LINGUIST List 6.1389

Wed Oct 11 1995

Qs: Verbal Compounding,Historical Data Sets,Reflexives

Editor for this issue: Annemarie Valdez <avaldezemunix.emich.edu>

Directory

1. Fahrettin SIRIN, Verbal Compounding
2. "Jack Wiedrick", Historical Data Sets
3. Mark Brand, Binding Assymetry Between IO and DO

 Dear Colleauges,
I'm trying to prepare an M.A. Thesis on 'The Verbal Compounding in Turkish'
especially related to the area of semantics. My main criteria is of
Chomsky's studies about 'Government and Binding' and 'Theta (Theory,
Roles, Criteria). So I need some urgent help on the topic including some
useful book references, articles, internet addresses, advice or any kind
of information. I would be very pleased if you kindly notice my request.
 Thanks for your help.

Yours Sincerely
Fahrettin SIRIN.


==================
Ars. Gor. Fahrettin SIRIN
ODTU BASIN ve HALKLA ILISKILER MUD.
06531 ANKARA-TURKIYE
Tel : (312) 210 10 00/3516
Fax : (312) 210 11 24
E-Mail: fahrettinsakarya.rbim.metu.edu.tr

I'm doing a reading in historical linguistics, and I would like the
chance to kind of "get my hands dirty" with some real data, so to
speak. What I am looking for is a set containing three or more
related languages (preferably non-IE), with 200-300 words for each
language. I'm aware of the objections some people have to Swadesh
Lists and the like as a reasonable measure of relatedness, but I'm
not really interested in proving relationships at all, so I think a
Swadesh List (the earlier, larger version) might be a good place to
start, at least. What I want is practice at setting up phonological
(and, to a limited extent, morphological) correspondences between
languages which I know are related. (That way I can check my
conclusions with accepted reconstructions.) The data itself should
be as phonetically detailed as possible (I do NOT want data which has
been simplified for pedagogical purposes; I want the raw data),
expressed in IPA, and easily got, so to speak (I don't have the time
to compile such a list on my own by looking through dictionaries). I
would love a workbook or something, as long as the data is accurate
and unsimplified. If you can help me, please respond to me
personally at:

 wied6480varney.idbsu.edu

I'll post a summary if I get any references which could be easily
accessed by the public (i.e. any which are not just some notes of an
historical linguist somewhere, or something else equally hard to get).

Thanks in advance,
Jack Wiedrick

Dear Colleagues,
It's well-known that, in English, a reflexive pronoun in an indirect object
PP can have its antecedent in the direct object but not vice versa. This is
illustrated below in (1), similiar to facts reported by Barrs & Lasnik,
where the intended reading takes "John" as the antecedent to "himself".

 1. a The psychiatrist restored John to himself
 b. *The psychiatrist restored himself to John

However, some languages allow the equivalent of (1b). For example, Giorgi
reports the following facts for Italian.

 2. a. Una lunga terapia psicoanalitica ha restituitto Maria a se stesso.
 'A long psycoanalytic therapy has restored Maria to herself'
 b. Una lunga terapia psicoanalitica ha restituitto se stesso a Maria.
 'A long psycoanalytic therapy has restored herself to Maria'

I am trying to compile a large list of languages categorized with respect to
whether or not they allow the equivalent of (1b). If you are able to report
on the nature of a language with respect to the acceptability of its
equivalent to (1b), please let me know directly. Useful references are
welcome too. I'll be happy to post a summary of responses if there is interest.

Best regards,
Mark Brand


REFERENCES
Barrs, A. & H. Lasnik 1986. "A note on anaphora in double object
constructions", Linguistic Inquiry 17, 347-354

Giorgi, Alessandra. 1991. "On NPs, Theta-marking and c-command" in Syntax of
Noun Phrases, Cambridge Universtiy Press
Mark Brand <brandmacf2.nyu.edu>