LINGUIST List 6.1198

Fri Sep 1 1995

Qs: Anaphora, Classifiers, Finnish

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

Directory

1. Bob Hamilton, Scandinavian anaphora
2. Ulli Wa_ner, Query: Chinese numeral classifiers
3. Kawagashira Nobuyuki, Question: Is Finnish a mora language?

I have questions about the Norwegian anaphor _seg selv_
and questions about Icelandic _hann sjalfur_ and _sjalfur
sig_.

Regarding _seg selv_, can it be locally bound by an object
NP that is logocentric (i.e., where the object NP has the
relevant discourse properties to logophorically bind--e.g.,
Sells 1987). I have seen the following judgment in Hellan
1991, but the object here is not logocentric:

*Vi fortalte Jon om seg selv
 (where Jon = seg selv)

Would the above still be ungrammatical if Jon were logocentric
(e.g., if the statement was instead something like "We heard
from Jon about selfself", where Jon = selfself)?

Concerning Icelandic, according to Hyams and Sigurjonsdottir
1990, _sjalfan_ in the anaphor _sjalfan sig_ is inflected for
gender and number. Is this true of _sjalfur_ in _hann sjalfur_
as well? (I don't know Icelandic, but I assume that "sjalfan"
is simply an inflected variation of "sjalfur" -- my question then
is whether this element in the complex "hann sjalfur" ever
varies its inflection for gender/number or any other feature
in the same way as it does in "sjalfan/sjalfa/sjalfra sig")

Please reply directly to me, and I will summarize for the list if
there is sufficient interest. Thanks so much,

Bob Hamilton, University of South Carolina
hamiltonscarolina.edu

Does anybody out there know of anyone who is currently working on Chinese
numeral classifiers? I would be greatful for any information on this topic.
Thank you very much in advance

Ulli Wassner

 Dear Readers,
 I am a graduate student in Japan. Several years ago I visited Finland.
I felt that Speaking of Finnish language is difficult for European students.
But for me, Japanese, it's easy to pronounce Finnish. I had an impression of
phonological similarity between Finnish and Japanese. My Question is that:
'Is Finnish a mora (morenzaehlende) language?'
 For example: Japanese is a mora language as you know.
In Japanese a long vowel is treated as two moras.
 1. gakkoo ga-k-ko-o 'school'
 2. hattatsu ha-t-ta-tsu 'development'
 3. sen'en se-n-e-n '1000 yen'
 4. sennen se-n-ne-n '1000 years'
 5. seeen se-e-e-n 'encouragement'
 6. seenen se-e-ne-n 'adolescent'
 I think Finnish language is a mora language. I will show mora separation
examples in Finnish as follows:
 7. viikko vi-i-k-ko 'week'
 8. Suomessa su-o-me-s-sa 'in Finland'
 9. kaupunki ka-u-pu-n-ki 'town'
10. kirje ki-r-je 'letter'
11. sillan si-l-la-n 'of bridge'
12. silta si-l-ta * 'bridge'
13. kahvi ka-h-vi * 'coffee'
14. juoksen ju-o-k-se-n * 'I run'
15. opisto o-pi-s-to * 'college'
16. matka ma-t-ka * 'trip'
17. pankki pa-n-k-ki * 'bank'
18. pirtti pi-r-t-ti * 'living room'
19. silkki si-l-k-ki * 'silk'
But I have many questionable examples which is marked * above. Is Finnish
a mora language? If so, how do we separate into moras.
Thank you.

 Nobuyuki Kawagashira
 General Linguistics, University of Tsukuba
 mail : s945025ipe.tsukuba.ac.jp