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LINGUIST List 21.240

Fri Jan 15 2010

Qs: Betting Constructions Questionnaire

Editor for this issue: Elyssa Winzeler <elyssalinguistlist.org>

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        1.    Dan Ponsford, Betting Constructions Questionnaire
Message 1: Betting Constructions Questionnaire
Date: 13-Jan-2010
From: Dan Ponsford <d.ponsfordlancaster.ac.uk>
Subject: Betting Constructions Questionnaire
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Dear colleagues,

We are doing a survey on betting constructions and would very much
appreciate your help. Below is a short questionnaire with a number of
questions relating to various aspects of betting constructions. If you
could answer any of these with respect to your native language or any other
language that you know we would be very grateful. We suspect that the
constructions that we are after may not be present in all languages.
However, we have good reason to believe that betting constructions are not
restricted to just European languages.

We have already had some interesting responses from several colleagues who
we approached individually for which we are very grateful. We would be
quite happy to have additional responses to the questionnaire emailed
directly to us. If you have any other observations about the linguistic
expression of bets not covered by the questionnaire, please do share them
with us as well. We will then collate our responses and post them all
together on the Linguist List, once a good number have been assembled.

Our email addresses are d.ponsfordlancaster.ac.uk (Dan Ponsford) and
a.siewierskalancaster.ac.uk (Anna Siewierska).

Thank you very much for your help,

Dan Ponsford, Anna Siewierska, Willem Hollmann
Lancaster University

Questionnaire:

Please give the name of your language (including variety).

Here is a little scenario: I ask my mother to do something. She may
remember; she may forget. I say to you:

'I bet you fifty dollars she forgets.'

Please answer the following questions.

(1) How would you express the sequence in quotes most naturally in your
language? Please gloss your example.

Betting is often done on sports. Here is a second little scenario:
Me and my brother are watching a football match between Manchester United
and Barcelona. He says that Manchester United will win. But I think
Barcelona will win. I say to him:

'I bet you fifty dollars Barcelona win.'

(2) How would you express the sequence in quotes? Please gloss your example.

(3) If your answer to (1) or (2) used a word specifically meaning 'bet' or
'to bet', does this word have any senses other than the betting sense?

(4) If your answer to (1) mentioned 'I' and 'you', is it also possible to
express the same meaning without mentioning 'I', without mentioning 'you',
or without mentioning either? If so, please give examples.

(5) Is there a conventional way of agreeing to a bet in your language? In
English, bets are conventionally accepted with expressions such as 'Done!'
or 'You're on!'

(6) Can a construction similar to the one in your answer to (1) be used to
show how strongly one believes a proposition to be true? For example, in
English it is possible to say the following with no gambling intention.

'I bet you anything they won't come.'
'I bet you they won't come.'
'I bet they won't come.'

If this is possible in your language, could you provide a glossed example.
If it is not possible, how would you express the same meaning?

(7) How would you express the following in your language? Please give
glossed examples.

'I'll give you fifty dollars.'
'I promise you fifty dollars.'
'I promise you she'll forget.'
'I predict that she'll forget.'
'I will put the money there.'

Many thanks for your help.

Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis
                            Pragmatics
                            Sociolinguistics
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