LINGUIST List 5.513

Wed 04 May 1994

Qs: Count nouns, False faults, Farsi, Spanish immersion program

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. Gregory Jewell, +/-countable
2. "Karen Robblee 814 863-8963,", False faults
3. , Farsi word processor
4. Joachim Knuf, Help with partial Spanish immersion program

I received a number of messages re: my query on +/-countable nouns in
English between 3 p.m. May 2nd and 8 p.m. May 3rd, Japan time.
Unfortunately, these messages were deleted before I had a chance to
read them! Arrrgghhh. If you were one of those who sent me a message,
please try sending it again. My apologies to all. This is the first
time such a thing has happened!
I will post a summary of replies after the traffic slows down. Many
people have expressed an interest in this issue.

A colleague has asked me to post a question regarding the pronunciation of
the words "false" and "faults":

Are there native speakers for whom these two words would be homonymous
(possibly in rapid speech), and if there are, is the adjective "false" ever
pronounced with an epenthetic [t]? Does anyone know of any other language
in which the auslaut cluster /ls/ is produced with an epenthetic [t]?

If appropriate, I'll post a summary of the responses I receive. Thanks.

Karen Robblee
Slavic & East European Languages
Penn State

Does anyone know of a decent Farsi word processor for a PC?
Thanks in advance for any kind of information.

Mirjam Fried (friedgarnet.berkeley.edu)

Dear Colleagues: I am seeking your advise and help in a matter that is quite
challenging and new. The local school district has a partial immersion
program in Spanish, where children spend about half of their day with a
native Spanish speaker, the other half with an English teacher. Both teachers
are certified, of course. The program started four years ago at elementary
level, and this fall there will be the first 5th grade. Expansion into
middle school is assured.
 The problem we derives from the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA),
which requires that children spend a significant period of their day in
multi-age groups. The teachers in our program are now having a very hard
time figuring out how to take a group of nonspeakers (formerly first
graders) and mix them with second-year speakers in a fashion that does not
jeopardize the learning goals of either group. Simply separating them into
groups is not an option.
 I hope that somewhere out there there are some folks who have had to
address such a problem before, or those who have ideas for us. Alteratively,
if separation is the only reasonable solution, is there empirical evidence
published that argues that second language acquisition in partial immersion
situations necessarily develops in stages, that the group environment of
similarly advanced learners is crucial to their success, so that we could
try for an exemption, if necessary in the courts.
 Any and all ideas, suggestions, curricula, references etc. are most
welcome. Our teachers have not really faced this problem before and need all
the support they can get.
 Thanks for being a good virtual bunch and taking the time to help out!

Joachim Knuf
Communications and Information Studies
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40506-0042

606-257-7805
jknufukcc.uky.edu