM EST >> > From: LloyAl >> > To: santelmannl at pdx.edu >> > >> > I'm not sure my observation come under the heading of language change, but >> > here it is. I have noticed quite often in recent years the use of what I >> > call a "declarative question". That is the use of a rising inflection >>at the >> > end of a statement that almost turns the statement into a question. The >> > listener usually responds as though a question has been asked. Has anyone >> > else observed this? >> > >> > >> >> >> From jonmach at informix.com Mon Aug 16 08:51:05 1999 From: jonmach at informix.com (Jon Machtynger) Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 09:51:05 +0100 Subject: language change among young people Message-ID: This is quite typical of the Australian accent, and has been for a long time. > Subj: Re: language change among young people > Date: 8/15/99 9:28:31 PM EST > From: LloyAl > To: santelmannl at pdx.edu > > I'm not sure my observation come under the heading of language change, but > here it is. I have noticed quite often in recent years the use of what I > call a "declarative question". That is the use of a rising inflection at the > end of a statement that almost turns the statement into a question. The > listener usually responds as though a question has been asked. Has anyone > else observed this? > > - +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Jon Machtynger (jonmach at informix.com) | | Principal Systems Engineer - Strategic Technology | | Informix Software Ltd. | | 6 New Square, Bedfont Lakes, Feltham TW14 8HA, UK | | Ph: +44 (0181) 818 1216 or (07801) 684216 (mobile) | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ From lmenn at psych.colorado.edu Mon Aug 16 17:38:05 1999 From: lmenn at psych.colorado.edu (Lise Menn) Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 11:38:05 -0600 Subject: language change among young people Message-ID: yeah, but as Labov showed years ago, what people say and what they say they say are often VERY different. Lise Menn Professor Department of Linguistics University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309-0295 303-492-1609 On Mon, 16 Aug 1999, Debbie James wrote: > pervasive here in Australia amongst all ages. I hasten to add thtat many > people dislike it and attest to the fact that they do not use it > > taiAt 10:30 PM 8/15/99 EDT, LloyAl at aol.com wrote: > >Subj: Re: language change among young people > >Date: 8/15/99 9:28:31 PM EST > >From: LloyAl > >To: santelmannl at pdx.edu > > > >I'm not sure my observation come under the heading of language change, but > >here it is. I have noticed quite often in recent years the use of what I > >call a "declarative question". That is the use of a rising inflection at the > >end of a statement that almost turns the statement into a question. The > >listener usually responds as though a question has been asked. Has anyone > >else observed this? > > > > > > > Debbie James > Senior Lecturer in Speech Pathology (Child language and speech) > Department of Speech Pathology > Flinders University > GPO Box 2100 > Adelaide > South Australia 5001 > Ph 61+412 804048 > email debbbie.james at flinders.edu.au > > From thoreson at cc.wwu.edu Mon Aug 16 22:15:44 1999 From: thoreson at cc.wwu.edu (Catherine Crain-Thoreson) Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 15:15:44 -0700 Subject: wow, what a response! Message-ID: I was just talking to my daughter and she reminded me of another one that is in the process of changing from negative to positive connotation. The term "ghetto" has been used (at least here in the Northwest) to mean bad, falling apart, awful, e.g. "Our hotel was really ghetto." It is currently sometimes now used to mean something really good. As in, "I just got a new Pathfinder." Reply: "That's ghetto." I have really enjoyed this conversation. Thanks for asking the question! Catherine At 08:29 AM 8/16/99 +0100, Annette Karmiloff-Smith wrote: >My little question about adolescent language (I needed a few US examples, >different to those used in Britain) generated some very interesting facts >and discussion. Thank you all. Most of you replied cc'ing info-childes, >but a few wrote directly to me. Rather than flood the system with the other >examples, would anyone particularly interested simply email me and I will >send them the extra examples. >Thanks again for all your replies. >Annette > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith >Head, Neurocognitive Development Unit >Institute of Child Health >30 Guilford Street, >London WC1H >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > > ************************************ Catherine Crain-Thoreson, Ph.D. Psychology Department Western Washington University Bellingham, WA 98225-9089 Tel: (360) 650-3168 Fax: (360) 650-7305 email: thoreson at cc.wwu.edu From cstorm at mta.ca Tue Aug 17 21:56:36 1999 From: cstorm at mta.ca (Christine Storm) Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 13:56:36 -0800 Subject: language change Message-ID: How about "no problem"? When did this begin to supplant "You're welcome", etc.? How widespread is it? How about the New Zealand exchanges (sometimes seeming endless) of "ta"s for both thank you and you're welcome - does this still go on? Christine Storm Christine Storm Office ph: 506-364-2462 Professor and Head Home ph: 506-536-3322 Department of Psychology Fax: 506-364-2467 Mount Allison University email: cstorm at mta.ca 49A York St Sackville, NB, E4L 1C7 From ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk Tue Aug 17 17:45:45 1999 From: ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk (Ann Dowker) Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 18:45:45 +0100 Subject: language change Message-ID: It is certainly very common in England. Probably since early/ mid 80s. I was told by Israeli relatives that the Hebrew equivalent was common in Israel before it became common here. It's sometimes abbreviated here to "No prob!" By the way, does anyone know when "No Way!" became common as means of emphasizing the No. It's my impression that it probably dates from the mid/ late 70s; but does anyone have any information? Ann On Tue, 17 Aug 1999, Christine Storm wrote: > How about "no problem"? When did this begin to supplant "You're welcome", > etc.? How widespread is it? How about the New Zealand exchanges (sometimes > seeming endless) of "ta"s for both thank you and you're welcome - does this > still go on? > Christine Storm > > Christine Storm Office ph: 506-364-2462 > Professor and Head Home ph: 506-536-3322 > > Department of Psychology Fax: 506-364-2467 > Mount Allison University email: cstorm at mta.ca > 49A York St > Sackville, NB, E4L 1C7 > > > > From molsen at umiacs.umd.edu Tue Aug 17 17:52:39 1999 From: molsen at umiacs.umd.edu (Mari Broman Olsen) Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 13:52:39 -0400 Subject: language change Message-ID: There's also 'hakuna matata', which came into popular recognition, if not use, via the 'Lion King' movie. My Swahili speaking acquaintance tells me, means 'there is nothing unraveled'. ******** Mari Broman Olsen, Research Associate University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies 3141 A.V. Williams Building University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 EMAIL: molsen at umiacs.umd.edu PHONE: (301) 405-6754 FAX: (301) 314-9658 WEB: http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/~molsen ********* From dmolfese at louisville.edu Wed Aug 18 15:49:11 1999 From: dmolfese at louisville.edu (Dennis L. Molfese) Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 11:49:11 -0400 Subject: NIH initiative Message-ID: I would appreciate your input ASAP. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has formed a group to develop an overall plan of developmental research related initiatives for NIH to emphasize and fund during the next decade. I would appreciate your suggestions regarding general topics and subtopics you view as potentially important areas of research activity. These may have a direct impact on future funding priorities so some justification for the areas you recommend would be very helpful. Discussions at NIHCHD have identified some topics and subtopics already: 1. Social and behavioral influences on cognition, learning, language, and emotional development: Normal and abnormal; a. Elucidate social and biological interactions influencing normal and abnormal development; 1). family violence/abuse/neglect/psychosocial deprivation; 2). poverty; 3). peer and social support networks; 4). bilingualism; 5). ethnicity and multicultural influences; b. experimental and therapeutic interventions and effects on brain and behavior; 1). clinical trials of experimental drugs; 2). psychopharmacology (developmental psychopharmacology); 2. Developmental Neuroplasticity; a. behavioral intervention (early, familial); b. imaging; 3. Neurobiologic, genetic, and environmental influences on development and developmental disorders; a. endocrinology; b. immunology; c. environmental toxins; d. gene interactions; e. nutrition/ eating disorders; f. molecular and cellular mechanisms in normal and abnormal development; g. methodological techniques including imaging, animal models, and human models; 4. Developing neurofunctional and neurobehavioral connections and pathways; a. neuroanatomical and neurobehavioral bases of cognition, language, affect, attention, memory, learning, and motor skills; b. genetic bases of neuroanatomical and neurobehavioral development; c. neuroanatomical and neurobehavioral bases of attention and learning deficits or disorders; 5. Neuronal and non-neural contributions to dendritic synaptic development; a. dendritic arborization; b. myelination, ion channels, neurotransmitters, apoptosis. If you would like to elaborate on any of the above areas, or add related or new topics, please let me know. There is a rush for this. I need your input by Thursday at the latest so I can prepare a statement to then send to NIH by Friday, August 20. These topics and rationales will form the basis for discussions at NIH involving panel members over the next 2 weeks. Please respond to my e-mail address at: dmolfese at louisville.edu Thanks, Dennis Molfese Dennis L. Molfese, Ph.D. Chair and Professor Distinguished University Scholar Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences University of Louisville 317 Life Sciences Building Belknap Campus Louisville, KY 40292-0001 502/852-6775 or 502/852-8274 FAX: 502-852-8904 dmolfese at louisville.edu dlmolf01 at athena.louisville.edu From k1n at psu.edu Wed Aug 18 21:32:11 1999 From: k1n at psu.edu (Keith E. Nelson) Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 17:32:11 -0400 Subject: NIH initiative Message-ID: Dennis, Thanks for noted. I have indicated two ADDED pieces within the framework below. Best regards, Keith At 11:49 AM 8/18/99, Dennis L. Molfese wrote: >I would appreciate your input ASAP. > >The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has >formed a group to develop an overall plan of developmental research >related initiatives for NIH to emphasize and fund during the next >decade. I would appreciate your suggestions regarding general topics >and subtopics you view as potentially important areas of research >activity. These may have a direct impact on future funding priorities >so some justification for the areas you recommend would be very >helpful. > >Discussions at NIHCHD have identified some topics and subtopics already: > >1. Social and behavioral influences on cognition, learning, language, >and emotional development: Normal and abnormal; > a. Elucidate social and biological interactions influencing normal >and abnormal development; > 1). family violence/abuse/neglect/psychosocial deprivation; > 2). poverty; > 3). peer and social support networks; > 4). bilingualism; > 5). ethnicity and multicultural influences; ADDED 6) Social/cognitive/linguistic/emotional interaction patterns within the family at a detailed level in relation to individual differences in particular domains of learning--language, space, art, social, eml skills of children. Part of this effort should be to understand how particular social and emotional embeddings of "input" within a domain influence the child's uptake of domain input and motivation/preferences for the domain. > b. experimental and therapeutic interventions and effects on brain >and behavior; > 1). clinical trials of experimental drugs; > 2). psychopharmacology (developmental psychopharmacology); > >2. Developmental Neuroplasticity; > a. behavioral intervention (early, familial); > b. imaging; ADDED c) effects of behavior intervention grounded in dynamic sytems theories, with attention to effects of controlled rich interventions that combine presumed enhancements of social-emotional child-adult processes together with presumed facilitators of rapid learning within specified domains (music, language, art, space, social skills, dance etc.), at varied developmental periods between 6 months and 6 years. > >3. Neurobiologic, genetic, and environmental influences on >development and developmental disorders; > a. endocrinology; > b. immunology; > c. environmental toxins; > d. gene interactions; > e. nutrition/ eating disorders; > f. molecular and cellular mechanisms in normal and abnormal development; > g. methodological techniques including imaging, animal models, and >human models; > >4. Developing neurofunctional and neurobehavioral connections and pathways; > a. neuroanatomical and neurobehavioral bases of cognition, >language, affect, attention, memory, learning, and motor skills; > b. genetic bases of neuroanatomical and neurobehavioral development; > c. neuroanatomical and neurobehavioral bases of attention and >learning deficits or disorders; > >5. Neuronal and non-neural contributions to dendritic synaptic development; > a. dendritic arborization; > b. myelination, ion channels, neurotransmitters, apoptosis. > >If you would like to elaborate on any of the above areas, or add >related or new topics, please let me know. > > >There is a rush for this. I need your input by Thursday at the latest >so I can prepare a statement to then send to NIH by Friday, August >20. These topics and rationales will form the basis for discussions >at NIH involving panel members over the next 2 weeks. > >Please respond to my e-mail address at: >dmolfese at louisville.edu > >Thanks, > >Dennis Molfese > > > > > > > >Dennis L. Molfese, Ph.D. >Chair and Professor >Distinguished University Scholar >Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences >University of Louisville >317 Life Sciences Building >Belknap Campus >Louisville, KY 40292-0001 > >502/852-6775 or 502/852-8274 >FAX: 502-852-8904 >dmolfese at louisville.edu >dlmolf01 at athena.louisville.edu From adele at twinearth.wustl.edu Thu Aug 19 03:36:01 1999 From: adele at twinearth.wustl.edu (Adele A. Abrahamsen) Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 22:36:01 -0500 Subject: NIH initiative Message-ID: There's lots to add; but time limits me to a few suggestions. Look below item 1 and at item 2. Adele Abrahamsen On Wed, 18 Aug 1999, Dennis L. Molfese wrote: > I would appreciate your input ASAP. ...... > > 1. Social and behavioral influences on cognition, learning, language, > and emotional development: Normal and abnormal; > a. Elucidate social and biological interactions influencing normal > and abnormal development; > 1). family violence/abuse/neglect/psychosocial deprivation; > 2). poverty; > 3). peer and social support networks; > 4). bilingualism; > 5). ethnicity and multicultural influences; > b. experimental and therapeutic interventions and effects on brain > and behavior; > 1). clinical trials of experimental drugs; > 2). psychopharmacology (developmental psychopharmacology); > ADD: #. Mechanisms of cognition, learning, language, and emotional development; a. Support the development of multi-investigator databases and tools for using them effectively, on the model of the Child Language Data Exchange System; b. Achieve a more global perspective, including the development of new, technology-based methods for international collaboration and increased use of data from a variety of cultures and languages; c. Give increased attention to adaptive computational models for understanding mechanisms of change; 1). dynamical systems theory; 2). neural networks; 3). artificial life and other models at an evolutionary scale; d. Give increased attention to embodied and situated cognition; e. Improve how evidence is used from a variety of learners, including those with Down syndrome, Williams syndrome, and other genetic disorders, towards modeling intact mechanisms; > 2. Developmental Neuroplasticity; > a. behavioral intervention (early, familial); > b. imaging; CHANGE 2 TO THIS (b IS A GENERALIZED FORM OF KEITH NELSON'S ADDITION): 2. Behavioral Interventions; a. early intervention; b. familial intervention; c. rich interventions grounded in computational models, including dynamical systems theory and neural networks; d. new methods for assessing intervention effects, e.g. the incorporation of neuroimaging techniques; > 3. Neurobiologic, genetic, and environmental influences on > development and developmental disorders; > a. endocrinology; > b. immunology; > c. environmental toxins; > d. gene interactions; > e. nutrition/ eating disorders; > f. molecular and cellular mechanisms in normal and abnormal development; > g. methodological techniques including imaging, animal models, and > human models; > > 4. Developing neurofunctional and neurobehavioral connections and pathways; > a. neuroanatomical and neurobehavioral bases of cognition, > language, affect, attention, memory, learning, and motor skills; > b. genetic bases of neuroanatomical and neurobehavioral development; > c. neuroanatomical and neurobehavioral bases of attention and > learning deficits or disorders; > > 5. Neuronal and non-neural contributions to dendritic synaptic development; > a. dendritic arborization; > b. myelination, ion channels, neurotransmitters, apoptosis. > > If you would like to elaborate on any of the above areas, or add > related or new topics, please let me know. ....... > Thanks, > > Dennis Molfese > > Dennis L. Molfese, Ph.D. > Chair and Professor > Distinguished University Scholar > Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences > University of Louisville > 317 Life Sciences Building > Belknap Campus > Louisville, KY 40292-0001 > > 502/852-6775 or 502/852-8274 > FAX: 502-852-8904 > dmolfese at louisville.edu > dlmolf01 at athena.louisville.edu > > -- Dr. Adele Abrahamsen Undergraduate Director of Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology Program and Coordinator of Linguistics Department of Psychology Washington University in St. Louis Campus Box 1125 One Brookings Drive St. Louis, MO 63130-4899 Office telephone: (314) 935-7445 Office location: New Psychology Building, Room 410B Email: adele at twinearth.wustl.edu Fax: (314) 935-7588 From cotel at cfr.nichd.nih.gov Fri Aug 20 11:59:46 1999 From: cotel at cfr.nichd.nih.gov (Cote, Linda (NICHD)) Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 07:59:46 -0400 Subject: adolescent language Message-ID: I do not know if you're still collecting examples of adolescent language, but here are a few more (courtesy of my 17-year-old niece & her friends; they live in the U.S. Midwest): gay - used as an adjective. It isn't meant as an insult to homosexuals it merely means "annoying and stupid." "My computer class was filled with idiots who always acted so gay." CS - common sense "She lacks all CS." dog - friend "You'll come with me right dog?" ghetto - a ghetto is no longer just a place it also describes a place dilapidated or in an unfashionable area. "Universal Mall is so ghetto." I think someone else who responded to this topic said that "ghetto" was used in a positive manner in their area of the country/world. Linda Cote From slobin at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU Fri Aug 20 19:03:07 1999 From: slobin at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU (Dan I. SLOBIN) Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 12:03:07 -0700 Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE Message-ID: An important book on this topic is Suzanne Romaine's _The language of children and adolescents: The acquisition of communicative competence_ (Blackwell, 1984). -Dan Slobin From zuckermn at let.rug.nl Sat Aug 21 20:47:58 1999 From: zuckermn at let.rug.nl (Shalom Zuckerman) Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1999 22:47:58 +0200 Subject: gapping Message-ID: Dear info-childers I am looking for information about aquisition of gapping (e.g.: John ate the apple and Bill the pear), namely: is this structure aquired relatively late? Thanks a lot Shalom Zuckerman U. Groningen From slobin at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU Sun Aug 22 02:14:07 1999 From: slobin at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU (Dan I. SLOBIN) Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1999 19:14:07 -0700 Subject: gapping Message-ID: This is certainly acquired late. In fact, I don't think I've ever used this structure--either in speech or writing. Although it is recognizable and grammatical, I doubt that it is actively used in any spoken register of American English, and it is certain to be exceptionally infrequent in writing. -Dan Slobin University of California, Berkeley On Sat, 21 Aug 1999, Shalom Zuckerman wrote: > Dear info-childers > I am looking for information about aquisition of gapping (e.g.: John ate > the apple and Bill the pear), namely: is this structure aquired > relatively late? > > Thanks a lot > > Shalom Zuckerman > U. Groningen > From ks7t at andrew.cmu.edu Mon Aug 23 14:21:54 1999 From: ks7t at andrew.cmu.edu (Kelley Sacco) Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 10:21:54 -0400 Subject: Williams-Beuren Syndrome Message-ID: Dear info-childes, I am a German student of romance languages (Italian, French, Spanish) and am currently writing my thesis on the Williams-Beuren syndrome. In the first part, I give a synopsis of the current research status regarding the language abilities of persons affected by the syndrome and in the second part, I will analyse transcripts of spontaneous speech samples ("The Frog Story" by Mercer Mayer, as used by Prof. Bellugi). I am looking for transcripts of the Frog-Story in Italian, French, Spanish, English and German, preferably of children affected by the Williams-Beuren syndrome not younger than 13 years and would be very grateful for any kind of help and assistance in obtaining respective transcripts. Sincerely yours, Gerlinde Freundl freundl at cip.informatik.uni-muenchen.de From ks7t at andrew.cmu.edu Mon Aug 23 20:17:42 1999 From: ks7t at andrew.cmu.edu (Kelley Sacco) Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 16:17:42 -0400 Subject: Language Acquisition Bibliography Message-ID: Dear Info-Childes subscribers, An updated version of the "Language Acquisition Bibliography" is now available on our web site (childes.psy.cmu.edu). If you have any new or additional references that you would like me to add to the database please send the complete citation to ks7t at andrew.cmu.edu. Also, if you find that any of your references are incomplete please notify me immediately so I can make the necessary changes. Thank-you for your assistance. Kelley Sacco Dept of Psychology Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (412) 268-5689 From slobin at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU Tue Aug 24 05:57:11 1999 From: slobin at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU (Dan I. SLOBIN) Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 22:57:11 -0700 Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE Message-ID: Annette, Suzanne Romaine talks a lot about peer group sociology, but this does not actually explain the FORMS of adolescent language. Of course, there are many, many examples of forms that are used (in various English dialects and other languages). Just what are you looking for? Do you know Suzanne? It could be useful to talk to her. There's a lot about age-grading, male/female language, home/school... She covers phonology, morphology, and syntax. But the book is mainly a compendium of examples, with discussion of theories that were popular 15 years ago or more. She's especially stimulated by Labov's studies of urban dialects. -Dan On Sat, 21 Aug 1999, Annette Karmiloff-Smith wrote: > DAN - DOES IT INCLUDE ANY EXPLANATIONS AS TO *WHY* ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE > TENDS TO TAKE THE FORMS IT DOES? > Annette > > At 12:03 20/8/99, Dan I. SLOBIN wrote: > >An important book on this topic is Suzanne Romaine's _The language of > >children and adolescents: The acquisition of communicative competence_ > >(Blackwell, 1984). > > > >-Dan Slobin > > From jonmach at informix.com Tue Aug 24 15:43:01 1999 From: jonmach at informix.com (Jon Machtynger) Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 16:43:01 +0100 Subject: List of language disorders.. Message-ID: All, I am investigating language disorders and comparing them with implementation and subsequent disabling of a connectionist model. Are there any disorders where a concrete link there has been shown between the disorder and a neurological (synapse level) problem. Many thanks in advance Jon - +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Jon Machtynger (jonmach at informix.com) | | Principal Systems Engineer - Strategic Technology | | Informix Software Ltd. | | 6 New Square, Bedfont Lakes, Feltham TW14 8HA, UK | | Ph: +44 (0181) 818 1216 or (07801) 684216 (mobile) | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ From mthomas at ich.ucl.ac.uk Tue Aug 24 17:58:16 1999 From: mthomas at ich.ucl.ac.uk (Michael Thomas) Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 18:58:16 +0100 Subject: List of language disorders.. Message-ID: On Tue, 24 Aug 1999, Jon Machtynger wrote: > All, > > I am investigating language disorders and comparing them with > implementation and subsequent disabling of a connectionist model. Are > there any disorders where a concrete link there has been shown > between the disorder and a neurological (synapse level) problem. You may be interested in a chapter I recently co-authored with Denis Mareschal which reviews current connectionist modelling of cognitive development. The chapter looks at normal and abnormal development within the same framework and shows how differences in boundary conditions (constraints) can lead to the emergence of behaviours classified as normal or abnormal. In the chapter we discuss work on connectionist modelling of a number of developmental disorders and look in detail at a connectionist approach to autism which tries to refer behavioural deficits back to abnormal patterns of neural connectivity. However, this work is aimed at modelling low level perceptual deficits rather than language development. The chapter, called Self-organization in Normal and Abnormal Cognitive Development, can be downloaded from http://www.psyc.bbk.ac.uk/staff/dm.html My current research is using connectionist models to investigate the development of inflectional morphology in Williams syndrome, but these computer simulations are still running... cheers, Michael. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr Michael (Fred) Thomas, Research Fellow, Neurocognitive Development Unit Institute of Child Health 30 Guilford Street London WC1N 1EH, U.K. tel: +44 171 905 2747 fax: +44 171 242 7717 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From agn3 at Lehigh.EDU Tue Aug 24 18:34:45 1999 From: agn3 at Lehigh.EDU (AGELIKI NICOLOPOULOU) Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 14:34:45 EDT Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE Message-ID: Another book that addresses a number of issues in adolescent language, from a sociolinguistic perspective, is Penelope Eckert's JOCKS AND BURNOUTS. Eckert started out as a student of Labov's. The main focus of this book is on non-linguistic phenomena (centering on group dynamics and identity formation), but her Labovian background comes out in her attention to the forms of adolescent language and the ways that they polarize between different subcultures (i.e., the social determinants of language change and differentiation). The references in the book also mention some of her articles that have focused on the linguistic aspects of all this. (JOCKS AND BURNOUTS emerged, in a way, as a by-product of a study initially designed with a primarily sociolinguistic focus.) Her articles would be worth looking at for people interested in these issues. Ageliki Nicolopoulou Department of Psychology Lehigh University 17 Memorial Drive East Bethlehem, PA 18015-3068 Tel: 610-758-3618 FAX: 610-758-6277 From macw at cmu.edu Wed Aug 25 19:16:48 1999 From: macw at cmu.edu (Brian MacWhinney) Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 15:16:48 -0400 Subject: an elegant solution Message-ID: Dear Info-CHILDES, Mary MacWhinney just now pointed out to me an extremely elegant and simple solution to the problem of computing MLU on raw CHAT files. Currently, there are three recommended approaches to calculating MLU. 1. The first approach uses the earlier method devised by Miller and Chapman in SALT. It relies on "main line morphemicization" of words. In this method, "shoes" becomes "shoe-s" and "John's" becomes "John-'s". As many of you have learned, this method has many limitations. It is difficult to know how to segment "lent", "gonna", or "can't" and the method becomes even more problematic for languages other than English. 2. To solve some of these problems, we introduced a second method of main line morphemicization using replacement symbols. In this method, you can have "gonna [: go-ing to]" and then you can perform one count that is analytic and one that is non-analytic. This is more consistent, but it is a lot of work. 3. Finally, you can construct a complete %mor line for the file. This is the best solution, but also requires the most work. Mary's "new" solution is the following. You first run MLU on the file or the collection of file to get the number of utterances. Then you run FREQ on the file or the collection of files to get the complete frequency listing. You take the summed frequency and then go through word by word and decide whether each word has one, two, or three morphemes. If it has three, you double the count for that word and add it to the grand total. And so on for all the words that have more than one morpheme. After mentioning this to a colleague, she said that she had already done something like this on her own. So, perhaps, I am the only person left in the child language world who has not already figured this one out. But perhaps not. This may sound like a tedious method, but actually it is not that bad and it can be significantly more efficient than the three alternatives, at least for most Indo-European languages. Think about it. --Brian MacWhinney From lmb32 at columbia.edu Thu Aug 26 13:29:09 1999 From: lmb32 at columbia.edu (Lois Bloom) Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1999 09:29:09 -0400 Subject: an elegant solution Message-ID: 8/26/99 All solutions raise the vexing question, still with us evidently: What counts as a word? a morpheme? With the example you give: "gonna [: go-ing to]" --a long time could lapse between the first appearance of "gonna" and the appropriateness of a morpheme count (see Bloom, Tackeff, & Lahey,1984, Learning 'to' in complement constructions, JCL, 11; reprinted in Bloom, Language Development from 2 to 3, Cambridge, 1991). Lois Bloom From ervin-tr at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU Thu Aug 26 21:06:36 1999 From: ervin-tr at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU (Susan Ervin-Tripp) Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1999 14:06:36 -0700 Subject: adolescent language Message-ID: There has a been a lot of change in the study of adolescent language in the past ten years. Eckert's book has become a classic in this field, showing how the identification of marginality, centrality, identity can be indicated by phonological lexical and other linguistic features. That's in the book Nicolopoulou cited. There are now later works building on that work on monolinguals. In addition, there is work on adolescents in contact situations, which are very common in this world of migrants and refugees. The most vivid example of this kind of study is Ben Rampton's _Crossing_ showing again how linguistic features are borrowed to signal belonging--this time across languages. Sort of like using jargon to show what theoretical persuasion you want to belong to. Since these processes are so active in adolescents we see lots of language change. Susan Ervin-Tripp From silliman at chuma1.cas.usf.edu Mon Aug 30 19:22:23 1999 From: silliman at chuma1.cas.usf.edu (Silliman, Elaine) Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 15:22:23 -0400 Subject: Spanish grammar source Message-ID: We are completing a study on Spanish-English narrative production in 9-11 year old children. Berman and Slobin (1994) have been helpful for certain of our analyses. However, finding a useful (i.e., functional) source on Spanish syntax, specifically, non-clausal forms, has been more difficult. For example, modals do not exist in Spanish but functions similar to English modals do exist. Many sources we have researched are old, just to cite one difficulty. Any assistance with resources would be very much appreciated. Elaine R. Silliman, Ph.D. Professor Communication Sciences and Disorders and Cognitive and Neural Sciences Interdisciplinary Center for Communication Sciences University of South Florida Tampa Florida 33620 Voicemail: (813) 974-9812/974-8419 Fax: (813) 974-0822/8421 E-mail: silliman at chuma1.cas.usf.edu From penke at ling.uni-duesseldorf.de Tue Aug 31 16:47:27 1999 From: penke at ling.uni-duesseldorf.de (Martina Penke) Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 18:47:27 +0200 Subject: List of language disorders.. Message-ID: Dear Jon, you might be interested in a paper that we recently wrote about a constructivist neural network learning the German participle. After training we lesioned the network and compared its performance with agrammatic aphasic processing. Here is the abstract: We present a constructivist neural network that closely models the performance of agrammatic aphasics on German participle inflection. The network constructs a modular architecture leading to a double dissociation between regular and irregular verbs, and lesioning the trained network accounts for data obtained from aphasic subjects (Penke et al. 1999, published in Brain + Language). The paper is A Constructivist Neural Network Model of German Verb Inflection in Agrammatic Aphasia Gert Westermann, David Willshaw, Martina Penke and can be downloaded from http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~gert/publications/icann99.pdf or http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~gert/publications/icann99.ps A short paper with some more thoughts on the implications of this model is called "Single Mechanism but not Single Route: Learning Verb Inflections in Constructivist Neural Networks" and it's available at http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~gert/publications/bbs.pdf or http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~gert/publications/bbs.ps From marinis at ling.uni-potsdam.de Tue Aug 31 23:11:38 1999 From: marinis at ling.uni-potsdam.de (Theodor Marinis) Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 01:11:38 +0200 Subject: GALA' 99 - CONFERENCE PROGRAM Message-ID: GALA' 99 Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition 1999 University of Potsdam, Germany September 10-12, 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONFERENCE PROGRAM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday 10th September ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ GALA '99 Registration: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8am - 2pm in the foyer of Building 8. This is the building where all plenary and poster sessions take place. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9.30-10.00: Welcoming Remarks ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10.00-11.00: Plenary Session Stephen Crain: Rethinking the Continuity Hypothesis (Building 8: Auditorium Maximum) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11.00-11.30: Coffee Break ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session A: Building 9, Room 1.05 11.30-12.00 Bart Hollebrandse: Temporal dependencies: complement and relative clauses compared 12.00-12.30 Gennaro Chierchia, Maria Teresa Guasti & Andrea Gualmini: Early omission of articles and the syntax/semantics map ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session B: Building 9, Room 1.14 11.30-12.00 Rosalind Thornton: VP ellipsis: infinitives not an option 12.00-12.30 Petra Gretsch: Are wh-elements really optional in early question acquisition? The case of wh-drop against focal ellipsis ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12.30-2.00: Lunch /Poster Session I (Building 8: Foyer) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session A: Building 9, Room 1.05 2.00-2.30 Zvi Penner, Karin Wymann & Petra Schulz Specific language impairments revisited: Parallelism vs. deviance 2.30-3.00 Spyridoula Varlokosta: Asymmetries in the acquisition of pronominal reference in normal and SLI children 3.00-3.30 Christer Platzack: The vulnerable C-domain ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session B: Building 9, Room 1.14 2.00-2.30 David LeBlanc: 'Parameter setting' and the minimalist program 2.30-3.00 Susan M. Powers: Pre-functional merge structures 3.00-3.30 William Snyder, Thomas Roeper, Kazuko Hiramatsu, Stephanie Tyburski & Matthew Saccoman: Language acquisition in a minimalist framework: Root compounds, merger, and the syntax-morphology interface ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.30-4.00: Coffee Break ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session A: Building 9, Room 1.05 4.00-4.30 Linda Escobar & Anna Gavarro: The acquisition of Catalan clitics and its implications for complex verb structure 4.30-5.00 Mireia Llinas-Grau, William Snyder, Eva Bar-Shalom & Merce Coll-Alfonso: Telicity, word order, and tense in early Russian and Catalan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session B: Building 9, Room 1.14 4.00-4.30 Peter Coopmans & Sergey Avrutin: A syntax-discourse perspective on the acquisition of reflexives in Dutch 4.30-5.00 Aafke Hulk & Natascha Müller: Crosslinguistic influence at the interface between syntax and pragmatics ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5.00-6.00: Plenary Session Celia Jacubowitz: Functional Categories in (Ab)normal Language Acquisition (Building 8: Auditorium Maximum) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Saturday 11th September ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9.00-10.00: Plenary Session Virginia Valian: Input, Innateness, and Learning (Building 8: Auditorium Maximum) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10.00-10.30: Coffee Break ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session A: Building 9, Room 1.05 10.30-11.00 Barbara Höhle, Jürgen Weissenborn, Anja Ischebeck & Michaela Schmitz: Prosodic bootstrapping into language specific word order 11.00-11.30 Elizabeth K. Johnson & Peter W. Jusczyk: When speech cues count more than statistics 11.30-12.00 Joao Costa & M. Joao Freitas: On the representation of nasal vowels: Evidence from Portuguese children's data ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session B: Building 9, Room 1.14 10.30-11.00 Jeannette C. Schaeffer & Lisa Matthewson: On determiner choice in English child language and St'at'imcets 11.00-11.30 Misha Becker: The acquisition of copulas 11.30-12.00 Lynn Santelmann: The acquisition of determiners in child Swedish: Interactions in prosodic and syntactic constraints ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session :C Building 8, Room 0.58 10.30-11.00 Unyierie Angela Idem: Place of articulation as a variability factor in interlanguage phonology 11.00-11.30 Joe Pater, Masahiko Komatsu & Wolf Wikeley: The perceptual acquisition of Thai phonology by English speakers: Evidence for underspecification of predictable features? 11.30-12.00 Eunjin Oh: Second-language acquisition of degree of CV coarticulation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12.00-2.00: Lunch /Poster Session II (Building 8: Foyer) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session A: Building 9, Room 1.05 2.00-2.30 Janet Grijzenhout & Sandra Joppen : The lack of onsets in German child phonology 2.30-3.00 Ioanna Kappa: Consonant harmony in phonological development 3.00-3.30 Sophie Wauquier-Gravelines Acquisition of floating segments in a constraint-based phonology : the case of liaison in French ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session B: Building 9, Room 1.14 2.00-2.30 Cathy Fragman: The spontaneous production of relative clauses in two French children 2.30-3.00 Adriana A. Alvarez: Acquisition of Spanish causative constructions 3.00-3.30 Theodore Marinis : Acquiring the possessive construction in modern Greek ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session :C Building 8, Room 0.58 2.00-2.30 Adrianna Belletti & Cornelia Hamann Ca on fait pas! On the L2-acquisition of French by two young children with different source languages 2.30-3.00 Julia Herschensohn: The accidental infinitive: Missing inflection in L2 French 3.00-3.30 Antonella Sorace: On the "primacy of strong pronouns": selective optionality in L2 ultimate attainment and L1 attrition ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.30-4.00: Coffee Break ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4.00-5.00: Plenary Session Jürgen Meisel: On the Possibility of Becoming a Monolingual but Competent Speaker (Building 8: Auditorium Maximum) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6.00 Dinner on board MS Cecilienhof ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sunday 12th September ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9.00-10.00: Plenary Session Roberta Golinkoff Breaking the Language Barrier: How Babies Do It and Scientists Study It (Building 8: Auditorium Maximum) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10.00-10.30: Coffee Break ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session A: Building 9, Room 1.05 10.30-11.00 Katharina Köhler: Topicalization in root infinitives 11.00-11.30 Inge Lasser: The notion of "grammaticality" in language acquisition theory 11.30-12.00 Nina Hyams: The aspectual nature of root non-finite clauses in child language ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session B: Building 9, Room 1.14 10.30-11.00 Irene Kraemer: An interface approach to the comprehension of specific indefinites 11.00-11.30 Julien Musolino & Stephen Crain: Not just any learnability problem 11.30-12.00 Wenda Bergsma: Children's interpretation of Dutch sentences with the focus particle 'alleen' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12.00-12.30: Snack ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session A: Building 9, Room 1.05 12.30-1.00 Ute Bohnacker: Root infinitives in bilingual Icelandic-English 1.00-1.30 Vaijayanthi Sarma: Case and agreement: The issue of non-finite sentences in acquisition ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session B: Building 9, Room 1.14 12.30-1.00 Maaike Verrips: What do children know about implicit arguments? 1.00-1.30 Carla Soares: The Acquisition of D, AGRs, T and C: additional evidence ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.30-2.30: Plenary Session Thomas Roeper How Acquisition Theory Refines Minimalism (Building 8: Auditorium Maximum) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Alternate Papers ----------------- Bernadette Plunkett: Null topics and Wh-interrogatives in Child French Lucienne Rasetti: Some notes on the interpretive properties of null subjects in early French ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Poster Session I: Friday, 10th September, 12.30 - 2.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sergio Baauw The acquisition of pronominal coreference in Spanish: The clitic-full pronoun distinction and the role of clitic doubling Heiner Drenhaus Acquiring ditransitive verbs in German: Animacy, accusative pronouns, dative DPs and in scrambled DPs Elma Blom On the meaning of root infinitives in child and adult Dutch Tania Ionin & Ken Wexler Verbal inflection differences in Child L1 and L2 acquisition of English Masja Kempen, Steven Gillis & Frank Wijnen Explaining root infinitives in Dutch child language: Intake = output. A computer simulation study Evelien Krikhaar & Marijin van Dijk Quantitative and qualitative dynamics of language development: Prepositions Irene Kraemer Scope of VP operators and scrambling: Late acquisition Julien Musolino Delayed knowledge and the syntax-semantics interface Montserrat Pericot Evidence against transfer in bilingual first language acquisition: The acquisition of adjective-noun/noun-adjective sequences by bilingual Spanish-English and Catalan-English children Christiane Schelletter, Indra Sinka & Michael Garman Case marking and agreement: Bilingual evidence from English, German and Latvian Arhonto Terzi & Kakia Petinou Clitic (mis)placement in delayed language ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Poster Session II: Saturday, 11th September, 12.00 - 2.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mamiko Akita The timing of articulatory gestures in L2 learners of English Larisa Avram Clitic omission in child language and multiple spell-out Ute Bohnacker Early syntactic language differentiation in a successively bilingual child Helen Goodluck & Arhonto Terzi PRO-gating contexts and child and adult comprehension Cornelia Hamann The acquisition of French WH revisited Sharon Peperkamp & Emmanuel Dupoux Prelexical phonological acquisition Koji Sugisaki LF Wh-movement in child Japanese Rosalind Thornton No lack of focus before two Anastasia Maggana Word order patterns on interlanguage: similarities and differences among L2 learners of modern Greek Marlies van der Velde, Cecilia Jacubowitz & Catherine Rigaut The acquisition of nominative and object clitics by two French-speaking children Yang Xiaolu Semantic subsets principle in L1 acquisition of restrictive focus in Chinese Roumyana Slabakova Are complex predicates and N-N compounds part of the same parameter? Spyridoula Varlokosta Clause structure and functional categories in child L2 acquisition: Evidence from modern Greek Mariko Kondo Evidence of stress foot in English speaker's Japanese Petra Schulz, Karin Wymann & Zvi Penner The acquisition of endstate-oriented verbs in normally developing and SLI children in German - manner or endstate bias? Katerina Zombolou (L1)The acquisition of passive voice in Greek. Its empirical research with the experimental method of elicited production ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Other information available on the web: http://www.ling.uni-potsdam.de/gala99/ e-mail: gala99 at ling.uni-potsdam.de From hyams at humnet.ucla.edu Mon Aug 2 18:11:22 1999 From: hyams at humnet.ucla.edu (Nina Hyams) Date: Mon, 2 Aug 1999 10:11:22 PST Subject: 2nd call Child Language Seminar Message-ID: Dear colleague, I would very much appreciate knowing the status my abstract submission. I have heard nothing about my abstract or about the conference more generally. Nina Hyams From sg985102 at shirayuri.ac.jp Wed Aug 4 06:55:13 1999 From: sg985102 at shirayuri.ac.jp (Eriko Kurosaki) Date: Wed, 4 Aug 1999 15:55:13 +0900 Subject: change of address Message-ID: My email has been changed from sg985102 at shirayuri.ac.jp to kuroeri at mb.infoweb.ne.jp Please change my address. Thank you! From D.C.Vigil at newcastle.ac.uk Thu Aug 5 16:21:54 1999 From: D.C.Vigil at newcastle.ac.uk (D.C. Vigil) Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 17:21:54 +0100 Subject: address change? Message-ID: How do I change my e-mail address for the list? Debra C. Vigil Department of Speech, University of Newcastle Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, United Kingdom Ph: +44 (191) 222 6528 Fax: +44 (191) 222 6518 From kschaper at midwest.net Fri Aug 6 22:46:20 1999 From: kschaper at midwest.net (Kirsten Hodge) Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 17:46:20 -0500 Subject: mor and syn tier Message-ID: I am currently working on a large collection of narratives by seven year olds. The professor I work for (Dennis Molfese) had decided we should include the mor and syn tiers on the files. I am having trouble finding a good book of descriptive English grammar for which to base these on (especially the syntax tier). The CHILDES book I'm working out of (the 2nd edition 1995) doesn't tell much about the syn tier and includes only a few codes. I've been making up my own codes, but I'm basing all the syntax on my own knowledge (which is pretty good - I'm getting my master's in linguistics) and the few grammar books that I've found (which are more prescriptive that descriptive). Has anyone out there worked with the mor and/or syn tiers? If so, what did you use for your grammar reference? Much thanks, Kirsten Schaper Developmental Neuropsychology Lab Southern Illinois University Carbondale, IL From lmenn at psych.colorado.edu Sat Aug 7 18:16:16 1999 From: lmenn at psych.colorado.edu (Lise Menn) Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999 12:16:16 -0600 Subject: mor and syn tier Message-ID: while I haven't worked directly with these tiers, for me the ultimate reference for English is Quirk et al.'s A Comprehensive Grammar of English. Lise Menn Professor Department of Linguistics University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309-0295 303-492-1609 On Fri, 6 Aug 1999, Kirsten Hodge wrote: > > I am currently working on a large collection of narratives by seven year > olds. The professor I work for (Dennis Molfese) had decided we should > include the mor and syn tiers on the files. I am having trouble finding a > good book of descriptive English grammar for which to base these on > (especially the syntax tier). The CHILDES book I'm working out of (the 2nd > edition 1995) doesn't tell much about the syn tier and includes only a few > codes. I've been making up my own codes, but I'm basing all the syntax on > my own knowledge (which is pretty good - I'm getting my master's in > linguistics) and the few grammar books that I've found (which are more > prescriptive that descriptive). Has anyone out there worked with the mor > and/or syn tiers? If so, what did you use for your grammar reference? > Much thanks, > Kirsten Schaper > Developmental Neuropsychology Lab > Southern Illinois University > Carbondale, IL > > > From ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk Sun Aug 8 12:11:35 1999 From: ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk (Ann Dowker) Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 13:11:35 +0100 Subject: word frequency databases Message-ID: Since several people on the list asked me to let them know if I received any information about spoken word frequency databases, I am forwarding the messages to the list. Ann ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 09 Jul 1999 15:37:07 -0400 From: William Hall To: ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk Subject: Re: word frequency databases Yes. Try: Hall, William S., Nagy, William, and Linn, Robert, (1984) Spoken Words, Norwood, New Jersey: Erlbaum. >>> Ann Dowker 07/09/99 03:28PM >>> Does anyone know of any databases of spoken English word frequencies,other than the MRC psycholinguistic database? Many thanks, Ann From ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk Sun Aug 8 12:12:37 1999 From: ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk (Ann Dowker) Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 13:12:37 +0100 Subject: word frequency databases (fwd) Message-ID: Here is the other message! Ann ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 07:27:54 +0100 (BST) From: "Judy E. Turner" To: Ann Dowker Subject: Re: word frequency databases Dear Ann, Try the CELEX - centre for Lexical Information lexical database (1993) produced in Nijmegen which is available in Oxford - one of our Reading students located it there. As I remember it has a British English spoken word frequency based on 1million words. Judy *************************************************************************** Dr. Judy Turner Department of Psychology Tel: 01189 316669 University of Reading Earley Gate Reading RG6 6AL *************************************************************************** On Fri, 9 Jul 1999, Ann Dowker wrote: > Does anyone know of any databases of spoken English word frequencies,other > than the MRC psycholinguistic database? > > Many thanks, > > Ann > > From vhouwer at uia.ua.ac.be Sun Aug 8 13:27:31 1999 From: vhouwer at uia.ua.ac.be (Annick.DeHouwer) Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 15:27:31 +0200 Subject: mor and syn tier Message-ID: I second Lise Menn's opinion wholeheartedly, and have in fact used Quirk et al.'s Grammar in coding the data for my subject Kate (available through CHILDES; see dehouwer.sit in http://childes.psy.cmu.edu/ftp/mac/biling/). However, the very new Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, itself based on a 40 million words corpus, (by D. Biber, S. Johansson, G. Leech, S. Conrad and E. Finegan) might be a good source, too. --Annick De Houwer On Sat, 7 Aug 1999, Lise Menn wrote: > while I haven't worked directly with these tiers, for me the ultimate > reference for English is Quirk et al.'s A Comprehensive Grammar of > English. > > On Fri, 6 Aug 1999, Kirsten Hodge wrote: > > > > > I am currently working on a large collection of narratives by seven year > > olds. The professor I work for (Dennis Molfese) had decided we should > > include the mor and syn tiers on the files. I am having trouble finding a > > good book of descriptive English grammar for which to base these on > > (especially the syntax tier). The CHILDES book I'm working out of (the 2nd > > edition 1995) doesn't tell much about the syn tier and includes only a few > > codes. I've been making up my own codes, but I'm basing all the syntax on > > my own knowledge (which is pretty good - I'm getting my master's in > > linguistics) and the few grammar books that I've found (which are more > > prescriptive that descriptive). Has anyone out there worked with the mor > > and/or syn tiers? If so, what did you use for your grammar reference? > > Much thanks, > > Kirsten Schaper > > Developmental Neuropsychology Lab > > Southern Illinois University > > Carbondale, IL From vhouwer at uia.ua.ac.be Sun Aug 8 13:32:30 1999 From: vhouwer at uia.ua.ac.be (Annick.DeHouwer) Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 15:32:30 +0200 Subject: word frequency databases Message-ID: There is also the Longman Spoken and Written English Corpus that contains over 40 million words of text, and that was the basis for the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English by D. Biber, S. Johansson, G. Leech, S, Conrad and E. Finegan (just published). --Annick De Houwer PS For those of you who are wondering (given this and my previous message on the list) -- no, I am *NOT* a Longman shareholder. On Sun, 8 Aug 1999, Ann Dowker wrote: > Since several people on the list asked me to let them know if I received > any information about spoken word frequency databases, I am forwarding the > messages to the list. > > Ann > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Fri, 09 Jul 1999 15:37:07 -0400 > From: William Hall > To: ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk > Subject: Re: word frequency databases > > Yes. Try: Hall, William S., Nagy, William, and Linn, Robert, (1984) > Spoken Words, Norwood, New Jersey: Erlbaum. > > >>> Ann Dowker 07/09/99 03:28PM >>> > Does anyone know of any databases of spoken English word frequencies,other > than the MRC psycholinguistic database? > > Many thanks, > > Ann > > > > > > From JIBZ at aol.com Sun Aug 8 17:38:02 1999 From: JIBZ at aol.com (JIBZ at aol.com) Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 13:38:02 EDT Subject: Mor and Syn tiers Message-ID: A good general reference is Pence and Emery's A Grammar of Present Day English, New York: MacMillan, (I have the 1963 reprint). If you have a reference grammar you prefer, you might use it. The key is consistency. J. Betz From eckert at server.ufbi.ufl.edu Tue Aug 10 21:41:25 1999 From: eckert at server.ufbi.ufl.edu (Mark Eckert) Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 17:41:25 -0400 Subject: Phonological Assessment Tool? Message-ID: Hi, I am in search of a test to assess phonological development in 1-2 year olds. Is there one out there? Thanks, Mark From a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk Wed Aug 11 11:38:16 1999 From: a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk (Annette Karmiloff-Smith) Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 12:38:16 +0100 Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE Message-ID: In many languages there are examples of the way adolescents in particular change the meanings of words. e.g. in British English "wicked" now means "something terrific" i.e. it went from negative to positive connotation.. Could people kindly send me any examples they have of American English or other languages where words have taken on new connotations. Also any examples of changing grammar like "between you and I" (but not "between you and he") which is becoming grammatized even amongst well-educated speakers. I've heard people self correct from "between you and m..you and I". many thanks Annette ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith Head, Neurocognitive Development Unit Institute of Child Health 30 Guilford Street, London WC1H ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From JIBZ at aol.com Thu Aug 12 13:37:02 1999 From: JIBZ at aol.com (JIBZ at aol.com) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 09:37:02 EDT Subject: Language change Message-ID: An example of language change, not necessarily adolescent, in the general population and akin to the example of 'between you and me' replacing 'between you and I' is the following: "Would the person who left the back door open please close it?" has become "Would the person that left the back door open please close it?" A logical reason is the who/whom problem found in other contexts. 'That' solves any such problems nicely. On the topic of 'wicked' as a positive intensifier, the folks of Maine have been using that word for a very long time. We were there in the early-mid '70's and heard it. A colleague from Maine tells me that she has always used it and heard it used by her parents and grandparents when she was a child. Maybe a native Mainer can give more info on this. My interest is slips of the tongue so I cannot be much help here. I'll ask some young friends for their help!! Jacquie Betz formerly of SIU-C Carbondale, Illinois From aholland at U.Arizona.EDU Thu Aug 12 14:10:45 1999 From: aholland at U.Arizona.EDU (Audrey L Holland) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 07:10:45 -0700 Subject: Language change Message-ID: A particularly lovely example is the way "yeah,right" has come to mean "no", or perhaps more explicitly "no way". Audrey Holland From jonmach at informix.com Thu Aug 12 14:27:53 1999 From: jonmach at informix.com (Jon Machtynger) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 15:27:53 +0100 Subject: Language change Message-ID: Reminds me of an old joke... A linguistics professor was lecturing to his class one day. > > "In English," he said, "a double negative forms a positive. In some > languages though, such as Russian, a double negative is still > considered a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double > positive can form a negative." > > A voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah. Right." > A particularly lovely example is the way "yeah,right" has come to mean > "no", or perhaps more explicitly "no way". Audrey Holland > > > - +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Jon Machtynger (jonmach at informix.com) | | Principal Systems Engineer - Strategic Technology | | Informix Software Ltd. | | 6 New Square, Bedfont Lakes, Feltham TW14 8HA, UK | | Ph: +44 (0181) 818 1216 or (07801) 684216 (mobile) | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ From s.v.tetzchner at psykologi.uio.no Thu Aug 12 14:54:09 1999 From: s.v.tetzchner at psykologi.uio.no (Stephen von Tetzchner) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 16:54:09 +0200 Subject: Language change Message-ID: At 07:10 12.08.99 -0700, you wrote: >A particularly lovely example is the way "yeah,right" has come to mean >"no", or perhaps more explicitly "no way". Audrey Holland In Norwegian child and youth slang, negation may actually increase the strength of a statement instead of negating it: "Not good at all" will then mean "very good". Also in youth slang: "fat" and "discrete" have taken a meaning of similar to "cool". Stephen Stephen von Tetzchner Institute of psychology University of Oslo P.O. Box 1094 Blindern N-0317 Oslo, Norway Tel: +47 22855344 (direct) /+47 22855233 (main office) Fax: +47 22854419 /+47 22854366 From dgohre at indiana.edu Thu Aug 12 15:02:04 1999 From: dgohre at indiana.edu (David Gohre) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 10:02:04 -0500 Subject: Language change Message-ID: It was told :) > A linguistics professor was lecturing to his class one day. > > > > "In English," he said, "a double negative forms a positive. In some > > languages though, such as Russian, a double negative is still > > considered a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double > > positive can form a negative." > > > > A voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah. Right." But this "Yeah, right," is said with a falling intonation, rather than a rising intonation, wouldn't you all agree? As such, wouldn't the consideration of intonation imply either a triple or a single negation? Thus, it'd be natural to consider this "Yeah, right," as a standard utilization of English, rather than an abberation? Dave (not an intonation expert) From jeffp at llsys.com Thu Aug 12 15:30:34 1999 From: jeffp at llsys.com (Jeffrey Pascoe) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 11:30:34 -0400 Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE Message-ID: Hi Annette, (Since you brought it up) When I was in college in Boston in the mid 1970's, we used "wicked" to mean terrific (a wicked party!) and as an intensifier (the disco band is wicked good!). Another word with evolving connotations is "whatever." These days one commonly hears this used to communicate indifference, and we also hear it used to acknowledge the indifference of others (especially when it's hurtful): "I can't go to your play tonight because Seinfeld is on." "Whatever" Then, of course, there are "awesome" and "sweet" -the latest in a continuing series (hip/cool/neat/groovy/out-a-sight...). An example of a grammatical colloquialism used by many in this area (and elsewhere?) is "alls" for "all that": "Alls I did was..." "Alls I said was..." Sounds like a fun project! Cheers, Jeffrey P. _____________________________________________________________ Jeffrey P. Pascoe, Ph.D. /\ Laureate Learning Systems / \/\ 110 East Spring Street /\/ \ \ Winooski, VT 05404 USA /==\=====\=\ Tel# (802) 655-4755 ext# 26 Fax# (802) 655-4757 V E R M O N T http://www.LaureateLearning.com _____________________________________________________________ From ejlesbb at root.indstate.edu Thu Aug 12 15:49:42 1999 From: ejlesbb at root.indstate.edu (Leslie Barratt) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 10:49:42 -0500 Subject: language change among young people Message-ID: The use of 'fat' to mean great that was cited in Norwegian is also common in some U.S. English communities. Another example of language change among young people is the replacement of 'on accident' for 'by accident' (It happened on accident; he did it on accident). I am working on a paper on this right now, and we have found that the correlation to age is significant far beyond the .05 level (in some questions .000). One more that I have noticed but not studied is the use of 'fun' as an attributive adjective as well as predicative. I do not remember saying or hearing 'a fun time' etc. until about 15 years ago. Does anyone know about this one? Leslie Barratt From macgibbon at mediaone.net Thu Aug 12 15:51:02 1999 From: macgibbon at mediaone.net (Ann MacGibbon) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 11:51:02 -0400 Subject: Language change Message-ID: Isn't it spelled "phat" ? Ann ----- Original Message ----- From: Stephen von Tetzchner To: Sent: Thursday, August 12, 1999 10:54 AM Subject: Language change > Also in youth slang: "fat" and "discrete" have taken a meaning of similar > to "cool". > > Stephen From sxl12 at po.cwru.edu Thu Aug 12 16:05:15 1999 From: sxl12 at po.cwru.edu (Steven Long) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 12:05:15 -0400 Subject: Language change Message-ID: > Isn't it spelled "phat" ? See http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us/cybereng/slang/ for details on this and others. From slobin at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU Thu Aug 12 16:16:31 1999 From: slobin at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU (Dan I. SLOBIN) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 09:16:31 -0700 Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE Message-ID: "Between you and I" is hardly a recent change. The New York Times criticized Bill Clinton in his first election campaign for saying, "I hope you'll vote for Al Gore and I." I hear it used routinely by academic colleagues in their 50s and younger at Berkeley. A similar longstanding conjunction is the use of "me and Bill" in subject position (as opposed to "Bill and I"). There's been a good deal of linguistic writing about these forms in English. I doubt that they are particularly "adolescent." Innovative extensions of evaluative terms are also not limited to adolescence. Consider, for example, the spread of "arguably" in academic and media discourse to mean something like "(probably) definitely." -Dan Slobin From s.v.tetzchner at psykologi.uio.no Thu Aug 12 16:32:31 1999 From: s.v.tetzchner at psykologi.uio.no (Stephen von Tetzchner) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 18:32:31 +0200 Subject: Language change Message-ID: Norwegian: "fett" og "diskret" Stephen At 11:51 12.08.99 -0400, you wrote: >Isn't it spelled "phat" ? > >Ann > > > >> Also in youth slang: "fat" and "discrete" have taken a meaning of similar >> to "cool". >> >> Stephen > > > Stephen von Tetzchner Institute of psychology University of Oslo P.O. Box 1094 Blindern N-0317 Oslo, Norway Tel: +47 22855344 (direct) /+47 22855233 (main office) Fax: +47 22854419 /+47 22854366 From dbarne at PO-Box.McGill.ca Thu Aug 12 12:53:07 1999 From: dbarne at PO-Box.McGill.ca (David Barner) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 12:53:07 +0000 Subject: language change Message-ID: Hi, My favorite example of language change is taken from Quebec french: ecouerant (sp?) which literally means sickening (or disgusting) but is often used to mean cool or great, particularly among adolescents but also a large number of "adult" speakers. On a similar note, Quebec French is known for converting names of sacred (Catholic) places and objects into curses (I'll spare examples for fear of offending French readers...) Sincerely, David Barner From ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk Thu Aug 12 17:22:52 1999 From: ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk (Ann Dowker) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 18:22:52 +0100 Subject: Language change Message-ID: "Cool" itself seems to have slightly shifted meaning, at least in England. 15 years ago, it was definitely teen-scene slang. Nowadays, it is colloquial but standard among youngish people, to mean "fine", "O.K.!", *great!" Oxford students would not yet write in an essay, "X's experiments were really cool"(!), but it's *very* common for a student to say to a tutor: "A tutorial at 3:30 on Tuesday would be cool", and the like. Ann On Thu, 12 Aug 1999, Stephen von Tetzchner wrote: > Norwegian: "fett" og "diskret" > > Stephen > > At 11:51 12.08.99 -0400, you wrote: > >Isn't it spelled "phat" ? > > > >Ann > > > > > > > >> Also in youth slang: "fat" and "discrete" have taken a meaning of similar > >> to "cool". > >> > >> Stephen > > > > > > > > Stephen von Tetzchner > Institute of psychology > University of Oslo > P.O. Box 1094 Blindern > N-0317 Oslo, Norway > Tel: +47 22855344 (direct) /+47 22855233 (main office) > Fax: +47 22854419 /+47 22854366 > > From ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk Thu Aug 12 16:50:15 1999 From: ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk (Ann Dowker) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 17:50:15 +0100 Subject: language change among young people Message-ID: I spemt a year in Edmonton, Alberta in 1970-1971. At that time and place, children used "fun" as an adjective *very* frequently, e.g. "It's a fun game" and - the one that startled my English ears the most- "It's a rough game, but sometimes it's very fun." Ann On Thu, 12 Aug 1999, Leslie Barratt wrote: > > One more that I have noticed but not studied is the use of 'fun' as > an attributive adjective as well as predicative. I do not remember > saying or hearing 'a fun time' etc. until about 15 years ago. Does > anyone know about this one? > > Leslie Barratt From molsen at umiacs.umd.edu Thu Aug 12 21:12:12 1999 From: molsen at umiacs.umd.edu (Mari Broman Olsen) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 17:12:12 -0400 Subject: calculating average age Message-ID: What is the easiest way to calculate average age (expressed in year;month;day)? Is there a utility somewhere, or do I have to convert and do it manually? Thanks, ******** Mari Broman Olsen, Research Associate University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies 3141 A.V. Williams Building University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 EMAIL: molsen at umiacs.umd.edu PHONE: (301) 405-6754 FAX: (301) 314-9658 WEB: http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/~molsen ********* From heather at wfc.com.tw Fri Aug 13 03:08:41 1999 From: heather at wfc.com.tw (heather at wfc.com.tw) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 11:08:41 +0800 Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE Message-ID: Hello, Many words go from bad to good: It might sound out dated but Michael Jackson sang a line 'Who's Bad?' This is still used today. As in 'He's bad.' Meaning very impressive, admirable. "License to Ill" album title by the Beastie Boys. They meant not 'permitted to make sick.' 'Ill' here means very good. This is still used today. "That's Ill" meaning, that's impressive. "Bithchin." Very good. "That's gnarly." That's such an impressive trick or move, as in skating or surfing. "That's killer!" I'm so glad to hear that! "It blew my mind." It really made me think about things differently. "Dope, yo." Very good. "She's fly." She's very pretty. "That's the shit." That's a great thing. "He's bad ass". He's very tough, 'cool.' "You kick ass." You're the best. "That's da Bomb!" That's the best thing. A simple word like 'postal' went a different route recently: "Go Postal." (also 'went postal') I cannot be sure if this had anything but a benign meaning before it began to connote someone who has started to become randomly violent- as in the case of a few US postal workers. I hope this helps! I bet there's alot of stuff on the internet, but it'd be difficult to sift through. a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk (Annette Karmiloff-Smith) on 08/11/99 07:38:16 PM To: info-childes at childes.psy.cmu.edu cc: (bcc: HEATHER/ALE) Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE In many languages there are examples of the way adolescents in particular change the meanings of words. e.g. in British English "wicked" now means "something terrific" i.e. it went from negative to positive connotation.. Could people kindly send me any examples they have of American English or other languages where words have taken on new connotations. Also any examples of changing grammar like "between you and I" (but not "between you and he") which is becoming grammatized even amongst well-educated speakers. I've heard people self correct from "between you and m..you and I". many thanks Annette ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith Head, Neurocognitive Development Unit Institute of Child Health 30 Guilford Street, London WC1H ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From s.campbell at uws.edu.au Fri Aug 13 03:04:20 1999 From: s.campbell at uws.edu.au (Stuart Campbell) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 13:04:20 +1000 Subject: language change Message-ID: Audrey Holland's comment (yeah, right = no) strongly suggests that irony could be the engine driving some of this change. Interesting social factors here: Alienation of youth? Mistrust of mainstream institutions? Stuart Campbell From s.campbell at uws.edu.au Fri Aug 13 03:23:33 1999 From: s.campbell at uws.edu.au (Stuart Campbell) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 13:23:33 +1000 Subject: language change again Message-ID: Can't resist another contribution, but a bit off the focus. My young relatives in Watford use "well" as a sort of intensifying adverb. The historical development is probabably: well + participle (positive attribute): well played well + participle (negative attribute): well pissed (at which point it becomes merely an intensifier) well + adjective: well nice, well stupid Phonologically, the final l seems always to be pronounced as a bilabial glide, not a lateral. Back to irony: I get the sense in England that there is an ironic satisfaction among young professionals in introducing non-standard elements into their language - result of the social churning that has occurred since Thatcher's time? Sydney adolescents use "heaps" (heaps good etc). I'll shut up now. Stuart Campbell From crutchley at fs1.ed.man.ac.uk Fri Aug 13 10:39:27 1999 From: crutchley at fs1.ed.man.ac.uk (Alison Crutchley) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 10:39:27 GMT Subject: debra kerbel Message-ID: Does anyone have Debra Kerbel's email address? Thanks, Alison ................................................................... Dr Alison Crutchley Centre for Human Communication and Deafness, [formerly CAEDSP] School of Education, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK. Tel: +44 (0)161 275 3390 (direct) / 3389 (office) Fax: +44 (0)161 275 3373 alison.crutchley at man.ac.uk Visit the Centre website: http://www.man.ac.uk/CHCD ................................................................... From velleman at comdis.umass.edu Fri Aug 13 13:51:22 1999 From: velleman at comdis.umass.edu (Shelley Velleman) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 09:51:22 -0400 Subject: lang. change Message-ID: I remember exactly when "bad" came to mean "really good" among mainstream teenagers in the U.S. I was in France on my junior year abroad in 1974-1975, with a bunch of other college students from all over the U.S. We drove around France during the Easter Break, staying in youth yostels and therefore running into other Americans our age for the first time in several months. We were asking one group about other hostels they had stayed in, and they said that a certain youth hostel had a pool, full breakfasts, etc. -- "It was really bad!". We were confused, and had to ask for clarification. Shelley Velleman U.Mass. From JIBZ at aol.com Fri Aug 13 15:36:42 1999 From: JIBZ at aol.com (JIBZ at aol.com) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 11:36:42 EDT Subject: Language change - revisited... Message-ID: Dan Slobin writes: "Between you and I" is hardly a recent change. The New York Times criticized Bill Clinton in his first election campaign for saying, "I hope you'll vote for Al Gore and I." I hear it used routinely by academic colleagues in their 50s and younger at Berkeley. A similar longstanding conjunction is the use of "me and Bill" in subject position (as opposed to "Bill and I"). There's been a good deal of linguistic writing about these forms in English. I doubt that they are particularly "adolescent." Innovative extensions of evaluative terms are also not limited to adolescence. Consider, for example, the spread of "arguably" in academic and media discourse to mean something like "(probably) definitely." - -Dan Slobin Sorry to all if the allied example I used to illustrate yet another general shift of usage from '...who opened the door...' to '...that opened the door...' confused you. Of course 'between you and I' has been around for a long time just as 'they' in the construction 'everyone said they had enough to eat' to avoid the he/she selection. However, I think I qualified my example by indicating its general usage. One example of adolescent slang which intrigues me is the use of 'dis' to represent, I'm told, 'disrespect' as in 'you dissed (sp?) me and I don't like it'. Another such beauty is 'rad' for 'radical'. Has anyone done any study addressing the use of these monosyllabics? J. Betz From csg at u.washington.edu Fri Aug 13 17:03:22 1999 From: csg at u.washington.edu (Carol Stoel-Gammon) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 10:03:22 -0700 Subject: Language change Message-ID: I haven't seen any mention of the "new" ways to report dialogue using either "go" (the oldest and most widespread form), "like" or "all" as in: ... and then he goes "Did you see what Joe was wearing?" and I go "Yeah, his outfit was rad" OR: ... and then he's like "Did you see what Joe was wearing?" and I'm like "Yeah, his outfit was rad" OR" ... and then he's all "Did you see what Joe was wearing?" and I'm all "Yeah, his outfit was rad" A new use that I hear frequently around Seattle (and is probably typical of the west coast) is the use of "way" as an intensifier meaning "very" as in "way cool" or "way close." I even had a clerk tell me that the box he was unwrapping was "way packed." Carol Stoel-Gammon Speech and Hearing Sciences University of Washington From santelmannl at pdx.edu Fri Aug 13 17:18:40 1999 From: santelmannl at pdx.edu (Lynn Santelmann) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 10:18:40 -0700 Subject: language change among young people Message-ID: The discussion on language change among young people has reminded me of a similar discussion that took place on the Linguist List last year. This discussion was confined to English, but there are a number of interesting postings. (Try searching the linguist list (www.linguistlist.org for "recent change" to read these.) One of the things that struck me after the discussion went on for several weeks was that for many of the "recent changes" that someone brought up, someone else would then reply that this "change" had been active in regional (or historical) use for some time. That's what happened with my contribution of the increased use of headless relatives such as "Can I help who's next?" The question was raised as to whether we were noticing true change or simply the spreading of regional variants. By the way, I believe the linguist list also had a discussion on the changing status of "fun" - though I didn't follow it, because to my post-baby-boom, American ears, "It's a rough game, but sometimes it's very fun." sounds completely normal. --Lynn Santelmann ****************************************************** Lynn Santelmann, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Applied Linguistics Portland State University 467 Neuberger Hall 724 SW Harrison Ave. Portland, OR 97201 Phone: (503) 725-4140 Fax: (503) 725-4139 e-mail: santelmannl at pdx.edu ****************************************************** From clal-mailbox at cornell.edu Fri Aug 13 19:23:17 1999 From: clal-mailbox at cornell.edu (Cornell Language Acquisition Laboratory) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 15:23:17 -0400 Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE Message-ID: I have a few examples of meaning change from Peruvian Spanish. Around the late 70's or early 80's the word for 'cool' or 'great' was "mostro" a derivation from "monstruo" which means 'monster', and though "monstruo" is a noun, "mostro" is an adjective; so you could says things like "Vi una pel?cula mostra ayer" 'I saw a great movie yesterday' or "Ese disco es mostro" 'That record is great'. Later, in the mid 80's I guess, the adjective used was "bestial" 'beastly', and the last one I've heard, probably still being used is "maldito" 'cursed'. Another interesting case is the use of the equivalent of 'shit' (please, excuse my language) in Peru. That's a word that has been in use at least since the late 70's . The interesting aspect is the use of the article, if one says that some is "una cagada" 'a shit' it's bad, but if one says something is "la cagada" 'the shit' then is the coolest thing of all. I've heard English does a similar thing. Mar?a Blume Cornell University ==================================== | Cornell Language Acquisition Lab | | NG29, Martha van Rensselaer Hall | | Cornell University | | Ithaca, NY | | 14853 | | (607) 255-8090 | | clal at cornell.edu | ==================================== From nippold at OREGON.UOREGON.EDU Fri Aug 13 19:50:41 1999 From: nippold at OREGON.UOREGON.EDU (uo-nippold) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 12:50:41 -0700 Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE Message-ID: An interesting discussion of language change (with many examples from British English) is contained in David Crystal's (1988) book, "The English Language." For a review of research on the development of slang in adolescents, see the chapter in Later Language Development (2nd ed) by Nippold (1998), entitled, "Idioms and Slang Terms." Marilyn Nippold University of Oregon Eugene . -----Original Message----- From: Annette Karmiloff-Smith To: info-childes at childes.psy.cmu.edu Date: Wednesday, August 11, 1999 4:33 Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE >In many languages there are examples of the way adolescents in particular >change the meanings of words. e.g. in British English "wicked" now means >"something terrific" i.e. it went from negative to positive connotation.. >Could people kindly send me any examples they have of American English or >other languages where words have taken on new connotations. Also any >examples of changing grammar like "between you and I" (but not "between you >and he") which is becoming grammatized even amongst well-educated speakers. >I've heard people self correct from "between you and m..you and I". >many thanks >Annette > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith >Head, Neurocognitive Development Unit >Institute of Child Health >30 Guilford Street, >London WC1H >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > > From asanord at ling.gu.se Sun Aug 15 12:01:23 1999 From: asanord at ling.gu.se (Asa Nordqvist) Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 08:01:23 -0400 Subject: Language change Message-ID: >I haven't seen any mention of the "new" ways to report dialogue using >either "go" (the oldest and most widespread form), "like" or "all" In Swedish it's very common among teenagers to use the Swedish word "bara" ('just') when reporting dialogue, like: Ah han bara "gillar du verkligen Backstreet Boys?", ah daa bara hon liksom "jaa...". 'And he just "do you really like Backstreet boys?", and then she just kind of "yeah...".' Asa Nordqvist ******************************************************************** AAsa Nordqvist Dept of Linguistics phone: +46-31-7734627 Goeteborg University fax: +46-31-7734853 Box 200 e-mail: asanord at ling.gu.se SE-405 30 Goeteborg http://www.ling.gu.se/~asanord/ Sweden ******************************************************************** From ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk Sun Aug 15 19:04:45 1999 From: ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk (Ann Dowker) Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 20:04:45 +0100 Subject: Language change Message-ID: Coincidentally, an overseas visitor to England who was last here in the early 80s has just spontaneously pointed out what he perceives as language changes: (1) People used to say "Cheerio!" all the time; now they rarely do. (2) People used to use interrogative endings in casual conversation ("It's a nice day, isn't it?", etc.) far more often than now. (I'm not sure he's right there; I think such endings are still used quite frequently.) (3) People use "Brilliant!" a great deal nowadays to mean not necessarily "clever", but "fine!", "great!" etc. He was initially rather startled when a student kept saying "Brilliant!" to him to express agreement - he thought at first that the student was putting himself in the position of a judge of his, the tutor's, intellectual performance. (I am so accustomed to "Brilliant!" used in this way that it hadn't occurred to me that it is an example of language change; but he is right - it wasn't used much in this way during my childhood. I do remember "Brilliant!" being used in a very different, ironic sense by children in Edmonton, Alberta in the early 70s - the implication was "How stupid can one get!!!") Ann From LloyAl at aol.com Mon Aug 16 02:30:17 1999 From: LloyAl at aol.com (LloyAl at aol.com) Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 22:30:17 EDT Subject: language change among young people Message-ID: Subj: Re: language change among young people Date: 8/15/99 9:28:31 PM EST From: LloyAl To: santelmannl at pdx.edu I'm not sure my observation come under the heading of language change, but here it is. I have noticed quite often in recent years the use of what I call a "declarative question". That is the use of a rising inflection at the end of a statement that almost turns the statement into a question. The listener usually responds as though a question has been asked. Has anyone else observed this? From lmenn at psych.colorado.edu Mon Aug 16 03:11:15 1999 From: lmenn at psych.colorado.edu (Lise Menn) Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 21:11:15 -0600 Subject: language change among young people: 'uptalk?' Message-ID: That one's been around for a while, and probably another case of gradual regional spread, because in the PBS video American Tongues, which is quite old now, a New York comedian makes fun of it as 'southern', and then later it was documented, I think by Pam Munro of UCLA, as a California Valley Girl talk pattern. The rise - which has by now become part of my speech also (and I'm past 55 and from the northeast) - functionally replaces 'y'know' as an appeal to shared experience. Lise Menn Professor Department of Linguistics University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309-0295 303-492-1609 On Sun, 15 Aug 1999 LloyAl at aol.com wrote: > Subj: Re: language change among young people > Date: 8/15/99 9:28:31 PM EST > From: LloyAl > To: santelmannl at pdx.edu > > I'm not sure my observation come under the heading of language change, but > here it is. I have noticed quite often in recent years the use of what I > call a "declarative question". That is the use of a rising inflection at the > end of a statement that almost turns the statement into a question. The > listener usually responds as though a question has been asked. Has anyone > else observed this? > > From cchaney at sfsu.edu Mon Aug 16 04:17:50 1999 From: cchaney at sfsu.edu (Carolyn Chaney) Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 21:17:50 -0700 Subject: language change among young people: 'uptalk?' Message-ID: My experience is a bit different...I notice the rise as a place holder...a way of regulating conversation (I'm not done yet). It seems like the way intonation is used in a list...so my turn at talk becomes a list of things I have to say, and when I'm ready to give up my turn, my pitch goes down. I also observe this form in the context of public speaking, where one should not have to hold onto the speaking turn...but nonetheless, many of my students in public speaking-type courses do big chunks of a speech like a list. Carolyn Chaney SFSU On Sun, 15 Aug 1999, Lise Menn wrote: > That one's been around for a while, and probably another case of gradual > regional spread, because in the PBS video American Tongues, which is > quite old now, a New York comedian makes fun of it as 'southern', and then > later it was documented, I think by Pam Munro of UCLA, as a California > Valley Girl talk pattern. The rise - which has by now become part of my > speech also (and I'm past 55 and from the northeast) - functionally > replaces 'y'know' as an appeal to shared experience. > > Lise Menn > Professor > Department of Linguistics > University of Colorado > Boulder, CO 80309-0295 > 303-492-1609 > > On Sun, 15 Aug 1999 LloyAl at aol.com wrote: > > > Subj: Re: language change among young people > > Date: 8/15/99 9:28:31 PM EST > > From: LloyAl > > To: santelmannl at pdx.edu > > > > I'm not sure my observation come under the heading of language change, but > > here it is. I have noticed quite often in recent years the use of what I > > call a "declarative question". That is the use of a rising inflection at the > > end of a statement that almost turns the statement into a question. The > > listener usually responds as though a question has been asked. Has anyone > > else observed this? > > > > > > > From debbie.james at flinders.edu.au Mon Aug 16 07:10:54 1999 From: debbie.james at flinders.edu.au (Debbie James) Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 16:10:54 +0900 Subject: Language change Message-ID: This pattern of using "go" and "like" is also seen in South Australia. I have not noticed the use of "all" however At 10:03 AM 8/13/99 -0700, Carol Stoel-Gammon wrote: >I haven't seen any mention of the "new" ways to report dialogue using >either "go" (the oldest and most widespread form), "like" or "all" as in: > >... and then he goes "Did you see what Joe was wearing?" and I go "Yeah, >his outfit was rad" > >OR: ... and then he's like "Did you see what Joe was wearing?" and I'm >like "Yeah, his outfit was rad" > >OR" ... and then he's all "Did you see what Joe was wearing?" and I'm all >"Yeah, his outfit was rad" > >A new use that I hear frequently around Seattle (and is probably typical >of the west coast) is the use of "way" as an intensifier meaning "very" as >in "way cool" or "way close." I even had a clerk tell me that the box he >was unwrapping was "way packed." > >Carol Stoel-Gammon >Speech and Hearing Sciences >University of Washington > > > > Debbie James Senior Lecturer in Speech Pathology (Child language and speech) Department of Speech Pathology Flinders University GPO Box 2100 Adelaide South Australia 5001 Ph 61+412 804048 email debbbie.james at flinders.edu.au From debbie.james at flinders.edu.au Mon Aug 16 07:24:32 1999 From: debbie.james at flinders.edu.au (Debbie James) Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 16:24:32 +0900 Subject: language change among young people Message-ID: pervasive here in Australia amongst all ages. I hasten to add thtat many people dislike it and attest to the fact that they do not use it taiAt 10:30 PM 8/15/99 EDT, LloyAl at aol.com wrote: >Subj: Re: language change among young people >Date: 8/15/99 9:28:31 PM EST >From: LloyAl >To: santelmannl at pdx.edu > >I'm not sure my observation come under the heading of language change, but >here it is. I have noticed quite often in recent years the use of what I >call a "declarative question". That is the use of a rising inflection at the >end of a statement that almost turns the statement into a question. The >listener usually responds as though a question has been asked. Has anyone >else observed this? > > > Debbie James Senior Lecturer in Speech Pathology (Child language and speech) Department of Speech Pathology Flinders University GPO Box 2100 Adelaide South Australia 5001 Ph 61+412 804048 email debbbie.james at flinders.edu.au From a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk Mon Aug 16 07:29:12 1999 From: a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk (Annette Karmiloff-Smith) Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 08:29:12 +0100 Subject: wow, what a response! Message-ID: My little question about adolescent language (I needed a few US examples, different to those used in Britain) generated some very interesting facts and discussion. Thank you all. Most of you replied cc'ing info-childes, but a few wrote directly to me. Rather than flood the system with the other examples, would anyone particularly interested simply email me and I will send them the extra examples. Thanks again for all your replies. Annette ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith Head, Neurocognitive Development Unit Institute of Child Health 30 Guilford Street, London WC1H ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk Mon Aug 16 07:29:06 1999 From: a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk (Annette Karmiloff-Smith) Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 08:29:06 +0100 Subject: language change among young people: 'uptalk?' Message-ID: Ages ago when I was a simultaneous interpreter at the UN, rising intonation was used as a device to keep the headphone-listeneing audience's attention when the actual speaker sat down but you were a couple of sentences behind and wanted your audience to continue listening. So it functioned as an attention holder rather than turning statements into questions. I recall an Australian consecutive interpreter explaining that he used body position in a similar way, exaggerated the lean forwards when the real speaker slumped back having finished. Annette At 21:17 15/8/99, Carolyn Chaney wrote: >My experience is a bit different...I notice the rise as a place holder...a >way of regulating conversation (I'm not done yet). It seems like >the way intonation is used in a list...so my turn at talk becomes a list >of things I have to say, and when I'm ready to give up my turn, my pitch >goes down. I also observe this form in the context of public speaking, >where one should not have to hold onto the speaking turn...but >nonetheless, many of my students in public speaking-type courses do big >chunks of a speech like a list. > >Carolyn Chaney >SFSU > >On Sun, 15 Aug 1999, Lise Menn wrote: > >> That one's been around for a while, and probably another case of gradual >> regional spread, because in the PBS video American Tongues, which is >> quite old now, a New York comedian makes fun of it as 'southern', and then >> later it was documented, I think by Pam Munro of UCLA, as a California >> Valley Girl talk pattern. The rise - which has by now become part of my >> speech also (and I'm past 55 and from the northeast) - functionally >> replaces 'y'know' as an appeal to shared experience. >> >> Lise Menn >> Professor >> Department of Linguistics >> University of Colorado >> Boulder, CO 80309-0295 >> 303-492-1609 >> >> On Sun, 15 Aug 1999 LloyAl at aol.com wrote: >> >> > Subj: Re: language change among young people >> > Date: 8/15/99 9:28:31 PM EST >> > From: LloyAl >> > To: santelmannl at pdx.edu >> > >> > I'm not sure my observation come under the heading of language change, but >> > here it is. I have noticed quite often in recent years the use of what I >> > call a "declarative question". That is the use of a rising inflection >>at the >> > end of a statement that almost turns the statement into a question. The >> > listener usually responds as though a question has been asked. Has anyone >> > else observed this? >> > >> > >> >> >> From jonmach at informix.com Mon Aug 16 08:51:05 1999 From: jonmach at informix.com (Jon Machtynger) Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 09:51:05 +0100 Subject: language change among young people Message-ID: This is quite typical of the Australian accent, and has been for a long time. > Subj: Re: language change among young people > Date: 8/15/99 9:28:31 PM EST > From: LloyAl > To: santelmannl at pdx.edu > > I'm not sure my observation come under the heading of language change, but > here it is. I have noticed quite often in recent years the use of what I > call a "declarative question". That is the use of a rising inflection at the > end of a statement that almost turns the statement into a question. The > listener usually responds as though a question has been asked. Has anyone > else observed this? > > - +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Jon Machtynger (jonmach at informix.com) | | Principal Systems Engineer - Strategic Technology | | Informix Software Ltd. | | 6 New Square, Bedfont Lakes, Feltham TW14 8HA, UK | | Ph: +44 (0181) 818 1216 or (07801) 684216 (mobile) | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ From lmenn at psych.colorado.edu Mon Aug 16 17:38:05 1999 From: lmenn at psych.colorado.edu (Lise Menn) Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 11:38:05 -0600 Subject: language change among young people Message-ID: yeah, but as Labov showed years ago, what people say and what they say they say are often VERY different. Lise Menn Professor Department of Linguistics University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309-0295 303-492-1609 On Mon, 16 Aug 1999, Debbie James wrote: > pervasive here in Australia amongst all ages. I hasten to add thtat many > people dislike it and attest to the fact that they do not use it > > taiAt 10:30 PM 8/15/99 EDT, LloyAl at aol.com wrote: > >Subj: Re: language change among young people > >Date: 8/15/99 9:28:31 PM EST > >From: LloyAl > >To: santelmannl at pdx.edu > > > >I'm not sure my observation come under the heading of language change, but > >here it is. I have noticed quite often in recent years the use of what I > >call a "declarative question". That is the use of a rising inflection at the > >end of a statement that almost turns the statement into a question. The > >listener usually responds as though a question has been asked. Has anyone > >else observed this? > > > > > > > Debbie James > Senior Lecturer in Speech Pathology (Child language and speech) > Department of Speech Pathology > Flinders University > GPO Box 2100 > Adelaide > South Australia 5001 > Ph 61+412 804048 > email debbbie.james at flinders.edu.au > > From thoreson at cc.wwu.edu Mon Aug 16 22:15:44 1999 From: thoreson at cc.wwu.edu (Catherine Crain-Thoreson) Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 15:15:44 -0700 Subject: wow, what a response! Message-ID: I was just talking to my daughter and she reminded me of another one that is in the process of changing from negative to positive connotation. The term "ghetto" has been used (at least here in the Northwest) to mean bad, falling apart, awful, e.g. "Our hotel was really ghetto." It is currently sometimes now used to mean something really good. As in, "I just got a new Pathfinder." Reply: "That's ghetto." I have really enjoyed this conversation. Thanks for asking the question! Catherine At 08:29 AM 8/16/99 +0100, Annette Karmiloff-Smith wrote: >My little question about adolescent language (I needed a few US examples, >different to those used in Britain) generated some very interesting facts >and discussion. Thank you all. Most of you replied cc'ing info-childes, >but a few wrote directly to me. Rather than flood the system with the other >examples, would anyone particularly interested simply email me and I will >send them the extra examples. >Thanks again for all your replies. >Annette > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith >Head, Neurocognitive Development Unit >Institute of Child Health >30 Guilford Street, >London WC1H >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > > ************************************ Catherine Crain-Thoreson, Ph.D. Psychology Department Western Washington University Bellingham, WA 98225-9089 Tel: (360) 650-3168 Fax: (360) 650-7305 email: thoreson at cc.wwu.edu From cstorm at mta.ca Tue Aug 17 21:56:36 1999 From: cstorm at mta.ca (Christine Storm) Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 13:56:36 -0800 Subject: language change Message-ID: How about "no problem"? When did this begin to supplant "You're welcome", etc.? How widespread is it? How about the New Zealand exchanges (sometimes seeming endless) of "ta"s for both thank you and you're welcome - does this still go on? Christine Storm Christine Storm Office ph: 506-364-2462 Professor and Head Home ph: 506-536-3322 Department of Psychology Fax: 506-364-2467 Mount Allison University email: cstorm at mta.ca 49A York St Sackville, NB, E4L 1C7 From ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk Tue Aug 17 17:45:45 1999 From: ann.dowker at psy.ox.ac.uk (Ann Dowker) Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 18:45:45 +0100 Subject: language change Message-ID: It is certainly very common in England. Probably since early/ mid 80s. I was told by Israeli relatives that the Hebrew equivalent was common in Israel before it became common here. It's sometimes abbreviated here to "No prob!" By the way, does anyone know when "No Way!" became common as means of emphasizing the No. It's my impression that it probably dates from the mid/ late 70s; but does anyone have any information? Ann On Tue, 17 Aug 1999, Christine Storm wrote: > How about "no problem"? When did this begin to supplant "You're welcome", > etc.? How widespread is it? How about the New Zealand exchanges (sometimes > seeming endless) of "ta"s for both thank you and you're welcome - does this > still go on? > Christine Storm > > Christine Storm Office ph: 506-364-2462 > Professor and Head Home ph: 506-536-3322 > > Department of Psychology Fax: 506-364-2467 > Mount Allison University email: cstorm at mta.ca > 49A York St > Sackville, NB, E4L 1C7 > > > > From molsen at umiacs.umd.edu Tue Aug 17 17:52:39 1999 From: molsen at umiacs.umd.edu (Mari Broman Olsen) Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 13:52:39 -0400 Subject: language change Message-ID: There's also 'hakuna matata', which came into popular recognition, if not use, via the 'Lion King' movie. My Swahili speaking acquaintance tells me, means 'there is nothing unraveled'. ******** Mari Broman Olsen, Research Associate University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies 3141 A.V. Williams Building University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 EMAIL: molsen at umiacs.umd.edu PHONE: (301) 405-6754 FAX: (301) 314-9658 WEB: http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/~molsen ********* From dmolfese at louisville.edu Wed Aug 18 15:49:11 1999 From: dmolfese at louisville.edu (Dennis L. Molfese) Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 11:49:11 -0400 Subject: NIH initiative Message-ID: I would appreciate your input ASAP. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has formed a group to develop an overall plan of developmental research related initiatives for NIH to emphasize and fund during the next decade. I would appreciate your suggestions regarding general topics and subtopics you view as potentially important areas of research activity. These may have a direct impact on future funding priorities so some justification for the areas you recommend would be very helpful. Discussions at NIHCHD have identified some topics and subtopics already: 1. Social and behavioral influences on cognition, learning, language, and emotional development: Normal and abnormal; a. Elucidate social and biological interactions influencing normal and abnormal development; 1). family violence/abuse/neglect/psychosocial deprivation; 2). poverty; 3). peer and social support networks; 4). bilingualism; 5). ethnicity and multicultural influences; b. experimental and therapeutic interventions and effects on brain and behavior; 1). clinical trials of experimental drugs; 2). psychopharmacology (developmental psychopharmacology); 2. Developmental Neuroplasticity; a. behavioral intervention (early, familial); b. imaging; 3. Neurobiologic, genetic, and environmental influences on development and developmental disorders; a. endocrinology; b. immunology; c. environmental toxins; d. gene interactions; e. nutrition/ eating disorders; f. molecular and cellular mechanisms in normal and abnormal development; g. methodological techniques including imaging, animal models, and human models; 4. Developing neurofunctional and neurobehavioral connections and pathways; a. neuroanatomical and neurobehavioral bases of cognition, language, affect, attention, memory, learning, and motor skills; b. genetic bases of neuroanatomical and neurobehavioral development; c. neuroanatomical and neurobehavioral bases of attention and learning deficits or disorders; 5. Neuronal and non-neural contributions to dendritic synaptic development; a. dendritic arborization; b. myelination, ion channels, neurotransmitters, apoptosis. If you would like to elaborate on any of the above areas, or add related or new topics, please let me know. There is a rush for this. I need your input by Thursday at the latest so I can prepare a statement to then send to NIH by Friday, August 20. These topics and rationales will form the basis for discussions at NIH involving panel members over the next 2 weeks. Please respond to my e-mail address at: dmolfese at louisville.edu Thanks, Dennis Molfese Dennis L. Molfese, Ph.D. Chair and Professor Distinguished University Scholar Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences University of Louisville 317 Life Sciences Building Belknap Campus Louisville, KY 40292-0001 502/852-6775 or 502/852-8274 FAX: 502-852-8904 dmolfese at louisville.edu dlmolf01 at athena.louisville.edu From k1n at psu.edu Wed Aug 18 21:32:11 1999 From: k1n at psu.edu (Keith E. Nelson) Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 17:32:11 -0400 Subject: NIH initiative Message-ID: Dennis, Thanks for noted. I have indicated two ADDED pieces within the framework below. Best regards, Keith At 11:49 AM 8/18/99, Dennis L. Molfese wrote: >I would appreciate your input ASAP. > >The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has >formed a group to develop an overall plan of developmental research >related initiatives for NIH to emphasize and fund during the next >decade. I would appreciate your suggestions regarding general topics >and subtopics you view as potentially important areas of research >activity. These may have a direct impact on future funding priorities >so some justification for the areas you recommend would be very >helpful. > >Discussions at NIHCHD have identified some topics and subtopics already: > >1. Social and behavioral influences on cognition, learning, language, >and emotional development: Normal and abnormal; > a. Elucidate social and biological interactions influencing normal >and abnormal development; > 1). family violence/abuse/neglect/psychosocial deprivation; > 2). poverty; > 3). peer and social support networks; > 4). bilingualism; > 5). ethnicity and multicultural influences; ADDED 6) Social/cognitive/linguistic/emotional interaction patterns within the family at a detailed level in relation to individual differences in particular domains of learning--language, space, art, social, eml skills of children. Part of this effort should be to understand how particular social and emotional embeddings of "input" within a domain influence the child's uptake of domain input and motivation/preferences for the domain. > b. experimental and therapeutic interventions and effects on brain >and behavior; > 1). clinical trials of experimental drugs; > 2). psychopharmacology (developmental psychopharmacology); > >2. Developmental Neuroplasticity; > a. behavioral intervention (early, familial); > b. imaging; ADDED c) effects of behavior intervention grounded in dynamic sytems theories, with attention to effects of controlled rich interventions that combine presumed enhancements of social-emotional child-adult processes together with presumed facilitators of rapid learning within specified domains (music, language, art, space, social skills, dance etc.), at varied developmental periods between 6 months and 6 years. > >3. Neurobiologic, genetic, and environmental influences on >development and developmental disorders; > a. endocrinology; > b. immunology; > c. environmental toxins; > d. gene interactions; > e. nutrition/ eating disorders; > f. molecular and cellular mechanisms in normal and abnormal development; > g. methodological techniques including imaging, animal models, and >human models; > >4. Developing neurofunctional and neurobehavioral connections and pathways; > a. neuroanatomical and neurobehavioral bases of cognition, >language, affect, attention, memory, learning, and motor skills; > b. genetic bases of neuroanatomical and neurobehavioral development; > c. neuroanatomical and neurobehavioral bases of attention and >learning deficits or disorders; > >5. Neuronal and non-neural contributions to dendritic synaptic development; > a. dendritic arborization; > b. myelination, ion channels, neurotransmitters, apoptosis. > >If you would like to elaborate on any of the above areas, or add >related or new topics, please let me know. > > >There is a rush for this. I need your input by Thursday at the latest >so I can prepare a statement to then send to NIH by Friday, August >20. These topics and rationales will form the basis for discussions >at NIH involving panel members over the next 2 weeks. > >Please respond to my e-mail address at: >dmolfese at louisville.edu > >Thanks, > >Dennis Molfese > > > > > > > >Dennis L. Molfese, Ph.D. >Chair and Professor >Distinguished University Scholar >Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences >University of Louisville >317 Life Sciences Building >Belknap Campus >Louisville, KY 40292-0001 > >502/852-6775 or 502/852-8274 >FAX: 502-852-8904 >dmolfese at louisville.edu >dlmolf01 at athena.louisville.edu From adele at twinearth.wustl.edu Thu Aug 19 03:36:01 1999 From: adele at twinearth.wustl.edu (Adele A. Abrahamsen) Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 22:36:01 -0500 Subject: NIH initiative Message-ID: There's lots to add; but time limits me to a few suggestions. Look below item 1 and at item 2. Adele Abrahamsen On Wed, 18 Aug 1999, Dennis L. Molfese wrote: > I would appreciate your input ASAP. ...... > > 1. Social and behavioral influences on cognition, learning, language, > and emotional development: Normal and abnormal; > a. Elucidate social and biological interactions influencing normal > and abnormal development; > 1). family violence/abuse/neglect/psychosocial deprivation; > 2). poverty; > 3). peer and social support networks; > 4). bilingualism; > 5). ethnicity and multicultural influences; > b. experimental and therapeutic interventions and effects on brain > and behavior; > 1). clinical trials of experimental drugs; > 2). psychopharmacology (developmental psychopharmacology); > ADD: #. Mechanisms of cognition, learning, language, and emotional development; a. Support the development of multi-investigator databases and tools for using them effectively, on the model of the Child Language Data Exchange System; b. Achieve a more global perspective, including the development of new, technology-based methods for international collaboration and increased use of data from a variety of cultures and languages; c. Give increased attention to adaptive computational models for understanding mechanisms of change; 1). dynamical systems theory; 2). neural networks; 3). artificial life and other models at an evolutionary scale; d. Give increased attention to embodied and situated cognition; e. Improve how evidence is used from a variety of learners, including those with Down syndrome, Williams syndrome, and other genetic disorders, towards modeling intact mechanisms; > 2. Developmental Neuroplasticity; > a. behavioral intervention (early, familial); > b. imaging; CHANGE 2 TO THIS (b IS A GENERALIZED FORM OF KEITH NELSON'S ADDITION): 2. Behavioral Interventions; a. early intervention; b. familial intervention; c. rich interventions grounded in computational models, including dynamical systems theory and neural networks; d. new methods for assessing intervention effects, e.g. the incorporation of neuroimaging techniques; > 3. Neurobiologic, genetic, and environmental influences on > development and developmental disorders; > a. endocrinology; > b. immunology; > c. environmental toxins; > d. gene interactions; > e. nutrition/ eating disorders; > f. molecular and cellular mechanisms in normal and abnormal development; > g. methodological techniques including imaging, animal models, and > human models; > > 4. Developing neurofunctional and neurobehavioral connections and pathways; > a. neuroanatomical and neurobehavioral bases of cognition, > language, affect, attention, memory, learning, and motor skills; > b. genetic bases of neuroanatomical and neurobehavioral development; > c. neuroanatomical and neurobehavioral bases of attention and > learning deficits or disorders; > > 5. Neuronal and non-neural contributions to dendritic synaptic development; > a. dendritic arborization; > b. myelination, ion channels, neurotransmitters, apoptosis. > > If you would like to elaborate on any of the above areas, or add > related or new topics, please let me know. ....... > Thanks, > > Dennis Molfese > > Dennis L. Molfese, Ph.D. > Chair and Professor > Distinguished University Scholar > Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences > University of Louisville > 317 Life Sciences Building > Belknap Campus > Louisville, KY 40292-0001 > > 502/852-6775 or 502/852-8274 > FAX: 502-852-8904 > dmolfese at louisville.edu > dlmolf01 at athena.louisville.edu > > -- Dr. Adele Abrahamsen Undergraduate Director of Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology Program and Coordinator of Linguistics Department of Psychology Washington University in St. Louis Campus Box 1125 One Brookings Drive St. Louis, MO 63130-4899 Office telephone: (314) 935-7445 Office location: New Psychology Building, Room 410B Email: adele at twinearth.wustl.edu Fax: (314) 935-7588 From cotel at cfr.nichd.nih.gov Fri Aug 20 11:59:46 1999 From: cotel at cfr.nichd.nih.gov (Cote, Linda (NICHD)) Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 07:59:46 -0400 Subject: adolescent language Message-ID: I do not know if you're still collecting examples of adolescent language, but here are a few more (courtesy of my 17-year-old niece & her friends; they live in the U.S. Midwest): gay - used as an adjective. It isn't meant as an insult to homosexuals it merely means "annoying and stupid." "My computer class was filled with idiots who always acted so gay." CS - common sense "She lacks all CS." dog - friend "You'll come with me right dog?" ghetto - a ghetto is no longer just a place it also describes a place dilapidated or in an unfashionable area. "Universal Mall is so ghetto." I think someone else who responded to this topic said that "ghetto" was used in a positive manner in their area of the country/world. Linda Cote From slobin at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU Fri Aug 20 19:03:07 1999 From: slobin at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU (Dan I. SLOBIN) Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 12:03:07 -0700 Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE Message-ID: An important book on this topic is Suzanne Romaine's _The language of children and adolescents: The acquisition of communicative competence_ (Blackwell, 1984). -Dan Slobin From zuckermn at let.rug.nl Sat Aug 21 20:47:58 1999 From: zuckermn at let.rug.nl (Shalom Zuckerman) Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1999 22:47:58 +0200 Subject: gapping Message-ID: Dear info-childers I am looking for information about aquisition of gapping (e.g.: John ate the apple and Bill the pear), namely: is this structure aquired relatively late? Thanks a lot Shalom Zuckerman U. Groningen From slobin at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU Sun Aug 22 02:14:07 1999 From: slobin at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU (Dan I. SLOBIN) Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1999 19:14:07 -0700 Subject: gapping Message-ID: This is certainly acquired late. In fact, I don't think I've ever used this structure--either in speech or writing. Although it is recognizable and grammatical, I doubt that it is actively used in any spoken register of American English, and it is certain to be exceptionally infrequent in writing. -Dan Slobin University of California, Berkeley On Sat, 21 Aug 1999, Shalom Zuckerman wrote: > Dear info-childers > I am looking for information about aquisition of gapping (e.g.: John ate > the apple and Bill the pear), namely: is this structure aquired > relatively late? > > Thanks a lot > > Shalom Zuckerman > U. Groningen > From ks7t at andrew.cmu.edu Mon Aug 23 14:21:54 1999 From: ks7t at andrew.cmu.edu (Kelley Sacco) Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 10:21:54 -0400 Subject: Williams-Beuren Syndrome Message-ID: Dear info-childes, I am a German student of romance languages (Italian, French, Spanish) and am currently writing my thesis on the Williams-Beuren syndrome. In the first part, I give a synopsis of the current research status regarding the language abilities of persons affected by the syndrome and in the second part, I will analyse transcripts of spontaneous speech samples ("The Frog Story" by Mercer Mayer, as used by Prof. Bellugi). I am looking for transcripts of the Frog-Story in Italian, French, Spanish, English and German, preferably of children affected by the Williams-Beuren syndrome not younger than 13 years and would be very grateful for any kind of help and assistance in obtaining respective transcripts. Sincerely yours, Gerlinde Freundl freundl at cip.informatik.uni-muenchen.de From ks7t at andrew.cmu.edu Mon Aug 23 20:17:42 1999 From: ks7t at andrew.cmu.edu (Kelley Sacco) Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 16:17:42 -0400 Subject: Language Acquisition Bibliography Message-ID: Dear Info-Childes subscribers, An updated version of the "Language Acquisition Bibliography" is now available on our web site (childes.psy.cmu.edu). If you have any new or additional references that you would like me to add to the database please send the complete citation to ks7t at andrew.cmu.edu. Also, if you find that any of your references are incomplete please notify me immediately so I can make the necessary changes. Thank-you for your assistance. Kelley Sacco Dept of Psychology Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (412) 268-5689 From slobin at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU Tue Aug 24 05:57:11 1999 From: slobin at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU (Dan I. SLOBIN) Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 22:57:11 -0700 Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE Message-ID: Annette, Suzanne Romaine talks a lot about peer group sociology, but this does not actually explain the FORMS of adolescent language. Of course, there are many, many examples of forms that are used (in various English dialects and other languages). Just what are you looking for? Do you know Suzanne? It could be useful to talk to her. There's a lot about age-grading, male/female language, home/school... She covers phonology, morphology, and syntax. But the book is mainly a compendium of examples, with discussion of theories that were popular 15 years ago or more. She's especially stimulated by Labov's studies of urban dialects. -Dan On Sat, 21 Aug 1999, Annette Karmiloff-Smith wrote: > DAN - DOES IT INCLUDE ANY EXPLANATIONS AS TO *WHY* ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE > TENDS TO TAKE THE FORMS IT DOES? > Annette > > At 12:03 20/8/99, Dan I. SLOBIN wrote: > >An important book on this topic is Suzanne Romaine's _The language of > >children and adolescents: The acquisition of communicative competence_ > >(Blackwell, 1984). > > > >-Dan Slobin > > From jonmach at informix.com Tue Aug 24 15:43:01 1999 From: jonmach at informix.com (Jon Machtynger) Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 16:43:01 +0100 Subject: List of language disorders.. Message-ID: All, I am investigating language disorders and comparing them with implementation and subsequent disabling of a connectionist model. Are there any disorders where a concrete link there has been shown between the disorder and a neurological (synapse level) problem. Many thanks in advance Jon - +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Jon Machtynger (jonmach at informix.com) | | Principal Systems Engineer - Strategic Technology | | Informix Software Ltd. | | 6 New Square, Bedfont Lakes, Feltham TW14 8HA, UK | | Ph: +44 (0181) 818 1216 or (07801) 684216 (mobile) | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ From mthomas at ich.ucl.ac.uk Tue Aug 24 17:58:16 1999 From: mthomas at ich.ucl.ac.uk (Michael Thomas) Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 18:58:16 +0100 Subject: List of language disorders.. Message-ID: On Tue, 24 Aug 1999, Jon Machtynger wrote: > All, > > I am investigating language disorders and comparing them with > implementation and subsequent disabling of a connectionist model. Are > there any disorders where a concrete link there has been shown > between the disorder and a neurological (synapse level) problem. You may be interested in a chapter I recently co-authored with Denis Mareschal which reviews current connectionist modelling of cognitive development. The chapter looks at normal and abnormal development within the same framework and shows how differences in boundary conditions (constraints) can lead to the emergence of behaviours classified as normal or abnormal. In the chapter we discuss work on connectionist modelling of a number of developmental disorders and look in detail at a connectionist approach to autism which tries to refer behavioural deficits back to abnormal patterns of neural connectivity. However, this work is aimed at modelling low level perceptual deficits rather than language development. The chapter, called Self-organization in Normal and Abnormal Cognitive Development, can be downloaded from http://www.psyc.bbk.ac.uk/staff/dm.html My current research is using connectionist models to investigate the development of inflectional morphology in Williams syndrome, but these computer simulations are still running... cheers, Michael. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr Michael (Fred) Thomas, Research Fellow, Neurocognitive Development Unit Institute of Child Health 30 Guilford Street London WC1N 1EH, U.K. tel: +44 171 905 2747 fax: +44 171 242 7717 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From agn3 at Lehigh.EDU Tue Aug 24 18:34:45 1999 From: agn3 at Lehigh.EDU (AGELIKI NICOLOPOULOU) Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 14:34:45 EDT Subject: ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE Message-ID: Another book that addresses a number of issues in adolescent language, from a sociolinguistic perspective, is Penelope Eckert's JOCKS AND BURNOUTS. Eckert started out as a student of Labov's. The main focus of this book is on non-linguistic phenomena (centering on group dynamics and identity formation), but her Labovian background comes out in her attention to the forms of adolescent language and the ways that they polarize between different subcultures (i.e., the social determinants of language change and differentiation). The references in the book also mention some of her articles that have focused on the linguistic aspects of all this. (JOCKS AND BURNOUTS emerged, in a way, as a by-product of a study initially designed with a primarily sociolinguistic focus.) Her articles would be worth looking at for people interested in these issues. Ageliki Nicolopoulou Department of Psychology Lehigh University 17 Memorial Drive East Bethlehem, PA 18015-3068 Tel: 610-758-3618 FAX: 610-758-6277 From macw at cmu.edu Wed Aug 25 19:16:48 1999 From: macw at cmu.edu (Brian MacWhinney) Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 15:16:48 -0400 Subject: an elegant solution Message-ID: Dear Info-CHILDES, Mary MacWhinney just now pointed out to me an extremely elegant and simple solution to the problem of computing MLU on raw CHAT files. Currently, there are three recommended approaches to calculating MLU. 1. The first approach uses the earlier method devised by Miller and Chapman in SALT. It relies on "main line morphemicization" of words. In this method, "shoes" becomes "shoe-s" and "John's" becomes "John-'s". As many of you have learned, this method has many limitations. It is difficult to know how to segment "lent", "gonna", or "can't" and the method becomes even more problematic for languages other than English. 2. To solve some of these problems, we introduced a second method of main line morphemicization using replacement symbols. In this method, you can have "gonna [: go-ing to]" and then you can perform one count that is analytic and one that is non-analytic. This is more consistent, but it is a lot of work. 3. Finally, you can construct a complete %mor line for the file. This is the best solution, but also requires the most work. Mary's "new" solution is the following. You first run MLU on the file or the collection of file to get the number of utterances. Then you run FREQ on the file or the collection of files to get the complete frequency listing. You take the summed frequency and then go through word by word and decide whether each word has one, two, or three morphemes. If it has three, you double the count for that word and add it to the grand total. And so on for all the words that have more than one morpheme. After mentioning this to a colleague, she said that she had already done something like this on her own. So, perhaps, I am the only person left in the child language world who has not already figured this one out. But perhaps not. This may sound like a tedious method, but actually it is not that bad and it can be significantly more efficient than the three alternatives, at least for most Indo-European languages. Think about it. --Brian MacWhinney From lmb32 at columbia.edu Thu Aug 26 13:29:09 1999 From: lmb32 at columbia.edu (Lois Bloom) Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1999 09:29:09 -0400 Subject: an elegant solution Message-ID: 8/26/99 All solutions raise the vexing question, still with us evidently: What counts as a word? a morpheme? With the example you give: "gonna [: go-ing to]" --a long time could lapse between the first appearance of "gonna" and the appropriateness of a morpheme count (see Bloom, Tackeff, & Lahey,1984, Learning 'to' in complement constructions, JCL, 11; reprinted in Bloom, Language Development from 2 to 3, Cambridge, 1991). Lois Bloom From ervin-tr at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU Thu Aug 26 21:06:36 1999 From: ervin-tr at cogsci.Berkeley.EDU (Susan Ervin-Tripp) Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1999 14:06:36 -0700 Subject: adolescent language Message-ID: There has a been a lot of change in the study of adolescent language in the past ten years. Eckert's book has become a classic in this field, showing how the identification of marginality, centrality, identity can be indicated by phonological lexical and other linguistic features. That's in the book Nicolopoulou cited. There are now later works building on that work on monolinguals. In addition, there is work on adolescents in contact situations, which are very common in this world of migrants and refugees. The most vivid example of this kind of study is Ben Rampton's _Crossing_ showing again how linguistic features are borrowed to signal belonging--this time across languages. Sort of like using jargon to show what theoretical persuasion you want to belong to. Since these processes are so active in adolescents we see lots of language change. Susan Ervin-Tripp From silliman at chuma1.cas.usf.edu Mon Aug 30 19:22:23 1999 From: silliman at chuma1.cas.usf.edu (Silliman, Elaine) Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 15:22:23 -0400 Subject: Spanish grammar source Message-ID: We are completing a study on Spanish-English narrative production in 9-11 year old children. Berman and Slobin (1994) have been helpful for certain of our analyses. However, finding a useful (i.e., functional) source on Spanish syntax, specifically, non-clausal forms, has been more difficult. For example, modals do not exist in Spanish but functions similar to English modals do exist. Many sources we have researched are old, just to cite one difficulty. Any assistance with resources would be very much appreciated. Elaine R. Silliman, Ph.D. Professor Communication Sciences and Disorders and Cognitive and Neural Sciences Interdisciplinary Center for Communication Sciences University of South Florida Tampa Florida 33620 Voicemail: (813) 974-9812/974-8419 Fax: (813) 974-0822/8421 E-mail: silliman at chuma1.cas.usf.edu From penke at ling.uni-duesseldorf.de Tue Aug 31 16:47:27 1999 From: penke at ling.uni-duesseldorf.de (Martina Penke) Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 18:47:27 +0200 Subject: List of language disorders.. Message-ID: Dear Jon, you might be interested in a paper that we recently wrote about a constructivist neural network learning the German participle. After training we lesioned the network and compared its performance with agrammatic aphasic processing. Here is the abstract: We present a constructivist neural network that closely models the performance of agrammatic aphasics on German participle inflection. The network constructs a modular architecture leading to a double dissociation between regular and irregular verbs, and lesioning the trained network accounts for data obtained from aphasic subjects (Penke et al. 1999, published in Brain + Language). The paper is A Constructivist Neural Network Model of German Verb Inflection in Agrammatic Aphasia Gert Westermann, David Willshaw, Martina Penke and can be downloaded from http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~gert/publications/icann99.pdf or http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~gert/publications/icann99.ps A short paper with some more thoughts on the implications of this model is called "Single Mechanism but not Single Route: Learning Verb Inflections in Constructivist Neural Networks" and it's available at http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~gert/publications/bbs.pdf or http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~gert/publications/bbs.ps From marinis at ling.uni-potsdam.de Tue Aug 31 23:11:38 1999 From: marinis at ling.uni-potsdam.de (Theodor Marinis) Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 01:11:38 +0200 Subject: GALA' 99 - CONFERENCE PROGRAM Message-ID: GALA' 99 Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition 1999 University of Potsdam, Germany September 10-12, 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONFERENCE PROGRAM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday 10th September ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ GALA '99 Registration: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8am - 2pm in the foyer of Building 8. This is the building where all plenary and poster sessions take place. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9.30-10.00: Welcoming Remarks ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10.00-11.00: Plenary Session Stephen Crain: Rethinking the Continuity Hypothesis (Building 8: Auditorium Maximum) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11.00-11.30: Coffee Break ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session A: Building 9, Room 1.05 11.30-12.00 Bart Hollebrandse: Temporal dependencies: complement and relative clauses compared 12.00-12.30 Gennaro Chierchia, Maria Teresa Guasti & Andrea Gualmini: Early omission of articles and the syntax/semantics map ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session B: Building 9, Room 1.14 11.30-12.00 Rosalind Thornton: VP ellipsis: infinitives not an option 12.00-12.30 Petra Gretsch: Are wh-elements really optional in early question acquisition? The case of wh-drop against focal ellipsis ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12.30-2.00: Lunch /Poster Session I (Building 8: Foyer) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session A: Building 9, Room 1.05 2.00-2.30 Zvi Penner, Karin Wymann & Petra Schulz Specific language impairments revisited: Parallelism vs. deviance 2.30-3.00 Spyridoula Varlokosta: Asymmetries in the acquisition of pronominal reference in normal and SLI children 3.00-3.30 Christer Platzack: The vulnerable C-domain ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session B: Building 9, Room 1.14 2.00-2.30 David LeBlanc: 'Parameter setting' and the minimalist program 2.30-3.00 Susan M. Powers: Pre-functional merge structures 3.00-3.30 William Snyder, Thomas Roeper, Kazuko Hiramatsu, Stephanie Tyburski & Matthew Saccoman: Language acquisition in a minimalist framework: Root compounds, merger, and the syntax-morphology interface ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.30-4.00: Coffee Break ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session A: Building 9, Room 1.05 4.00-4.30 Linda Escobar & Anna Gavarro: The acquisition of Catalan clitics and its implications for complex verb structure 4.30-5.00 Mireia Llinas-Grau, William Snyder, Eva Bar-Shalom & Merce Coll-Alfonso: Telicity, word order, and tense in early Russian and Catalan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session B: Building 9, Room 1.14 4.00-4.30 Peter Coopmans & Sergey Avrutin: A syntax-discourse perspective on the acquisition of reflexives in Dutch 4.30-5.00 Aafke Hulk & Natascha M?ller: Crosslinguistic influence at the interface between syntax and pragmatics ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5.00-6.00: Plenary Session Celia Jacubowitz: Functional Categories in (Ab)normal Language Acquisition (Building 8: Auditorium Maximum) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Saturday 11th September ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9.00-10.00: Plenary Session Virginia Valian: Input, Innateness, and Learning (Building 8: Auditorium Maximum) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10.00-10.30: Coffee Break ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session A: Building 9, Room 1.05 10.30-11.00 Barbara H?hle, J?rgen Weissenborn, Anja Ischebeck & Michaela Schmitz: Prosodic bootstrapping into language specific word order 11.00-11.30 Elizabeth K. Johnson & Peter W. Jusczyk: When speech cues count more than statistics 11.30-12.00 Joao Costa & M. Joao Freitas: On the representation of nasal vowels: Evidence from Portuguese children's data ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session B: Building 9, Room 1.14 10.30-11.00 Jeannette C. Schaeffer & Lisa Matthewson: On determiner choice in English child language and St'at'imcets 11.00-11.30 Misha Becker: The acquisition of copulas 11.30-12.00 Lynn Santelmann: The acquisition of determiners in child Swedish: Interactions in prosodic and syntactic constraints ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session :C Building 8, Room 0.58 10.30-11.00 Unyierie Angela Idem: Place of articulation as a variability factor in interlanguage phonology 11.00-11.30 Joe Pater, Masahiko Komatsu & Wolf Wikeley: The perceptual acquisition of Thai phonology by English speakers: Evidence for underspecification of predictable features? 11.30-12.00 Eunjin Oh: Second-language acquisition of degree of CV coarticulation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12.00-2.00: Lunch /Poster Session II (Building 8: Foyer) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session A: Building 9, Room 1.05 2.00-2.30 Janet Grijzenhout & Sandra Joppen : The lack of onsets in German child phonology 2.30-3.00 Ioanna Kappa: Consonant harmony in phonological development 3.00-3.30 Sophie Wauquier-Gravelines Acquisition of floating segments in a constraint-based phonology : the case of liaison in French ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session B: Building 9, Room 1.14 2.00-2.30 Cathy Fragman: The spontaneous production of relative clauses in two French children 2.30-3.00 Adriana A. Alvarez: Acquisition of Spanish causative constructions 3.00-3.30 Theodore Marinis : Acquiring the possessive construction in modern Greek ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session :C Building 8, Room 0.58 2.00-2.30 Adrianna Belletti & Cornelia Hamann Ca on fait pas! On the L2-acquisition of French by two young children with different source languages 2.30-3.00 Julia Herschensohn: The accidental infinitive: Missing inflection in L2 French 3.00-3.30 Antonella Sorace: On the "primacy of strong pronouns": selective optionality in L2 ultimate attainment and L1 attrition ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.30-4.00: Coffee Break ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4.00-5.00: Plenary Session J?rgen Meisel: On the Possibility of Becoming a Monolingual but Competent Speaker (Building 8: Auditorium Maximum) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6.00 Dinner on board MS Cecilienhof ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sunday 12th September ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9.00-10.00: Plenary Session Roberta Golinkoff Breaking the Language Barrier: How Babies Do It and Scientists Study It (Building 8: Auditorium Maximum) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10.00-10.30: Coffee Break ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session A: Building 9, Room 1.05 10.30-11.00 Katharina K?hler: Topicalization in root infinitives 11.00-11.30 Inge Lasser: The notion of "grammaticality" in language acquisition theory 11.30-12.00 Nina Hyams: The aspectual nature of root non-finite clauses in child language ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session B: Building 9, Room 1.14 10.30-11.00 Irene Kraemer: An interface approach to the comprehension of specific indefinites 11.00-11.30 Julien Musolino & Stephen Crain: Not just any learnability problem 11.30-12.00 Wenda Bergsma: Children's interpretation of Dutch sentences with the focus particle 'alleen' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12.00-12.30: Snack ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session A: Building 9, Room 1.05 12.30-1.00 Ute Bohnacker: Root infinitives in bilingual Icelandic-English 1.00-1.30 Vaijayanthi Sarma: Case and agreement: The issue of non-finite sentences in acquisition ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Session B: Building 9, Room 1.14 12.30-1.00 Maaike Verrips: What do children know about implicit arguments? 1.00-1.30 Carla Soares: The Acquisition of D, AGRs, T and C: additional evidence ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.30-2.30: Plenary Session Thomas Roeper How Acquisition Theory Refines Minimalism (Building 8: Auditorium Maximum) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Alternate Papers ----------------- Bernadette Plunkett: Null topics and Wh-interrogatives in Child French Lucienne Rasetti: Some notes on the interpretive properties of null subjects in early French ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Poster Session I: Friday, 10th September, 12.30 - 2.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sergio Baauw The acquisition of pronominal coreference in Spanish: The clitic-full pronoun distinction and the role of clitic doubling Heiner Drenhaus Acquiring ditransitive verbs in German: Animacy, accusative pronouns, dative DPs and in scrambled DPs Elma Blom On the meaning of root infinitives in child and adult Dutch Tania Ionin & Ken Wexler Verbal inflection differences in Child L1 and L2 acquisition of English Masja Kempen, Steven Gillis & Frank Wijnen Explaining root infinitives in Dutch child language: Intake = output. A computer simulation study Evelien Krikhaar & Marijin van Dijk Quantitative and qualitative dynamics of language development: Prepositions Irene Kraemer Scope of VP operators and scrambling: Late acquisition Julien Musolino Delayed knowledge and the syntax-semantics interface Montserrat Pericot Evidence against transfer in bilingual first language acquisition: The acquisition of adjective-noun/noun-adjective sequences by bilingual Spanish-English and Catalan-English children Christiane Schelletter, Indra Sinka & Michael Garman Case marking and agreement: Bilingual evidence from English, German and Latvian Arhonto Terzi & Kakia Petinou Clitic (mis)placement in delayed language ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Poster Session II: Saturday, 11th September, 12.00 - 2.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mamiko Akita The timing of articulatory gestures in L2 learners of English Larisa Avram Clitic omission in child language and multiple spell-out Ute Bohnacker Early syntactic language differentiation in a successively bilingual child Helen Goodluck & Arhonto Terzi PRO-gating contexts and child and adult comprehension Cornelia Hamann The acquisition of French WH revisited Sharon Peperkamp & Emmanuel Dupoux Prelexical phonological acquisition Koji Sugisaki LF Wh-movement in child Japanese Rosalind Thornton No lack of focus before two Anastasia Maggana Word order patterns on interlanguage: similarities and differences among L2 learners of modern Greek Marlies van der Velde, Cecilia Jacubowitz & Catherine Rigaut The acquisition of nominative and object clitics by two French-speaking children Yang Xiaolu Semantic subsets principle in L1 acquisition of restrictive focus in Chinese Roumyana Slabakova Are complex predicates and N-N compounds part of the same parameter? Spyridoula Varlokosta Clause structure and functional categories in child L2 acquisition: Evidence from modern Greek Mariko Kondo Evidence of stress foot in English speaker's Japanese Petra Schulz, Karin Wymann & Zvi Penner The acquisition of endstate-oriented verbs in normally developing and SLI children in German - manner or endstate bias? Katerina Zombolou (L1)The acquisition of passive voice in Greek. Its empirical research with the experimental method of elicited production ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Other information available on the web: http://www.ling.uni-potsdam.de/gala99/ e-mail: gala99 at ling.uni-potsdam.de