LINGUIST List 15.3034

Mon Oct 25 2004

Qs: German Lang in Africa; Prenominal -ing Modifier

Editor for this issue: Steven Moran <stevelinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Manuela Belligoi, German Lang in Africa
2. Yosuke Miyata, Prenominal Modifiers

Message 1: German Lang in Africa

Date: 25-Oct-2004
From: Manuela Belligoi
Subject: German Lang in Africa

Dear all,

my name is Manuela Belligoi, I'm a student at the University of Turin, Italy.

In order to start compiling my graduation thesis I'm looking for detailed
information about the linguistical legacy of the German language in the
region of African Great Lakes, (in particular the German legacy in Kirundi
language) I would need information which is possibly written in German.

Germans colonized this part of the continent between 18th and 19th
centuries -the so called ''Deutsche Ostafrika'' colony-, I
have alrealdy done some researches about the linguistical legacy of the
German language in the African languages of this area but could not find
anything relevant.

Could you help me, please, in finding some reference books, articles etc.?
or tell me where I could find something which could be useful to me?

I thank you in advance and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best regards,
Manuela Belligoi

Linguistic Field(s): Anthropological Linguistics; Sociolinguistics

Subject Language(s): German Language Code: GER

Message 2: Prenominal Modifiers

Date: 24-Oct-2004
From: Yosuke Miyata <faiz

nfity.com>
Subject: Prenominal Modifiers

I am an MA student in Japan.
I hope that native English speakers answer the questions in
http://homepage2.nifty.com/b_n-g_k/prenominal-ing.html
as informants. Before that, let me speak the basic research background briefly.
I am working on "prenominal -ing modifiers" of English. My major interest
is the constraint on transitive -ing. Generally, and to my knowledge,
intransitive -ing forms can modify the head noun but transitive -ing cannot:

(1) boiling water
(2) *the eating man

The latter case is also called pseudo-intransitive (cf. Lees, 1960). Some
of the verbs which are originally transitive can delete its objects in
context and in this sense they are pseudo-intransitive. Nevertheless, such
transitive verbs can premodify the noun if some additional element is
accompanied, e.g., *the eating man -> the fish-eating man.
There are four problems concerning my research. First, although (2) is
grammatically incorrect, it may be possible to interpret what it says. That
is, (2) means that the man who is performing the action denoted by the verb
in -ing form.
Second problem is that it seems that the acceptability of prenominal -ing
form of transitive verbs varies. among speakers. One American professor
(syntax major) in my university told that (2) was acceptable.
Thirdly, the interpretation of prenominal -ing forms are different
according to the context; i.e., "progressive" or "generic". If we say
"dancing girl", we might take it either as "a girl who is dancing (now)" or
"a girl who lives on dancing", etc.
The last problem is about definiteness / indefiniteness of the article.
According to Qurik et al. (1985), they say "The indefinite article favours
the habitual or permanent, the definite article the specific or temporary." :

(3) ?The approaching train is from Liverpool.
(4) He was frightened by an approaching train.

I hope that those who are native English speakers visit
http://homepage2.nifty.com/b_n-g_k/prenominal-ing.html
and answer the questions as informants.
If you answer the questions, send to faiz

nifty.com, please. If I receive
enough answers, I will post in Sum.

PS: I am also interested in Generative Lexicon theory of J.Pustejovsky. If
anyone knows papers dealing with adjectives or prenominal modifiers of
English from the perspective of GL theory such as Bouillon,P(1999), please
notify me.

Sincerely,

Yosuke Miyata
faiz

nifty.com

Linguistic Field(s): Semantics; Syntax

Subject Language(s): English Language Code: ENG
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