LINGUIST List 2.107

Monday, 1 Apr 1991

Disc: Arabic, Ozark, English, WP, Pear, Phonology

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. , Re: Agreement in Arabic
2. Pamela Munro, Ozark English
3. "Michael Kac", Subject-Verb Agreement in English
4. , Pear Stories!
5. Michael Covington, Re: Wordperfect, Fonts, IT
6. , Vowels and Stress

To alison henry, re agreement in arabic
I don't know the answers to your questions myself, but I do know of
a person who would: Jamal Ouhalla, Queen Mary and Westfield College,
London University. He's probably got e-mail, but I don't have an
address for him. He's into functional projections.
Lynn Eubank

In Reply to 2-104
I'm sure Bethany Dumas knows this, but just in case others aren't aware of
it, one of the major sources on the linguistics of Ozark English is Suzette
Haden Elgin (perhaps best known to many as the author of the books on Verbal
Self=Defense). I don't know if Suzette does e-mail, but she can be reached
through the Ozark Center for Language Studies, PO Box 1137, Huntsville AL
72740. Pam Munro u

Susan Fischer notes a class of existential constructions in English where
Subject-Verb agreement can evidently be violated. Her example involves num-
ber agreement, but there are also cases involving lack of agreement in per-
son. Consider e.g. the title of the song 'Till there was (*were!) you' from
'The Music Man'. Failure of both person and number agreement can be found
in sentences like 'There was me, Bill and two people I didn't know'.
If the sentence seems a bit forced in isolation, consider it in a context
like 'Not many people showed up for the meeting. ...'

Michael Kac

 I have been in communication with Wally Chafe, and he tells me that

 Prints of the Pear Film are available from:

 W.A. Palmer Films,
 1475 Old Country Rd.,
 Belmont, CA 94002
 U.S.A.

 The last reported price for a print of the film is US$125.98.

 However, the price for a VHS videotape is US$20, plus shipping.

 Wally adds: 
 "It is essential that you tell them that you want a 
 copy of the film called 'Linguistics Department'. 
 Otherwise they won't be able to find it."

 Seems appropriate...
 -J

Turbofonts is unnecessary if you have Word Perfect 5.1, which has a gigantic
character set all its own (including Greek, Russian, Kana, etc.) and can
print on any printer using graphics mode.

At Georgia we are still planning to distribute a font that fills in the
few commonly used phonetic symbols that are not in the Word Perfect set.
When we have something available, we will announce it here.

---------------------------------------------------------
Michael A. Covington internet mcovingtuga.cc.uga.edu
Artificial Intelligence Programs bitnet MCOVINGTUGA
Graduate Studies Research Center phone 404 542-0359
The University of Georgia fax 404 542-0349
Athens, Georgia 30602 bix, mci mail MCOVINGTON
U.S.A. packet radio N4TMIWB4BSG

(1) Given that even the simplest question about phonological
examples seems to elicit (meta)theoretical controversy, may I
suggest that from now on people specify (both in queries and
responses) the kind of phonological representation they are
talking about. For example, phonetic, phonemic (and if so
what kind), morphophonemic (alias underlying, and if so, according
to which fashion of analysis). 

(2) There are examples of English nouns where a closed penult
is not stressed and the antepenult is instead, where it does
not seem possible to claim that they are disyllablic at
an SPE-style underlying level, e.g. Orchestra, pOdagra (for
some speakers, at least), ClArendon, CAvendish, Ogilvi(e),
badminton. There is also example of a final syllable
containing a tense vowel which does not seem to be derivable
(SPE-style) from a lax one but which does not take either
primary or secondary stress, viz., diabEtes (with "flapped"
t!). 

(3) Regarding the question about languages which not only
have more than one "reduced" vowel, I believe the question
was ultimately restated in such a way that what it boils down
to is: Is there a language in which there are more vowels
under stress than without stress, where there exists a
fully productive (perhaps even automatic) system of alternations
between the stressed and unstressed sets, and the unstressed
set contains MORE THAN ONE element?

If so, most if not all of the examples many of us sent in were irrelevant
(including mine). But what then seem to be relevant would be cases
like Italian open and closed [e], which only contrast under stress,
and where alternations are easy to demonstrate by adding various
suffixes. Likewise, Korean long and short vowels under stress,
only short without stress, alternations in compounds. And there
are many other such examples (even some in English). In all these
cases, the alternation is automatic, and there are fewer vowels
without stress than under stress (but more than 1). However, 
often, the unstressed vowels are not "phonetically reduced" (
whatever that means precisely). 

[End Linguist List, Vol. 2, No. 107]