LINGUIST List 5.575

Fri 20 May 1994

Disc: Reply to Irons' review of LAMSAS Handbook

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1. "William A. Kretzschmar, Jr.", Reply to Irons' review of LAMSAS Handbook

I'd like to thank Terry Irons for the many nice things he said about our
LAMSAS Handbook. I can also, I think, answer a couple of the questions
that he raised, which I agree are serious questions.

First, he commented that Chs. 3 and 4, the Table of Informants and the
Worksheet chapters, were "redundant" and might have been excluded. On
the contrary, I think that among people who prefer to use a paper copy of
the information (we of course have electronic versions of the
information; see below) Chs. 3 and 4 will be the *most frequently
consulted* chapters because they are convenient. Sure, they restate
information available in other places---but that's the point, to make the
information more available and usable.

Irons also complained that we had not included in Chs. 6 and 7 more
information on applications for end-users of our computer files. In fact
I have tried to do that in other places. There are two articles on the
program I wrote for the Macintosh platform which plots LAMSAS responses:
in the ALLC Journal in 1992 (with John Kirk) and in the Cassidy
Festschrift (Garland, 1992). Edgar Schneider and I have prepared a
free-standing monograph on computer and statistical analysis of LAMSAS
(and other questionnaire-based survey) data; we are looking for a
publisher now, because Chicago, which we had thought might produce the
monograph as a companion for the Handbook, decided against giving it a
reading.

We are also right now in process of establishing an electronic archive of
existing LAMSAS materials, for which purpose I have received a little
grant from the University of Georgia (many thanks!). This archive will
contain all completed LAMSAS data files and lists, all programs and
customizations we have created (including phonetic display and output, the
Mac program, etc.), and also other relevant files such as Lee Pederson's
Gulf States computer files and programs. The archive should be operational
by mid-summer (we've just received the hard disks on which to put it);
watch the UGA gopher (we are unsure exactly where we will eventually
reside in that) or get in touch with me for more information.

Irons' most serious question is about the value of (having produced) the
Handbook. He is right to point out that LAMSAS and LANCS have not
achieved comprehensive publication---but that is not for sloth or lack of
trying, as the first chapter of the Handbook shows. I am committed to
getting LAMSAS, LANCS, and the other installments of the American Atlas
out and available as soon as possible. However, even if nothing more
were ever to come out, there is still the comprehensive microfilm
publication of LAMSAS and 170 computer files of lexical/pronunciation
information that, in order to be used well (or at all) require the
Handbook. Moreover, existing publications by Kurath and others about
LAMSAS have never had detailed background such as that provided in the
Handbook; the Handbook makes these standard publications more valuable
because now better explained. Finally, it is generally true that there
is a moment in time when certain tasks can be accomplished that will
never be accomplished if the opportunity is not taken. Such is the case
with the publication of the LAMSAS Handbook, and---as the one who invested
most time and effort in its production---I am not in the least sorry for
having done it now.

******************************************************************************
Bill Kretzschmar Phone: 706-542-2246
Dept. of English FAX: 706-542-2181
University of Georgia Internet: billkhyde.park.uga.edu
Athens, GA 30602-6205 Bitnet: wakjengluga