LINGUIST List 13.2954

Thu Nov 14 2002

Qs: Vowel Dissimilation, Vlax Lang, Lengthening

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

  1. John Lynch, Query: Low vowel dissimilation
  2. Ann Evans, The Vlax Community in Greece
  3. beltzung Jean-Marc, Compensatory Lengthening

Message 1: Query: Low vowel dissimilation

 Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 14:56:43 +1100
From: John Lynch <lynch_jVANUATU.USP.AC.FJ>
Subject: Query: Low vowel dissimilation

I am investigating a phenomenon which is found in a number of
languages of Micronesia and Vanuatu (synchronic in a few, historical
in others), whereby the first /a/ in an /aCa/ sequence dissimilates,
usually to /e/, and probably via schwa. In some of these languages,
the rule operates (or operated) from left to right:
 *matins > metana > metena
but in others, it operates from right to left, with the first dissimilation
blocking any further application:
 *matana > matena

This kind of dissimilation is unusual enough to suggest that we may be
dealing with a single historical process in a language ancestral to
all dissimilating languages in this region. However, this would imply
a change in directional operation of the rule at some period in some
languages. Can anyone direct me to other examples of this kind of
directional change?

Many thanks in advance.

John Lynch
lynch_jvanuatu.usp.ac.fj
Mail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue

Message 2: The Vlax Community in Greece

 Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 15:49:05 +0000
From: Ann Evans <evansannearthlink.net>
Subject: The Vlax Community in Greece

I am having trouble finding books (in either English or Greek) which
describe and document the Vlax community in Greece. I am usually
referred (as in Ethnologue) to ''gypsy'' communities and Romani
language links. From what I learned in my interviews in Greece last
summer, the Vlaxs do not consider themselves Gypsies, and have in fact
been living in non-nomadic villages in Greece for centuries. Their
language appears to be based on the Latin of the Roman invaders of the
early centuries A.D., not on the Indo-European language coming in the
other direction from India, where the Gypsies came from. I have, in
other words, been gathering facts from here and there, and they don't
appear to fit together, so I am looking for sources which can explain
them more clearly. Thanks for any leads.
Mail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue

Message 3: Compensatory Lengthening

 Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 16:49:44 +0000
From: beltzung Jean-Marc <beltjmhotmail.com>
Subject: Compensatory Lengthening

Dear linguists,

I am working on Compensatory Lengthening Database. I am looking for
several languages and I need help. If someone can provides me some
data about CL in one of this languages : Dzongkha, english, Gurage,
Hindi, Irish (munster),Kabardian Kalispel, Lamang, Latin, Lillooet,
Musey, Nyawaygi, oneida, Pomo, Eastern/ Pomo, Kashaya, Quechua,
Huallaga, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan (Lhassa,Turkish, Uzbek, Veps,
Whichita, Yapese,Yurok, etc.

Thx for your returns
Beltzung Jean-Marc, Paris.
Mail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue