LINGUIST List 6.1479

Sun Oct 22 1995

Qs: Phoneme segmentation,Spanish Conf, GB, Field ling software

Editor for this issue: <lveselinemunix.emich.edu>

Directory

1. Malcolm Ross, Phoneme segmentation and dyslexia
2. Ana Roca, Question about Conference on Spanish in the United States
3. J Kalita, A question on GB
4. Johanna Rubba, Queries Software; Morphology Yearbook

I have found a number of indications in the literature on 'developmental'
(i.e. child/inherited) dyslexia that the reading disability of many
dyslexics is due (partly?) to an inability to segment words into phonemes.

This same literature suggests that children first acquire the ability to
segment the speech stream into words, then words into syllables, and
finally into phonemes. However, references to this acquisition sequence are
vague and are presented without evidence, and I am left wondering whether
illiterate adults generally do acquire the ability to segment words into
phonemes, or whether this ability only comes with learning to read. A
colleague who has been involved in adult literacy in a third world country
tells me that, even in languages with phonemic orthographies, reading is
often taught syllable-by-syllable, not phoneme-by-phoneme

I would be very grateful to anyone who can provide me with references to
literature on the sequence of acquisition of segmentation abilities (or the
absence thereof) and will of course summarise them for the list.

In view of recent discussion of the use of the list, I should add that I
have also looked fairly carefully at the literature on first language
acquisition, and it has not helped me to understand this topic. This
literature deals with phoneme _discrimination_ in the context of minimal
pairs and the like, but not with _segmentation_.


Malcolm Ross
Linguistics
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
Australian National University
Canberra, Australia 0200
e-mail: Malcolm.Rossanu.edu.au

Does anyone in the list happen to know where the Spanish in the US Conference
is or was this year and where the next one is scheduled to take place?

Due to scheduling conflicts and lack of funds, I have been unable to parti-
cipate in the last few conferences and would like to find out the dates
and locations of future meetings.

Thanks for your asisstance,

Prof. Ana Roca
Florida International University
Miami, FL

I was wondering if anyone can point me to any references on
how GB theory handles conjunctions and disjunctions.
As we all know, conjunctions and disjuntions can be used
cross-categorially, i.e., we can produces phrases such as
 VP and VP
 NP and NP
 PP and PP
 AP and AP, etc.

In addition, I am interested in finding out any references
on how GB treats adjectives and adjectival phrases.

Thanks a lot!

Jugal Kalita

PS: I would be grateful if someone knows of a mailing list
or bulletin board for people who are interested in GB theory and
lets me know.

I have two queries:

(1) I am interested in learning about and acquiring Mac software that is
useful to field linguists, for inputting data, organizing and retrieving
it, etc. Any leads would be appreciated.

(2) Does anyone know if the table of contents of the Yearbook of
Morphology can be perused via the Web?

Thanks --

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Johanna Rubba	Assistant Professor, Linguistics =
English Department, California Polytechnic State University =
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 =
Tel. (805)-756-0117 E-mail: jrubbaoboe.aix.calpoly.edu =
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