LINGUIST List 13.2722

Mon Oct 21 2002

Qs: Lang Transfer, Vowel Harmony

Editor for this issue: Renee Galvis <reneelinguistlist.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.

Directory

yooulee noh, language transfer
Les Zsoldos, vowel harmony in the Finno-Ugric languages

Message 1: language transfer

Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2002 13:24:23 +0000
From: yooulee noh <say9511

hotmail.com>
Subject: language transfer


Hello. All

I'm a student in NYU TESOL program. As one of my projects, I'm
planning to study language transfer, especially Korean to English. The
specific topic of my project is negative questions. For example,
Koreans will answer in Korean "No, I can play guitar." to the nagative
question such as "Can't you play guitar?" When Koreans say "no",
unlike English, it is not related to the truth of the ability but
negates the semantic content of what the person is asking. Because of
this, Korean students learning English, in particular beginners, tend
to make mistakes when they answer to negative questions in English.

If you know some books, research papers, or articles about this topic,
would you kindly reply me? Or, if you have general suggestions or
comments on my topic, please reply me. Thank you very much in advance.




YOOULEE NOH
NYU TESOL
646-654 6585

Mail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue

Message 2: vowel harmony in the Finno-Ugric languages

Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 20:16:10 +0000
From: Les Zsoldos <lgz

sfu.ca>
Subject: vowel harmony in the Finno-Ugric languages


I'd like to know more about vowel harmony in Mordvin, Cheremis (Mari),
Votyak (Udmurt) and Zyryan (Komi). Are there many examples of vowel
harmony in these languages? Do they have palatal harmony (front/back)
and labial harmony (rounded/undround) or only one or the other? Do
the two dialects of Mordvin (Erzya and Moksha) exhibit differences in
their systems of vowel harmony or are they identical? Here's a good
example of vowel harmony in Hungarian: megyek, jo:vo:k and csina'lok.
These words mean I'm going, I'm coming, I'm doing/making. These verbs
consist of a stem plus linking vowel and k. The o: corresponds to a
mid front rounded vowel, and a' to a long vowel. Are there similar
paradigms in the languages which I've already named?

Thanks.

Mail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue