LINGUIST List 6.47

Mon 16 Jan 1995

Qs: Laryngealized V's; Coptic; Anthropoids; Buy & Write

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. Barbara Blankenship, SEEKING LANGUAGE WITH LARYNGEALIZED VOWELS
2. Vincent DeCaen, Coptic vowels
3. BOB KROVETZ, Anthopoid linguistic ability and morphology
4. (OB KROVETZ, Queries: buy and write / need and have t

Please help me find a language. I am looking for one that has creakiness
 or laryngealization contrastively on vowels (not an effect from nearby
consonants), and the creakiness is not redundant with low tone. The
language must not be related to mazatec, and must be one for which
phonetic data are readily available. Any suggestions?

I'm interested what the evidence for the following is, if any:

a) eta, omega interpreted as long, ie., geminate vowels: VV vs. V (or
are we simply dealing with vowel quality?)
b) the supralinear stroke represents the schwa vowel with nonsonorants
(besides the Nubian transliteration)
c) that epsilon is the notation for the actual schwa; or is rather a
"default vowel" (besides alternating with the supralinear stroke)
d) that the double writing of vowels represents V + glottal stop + V

n.b., my main source is Lambdin's Introduction to Sahidic Coptic.

Steven Schaufele's summary mentions a comment by one of his respondants
that chimps "have no morphology to speak of". Have researchers tried
to test this? If so, what experiments were involved? If not, how would
we design such an experiment?

Bob

krovetzcs.umass.edu

Dear linguist,
 I have two different queries about English usage. I would be appreciate
if you answer me directly.

 The first is about the passive of _buy_ and _write_. I would like to know
whether sentences (1) and (2) below are acceptable or not. There are some
people who say that these are American usages. I would like to know if it is
true.
 (1) She was bought a dress.
 (2) She was written a letter.

 The second query is about the use of _need_ and _have to_. According to
some grammar books, sentences such as (3) and (4) below express the meaning
'It is not necessarily the case that...'. I am wondering how often (3) and (4)
are being used.
 (3) Ann needn't be the guilty one.
 (4) It doesn't always have to be my fault.
I also want to know whether (3) and (4) are acceptable in your idiolect or not
.

Thanks very much in advance.

Sincerely,
Hiroaki Tanaka
Faculty of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Tokushima University, Japan
GCA01363niftyserve.or.jp