LINGUIST List 6.1493

Wed Oct 25 1995

Sum: Historical Data Sets

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

Directory

1. "Jack Wiedrick", Sum: Historical Data Sets

A hearty (and heart-felt) thanks to all who replied to my request for
data sets; I won't mention them all here, but I have thanked each
individually, and would like to thank them all again.

I will divide the references I got into two piles: one for references
I have personally checked and can vouch for, and one for those I
haven't and can't (checked and vouch for, that is).

Pile #1:

Hoijer, H. 1956. "The Chronology of the Athapaskan Languages." _IJAL_
 22: 219-32.
 (This has about 100 words or more each for several of the
 Athabaskan languages. Quite detailed phonetic data. Drawbacks:
 not in spread-sheet format; crazy old structuralist phonetic
 symbols to interpret.)

Miller, W.R. 1967. _Uto-Aztecan Cognate Sets_. UCPL 48.
 LCCN: 67-065009.
 (This has many cognate words--around 400 or so--for all of the
 major Uto-Aztecan languages. Comes highly recommended from more
 than one source. Drawbacks: not in spread-sheet format;
 traditional American phonetic symbols rather than IPA.)

Swadesh, M. et al. 1966. "A Preliminary Glottochronology of the Gur
 Languages." _Journal of West African Languages_ 3(2): 27ff.
 (This has 100 words each for around 25 or so Gur languages.
 Comes in easy-to-read spead-sheet format, and if not in modern
 IPA, nevertheless the phonetic symbols are reasonably simple and
 straightforward. Drawback: kind of a rare journal that can't
 be found in many libraries.)

Troike, R.C. 1969. "The Glottochronology of Six Turkic Languages."
 _IJAL_ 35(2): 183-91.
 (This has a Swadesh list of 100 words for exactly six Turkic
 languages. The list is very compact and readable, in spread-
 sheet format. Drawback: written phonemically rather than
 phonetically, so you have to wade through some footnotes to get
 straightforward phonetic information on the words.)


Pile #2:

Aschmann, R.P. 1993. _Proto-Witotoan_. SIL. ISBN: 0-88312-189-1.
 (The appendix is said to contain a Swadesh list of 377 words for
 all languages dealt with. The SIL in Colombia has apparently
 also put out a Swadesh list for 40 or so languages from that
 country, which can presumably be ordered directly from them:
 International Academic Bookstore
 Summer Institute of Linguistics
 7500 Camp Wisdom Rd.
 Dallas, TX 75236
 214-709-2404
 Also, Terrance Kaufmann reviewed this book in _Language_ 70:
 379ff.)

Bergstrasser, Gotthelf. 1928. _Introduction to Semitic Languages:
 Text Specimens and Grammatical Sketches_. Published in English
 (translated by Peter T. Daniels) by Eisenbrauns, 1983; reprinted
 in 1995. ISBN: 0931464102 (paperback).
 (There is apparently a reference in the bibliography of this book
 to a large(r)-scale Semitic vocabulary put out by Pelio
 Fronzaroli in an issue of _Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei_.)

Bloomfield, L. 1925. "On the Sound System of Central Algonquian."
 _Language_ 1: 130-56.
____. 1946. "Algonquian." In _Linguistic Structures of Native
 America_, edited by Harry Hoijer. LCCN: 46-007600.
 (I don't know much about these two articles, but was told that
 the data presented was sufficient to make a reasonably good
 reconstruction of Proto-Algonqian.)

Dienhart, J. 1989. _The Mayan Languages: A Comparative Vocabulary_.
 Odense UP. 3 vols. ISBN: 8774927221. LCCN: wln92-290316.
 (I know nothing about this book or what kinds of data are found
 in it. It seemed promising, so I included it here. It's
 probably a hassle to find, though, and costly to buy.)

Hoijer, H. 1962. "Linguistic Subgroupings by Glottochronology and by
 the Comparative Method: The Athapaskan Languages." _Lingua_ 11:
 192-98.
 (I haven't seen this article, either, and don't even know whether
 it lists much data or not. The shortness of the article seems to
 suggest not, but one never knows. I included it because it was
 cited in several sources on Athabaskan reconstruction.)


Well, that's the rich booty of data sets I managed to find with my
roadmaps. Thanks again to all who drew the maps for me.

Jack Wiedrick