LINGUIST List 5.73

Fri 21 Jan 1994

Qs: Adjective morph., African English, Expert testimony, Quark

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1. , adjective morphology
2. Rodrik Wade, Request: references to African English/New Englishes
3. Larry Horn, Expert testimony sought
4. , [Q] How to pronounce 'quark'-the particle?

I am in search of languages in which adjectives are morphologically
distinct from nouns or verbs. In most languages, adjectives are
morphologically similar or identical to one of the other two categories.
The languages I am familiar with in which adjectives have distinct
morphology (e.g. Dravidian languages), have a very small class of
adjectives and the morphological distinctiveness of the class lies
largely in impoverishment. I am looking for cases where adjectives
are fairly numerous and the morphology is more robust. Please
address responses directly to me and I will summarize for the list.

Mark Aronoff

I am working on an overview/description of South African Black English
(SABE) and I would really appreciate references to articles/books
dealing with varieties of African English or other New Englishes.

Please send any references you may have to my e-mail address
below. I will summarise.

Thanks in advance.

Rodrik Wade
==================
wademtb.und.ac.za

Dept. of Linguistics
Univ. of Natal
King George V Ave
DURBAN 4001

For a legal matter, expert testimony is needed from someone with experience in
determining--from grammatical, lexical, and semantic cues--whether two texts
are likely to have been written by the same individual. The texts in question
are not literary, but experience in literary/stylistic detection would
presumably be relevant. The expert testimony would be delivered in New
England later this spring, so responses from those based in New England would
be most relevant. If you don't do this sort of thing yourself but know
someone who does, that would be helpful as well. Please respond to me at the
above address.
--Larry Horn

In the December _Physics Today_, the Reference Frame column presents a
delightful, not-entirely-facetious discussion of putative American English
rules of pronounciation dealing with the word "quark", the family of
charged particles thought to constitute nucleons. Does the word rhyme with
"pork", or with "park"?
Linguists, and the linguistically-inclined, would certainly enjoy the article.
BTW, how WOULD "quark" be pronounced??
George Gale
ggalevax1.umkc.edu