LINGUIST List 3.879

Tue 10 Nov 1992

Qs: Greek; Word lists; Gender; Mandarin

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. , query: transcription of Modern Greek
2. Mike Maxwell 6369, Word lists wanted
3. Ron Smyth, Re: 3.875 Conferences: Systemic; Text Analysis
4. JEROEN WIEDENHOF, Mandarin _da4-ge0-da4_ 'portable telephone'

A query to specialists in Modern Greek:

Is there a standard transcription of Modern Greek for the purposes of syntactic
studies (i.e., I mean not IPA, which is impractical when dealing with syntax)?

In the case of most standardized languages, a standard transcription system
is of course based on the standard orthography, but that is also impractical
in the case of Modern Greek, because the spelling is so different from the
pronunciation. And a phonological transcription depends on a phonological
analysis, of which there seem to be quite a few rather different ones.

Can anyone give me advice on what kind of system I should choose?

Martin Haspelmath, Free University of Berlin

For a paper I'm planning to write about phonological parsing, I need
word lists from several languages, preferably Turkish, Spanish and
German. (A vowel harmony language other than Turkish would be
acceptable, if someone could point me to a phonological sketch of the
language.) The word lists need to be fairly complete (preferably as
complete as would be needed to build a spell checker); but if there
is a problem with proprietary-ness, a section of a list would be
acceptable (e.g. all words beginning with the letters "d" or "e").
The words may be inflection-bearing or roots. It would be nice if
they came with glosses, but that is not necessary, nor is any further
information (grammatical category etc.).

Unless there is an overwhelming objection, I don't plan to post a
summary to the list. So if anyone else is interested in seeing the
results, please email me.

Thanks!

Mike Maxwell maxwelljaars.sil.org

Message 3: Re: 3.875 Conferences: Systemic; Text Analysis

I am writing on behalf of a student who iworking on language and gender
issues. She is looking for ethnographic studs of gender differences along
the lines of Abu's 'Veiled Sentiments'. I happen to recall a CBC radio
broadcast a few months back concerning 'secret' poetry writing in China. Does
anyone remember which programme this was on, who was being interviewed, etc.?
Other references on this topic will be appreciated.
Ron Smyth
smythlake.scar.utoronto.ca

A colleague who just returned from Peking reports the wide-spread use
of _da4-ge0-da4_ (or _da4-ge1-da4_?) for 'portable telephone'. Can anyone
help trace the origin of this term?

Jeroen Wiedenhof (jmwiedenhofrulcri.leidenuniv.nl)
Leiden University, Holland