17.1866, Qs: Left/Right Terms: Body Parts; Multi-media Teaching Materials

[linguist at LINGUISTLIST.ORG]

LINGUIST List: Vol-17-1866. Fri Jun 23 2006. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 17.1866, Qs: Left/Right Terms: Body Parts; Multi-media Teaching Materials

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Wayne State U <aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry at linguistlist.org>
 
Reviews (reviews at linguistlist.org) 
        Laura Buszard-Welcher, U of California, Berkeley  
        Sheila Dooley, U of Arizona  
        Terry Langendoen, U of Arizona  

Homepage: 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: Ann Sawyer <sawyer 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: 20-Jun-2006
From: Mary Raymond < m.raymond at soas.ac.uk >
Subject: Intrinsic Left/Right Terms for Body Parts 

2)
Date: 20-Jun-2006
From: Scott Fults < swf at wam.umd.edu >
Subject: Request for Multi-media Teaching Materials 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 12:35:34
From: Mary Raymond < m.raymond at soas.ac.uk >
Subject: Intrinsic Left/Right Terms for Body Parts 
 


Dear Linguists

Do all languages have intrinsic terms for distinguishing left and right body 
parts?

I am working on spatial reference in Kubokota, an Oceanic language which 
uses mainly absolute frame of reference (e.g. lexicalising geographic 
direction in verbs such as 'go landward', 'go seaward'). After a recent knee 
operation my partner was more than usually concerned with the importance 
of being able to identify one leg from the other ('Please operate on my 
left/#seaward knee!'), and wanted to know what languages do if they only 
use absolute frame of reference (FoR).

Three languages I have investigated, Kubokota, Balinese and Guugu 
Yimithirr, have specific terms for 'right hand' and 'left hand', which are used 
only to refer to body parts, while using absolute FoR elsewhere in the 
language.

Does anyone know of a language which does not use left and right for 
differentiating paired body parts? If so, what do speakers do instead? If not, 
is this a linguistic universal?

Thanks for your help.

Mary Raymond 

Linguistic Field(s): Anthropological Linguistics
                     General Linguistics
                     Semantics
                     Typology


	
-------------------------Message 2 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 12:35:38
From: Scott Fults < swf at wam.umd.edu >
Subject: Request for Multi-media Teaching Materials 

	

Dear LINGUISTList,

The linguistics department at the University of Maryland is changing much
of its introduction to linguistics course.  The course is taken entirely by
non-linguistics majors (though, we hope some of them become intrigued
enough to go on to majoring in linguistics).  We are asking for your help
in acquiring digital multi-media teaching demonstrations and tools in an
effort to make the course more engaging for these kinds of students.

I know that there have been several requests for this type of material
before on the LINGUISTList.  But seeing as how fast technology changes, and
how fast websites come and go, I thought it was time for another try.  I
will, of course, make the information that I receive available in a summary
(in fact, I might put together a website with links, downloads, etc.)

We are looking for pictures, sound and video files that deal with any
aspect of linguistics that you use in your linguistics courses, i.e.,
phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax.  But, we are especially
interested in examples that demonstrate principles in sociolinguistics,
animal communication, sign language, pragmatics, writing systems,
acquisition, and psycholinguistics.

We are not asking for your teaching materials, i.e., slides, class notes,
etc.  Just the multimedia examples or demonstrations that you might use to
help teach a particular point.  For instance, we are looking for things
like: audio/video clips of babies cooing, babbling, etc., video of ASL or
Nicaraguan Sign Language that demonstrates a particular grammatical
example, audio of Hawaiian Creole, or the stimuli used in a famous
experiment, etc.

If you have multi-media materials that you would like to share with us,
please send an email to me at: swf at wam.umd.edu.  Please include the
following along with the email:

1) the file or a link to the file
2) your name and affiliation
3) whether there are any copyright restrictions on the material
4) whether or not you would like the file to be freely available on our website
5) any other comments or instructions that you think are relevant


Thank you,

Scott Fults
University of Maryland, College Park 

Linguistic Field(s): Discipline of Linguistics
 



-----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-17-1866