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<p>Dear all,<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 29/11/2021 12:11, Guillaume Jacques
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAAzt3zZ6J3NkpDi_yj4cbEBE1TWaCLF9Cu-2s_aH5J+bkz2XkA@mail.gmail.com">
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<div dir="ltr">[...]
<div><br>
</div>
<div>On a related topic, some ancient languages such as Ugaritic
and Old Persian had word separators other than space.</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:
minor-latin">And some very modern languages too.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Here are some texts from my
Indonesian SMS
corpus, dating from the early 2000s, when semi-literate speakers
began writing
their colloquial varieties of Indonesian for the very first
time, and were
inventing orthographic conventions on the fly (Gil 2004,2020).<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:
minor-latin"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:
minor-latin">In (1) the speaker uses a full stop for word
boundaries, and a
question mark for sentence boundaries.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>In (2) the speaker uses a full stop for word boundaries
and upper case for
the beginning of the next word (though I suspect the latter was
produced
automatically by the mobile phone's texting software).<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>in (3) the speaker uses a
comma for word boundaries.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>And
in (4) the speaker uses a plus sign.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>What these examples show is
that in spite of
numerous deviations from the orthographic conventions of
Standard Indonesian
(many of which reflect particular phonological properties of the
respective dialects),
the speakers experienced a strong drive to represent word
boundaries in one way
or another.<span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span dir="RTL"
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
lang="AR-SA"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:black;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:HE" lang="EN-US"><span
dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>(1) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US">Dapit?ini.no.mama.adi?klu.mau.kirim.pls.no.ini.ya.pit?</span><span
dir="RTL"
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:
minor-latin;color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="AR-SA"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span dir="RTL"
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin" lang="AR-SA"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:black;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span dir="LTR"></span><span
dir="LTR"></span>(2)
Pit.Sori.Yah.Pian.Antar.Teman.Nyjum.Dulu.Kasian.Ama.Dia.Yah.Pian.Kaga.Bawa.Hape.Takut.Ada.Jambret.Hp.Di.Taro.Di.Rumah.Pian.Kaga.Aptipin.Dulu.Yah.Jangan.Marah.Soalnya.Kalaw.Pian.Idupin.Kasian.Ama.Sodara.Pian.Dia.Udah.Tidur.</span><span
dir="RTL"
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:
minor-latin;color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="AR-SA"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span dir="RTL"
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin" lang="AR-SA"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:black;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span dir="LTR"></span><span
dir="LTR"></span>(3)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US">Terus,gimana,aku,disining,tak,mungkin,bang,rudi,menanggung,makanku,disini,sampai,kamu,sampai,dipakan,vid.bls.</span><span
dir="RTL"
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:
minor-latin;color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="AR-SA"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:
minor-latin"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:
minor-latin">(4)<span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
lang="EN-US">Pit+kalao+udah+siyam+kerja+tlp+aku+ya+pit+</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:
minor-latin"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:
minor-latin"> </span></p>
<p class="ReferencesT" style="mso-pagination:widow-orphan
lines-together"><span
style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"
lang="EN-US">Gil, David
(2004) "Learning About Language from Your Handphone; <i
style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal">dan, and </i>and <i
style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">&</i> in
SMSs from the Siak River Basin", in Katharina Endriati Sukatmo
ed., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Kolita 2, Konferensi
Linguistik Tahunan Atma
Jaya, </i>Pusat Kajian Bahasa dan Budaya, Unika Atma Jaya,
Jakarta, 57-61.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-left:27.0pt;text-align:justify;text-justify:
inter-ideograph;text-indent:-27.0pt"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Gil, David (2020) "What Does It
Mean to
Be an Isolating Language? The Case of Riau Indonesian", in D.
Gil and A.
Schapper eds., <i>Austronesian Undressed: How and Why Languages
Become
Isolating</i>, John Benjamins, Amsterdam, 9-96.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
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<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
David Gil
Senior Scientist (Associate)
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>
Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-526117713
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81344082091
</pre>
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