LINGUIST List 10.80

Tue Jan 19 1999

Qs: Channel Is. French, Chinese Sign Lang, Idiom

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. David Britain, Channel Island French
2. H. Lin, Chinese Sign Language
3. Erica Hofmann Kencke, "tide s'o over"

I'm looking for work on the position and status of French in the 
Channel Islands. I've seen N C W Spence's paper in Peter Trudgill's 
(1984) Language in the British Isles, but have been unable to find 
anything recent. Any help would be most appreciated. I'll post a 
summary.

Dave Britain

Dr. David Britain
Department of Language and Linguistics
University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park
COLCHESTER
Great Britain CO4 3SQ

Telephone: (+44) 1206 872101
Fax: (+44) 1206 872085

Telephone 
(from within UK): 01206 872101
(from outside UK): +44 1206 872101

Facsimile
(from within UK): 01206 872198
(from outside UK): +44 1206 872198

E-Mail: dbritainessex.ac.uk

Dear Netters, 
 
I am interested in learning or learning about Chinese Sign Language
(or languages?). Could anyone give me ANY information as to how I should 
proceed? Are there schools in China that teach it? Where in China? How is
teaching conducted in schools for the deaf in China? Where can one find 
such schools? Is there research in this area? How are deaf kids taught in 
Taiwan or Singapore? Are the Sign Language the same in all those areas? ......
 
ANY information is gratefully appreciated. 
 
Hua
*********************************************
Hua Lin, Ph. D.	(Name in GB: or in Big5: L)
Assistant Professor
Department of Linguistics
University of Victoria
P.O.Box 3045
Victoria, British Columbia
Canada V8W 3P4

Phone: (250)-721-6643 (Office)
Fax: (250)-721-7423 (Office)
Email: luahinuvic.ca
Homepage: http://web.uvic.ca/ling/lin
*********************************************

To anyone doing idiom research,

 The idiom, "to tide someone over" is most often heard (in my
experience) when a hungry person eats a snack because it will be a long time
before the next meal, as in, "That will/should tide me/you/him over." 

 I am interested in any information you could send me about the
geographical extent of this idiom, (having heard it in British Columbia and
in Texas) and its semantic range, (I've heard it applied to a few holes of
golf for a golf addict who won't be able to play a full game for a while). 

 Most of all, though, I'd like any tidbits on its history: in
particular, why "tide"? 

Erica Hofmann Kencke
Department of Speech Communication
University of Texas, Austin
ehofmail.utexas.edu