LINGUIST List 4.603

Sat 14 Aug 1993

Qs: Genitives, Software, Intro texts, Technical English

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Directory

1. , Q: NP-external genitive possessors
2. Jeroen van de Weijer, software query: references
3. Ted Pedersen, introductory texts
4. Thomas Hoerkens, Non technical English in technical texts

Does anyone know a language that has an NP-external possessor construction
("possessor ascension") in which the possessor is nevertheless in the
genitive case? I seem to have come across such a case in the Nakho-Daghestanian
language Godoberi (northeastern Caucasus):

 (1) di-Li nuku Zab-atada.
 I-GEN knee hurt-IMPF
 'My knee hurts.'

Alongside the NP-internal construction in (1), whose structure corresponds to
the structure of its English translation, Godoberi allows a construction as in
(2), where the genitive possessor is no longer part of the NP.

 (2) di-Li Zab-atada nuku.
 I-GEN hurt-IMPF knee

The structure of this sentence seems to be more like that of Russian
'U menja bolit koleno', or German 'Mir schmerzt das Knie', i.e. with
an NP-external ("ascended") possessor, although the case marking is still
genitive. Have similar cases been observed elsewhere?
 Also, I would be interested in references to recent work on NP-external
possession, especially in Romance, Slavic and Germanic languages, but also
elsewhere.
 Thanks a lot,
 Martin Haspelmath (Free University of Berlin)

This is for a colleague who does not have access to LINGUIST.
He would like to find out if there is any (commercial or free)
software around to help him draw up lists of references at the
end of an article (i.e. rounding up all the refs from the
article, picking out the full versions from a file of
references, etc.). He works with WordPerfect 5.1 (MS-DOS).
Reply to me personally <vdweijerrulcri.leidenuniv.nl> and I
will pass the information on and (ask him to) prepare a
consumer guide if there is enough interest. Thanks a lot,
Jeroen van de Weijer

I am trying to find introductory texts for Nahuatl and Quechua. I am
able to locate numerous academic works, however, I am looking for very
basic texts (like those used in French 101 for college freshman) that
I can use for my own study.

Any ideas out there?

Thanks
Ted

--
* Ted Pedersen pedersenseas.smu.edu *
* Department of Computer Science and Engineering, *
* Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275 (214) 768-2126 *

Dear Collegues

We are planning to compile a small German-English dictionary of
non-technical English in technical texts.

Two questions:

1. Do you know of the existence of a corpus of technical English?

2. What database would you recommend? It should have powerful
 layout and formatting functions.

We would appreciate any comments and suggestions you may wish to
make.

Ruediger Schreyer

Mail:
Lehrstuhl fuer Anglistik II
und Institut fuer Anglistik
RWTH Aachen
D-51062 Aachen

Send email to: hoerkensigpm.rwth-aachen.de