LINGUIST List 3.997

Thu 17 Dec 1992

Qs: Non-verbal Communication, Ethnic, Meta-word

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1. Hartmut Haberland, Non-verbal communication
2. CHRISTINE KAMPRATH, Query: ethnic
3. "Bruce E. Nevin", meta-word sought

A colleague of mine who has no direct access to e-mail asked me to post the
following inquiry:
Is somebody working on, or has recent literature, on non-verbal communication
in a cross-cultural/comparative context?
Write to me (hartmutruc.dk) or by snail mail directly to
 Dr Agnes Nabaloga
 University of Roskilde
 Department of Language and Culture - ICS house 03.1.1
 POB 260
 DK-4000 Roskilde
 Denmark

 FAX (+45) 46754410

David Bergdahl, in his response to Michael Kac's query about the
Midwest, writes:

> "My hunch is that midwest means two things: farming land,
> predominantly grain & corn, and a population not _ethnic_." (emphasis
mine, not DB's)

Now that we (don't) agree where the Midwest is, and now that it's the
time of the year when many people's thoughts drift toward home and the
good old days and "who am I and what am I doing here (and is "here"
the Midwest?)?", D. Bergdahl's comment makes me wonder what _ethnic_
means. I can think of a lot of definitions, and they don't overlap on
any particular populations very well. Are _you_ ethnic? If you'll
write to me directly, I'll summarize responses for the list.

Christine Kamprath

A colleague is asking about a word designating a class of words
each of which in designating a person also describes a
characteristic of that person.

>For example, a woman at Fed Express who is refusing to let us use it
>until we pay, whose name is Sheila Freeze.

She seems to have a memory of there being some term for this
sort of onomatopoeia. I'm not sure about the limitation to proper names.

Please reply to bnbbn.com, I will summarize to the list if
warranted.

 Bruce Nevin
 bnbbn.com