LINGUIST List 6.1046

Thu Aug 3 1995

Qs: Palauan, Insults

Editor for this issue: T. Daniel Seely <dseelyemunix.emich.edu>

Directory

1. Altjohann Anja, Query: Palauan
2. Ellen Spertus, Bibliography on insults

I have a few questions concerning Palauan.

1.Are the following sentences grammatical in Palauan?

a. A buk a le bilsk ak ngak a Harry.
 book IR-3s give !s I Harry
 "Harry gave me the book"

b. Kau k ultir au.
 You 1s love 2s
 "I love you"

2.Are there papers about subject agreement in Palauan?

3.In which contexts is subject agreement optional?

4.Is "l" in the following sentence an subject agreement marker?

 A David a l dese ii a bilas
 David ? build 3s boat
 "If David builds a boat.."

5.Is pro drop in irrealis sentences possible?

I'm new to the Linguist list. I'm currently doing research on
automatic detection of flames (abusive email). I've been having
trouble finding earlier work on the grammar of insults and rude
speech. I've attached an abbreviated list of what I've found. (I can
send the full list to anyone who is interested. I also plan to upload
the final list, if there's interest.) I am also in touch with
Reinhold Aman at Maledicta Press, who will be sending me their list of
publications. I would greatly appreciate pointers to any other
resources, written in English or in French.

 Ellen Spertus
 ellensai.mit.edu


Zwicky, Arnold, ed. Studies out in left field : defamatory essays /
Philadelphia : J. Benjamins Pub. Co., 1992. p. cm.

Ruwet, Nicolas. Grammaire des insultes et autres etudes / Paris :
Seuil, c1982. 349, [5] p. ; 21 cm. LC CALL NUMBER: PC2105 .R79 1982

Aggravated and Mitigated Opening Utterances
 Benoit, William L.; Benoit, Pamela J.

Ritual and Personal Insults in Stigmatized Subcultures: Gay-Black-Jew
 Murray, Stephen O.

Insulting Problems in a Second Language
 Fraser, Bruce

A Note on English Sexual Cursing
 Gregersen, Edgar A.

"Your Mother's Like ...": Formula in Contemporary American Ritual
Insults
 Bronner, Simon J.

Rude Words: Insults and Narration in Preadolescent Obscene Talk
 Fine, Gary Alan

Menomini Maledicta: A Glossary of Terms of Deprecation, Sexuality,
Body
 Parts & Functions, and Related Matters
 Aman, Reinhold

Clean Up Your Fexing Language! Or, How to Swear Violently without
Offending
 Anyone
 Aman, Reinhold

Future Shout: Name-Calling in the Future
 Halaby, Raouf; Long, Carolyn

How to Hate Thy Neighbor: A Guide to Racist Maledicta
 Clifton, Merritt

Maledicta Research Made Easy: Methods and Mini-Questionnaire
 Aman, Reinhold

A Taxonomy of the Provenance of Metaphorical Terms of Abuse
 Aman, Reinhold

The Origin of Our Strongest Taboo-Word
 Shipley, Joseph T.

Malediction and Psycho-Semantic Theory: The Case of Yiddish
 Matisoff, James A.