LINGUIST List 12.2193

Fri Sep 7 2001

Qs: Turk/Rus Learners of Ger/2 readings "if not..."

Editor for this issue: Richard John Harvey <richardlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Uwe Naumann, Turkish/Russian learners of German
2. Atsushi Fukada, two readings of ", if not..."

Dear linguists,

Does anyone have or know somebody who has longitudinal data from
turkish or russian learners of German. I'm working in a research
project on grammaticalization in SLA; therefore the data should
contain early stages of learning (prebasic or basic
variety). Preferably the data should be in a computer written form. I
will post a summary of answers. Thanks in advance. Uwe Naumann

Uwe Naumann
Freie Universit�t Berlin
FB Philosophie und Geisteswissenschaften
Institut f�r Germanistik
Boltzmannstr. 3
14195 Berlin
0049/(0)30/83854151
E-mail: linguatzedat.fu-berlin.de

The ", if not..." clause as in (1) and (2) seems to have two readings:
concessive and extensive.

(1) She was happy, if not ecstatic.

 [Typically read as concessive. 'Although she may not have
 been ecstatic, she was at least happy.']

(2) She is as good a teacher as he is, if not better.

 [Typically read as extensive. 'She is as good and she may
 even be better than he.']

The question is exactly how these readings emerge. Has anyone worked on
this? Any reference or information on it will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Atsushi Fukada
Associate Professor of Japanese and Linguistics
Purdue University