LINGUIST List 12.2573

Mon Oct 15 2001

Qs: Ejectives, Clitics vs. Full Forms

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

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Directory

  1. Barbara Riley, A question regarding ejectives
  2. Mark Mitchell, Different functions of clitics and full forms

Message 1: A question regarding ejectives

 Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 16:17:48 -0700
From: Barbara Riley <brileyhawaii.edu>
Subject: A question regarding ejectives




Aloha,

I am new to the Linguist List and so I am not familiar with the proper
protocol for inquiring, so please pardon any faux pas that I will
likely ake. I will gladly compile the responses that I receive and
write up a report and I will certainly credit any information that I
use in my dissertation.

I would like to know if someone can give me information on ejectives,
particularly t' and k' and the most common direction of lenition. 
Please forward any responses to ofccaloha.net.

Mahalo nui loa,
Barbara Riley
University of Hawaii,
PhD Student, A.B.D.
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Message 2: Different functions of clitics and full forms

 Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2001 19:19:29 +0900
From: Mark Mitchell <mark_mitchellkmug.org>
Subject: Different functions of clitics and full forms


Hello all. I'm looking for references, particularly recent corpus
based research, that addresses the different functions of clitics (or
affixes, fusions, contractions..ie. abbreviated forms) and the
corresponding full forms. I'm especially interested in the different
pragmatics/semantics of English "will' versus "x'll" and "going to"
vs. "gonna".

An example of the latter occured in the popular US TV show 'Friends':

Chandler: "We wanted to kiss at midnight but nobody else is going
to...so...."

<<short snip>

Joey: "Hey Rache, listen, I'm gonna kiss you at midnight."

Why does Chandler choose the full form and Joey the abbreviated
version?

And an example of the former occurs in another episode of the same
show:

Ross (trying, absurdly, to return a couch to the store that he has had
to cut in half):

"I'm a reasonable man. I WILL accept store credit."

Store Employee: "I'll give you store credit in the amount of $4. "

Ross: "I WILL take it"

An essential part of the comedy of the scene comes from Ross's use of
the full form, which sounds ridiculous, especially in contrast to the
store employee's natural use of the abbreviated form.

Any help will be appreciated. I will of course post a summary to the
list. (Why did I choose "will" in that sentence?") Thank you,

mark mitchell
Japan
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