6.1647, Misc: Linguistic Diversity on Internet, Unusual Sound Change

[The Linguist List]

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LINGUIST List:  Vol-6-1647. Wed Nov 22 1995. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines:  125
 
Subject: 6.1647, Misc: Linguistic Diversity on Internet, Unusual Sound Change
 
Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. <aristar at tam2000.tamu.edu>
            Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. <hdry at emunix.emich.edu>
 
Associate Editor:  Ljuba Veselinova <lveselin at emunix.emich.edu>
Assistant Editors: Ron Reck <rreck at emunix.emich.edu>
                   Ann Dizdar <dizdar at tam2000.tamu.edu>
                   Annemarie Valdez <avaldez at emunix.emich.edu>
 
Software development: John H. Remmers <remmers at emunix.emich.edu>
 
Editor for this issue: lveselin at emunix.emich.edu (Ljuba Veselinova)
 
---------------------------------Directory-----------------------------------
1)
Date:  Sun, 19 Nov 1995 16:32:45 +0100
From:  KNAPPEN at VKPMZD.kph.Uni-Mainz.DE
Subject:  Linguistic Diversity on the Internet
 
2)
Date:  Tue, 21 Nov 1995 12:24:34
From:  Narahiko INOUE<inouen at rc.kyushu-u.ac.jp>
Subject:  Re: 6.1629 Linguistic Diversity on Internet
 
3)
Date:  Sat, 18 Nov 1995 14:50:09 EST
From:  campbel at indiana.edu ("R. Joe Campbell")
Subject:  Another Unusual Sound Change
 
---------------------------------Messages------------------------------------
1)
Date:  Sun, 19 Nov 1995 16:32:45 +0100
From:  KNAPPEN at VKPMZD.kph.Uni-Mainz.DE
Subject:  Linguistic Diversity on the Internet
 
The recent posting is a nice example, how the method of a survey
determines quite well the outcome. At least here in germany, the
so-called `big 8' newsgroups are seen as mainly US-american ones,
including soc.culture.german.
 
There is an own german language top level hierarchie, de.all, with
lots of traffic (readers of this mailing list may be interested in
reading de.etc.sprache.deutsch). Another interesting group is
alt.letzebuerger, where letzebuergisch is the predominant language.
 
For smaller language communities, a mailing list on a given topic is
often more appropriate than a newsgroup, and I know of mailing lists
for many languages not mentioned in the above list.
 
So what else to expect, than a vast english dominance?
 
 --J"org Knappen.
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2)
Date:  Tue, 21 Nov 1995 12:24:34
From:  Narahiko INOUE<inouen at rc.kyushu-u.ac.jp>
Subject:  Re: 6.1629 Linguistic Diversity on Internet
 
About "Linguistic Diversity on the Internet" posted by
bao at firstbyte.davd.com (Benjamin Ao):
 
>2. All but two (Russian and Bulgarian) posting languages have writing
>   systems based on the Roman alphabet.
>
>3. Speakers of languages that do not have Roman alphabet based writing
>   systems don't bother with transliteration (with the exception of
>   Russian and Bulgarian speakers). They simply adopt English.
 
 
If we consider messages exchanged on the Internet WITHIN a country
(ethnic group, etc.), a different picture may emerge.  In Japan, the
majority of messages (at least in my impression) are written in
Japanese with the Japanese writing system (a combination of Chinese
characters and syllabic characters both using two-byte codes).  Most
e-mail messages sent to addresses within Japan and news group postings
in Japan are written in the Japanese writing system.  WWW home pages
often have two versions in Japanese and in English with links to each
other.
 
Use of English or transliteration in Japan is probably considered
impolite to Japanese readers.  Of course,messages across borders or to
and from sites which cannot deal with the Japanese two-byte codes are
written in either in English or transliteration (Romanization).
Again, I do not have any statistical data but the transliteration is
not uncommon.  Sometimes, the transliteration carries more
personalized or affectionate overtones.  It is also intended for
Japanese computer users who do not necessarily understand English
except for very simple expressions.
 
 
Narahiko INOUE, Ph.D.
Institute of Languages & Cultures
Graduate School of Social and Cultural Studies
Kyushu University, JAPAN
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3)
Date:  Sat, 18 Nov 1995 14:50:09 EST
From:  campbel at indiana.edu ("R. Joe Campbell")
Subject:  Another Unusual Sound Change
 
     In the Nahuatl spoken in some of the towns of Guerrero, Mexico (e.g.
San Augusti'n Oapan and Xalitla), the double 'l' sequence
(morphophonemically and phonetically double) /ll/ in other dialects is
realized as [hl].  The segment [h] that occurs word-internally before
consonants in other dialects is deleted.  It should be noted that S.A.O.
shows no tendency to simply devoice /l/ (i.e., > voiceless lateral
fricative) in syllable-final position generally (as is found "in some
other dialects").
 
 
       S.A.O.         "standard" [!?]          gloss
       xahli          xalli                    sand
       otli           ohtli                    road
 
 
campbel at indiana.edu
 
218 Ridgeview Drive
Bloomington, Indiana  47401
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