LINGUIST List 5.69

Thu 20 Jan 1994

Sum: IE sound laws, Foreign accent syndrome

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1. Steven Schaufele, Summary: IE sound laws
2. , Re: 5.44 Foreign accent syndrome -- Summary

I recently (LINGUIST 5-34) posted a query seeking a book on Indo-European
sound laws that i remembered seeing in the UIUC library. With many thanks
to LINGUIST and to its subscribers, i managed to recover the book i was
looking for, mentioned by an overwhelming number of respondents:

Collinge, N. E. 1985. The Laws of Indo-European (Amsterdam Studies in the
Theory and History of Linguistic Science. Ser. 4: Current Issues in
Linguistic Theory, vol. 35). Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Other books mentioned include:
---vol. 1 of the last ed. of Brugmann's Grundriss.
---Mayrhofer's Lautlehre, 'all but lost in vol. 1 of the Indogermanische
Grammatik (C. Winter, 1986) ed. by Bammesberger, A., and Kurylowicz, J.' --
Miles Beckwith.
---Hudson-Williams, T. 1961. A Short Introduction to the Study of
Comparative Grammar (Indo-European). Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
---Lehmann, W., ed. 1967. Reader in 19th-Century Historical Linguistics.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Many thanks to all who responded:
Sarah Anderson <andersonplgcn.umontreal.ca>, Carlos Ruiz Anton
<ruizvents.uji.es>, Miles Beckwith <becmilcyalevm.ycc.yale.edu>, Lars
Borin <lars.borinling.uu.se>, Wayles Browne <ewb2cornell.edu>, Jason
Busset <jasonukanvm.bitnet>, Karen Chung <karchungccms.ntu.edu.tw>, Tom
Cornell <cornellccit.arizona.edu>, David Denison
<mfcepddfs1.art.man.ac.uk>, Scott C. DeLancey
<delanceydarkwing.uoregon.edu>, Sheila Embleton <embletonvm1.yorku.ca>,
S. J. Hannahs <s.j.hannahsdurham.ac.uk>, Jill Hart
<g.r.hartdurham.ac.uk>, Iren Hegedus <iren.hegedusum.cc.umich.edu>,
Stephen Helmreich <shelmreicrl.nmsu.edu>, Stephen Zhenqun Hsu
<hsumibm.ruf.uni-freiburg.de>, Alan Huffman <aahnycunyvm.bitnet>, Brian
D. Joseph <bjosephmagnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>, Anita Judzis
<ajudz00ricevm1.rice.edu>, John Kaufmann <kaufmannhulaw1.harvard.edu>,
John Kingston <kingston%coinscs.umass.edu>, William Labov
<labovcentral.cis.upenn.edu>, John Limber <j_limberunhh.unh.edu>, Kenjiro
Matsuda <matsudalinc.cis.upenn.edu>, Anna Morpurgo Davies
<morpurgovax.ox.ac.uk>, Joachim Mugdan <mugdanobelix.uni-muenster.de>,
Barbara Need <barbarasapir.uchicago.edu>, Paul Peranteau
<70461.1236compuserve.com>, Marc Picard <picardvax2.concordia.ca>, Evan
S. Smith <smitheext.missouri.edu>, Rex Sprouse <sprousehusc.harvard.edu>,
Herb Stahlke <00hfstahlkeleo.bsuvc.bso.edu>, Max Wheeler
<maxwcogs.susx.ac.uk>.
------
Dr. Steven Schaufele 217-344-8240
712 West Washington Ave. fcoswsux1.cso.uiuc.edu
Urbana, IL 61801

*** O syntagmata linguarum liberemini humanarum! ***
 **** Nihil vestris privari nisi obicibus potestis! ****

Message 2: Re: 5.44 Foreign accent syndrome -- Summary

Here is a summary of the very interesting and informative responses I
received to my query about Foreign Accent Syndrome, stimulated by a
recent item in Parade magazine (the Sunday supplement).

FAS is a mild, transient phonological disruption of speech resulting
from brain trauma, which hearers perceive as a foreign accent. About
half a dozen cases are described in the clinical literature. The
syndrome is actually considerably more frequent than that, but is
seldom studied, because (a) it is transient, and (b) the patient
usually has other, more severe problems.

Respondents variously reported the specific characteristics of FAS as
linguistically inappropriate or aberrant

 - deaspiration
 - final devoicing
 - F0
 - epenthetic vowels
 - failure to flap prestressed alveolar stops
 - (Japanese) disposition and inversion of pitch accents,
 appearance of unnecessary stress accents

Steve Anderson, who gave the most detailed reply, is currently engaged
in research on FAS, in collaboration with Dana Boatman. They
hypothesize that FAS actually constitutes an impairment to language-
particular micro-prosody -- low level rhythm and timing, sub-syllabic
and sub-segmental dynamics of speech. They regard it as distinct from
dysarthria. They have noticed some similar effects from cortical
stimulation (in patients being prepped for neurosurgery for epilepsy).

The most complete citations I received were the following:

Blumstein, Sheila, in _Brain and Language_ 31:215-244, 1987

Blumstein, Sheila, "Phonological Deficits in Aphasia: Theoretical
 Perspectives", Chapter 2 of Caramazza (ed.), 1990

Ingram, John C. L., "Phonetic analysis of a case of foreign accent
 syndrome", _Journal of Phonetics_ 20:4, October 1992

Takayama et al, "A case of foreign accent syndrome without aphasia
 caused by a lesion of the left precentral gyrus", _Neurology_
 43:1361-1363, 1993

Finally, I learned the need for caution in references to Parade
magazine, to distinguish it from a British publication of the same
name which is a counterpart to Hustler or Penthouse.

Thanks for your responses go to Karen Watson-Gegeo, Benjamin Munson,
Harry Whitaker, Mary Jack, Ian MacKay, Bill Turkel, Paul Kershaw, Bob
Ladd, Mark Aronoff, Lyle Jenkins, Alan Harris, Steve Anderson, and
Alison Taub.

Paul Chapin