LINGUIST List 3.978

Fri 11 Dec 1992

Qs: Document Analysis; Phonetics; Archaic English "Go to"

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. Charlotte Baltus, Document Analysis
2. Gene Valentine, Phonetics Software
3. Allan C. Wechsler, Query: "Go to" considered questionable

I am interested in information sources for ideas on how
I might distinguish written languages based primarily on
very local (not more than three characters) morphological
features. This work is in a very preliminary stage,
but I have in mind features such as frequency of the letter
'j' in Spanish, frequency of the 'the' string in English.
Distinguishing diacritical marks is not thought to be
a reliable knowledge source for this project.

At this stage, I am interested only in languages using
the Latin alphabet. I anticipate that I will have more
difficulty with less-frequently used languages, such
as Romanian, Slavic languages, Finnic languages.
Is anyone familiar with an ontology for modern Latin-based
languages (that is, not an historically or geographically
based ontology)?

Please direct responses to : baltuscs.buffalo.edu

Thank-you,

Charlotte Baltus
CEnter for Document Analysis and Recognition (CEDAR)
SUNY at Buffalo

 I am looking for computer software that can be used to illustrate phonetic
segments, that is, I am looking for software that will provide me with a
sagital section illustration of the speech organs at the production of a
particular sound. Does anyone know of such a program?

Gene Valentine
Department of English
Arizona State Univ.

I know we have at least one scholar of the language of the King James
Bible lurking out there. The following question has bugged me at least
since I was eight. It's prompted by a passage that must be beloved of
all linguists.

Genesis 11:7
 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they
 may not understand one another's speech.

Now to me, "Go to" is not even a proper constituent. From context I
interpret it to mean "Hey, c'mon, let's go!". What is the provenance of
"go to" as an interjection? Was it in common idiomatic use? For how
long? What is its historical basis? Are there similar expressions with
"bare" prepositions? What expression in Hebrew is being translated as
"go to"? Replies to me only; I'll post a summary in about a week.