12.357, Qs: References/Multilinguists, Preposition/Register

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LINGUIST List:  Vol-12-357. Mon Feb 12 2001. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 12.357, Qs: References/Multilinguists, Preposition/Register

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1)
Date:  Wed, 7 Feb 2001 22:46:13 +0100
From:  franco.cappelletti at t-online.de (Franco.Cappelletti)
Subject:  books on multilinguists

2)
Date:  Wed, 7 Feb 2001 19:31:52 -0600
From:  "William J. Crawford" <wcrawfor at facstaff.wisc.edu>
Subject:  preposition placement in written and spoken registers

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

Date:  Wed, 7 Feb 2001 22:46:13 +0100
From:  franco.cappelletti at t-online.de (Franco.Cappelletti)
Subject:  books on multilinguists



Dear all,

I happened to come across your list only today, and
I know that my question may be a little far-fetched but - can anyone recommend
books on multilinguists that are still available (I can imagine that it will be
hard to get Russell's account on Mezzofanti nowadays)?
By way of background, I am half-German/half-Italian
and happen to work as a specialised translator and interpreter for legal
English; I master (sure depends on how you define that term) seven or eight
languages and tend to take the sceptic view, i.e. I do not believe that
Mezzofanti's or others' feats (being in command of 20, 50 or even more
languages) can possibly be true.
Any feedback welcome

Franco Cappelletti


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

Date:  Wed, 7 Feb 2001 19:31:52 -0600
From:  "William J. Crawford" <wcrawfor at facstaff.wisc.edu>
Subject:  preposition placement in written and spoken registers

I am interested in any quantitative data supporting the often cited
notion that prepositions are stranded (*who(m) are you talking to?*)
in wh-questions and relative clauses more frequently in spoken
registers and are piped (* to whom are you talking?*) more frequently
in written registers.

A corpus analysis would be nice but any quantitative data will do.

I'll post a summary if the responses warrant it.
-
William J. Crawford
University of Wisconsin-Madsion
Dept. of English
5116 H.C. White Hall
Madison, WI.  53706
wcrawfor at facstaff.wisc.edu
(608) 263-3780

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