LINGUIST List 6.1031

Mon Jul 31 1995

Qs: Nyankore, Perception Vs & Viberg, Onomatopoeic vowels

Editor for this issue: Ann Dizdar <dizdartam2000.tamu.edu>

Directory

1. , Nyankore
2. Patrick Griffiths, Q: Perception Vs & Viberg.
3. , onomatopoeic vowels

I am looking for any data (grammar, lexicon, etc) on Nyankore, a Bantu
language in Southern Uganda. I have heard that a grammar was recently
released in Uganda, details unknown.

PeterRoss
Thai/Linguistics
Australian National University

A. Viberg (then of U Stockholm's Linguistic Dept) had a paper in
LINGUISTICS, 1983, 21: 123-162, "The verbs of perception: a typological
study". In it is mentioned a questionnaire used to elicit data from
speakers of 53 languages. The U of the South Pacific, where I work in the
Lit & Language Dept, is a regional university serving 12 island
countries, some of them highly multilingual nations. As a class
exercise on one of my courses, we are extending Viberg's 1983 sample to
the languages known by students in the class. It would be nice to be
able to use Viberg's questionnaire.

A. Viberg's email address - which is not on the LINGUISTS NAMESERVER -
would be much appreciated and/or the text of the questionnaire (assuming it
is permissible to duplicate and employ it).

I suggest replies be directed to me. If there are responses that seem
worth sharing with Linguist List subscribers I'll post a summary.

In hope,

Patrick Griffiths

I've recently come across a language (Longzhou) whose 8 vowels have intrinsic
comparative properties. Using the following scale:

 i < I < e < a < c < o < u < m (upsidedown m)
 (inverse c)

the higher up on the scale the vowel of the word, the greater the magnitude of
the noun or adjective, or the intensity of the verb. All words, it appears,
have a vacant vowel slot in which one could place any of the 8 vowels,
depending on the desired magnitude or intensity. I wonder if anyone might know
if any other languages that do this.

Wenchao