LINGUIST List 6.125

Sun 29 Jan 1995

Books: Phonology, Syntax, Semantics

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PHONOLOGY & PHONETICS
Burquest, Donald A. and David L. Payne; PHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS: A
FUNCTIONAL APPROACH: Pb.: ISBN: 0-88312-608-7; viii, 179 pp.; $19.00.
Summer Institute of Linguistics.
 Burquest and Payne have produced an introductory textbook oriented
 primarily to students interested in previously unstudied or little
 studied languages and who need a practical guide on how to carry out
 their investigation. It gives a broad base of exposure to the kind of
 phonological phenomena found in a range of languages.
 Internet: academic.bookssil.org Textbook, Phonology
NOTE: [Price correction for the book below]
Watt, David L. E. THE PHONOLOGY AND SEMOLOGY OF INTONATION IN ENGLISH: AN
 INSTRUMENTAL AND SYSTEMIC PERSPECTIVE. 1994. 192 pp. 6x9 book. PREPAID
 US$22.00 + 3.50 p&h (US)/5.00 (CAN)/5.50 (Other). IULC Publications,
 720 E. Atwater Ave., Bloomington IN 47401. <iulc.indiana.edu>
Watt presents an extensive study of intonation and its meaning potential from a
systemic functional perspective, advancing Halliday's description of
intonation. Includes over 250 instrumentally derived illustrations of examples
from original tape recordings, cited examples, and recordings of casual
conversations. (A previous posting to the List contained an incorrect price
for the book. We regret any inconvenience.)
SYNTAX
Harms, Phillip L.; EPENA PEDEE SYNTAX: STUDIES IN THE LANGUAGES OF
COLOMBIA 4; Pb.: ISBN: 0-88312-276-6; xiv, 213 pp. $27.00. Summer
Institute of Linguistics and University of Texas Arlington.
 The author describes the major grammatical structures of the language
 from morphology through discourse, with an introductory phonological
 sketch. Epena Pedee is an ergative-absolutive language, but one in
 which the subject has an important role, in that it manifests number
 agreement with the verb.
 Internet: academic.bookssil.org Syntax, Colombia
Wiering, Elizabeth and Marinus Wiering; THE DOYAYO LANGUAGE: SELECTED
STUDIES; Pb.: ISBN: 0-88312-620-6; x, 299 pp. $28.00 Summer Institute of
Linguistics and University of Texas Arlington.
 Doyayo is the language of about 15,000 people in northern Cameroon.
 Using a descriptive linguistic approach, the Wierings cover phonology,
 structure of indicative verbs, some major systactic structures on
 levels from morpheme through discourse, and some features of
 folktales.
 Internet: academic.bookssil.org Syntax, Phonology, Cameroon
Cope, Pamela; INTRODUCTORY GRAMMAR: A STRATIFICATIONAL APPROACH; Pb.; ISBN:
1-55671-001-1; ix, 113 pp.; $12.00. Summer Institute of Linguistics.
 Cope presents a clear exposition of stratificational grammar, intended
 primarily for beginning linguistic students.
 Internet: academic.bookssil.org Textbook, Syntax
SEMANTICS
Berman, Stephen R. (University of Massachusetts, Amherst); On the Semantics
 and Logical Form of WH-Clauses, Pb. xiii + 279 pp. Ph.D.
 dissertation, 1991. $16 + S/H ($3 domestic, $4 foreign
 surface). Graduate Linguistic Student Association (GLSA),
 University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
 This dissertation proposes a semantically dichotomous analysis of
 wh-clauses as denoting either questions or quantified propositions,
 depending on syntactic context (in certain cases additionally influenced
 by lexical properties). Behavior under quantificational adverbs provides
 the primary diagnostic tool and motivates analysing wh-phrases as
 inherently nonquantified open sentences, following the Heim/Kamp treatment
 of indefinites. Restrictions on wh-phrase quantifiability, which it is
 argued interacts with presupposition, motivate the semantic dichotomy.
 Additionally, the quantified interpretation is argued not to involve
 inherent exhaustiveness. Contact glsalinguist.umass.edu for more info.