LINGUIST List 6.1365

Fri Oct 6 1995

Qs: Ethnic terms, Buenos dias, Korean, Vowel Shift

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

Directory

1. , Request for ethnic terms
2. Dr. Manfred Immler, PorquE se dice "Buenos Dias" ?
3. , Re: 6.1355 Korean "tense-doubling"
4. ALICE FABER, Q: Terms for Great Eng. Vowel Shift in French and German

There is a "linguistics" issue which readers of this discussion group
could probably help me with. I'm writing a dictionary and some papers
on the lexicalization of ethnic expressions. I began working on this
14 years ago. I've been collecting some ethnic expressions such as
Mexican Standoff, Dutch Courage, Chinese Firedrill, French Fries,
Swedish Ivy, etc.

I have a large number of these words and phrases (450pp single-spaced)
but the number of languages is small relative to the number of major
languages (approx. 6500) spoken in the world today.

If you or friends and colleagues who are native speakers of or
specialists in various languages can think of any, I'd appreciate a
list of these.

Otra pregunta a mis compaNeros linguistas hispanohablantes
del LINGUIST list:

<?> Quien conoce la explicaciOn porquE en espaNol no se
dice "Buen Dia", "Buena Noche" (en el singular, como se
hace en AlemAn, Italiano, FrancEs), sino "Buenos Dias",
"Buenas Noches" ? El singular me parecerIa mucho mAs lOgico
a mI, como uno se refiere a un dIa (el presente) o a una
noche (la que viene).

Seguramente hay una explicaciOn (histOrica u otra),
pero no me la puedo imaginar.

Si estais de acuerdo, coleccionarE vuestras respuestas y
las publicarE, agrupados y redactados, por el linguist list.

Manfred Immler

Message 3: Re: 6.1355 Korean "tense-doubling"

>From a message just posted to LINGUIST (6.1355):

>One of the native Korean speakers that I have been talking to
>accepts sentences like the following (though acknowledging them
>to be prescriptively unacceptable):
>
> Chelswu-ka ppang-ul mek-ess-ci ha-ess-ta
> Chelswu-nom bread-acc eat-past-ci do-past-decl
> 'Chelswu ate the bread'

The first couple of responses that I got to this message correctly
pointed out that I somehow omitted the negation, unintentionally.
The sentence I meant to inquire about is

 Chelswu-ka ppang-ul mek-ess-ci ani ha-ess-ta
 Chelswu-nom bread-acc eat-past-ci neg do-past-decl
 'Chelswu did not eat the bread'

I apologize for not better proofreading my message before I sent
it out. Again, what I was wondering was how widely accepted this
sentence is (in colloquial speech). Thanks in advance..!

 -Paul Hagstrom
 hagstrommit.edu

I am preparing French and German translations of the abstract of a paper that
I am about to submit for publication (these abstracts are required by the
journal). For these abstracts, I need to know how to refer to the Great
English Vowel Shift in both of these languages. I also need to know how to
refer to Standard English in German; my friendly neighborhood native speaker,
who is not a linguist, provided _Normalenglisch_, which, I suspect, is *not*
what I want to say.

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Alice Faber
Faberhaskins.yale.edu