14.1370, Qs: Prosodic Weakening; Syntactic Acquisition

[LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List:  Vol-14-1370. Tue May 13 2003. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 14.1370, Qs: Prosodic Weakening; Syntactic Acquisition

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Wayne State U.<aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Dry, Eastern Michigan U. <hdry at linguistlist.org>

Reviews (reviews at linguistlist.org):
	Simin Karimi, U. of Arizona
	Terence Langendoen, U. of Arizona

Home Page:  http://linguistlist.org/

The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University, Wayne
State University, and donations from subscribers and publishers.

Editor for this issue: Naomi Fox <fox 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.

In addition to posting a summary, we'd like to remind people that it
is usually a good idea to personally thank those individuals who have
taken the trouble to respond to the query.

To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at
http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.html.

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

1)
Date:  Mon, 12 May 2003 23:23:46 -0400
From:  corinna.anderson at yale.edu
 corinna.anderson at yale.edu
Subject:   prosodic weakening

2)
Date:  Tue, 13 May 2003 12:37:43 +0700 (WIT)
From:  <joko.k at polmed.ac.id>
Subject:  Syntactic acquisition in preleinguistic development

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

Date:  Mon, 12 May 2003 23:23:46 -0400
From:  corinna.anderson at yale.edu
 corinna.anderson at yale.edu
Subject:   prosodic weakening


Dear Linguists,

I'm researching different kinds of vowel reduction and prosodic
weakening (devoicing, deletion) in unstressed syllables. For the sake
of perspective, I am wondering if any language exists which does not
allow two vowels in consecutive syllables to be reduced or weakened.

In other words, if some kind of rhythmic weakening targets a certain
type of vowel (short, reduced, in an open syllable, etc) in a given
language, what happens if several eligible syllables (or just two)
occur in sequence? I am not so interested in English or Russian vowel
reduction, but more along the lines of Syriac, or even Old Slavic. I am
particularly interested in cases of regular syncope in languages with
or without iterative stress, both historical and synchronic.

I'll be very grateful for your responses and of course I'll be happy
to share and/or post a summary if there is interest. Thank you in
advance for your help.

Corinna


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

Date:  Tue, 13 May 2003 12:37:43 +0700 (WIT)
From:  <joko.k at polmed.ac.id>
Subject:  Syntactic acquisition in preleinguistic development


Dear all,

Most discussions on early syntactic development (both monolingualism
and bilingualism) what I have found so far start with children's
two-word utterances. In my opinion, the development of syntactic
acquisition has even started when children are in the prelinguistic
development. This is in accordance with the fact that children are
able to comprehend adults' utterances (usually simple utterances such
as my utterances to my daughter of 1;2 years old "Close the drawer"
and she closes the drawer or "Give it to daddy" and she gives what she
is holding to me if she wants to and she says no while shaking her
head if she doesn't want to).

Is there anybody here who likes to explain the syntactic acquisition
in prelinguistic development and how we can relate it to the later
syntactic development.

cheer,
Joko Kusmanto
State Polytechnic of Medan
Jl. Almamater No. 1 Kampus USU
Medan 20155, Sumut - Indonesia

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-14-1370