16.1945, Qs: Coding Laughter; Relative Clauses

[LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-16-1945. Thu Jun 23 2005. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 16.1945, Qs: Coding Laughter; Relative Clauses

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

1)
Date: 22-Jun-2005
From: Mary Zdrojkowski < mzdrojkow at emich.edu >
Subject: Coding Laughter

2)
Date: 23-Jun-2005
From: Bao-yu Hsieh < m931020017 at student.nsysu.edu.tw >
Subject: Relative Clauses in Existential Sentences

	
-------------------------Message 1 ----------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Jun 2005 18:25:16
From: Mary Zdrojkowski < mzdrojkow at emich.edu >
Subject: Coding Laughter



I'm researching laughter in interaction and am looking for a way to code
the types of laughter in my corpus of writing center tutorials. Also, I'm
trying to devise a classification scheme that ties a particular type of
laughter with an emotion i.e. nervousness, anxiety, pleasure, and wonder if
anyone else is looking at this.

Thank you very much, Mary Zdrojkowski

Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis
                     Psycholinguistics
                     Sociolinguistics


	
-------------------------Message 2 ----------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Jun 2005 18:25:19
From: Bao-yu Hsieh < m931020017 at student.nsysu.edu.tw >
Subject: Relative Clauses in Existential Sentences

	

Dear linguists,

I am working on my term paper on the relative clauses used in existential
there sentences.  I would like to seek comments on the following sentences
that were drawn from articles searched from Google.

(1)There is the mobile phone business, which was supposed to bring
broadband connections to our cell phones

(2)Obviously, there is the possibility of misimpressions and poor judgment.
That's not news.

(3)The disaster is complicated because there are the effects of the
earthquake near the epicentre (Aceh) and the widespread effects of the
tsunami wave.

(4)There is the little known story of Rachel and Grace Martin who disguised
themselves as men and assailed a British courier and his guards.

(5)Finally there are the NxView files (You can see a good example on How
Gas Turbine Engines Work).

My questions are:
a. Can you inform me articles on the definite noun phrases used in there
existential sentences?

b. Will the meaning change if we change sentences (4) and (5) to "Here is
the little known story of Rachael and Grace Martin?'' and"Here are the
NxView files?"?

c. What is the difference between there existential constructions and there
used in location constructions like"here"?

d. Another question is related to the restrictive and non-restrictive
relative clauses in there sentences:

(6) Many Americans approve of violence.
(7) There are many Americans who approve of violence.
(8) There are many Americans, who approve of violence.
(9) There are a small amount of people who get married in their teenage.
(10) There are a small amount of people, who get married in their teenage.

d-1. Can (8) and (10) be possibly uttered, and what is the difference
between their restricted relative clause counterparts in (7) and (9),
respectively, or no difference?

d-2. Can (6) and (8) get the same interpretation?

Thank you for your reply and I will post a summary of my query.

Linguistic Field(s): Semantics
                     Syntax




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