LINGUIST List 4.515

Wed 30 Jun 1993

Qs: Gesture, CART, 3pl, 2nd Language, Acronym

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. , Query: gestures for numbers
2. "Ederveen D.", CART: Classification and Regression Trees
3. Rachel Lagunoff, Query: third person plural
4. Michael M T Henderson, Influence of second language on third
5. "Sze-wing Tang", acronyms

Does anyone out there know the European, specifically French, gestures
((used by hearing people) used for representing or counting the numbers
from 6 through 9? I will summarize for the respective nets. Thanks.
Susan Fischer
(please reply to me directly: H00025sinet.ad.jp)

I've been browsing through "Classification and Regression Trees" by
Breiman, Friedman, Olshen and Stone. Now, I have some questions:
- does anyone know the present (e-mail) address of Richard Olshen.
 I would like to contact him on the CART software.
- does anyone know of more recent CART software and/or references.
 I'm particularly interested in speech recognition and speech processing
 applications, but any information be welcome.
Please reply to me directly at <D.N.M.Ederveenresearch.ptt.nl> or
<ederveenlett.kun.nl>. I'll summarize to the list.
advTHANKSance,
Derk Ederveen.

I am looking for cross-linguistic examples of the third person plural pronoun
when its antecedent/referent is, or can be singular. This often shows up as
an impersonal/indefinite/generic; I am also looking for cases where it is
specific/definite, including honorifics.
Examples in English include:
a) Everyone loves their mother
b) A good student always thinks they have the right answer
c) Someone called, but they didn't leave a message
d) Each linguist has their own theory
e) If either Mary or Bill wants to go, you should help them
Raw data, references to books, articles, and past Linguist discussions are
all welcome. Please send responses directly to me and I will post a summary
to the list.
Thank you in advance
Rachel Lagunoff
ihw1009mvs.oac.ucla.edu
ihw1009uclamvs.bitnet

Two queries:
1. I am looking for references on the influence (interference, transfer)
 from one's second language to one's third. E.g., English speakers who
 study Spanish and then do Pro-Drop in German or French. I haven't
 found much written about this.
2. I also seek references for regional voice quality. To put it crudely,
 southerners growl and northerners, esp. Midwest, quack. This appears
 to be separate from segmental features. I've asked dialectologists &
 speech path. types, and nothing has turned up. Any ideas?
I will summarize replies, which should be made to me:

Does anybody know whether 'AMI-PRO' is an acronym and what the
pronunciation is? [ei-em-ai-prou] or [eimi-prou]?
Sze-wing Tang