LINGUIST List 3.338

Sun 12 Apr 1992

Qs: Bicameral, Textual Analysis, Functional

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. Brian Jepson, Julian Jaynes
2. "Bethany Dumas, UTK", Computational & Quantitative Textual Analysis
3. ALI_AGHBAR, FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR

I've been perusing _The_Origin_of_Consciousness_in_the_Breakdown_of_the_
_Bicameral_Mind_ by Julian Jaynes, and was wondering if anyone else has
also had a chance to look at this. If his ideas have any basis in reality,
it would be interesting to subject it to a historical linguistic analysis.

For those not familiar with the book, the title pretty much says it all.
Please e-mail me if you have any criticisms of his theories, or bibliography
of critiques/related works.

Thanks in advance

...__________________________________________________________________
../"The tough coughs as he Brian Jepson /
./ ploughs the dough..." iby223uriacc.uri.edu /
/_________________________________________________________________/

I am writing to ask whether colleagues have taught courses similar
to the one described below and, if so, what materials they have
used, what success they have had, etc. (I shall summarize reponses
for sharing in the usual fashion.) My students will be primarily
graduate students in English, possibly a few from Psychology or
other Liberal Arts areas.

Computational and Quantitative Text Analysis (Spring 1993)

The main focus of the course will be the areas listed below. In
each case, we shall review traditional scholarship in the area,
then (where available) learn to use computer software available for
completing coding and analytic tasks efficiently and inexpensively
(the exact topics to be covered will depend in part upon the
research interests of the students).

1. Electronic text data bases (disk and CD-Rom) (literary and
sacred texts, the Brown Corpus, the OED, etc.)
2. Preparation of text for optical scanning, optical text
scanning
3. Voice digitization and analysis (MacRecorder)
4. Printed text analysis
>Word indexes, concordances and dictionaries
>Word frequency lists
>Vocabulary Studies and Collocations
>Morphological analysis
>Syntactic analysis
>Semantic analysis
>Stylistic analysis, authorship studies, etc.
5. Print options for presentation (special fonts, etc.)
6. Quantitative analysis of language (spoken or written,
including literary text) using VARBRUL in a computerized version,
probably Goldvarb for the Macintosh.
>Phonology/orthography
>Syntax
>Discourse patterns
7. Effective computer demonstration techniques

Could you help me locate practical materials on functional
grammar for students with little background in linguistics? You
can send your message directly to me or to the list. In any
case, I will summarize my results for list members.

I am interested in the kind of functional grammar discussed in
CLEAR AND COHERENT PROSE: A FUNCTIONAL APPROACH by William Vande
Kopple (Scott, Foresman and Co., 1989). Let us take the passive
voice structure, for example. Vande Kopple discusses it in
relation to the function it can play in topicalization and
provides lots of examples and exercises that show how writers may
make use of it to make their writing effective or achieve certain
purposes.

Is there a one-volume text that deals with several such issues?
I am thinking of something one might use as part of a course on
English structure at graduate and undergraduate levels. Also, if
you have a reading list or a sample course syllabus that you
could share with me, I would be most grateful.

Thanks.

Ali Aghbar
AAGHBARIUP.BITNET or: AAGHBARGROVE.IUP.EDU