LINGUIST List 3.45

Sun 19 Jan 1992

Qs: Grad Schools, World Languages, Typology, Syncope

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1. I'm not short, merely vertically challenSDFNCRritvax.isc.rit.edu, Appropriate graduate schools
2. Fran Karttunen, query on world's languages
3. Martin Haase, database systems for typology
4. Caroline Wiltshire, query -- phrasal syncope

There is a student here who is interested in issues of language planning,
as related to sign language in the Third World. Does anyone out there
have ideas on which graduate schools are strongest in that area? Thanks.
Susan Fischer

Where could I find some reliable projections of how many languages were
spoken in the world in 1900, how many have ceased to be spoken since
then, how many are likely to cease to be spoken within the next generation
or two, and maybe also how many languages worldwide are thought to have
ceased to be spoken since the initiation of the voyages of discovery?

Thanks,

Frances Karttunen

Has anybody some experience with using a database system for research
in language typology? What system is preferably used? Do you have
experience with programs such as SYBASE, ORACLE, 4th-DIMENSION, or
others? Long or too specific answers can be send directly to me.
Martin
mhaasedosuni1.bitnet (or:) dosuni1.rz.Uni-Osnabrueck.de

Can anyone point me to a language that has syncope in phrases
which results in clusters or syllable shapes not found in words?
I'm wondering whether this ever happens in normal (i.e. not
fast nor casual) speech.

Please address answers to me and I'll summarize if there's general
interest. Thanks in advance.
Caroline Wiltshire