LINGUIST List 4.924

Sat 06 Nov 1993

Qs: ESL, Vanilla, Transcribing, Adpositions

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1. , ESL
2. mmackenz, Re: Vanilla/Vanella
3. , Q: Transcribing program?
4. , Query: Body Parts -> Pre/Postpositions

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Don Pierstorff and Nicholas Winters are two composition
instructors at my institution whose backgrounds are in rhetoric
and linguistics. Cooperatively, Don and Nick are developing a new
course to serve as a bridge for advanced-level ESL students who will
be taking freshman composition. For this new course they are compiling
a list of nouns (direct objects) that take one and only one verb,
i.e.,

 to commit a crime
 to declare war
 to propose a toast
 to do homework
 to shed a tear

This is the list so far. Would/could anyone or everyone like to
add their own to this?

In addition, do any rules govern these usages?

If you feel compelled to contribute, you may e-mail me on or off
the list. We will post the compilation to EDNET if anyone is
interested.

Thanks in advance for your replies. :)

Nathalie

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Orange Coast College * * * * * *
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Internet: Nathalie=Ferrero%InstSrvs%OCCbanyan.cccd.edu
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I have also noticed quite a few variations involving collapsing or otherwise
altering [I] and [E]. I myself find the two alternate pronunciations of
vanilla both represented in my dialect. The interesting thing in my
case is that when I pronounce the "standard" [I] version the first vowel
comes out like a schwa, but in the version where I pronounce it with an
[E] for the final vowel, the first vowel comes out more like [I] than schwa.

I also collapse [E] to [I] in prenasal contexts and in some pre-liquid
contexts. This is my East Tennessee heritage coming through again.

I have heard the 'melk' pronunciation of 'milk' but is sounds distinctly
odd to my ears. I wonder where that variation might be centered
geographically speaking?

Mike MacKenzie
mmackenzindiana.edu

Hello! I am a pragmatics research student doing conversational
analysis on a large amount of natural language data. I am wondering if
anyone knows of any computer program which will assist me in typing
out the transcribed data into the appropriate format. For example, if
I make a change, the program would need to similtaneously adjust the
rest of the data to that change. I would appreciate any suggestions.

Kelly Glover
Dept. of Linguistics
University of Durham
Elvet Riverside, New Elvet
Durham, DH1 3JT
UK

In languages where pre or postpositions are etymologically
derived from body part terms, does anybody know of one where
'chest' gets to mean 'near, close to'?