LINGUIST List 4.496

Thu 24 Jun 1993

Qs: Intonation, Alphabet, Diachrony, Shakespeare

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. SuMi Kim, Intonation Software
2. Daniel Brink, Initial Teaching Alphabet
3. Ian Ruthven, Query: Computational Model of Diachronic Processes
4. Steven Schaufele, Query: Shakespeare's exploitation of syntactic options

One of my friends who's working on English speech recognition wants to
know whether there's any intonation recognizer/analyzer that runs on IBM
PCs, say 386's and/or 486's. If any of you readers know of such a program,
could you let me know of the program and the ways to get them?

I'm using the e-mail account of my friend and you can send me your
replies either to "smkimrs6.chonnam.ac.kr" or "sjhanlcl.cmu.edu."

-- Sungjin HAN (sjhanlcl.cmu.edu)

A student is writing on the ITA (Initial Teaching Alphabet), but
knows little about the history or practice in the U.S. Can any
one give information or suggest sources on the state of the
ITA in American education, where and how it might be being
used? Thank you

=========================================
Daniel Brink, Professor of English
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
BOX 870302
TEMPE AZ 85287-0302
602/965-4182o 602/965-3168m 602/965-3451f 602/965-2679hcf
Internet: ATDXBASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU

 I am currently working on a computational model of diachronic
processes, based on work by William Croft and John Hawkins, and
exemplified by the Ethiopian Semitic change from
Prep & NG & NA -> Prep & NG & AN -> Prep & NG & AN -> Postp & NG & AN
as discussed by Joseph Greenberg.

 I am looking for data on any similar language change, particularly
data which relates to the duration of change: how rapidly a word order
changes, how long 'doubling' of word order lasts and how long is the interval
between (particular?) word order changes.

 I would also be grateful for any data on synchronic evidence
about the transition between word orders, especially on the detail of
synchronic change in process or pointers to similar work.

Thanks,

Ian Ruthven.

I've recently gotten interested in investigating the use of syntactic
options (i.e. syntactically different but semantically equivalent
constructions - e.g., voice distinctions, variation in adverb placement) in
Shakespeare's plays, especially as tools in characterization. Can anybody
direct me to any research that has been done in this area?
------
Dr. Steven Schaufele c/o Department of Linguistics
712 West Washington Ave. University of Illinois
Urbana, IL 61801 4088 Foreign Languages Building
 707 South Mathews Street
217-344-8240 Urbana, IL 61801
fcoswsux1.cso.uiuc.edu