LINGUIST List 2.381

Friday, 2 August 1991

Disc: Standard lgs, Kinship, Suffixgate

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. Vicki Fromkin, Re: Queries: Standard Languages
2. Malcolm Ross, Re: A query regarding Mama and Dada
3. Scott Delancey, Re: Mama and Papa
4. , -gate

to Vera Horvath: re 'standard language'. It is hard to find an
agreed on definition. Have just been working on the revisions for the
5th edition of Fromkin and Rodman's Intro to Language and on the Language
in Society chapter. I was looking for someone to quote re what is
a standard language or dialect or.... can't find one much better than
the one we have used in the first 4 editions: " The dominant or prestige
dialect is often called the standard dialect. Standard American English
(SAE) is a dialect of English that many Americans almost speak: divergencies
from this 'norm' are labeled 'Philadelphia dialect'., "chicago dialect"...etc."
p 261
It's not great but hope it helps a little. Vicki

David Powers writes, "The Solomon Island language Maringi has Mama =
Father. I forget the word for mother, but I am pretty sure it starts with P or
 F."
I have just checked White's Maringe Dictionary (Pacific Linguistics
C-97) and my own materials. The vocative for father is indeed Mama.
Mother is Ido.
Mama as the 'Daddy' term is common in Melanesia, but not Papa etc for
mother
Malcolm Ross, Linguistics RSPacS ANU

> I know that both Tibetan and Manchuria people call their father
'a ma' <
I don't know the source of this information, but in Central Tibetan and
the modern standard based on it /?a ma/ is definitely 'mother' (or
better, 'Mom'), and /?a pha/ 'father' (or 'Dad').
Scott DeLancey

Canadian politics has its share of "gates" as well. My
favourite is "tunagate": a scandal in which some conservative
cabinet minister allowed tainted tuna to be distributed to
Canadian consumers. (They'd been unable to sell it as cat food...)
Believe it or not, Tunagate was frontpage news for weeks.
-Rob Stainton