LINGUIST List 5.1287

Sun 13 Nov 1994

Qs: Font, Software, Syllabus, Syntax, Flaps, Wh-phrases

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. Mark Aronoff, Malayalam font for Mac
2. , question about software for management and analysis of textfragments
3. Zheng-z Su, Syllabus for Syntax and General Linguistics for college students
4. "James K. Tauber", Q: Syntax references wanted
5. MARC PICARD, English flaps
6. Jairo Morais Nunes, multiple copies of wh-phrases

Can anyone out there recommend a Malayalam Mac font?

Mark Aronoff

Software for management and analysis of texts

I'm doing a Ph.D. project on the (collaborative) writing of policy issue
papers. Part of the reserach constitutes text analysis of (parts of) the
produced documents. For this I am compiling a corpus of fragments of policy
papers. In order to manage my data in an easy way I am looking for software
which can `read' WordPerfect or MS-Word files and enables me to search for
specific words in the fragments, for combinations of words and so on.

In the programmes I have come across so far (only two, as a matter of fact),
you have text in one window, and can assign up to 25 keywords to this text
in another window. But searching and counting can only be done with keywords,
which is not very useful for my purpose.

Niels P. van der Mast
Centre for Language and Communication, Department of Dutch
Faculty of Arts, Utrecht University
Trans 10, 3512 JK Utrecht, The Netherlands
Phone: + 31 30 538087
Fax: + 31 30 53 6000
E-mail: niels.vandermastlet.ruu.nl

Dear Linguists,
One of my collegues is interested in the syllabus for Syntax and General
Linguistics. Should you have, please send them directly to my account.
I'd be gald to give a summary if you're interested.
Thanks for your help.
Zheng-z Su

I'm presently preparing a preliminary bibliography for my honours thesis
and am seeking comprehensive references in any of the following areas:

 * DP-hypothesis
 * Diachronic syntax and its implications for parameter setting
 * NP typology
 * Ancient Greek syntax (both diachronic and synchronic)

Many thanks in advance.

I shall both post a summary to this list and make my full bibliography
available on the World Wide Web.

 / James K. Tauber <jtaubertartarus.uwa.edu.au> \
 | 3rd year Undergrad Student, Centre for Linguistics |
 | University of Western Australia, WA 6009, AUSTRALIA |
 \ WWW: http://tartarus.uwa.edu.au:70/students/jtauber /

 In his summary on flaps in English, Laurie Bauer provided the
following rule:

>An intervocalic t or d is flapped as long as the following syllable (ie,
>the syllable containing the second of the two vowels that the t or d is
>"inter") does NOT carry primary stress, and that the second vowel does
>not carry significantly more stress than the first vowel.

 As far as I can see, this will not account for the difference
between forms like /leyDr/ 'later' and /leyteks/ 'latex'. In other words,
secondary stress will always block flapping within words whereas there is
no such restriction across word boundaries when /t d/ are in the coda
(compare /greyDey/ 'grade A' and /greydey/ 'grey day').
 In most North American dialects, flapping will occur within words
before an unstressed vowel and after ANY vowel, e.g. /waDr/ 'water'
/kwalDi/ 'quality'. However, it seems to me that there are dialects,
especially in the South, where flapping doesn't occur if the preceding vowel
is unstressed, e.g. /InformtIv/ 'informative' (where I would have
/InformDv/. Or is it the fact that there is secondary stress there? Can
anybody shed some light on this?

Marc Picard

 I am looking for references on constructions that apparently show the
history of wh-movement by placing copies of the wh-phrase in the spec of CPs
it moves through. The case I have in mind is exemplifed by Afrikaans sentences
such as the ones in (1) (from du Plessis 1977, LI 8.4:723-726)

(1)
a. WAAROOR dink jy WAAROOR dink die bure WAAROOR stry ons die meeste?
 WHEREABOUT thin you WHEREABOUT think the neighbors WHEREABOUT argue we the
 most
 'What do you think the neighbors think we are arfuing about the most?'

b. MET WIE het jy nou weer gese MET WIE het Sarie gedog MET WIE gaan Jan trou?
 WITH WHO did you now again said WITH WHO did S. thought WITH WHO go J. marry
 'Whom did you say (again) did Sarie think Jan is going to marry?'

 Thnaks in advance for any information on this subject.
 Jairo Nunes.