8.83, Qs: Yes/no, Chinese, Address, Quote

[linguist at linguistlist.org]

LINGUIST List:  Vol-8-83. Thu Jan 23 1997. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 8.83, Qs: Yes/no, Chinese, Address, Quote

Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. <aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. <hdry at linguistlist.org>
            T. Daniel Seely: Eastern Michigan U. <seely at linguistlist.org>

Review Editor:     Andrew Carnie <carnie at linguistlist.org>

Associate Editors: Ljuba Veselinova <ljuba at linguistlist.org>
                   Ann Dizdar <ann at linguistlist.org>
Assistant Editor:  Sue Robinson <sue at linguistlist.org>
Technical Editor:  Ron Reck <ron at linguistlist.org>

Software development: John H. Remmers <remmers at emunix.emich.edu>
                      Zhiping Zheng <zzheng at online.emich.edu>

Editor for this issue: T. Daniel Seely <seely at linguistlist.org>
 ==========================================================================

We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually
best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is
then  strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list.   This policy was
instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we
would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate.

=================================Directory=================================

1)
Date:  Mon, 20 Jan 1997 21:46:51 +0000
From:  cpeust at gwdg.de
Subject:   yes and no

2)
Date:  Mon, 20 Jan 97 15:56:05 GMT
From:  Paul Woods <P.Woods at dcs.shef.ac.uk>
Subject:  Chinese Corpora

3)
Date:  Fri, 17 Jan 1997 15:32:10 -0600 (CST)
From:  Rebecca Larche Moreton <mlrlm at sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu>
Subject:  Address of Southeast Asian Summer Studies

4)
Date:  Mon, 20 Jan 1997 16:50:40 -0012
From:  "Donn Bayard, Anthropology Dept., Univ. of Otago, Dunedin, NZ"
      <ANTH03 at rivendell.otago.ac.nz>
Subject:  Weinreich quote

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Mon, 20 Jan 1997 21:46:51 +0000
From:  cpeust at gwdg.de
Subject:   yes and no

Dear linguists,

it is quite obvious what "yes" and "no" mean as an answer to
affirmative questions:

Can you see me? - No(, I can't)   means: I cannot see you,
Can you see me? - Yes(, I can)   means: I can see you.

If the question is negative, "yes" and "no" in English refer
to the propositional content of the question only, so the
implication of "yes" and "no" is still the same:

Can't you see me? - No(, I can't)    means: I cannot see you,
Can't you see me? - Yes(, I can)    means: I can see you.

German behaves similarly in principle but shows the peculiarity that
there are different renderings of "yes" after an affirmative question
("ja") and after a negative question ("doch").

I have heard of languages in which the scope of "yes" and "no"
includes the negation within the question, so here one would have:

Can't you see me? - Yes(, I can't)   meaning: I cannot see you,
Can't you see me? - No(, I can)      meaning: I can see you.

If I remember rightly, Japanese and Kisuaheli were said to construct
"yes" and "no" this way.

There are probably also languages which have no word like "yes" and
"no" altogether (classical Latin).

Now I am looking for
- information on the way different languages behave in this respect
- references to general literature on the topic

I will be glad for any answer. A summary will be posted.

Carsten Peust
Seminar of Egyptology and Coptology
Goettingen
cpeust at gwdg.de


-------------------------------- Message 2 -------------------------------

Date:  Mon, 20 Jan 97 15:56:05 GMT
From:  Paul Woods <P.Woods at dcs.shef.ac.uk>
Subject:  Chinese Corpora

I am looking for machine-readable corpora of spoken and
written mandarin Chinese (Mainland and Taiwan) for
research purposes.
Can anyone help?

Thanks,
Paul Woods,
PhD Student,
Dept of Computer Science,
Uni of Sheffield,
UK.


-------------------------------- Message 3 -------------------------------

Date:  Fri, 17 Jan 1997 15:32:10 -0600 (CST)
From:  Rebecca Larche Moreton <mlrlm at sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu>
Subject:  Address of Southeast Asian Summer Studies

Dear Ling-listers:

Could someone supply me with either the terrestrial or the e-mail
address of the organizers of the 1997 Southeast Asian Summer Studies
Institute (SEASSI)?  Thanks.

Please reply to:

Rebecca Larche Moreton
<mlrlm at sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu>



-------------------------------- Message 4 -------------------------------

Date:  Mon, 20 Jan 1997 16:50:40 -0012
From:  "Donn Bayard, Anthropology Dept., Univ. of Otago, Dunedin, NZ"
      <ANTH03 at rivendell.otago.ac.nz>
Subject:  Weinreich quote

In the course of the current discussion on ebonics, the famous quote on a
language being a dialect with an army has surfaced several times.  While on
leave at ANU in 1994 I ran across the quote (usually attributed to Max
Weinreich) in full, together with a transliteration from the original
Yiddish.  As I like most of us make frequent reference to the quote in
teaching, I carefully copied down the quote in both English and Yiddish
transliteration, together with its source.  On my return to Otago I
discovered I had lost the relevant piece of paper.  An inquiry on our local
NZLINGUIST listserver proved fruitless, although several colleagiues asked
me to tell them if I found out.  I will most certainly do this if anyone
out there can supply me with the full quote in English and Yiddish and its
source.  Please post to my e-mail address, and I'll place it on NZLINGUIST.
		Many thanks,
		Donn Bayard
		University of Otago
		Dunedin, NZ

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-8-83