LINGUIST List 5.60

Tue 18 Jan 1994

Qs: Adjectives, Classifiers, Denasalization, Goaf

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1. Ken Miner, adjectives of feeling
2. David Gil, QUERY: NUMERAL CLASSIFIERS
3. , Query on denasalization
4. Alison Moore, Query: goaf

Someone has asked me for a compilation of English "adjectives
of feeling" (angry, sad, lonely, puzzled...). I have not
heard of such a list, but if anyone has, please let me know.

The request is for adjectives specifically, rather than all such
predicates. However, I could boil down a larger list.

Ken Miner
minerkuhub.cc.ukans.edu

In "numeral-classifier languages" such as Vietnamese and Mandarin,
it is often claimed that the use of a numeral classifier is "obligatory"
when a noun occurs in construction with a numeral. I am interested
in knowing whether -- contrary to the above claim -- there may be
certain contexts in which the classifier is in fact optional.

One likely context is that of restaurants and cafes. In Vietnamese,
when a waiter takes an order from a table and shouts it back to the
kitchen, s/he will typically omit the classifier, eg. (diacritics omitted)
[hai ga ba bo] "two chicken three beef" (at a noodle stall), or [hai
ca-phe den mot nuoc cam] "two coffee black one water orange" (at a
drinks stall). In contrast, in (the Singaporean dialect of) Mandarin, in
similar contexts, it is my impression that the classifier is usually or
always present, though, quite often, the numeral-plus-classifier
expression will occur after the noun, rather than in its "canonical"
position before it, eg. [kafei yi bei] "coffee one cup".

My query is thus addressed to speakers of "numeral-classifier
languages", or linguists living in communities of "numeral-classifier
language" speakers. I would therefore like to hear from speakers of
or persons familiar with Japanese, Korean, the various Chinese
languages spoken in the PRC, ROC and Hong Kong, Khmer, Thai,
Burmese, Nepali, or any other "numeral-classifier language".

Specifically, I would like to know whether, in your language, there
are contexts (such as restaurants and cafes) in which the numeral
classifier can be omitted, as would appear to be the case in
Vietnamese, or whether the numeral classifier must indeed always
be present, as is perhaps the case in Singaporean Mandarin.

I would also appreciate any theoretical comments on this issue, and
speculation on what factors might underlie the apparent difference
between Vietnamese and Mandarin (eg. maybe the numeral-plus-
classifier constituent constitutes two words in Vietnamese but a
single word in Mandarin).

Thanks,

David Gil
ellgildnusvm.bitnet

PS I still owe the linguist list summaries on two previous classifier
queries. I now plan to post a joint summary for all three classifier
queries.

Dear list:
I am looking for references or languages that have denasalization of a nasal
vowel, where the vowel does not just become denasalized, but is replaced
by an (oral) vowel plus engma sequence. A potential example from the
Antwerp dialect of Flemish:
Pre-Flemish stage 1: mEns 'person'
Pre-Flemish stage 2: mE(Nasalized)s
Contemporary stage: mEngs, where ng stands for a velar nasal.
The interesting thing is that n nasalizes a preceding vowel, and then it
is denasalized again, but with a following velar nasal, rather than the
expected homorganic alveolar nasal. Apparently, vowel height also has
an influence on denasalization, since the low vowel /a/ remains nasal in
present day Antwerp, and does not evolve to ang. Thus Fra(nasal)s 'French'
, not *Frangs.
Any comments on similar denasalization phenomena would be most welcome.
If there is enough response, I will summarize for the list.
Willem J. de Reuse
University of Arizona
WDEREUSECCIT.ARIZONA.EDU

The Macquarie Dictionary staff have had a query about the etymology
of the mining term 'goaf'. We have consulted the OED and the English
Dialect Dictionary but are not much the wiser.

We would appreciate any ideas about the etymology of this word.

With thanks, Alison Moore, Macquarie Dictionary