LINGUIST List 6.453

Mon 27 Mar 1995

Qs: Not...until, Nez Perce, Sumerology, American pronunciation

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Directory

1. , +0900
2. "WIEDRICK. JACK T", Nez Perce
3. Alexis Manaster Ramer, Any Sumerologists out there?
4. Lars Anders Kulbrandstad, +0100

 (GCA01363niftyserve.or.jp)

Dear Linguists,
 I read Renaat Declerck's (1995) paper titled "The problem of _not_...
_until_," in _Lingsuitics_ 33, 55-98. He considers that (1) below
implies not only that John didn't wake up before nine but also that
he did wake up at nine(as late as nine, he could have woken up earlier).
He seems to claim that all types of _not_..._until_ does have such an
implication. He calls it the sense of acualization. He also claims that
the sense of actualization is not "implicature" but "assertion". (What
do you think?)

 (1) John didn't wake up until nine.

My first query is: do all types of _not_..._until_ have the sense of
actualization? What about the sentences below? The second query is:
is the sense of actualization able to be cancelled or suspended, by
adding such phrases as _if not later_, _or possibly later_, _at least_?
Please judge whether the sense of actualization arises in each sentence arises
 or not.

 (2) _Until_ nine, John _didn't_ wake up.

 (3) Bill _didn't_ say another word _until_ he died.

 (4) a. Nancy remained a spinster _until_ she died.
 b. Nancy _didn't_ get married _until_ she died.

 (5) $B!H (BCool, $B!I (BI told him. $B!H (BWhat do you
 feel? $B!I!H (BNothing. Well, uh,
 maybe I'm exaggerating. It was a kick, but not a big enough one
 for me to want to take the chance again, except for stakes.
 But le's _not_ talk about it abstractly _until_ we're out of here.
 Now, first question: the bottles. Shall we take them all with
 us, or leave one? $B!I!H (BTake them, $B!I (BI said. (BROWN CORPUS: L24)

 (6) She gave a little pout and said, $B!H (BI _don't_ get off work _until_
 eleven o'clock. That's when my evening commences. $B!I (B(BROWN: L02)

 (7) The fact that the queen is expecting a baby will _not_ be official
 _until_ an official announcement has been made. (LOB: A10)

 (8) Nor have we remembered that in the melting pot of America the
 hundreds of isolated and semi-isolated ethnic, regional and
 occupational groups did _not_ fuse into a homogeneous national
 _until_ long after education and industrialization had caused them
 to cast oral tradition aside as a means of carrying culturally
 significant material. (BROWN: F19)

 (9) His own inner voice, which should tell him what not to do, has
 not developed. It _won't_ develop _until_ he has words with which
 to clothe it. (BROWN: B13)

 $B!! (B(10) John _didn't_ stay awake _until_ 6.

 $B!! (B(11) Ensign Vesole decided that he would _not_ tarry _until_ he heard
 the whispering of the bombs, and when night began to fall, he
 put Seaman 2/c Donald L. Norton and Seaman 1/c William A. Roch-
 ford on the guns and told them to start shooting the moment they
 saw an enemy silhouette. (BROWN: F02)

 (12) John left _until_ midnight. (Is this really acceptable?)

 Third query: are the following sentences acceptable?
 (13) _Until_ nine, John _didn't_ wake up. I don't know about later,
 for I left at nine. / In fact, I heard later that he did not wake
 up after nine either.

 (14) John _didn't_ wake up _until_ nine. In fact, I heard later that
 he didn't wake up at all.

 If you have any comment on this problem, I would be very grateful.
Thanks a lot in advance.

Best wishes,
Hiroaki Tanaka
Associate Professor, Tokushima University, Japan.
(GCA01363niftyserve.or.jp)

Does anybody know where I can get ahold of Phinney's (sp?) grammar of
Nez Perce? I was told that a certain Dr. Haruo Aoki at UC Berkeley
has written a grammar of the language in which he refers to this
work, and I would like to know where I can find it. If you have any
information, please address to wied6480varney.idbsu.edu.

Jack Wiedrick

Are there any Sumerologists out there who would be willing to
answer a few factual questions about Sumerian?

Alexis MR

 Kulbrandstad)


A colleague who does not yet have access to the net, has asked me to post
this query:
The word leisure in American English may rhyme with seizure or pleasure.
Can anyone answer the following:
1. Which pronuniciation is more common - /e/ or /i/?
2. Does the individual's choice reflect regional patterns, social class, or
some other factor?

I would also like to ask the same questions about the presence or absence
of /l/ in GA: calm, palm, psalm, almond etc.

Thanks in advance.

Lars Anders Kulbrandstad
Hedmark College, Norway
lakhamarlh.no