LINGUIST List 5.1094

Fri 07 Oct 1994

Qs: Voicing assimilation, Refusals, Scientific Eng, Vietnamese

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1. Wissing, DP, Voicing assimilation
2. selcan, how to tell when someone is saying "no"
3. Apisak Pupipat, Info on "written scientific English"
4. , Request for Vietnamese language Information

Regressive voicing assimilation (RVA) is quite active in my first
language, Afrikaans (a relatively recent offspring of Dutch, spoken in
the Republic of South Africa) as it is in Dutch itself, as well as in
Russian and some other Slavic languages. Thus, the word "asbak" (ash
tray) would be pronounced "a[z]bak", due to the presence of the voiced
[b].
Would phonologists please let me know of other languages in which RVA is
present.
My actual problem is the following, and I would appreciate your views on
this issue very much. In Setswana, a Bantu language of my region, no RVA
is present, or, indeed, possible, simply because the syllable and
morpheme structure of this language do not allow voiceless obstruents to
be followed by voiced ones (as in the example quoted). And still
Setswana speakers indeed assimilates (quite heavily) when speaking
Afrikaans. It is not very difficult to demonstrate that it is NOT
ascribable to a possibility that they have acquired the phonological rule
of RVA. Even people whose Afrikaans is more or less nonexistant would
assimilate when requested to pronounce some Afrikaans words or phrases.
So, it seems as if it cannot be attributed to language transfer or
interference.
I'm looking for a possible explanation of this (for me) strange
phenomenon. I am considering a phonetic explanation, but would like your
views on this matter very much. It might be that this is a fine example
of, roughly speaking, an application of a "generic" phonological rule /
principle, pointing towards a language universal from quite another
angle.

Daan Wissing
Dept. Algemene Taalwetenskap (Dept. of General Linguistics)
University of Potchefstroom
Rep. of S.A.
atldpwpuknet.puk.ac.za

Help wanted! I am looking for cases when a word is used out of its literal mean
ing. Especially I want to know whether there is any research on rejections; or
the word "no". i.e. when "no" is said,
but does not imply a rejection or refusal.

The only article I found is, "How to tell when someone is saying no",
written by Joan Rubin in 1980.
(In Hamnett, Michael P.(ed.) Brislin, Richard W. (ed.)
Research in Culture Learning: Language and Conceptual Studies)

If there is any other related study on that topic, would you please send
me a message as soon as you can?
Thanks in advance,
Selcan Kaynak

Hi netters:
 Anyone has some info on the subject of "written scientific English"?
I'm trying to do a literature review on the area and might start with
some of the major approaches (e.g. Swales (1990) & Bhatia (1993)'s genre
analysis; or Trimble (1985)'s rhetorical/discourse approach).
 Thanx in advance!

 Apisak Pupipat


**PLEASE REPLY DIRECTLY TO ME AT: AP120COLUMBIA.EDU;
I can summarize what I get for those interested.**

 Does anyone know of work done on the CLASSIFIER system in VIETNAMESE?
 I am looking for material on this subject written in English or
 Russian, although if you know of material on this topic written in
 other languages, by all means I welcome your suggestions. Please send
 replies to: karen.chadbournesil.org

 Thank you!