LINGUIST List 6.754

Thu 01 Jun 1995

Qs: Survey: Reference grammars

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1. Dietmar Zaefferer, Qs: Ideal reference grammars

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Dear fellow linguist,

if you are a user of reference grammars and are willing to
invest some seven or ten minutes, you can contribute to
shaping the format of an electronic framework for reference
grammars we are about to develop. We are eager to have your
opinion on what a good reference grammar should look like.
For that purpose we have formulated a set of multiple choice
questions plus some open questions, divided into four major
groups: Quantity, quality, organisation, ergonomy of reference
grammar.

If you have more than ten minutes, we would be happy to have
your reactions also to the starred questions at the end of
each group.

The linear order of the questions does not correspond to a
degree of relevance for us or the project. At the end of the
questionnaire we ask you for your opinion on the relative
importance of the different factors.

To answer the multiple choice questions, please type an 'X'
between the appropriate pair of brackets. Square brackets
'[ ]' indicate that you should choose only one of the answers
to the given question, parentheses '()' indicate that you
may choose several answers. Subquestions are marked by inden-
tation: If you have checked the superordinate question,
please answer the subquestions as well.

We will post a summary as soon as your answers have been
evaluated. Please send the completed questionnaire to the
following address:

 pichlerinformatik.uni-muenchen.de

Thank you very much for your cooperation,

the Munich AVG team

Roman Pichler
Christian Stroemsdoerfer
Vladimir Tourovsky
Dietmar Zaefferer

==============================================================
 1 QUANTITY
==============================================================

1.1 What do you expect a good reference grammar to contain?

[ ] Grammar without lexicon
[ ] Grammar and lexicon

1.2 Which subsystems of the language do you expect to be
 described in a good reference grammar?

() Phonetics
() Phonology
() Orthography
() Morphology
() Syntax
() Semantics
() Pragmatics
() Others: __________________________________________________

1.3 What kind of data do you expect to find in a good
 reference grammar?

() Examples
() Interlinear Morpheme Translations (IMT's)
() Text corpus
() Pictures
() Voice recordings
() Others: __________________________________________________

1.4 What should a lexicon included in the grammar (if any) contain
 at least?

() All the words in the examples and the corpus
() The Swadesh list
() All the function words
() 500 lexical entries
() 1000 lexical entries
() More, please specify: ____________________________________

1.5 What sort of further information do you expect to find in
 a good reference grammar?

() Diachronical information
() Genetic information
() Information on the geographical area
() Typological information
() Description of language varieties
() Negative information (on absent phenomena)
() Socio-linguistic information
() Others: __________________________________________________

*1.6 What kind of bibliography do you expect to find in a
 good reference grammar?

[ ] A list of the referenced books and articles
[ ] A list of the referenced books and articles plus
 considerations for further reading
[ ] A thorough, commented list of books and articles,
 [ ] ordered by alphabet
 [ ] ordered by the following subjects: ___________________
 ______________________________________________________

==============================================================
 2 QUALITY
==============================================================

2.1 What sort of intention do you expect from the author of
 a good reference grammar?

[ ] descriptive
[ ] prescriptive
[ ] both

2.2 What kind of description do you expect from a good
 reference grammar?

[ ] synchronical
[ ] diachronical
[ ] both, but primarily
 [ ] synchronical
 [ ] diachronical
[ ] I don't care, because ____________________________________

2.3 What do you expect about the theoretical background of a
 good reference grammar?

[ ] It should not be bound to a specific linguistic theory
[ ] It should stick to a specific linguistic theory, and
 [ ] it doesn't matter which
 [ ] preferably to the following: _________________________
 [ ] preferably not to the following: _____________________

2.4 How do you expect linguistic forms and functions to be
 presented in a good reference grammar?

[ ] Descriptions of forms (expressions) and functions
 (meanings) should be strictly separated.
[ ] Forms and functions should be described together.
[ ] I don't consider description of linguistic forms to be a
 necessary part of a good reference grammar.
[ ] I don't consider description of linguistic functions to
 be a necessary part of a good reference grammar.
[ ] This question does not bother me at all.

2.5 What kind of terminology do you expect to be used in a
 good reference grammar?

[ ] Mainly traditional terminology
[ ] Whatever is suitable for the language described
[ ] A specific terminological system: ________________________

*2.6 What sort of data do you expect to find in a good
 reference grammar?

[ ] Only data drawn from a corpus.
[ ] Only data based on a corpus (i.e. examples may be
 simplified).
[ ] I also accept data based on the introspective
 insights of
 () a native linguist
 () a non-native linguist.

*2.7 What kind of justification to you expect in a good
 reference grammar?

[ ] No justification of the statements is necessary.
[ ] Statements should be exemplified with real-world examples.
[ ] Statements should be explained (made plausible).
[ ] Statements should be supported by the theoretical
 framework.
[ ] Statements should be justified with cross-linguistic data
 (if possible).

*2.8 Please give your general expectations on the contents of
 the chapters that describe the subsystsems you chose
 under 1.2 above:

Phonetics: _________________________________________________
 _________________________________________________
Phonology: _________________________________________________
 _________________________________________________
Orthography: _________________________________________________
 _________________________________________________
Morphology: _________________________________________________
 _________________________________________________
Syntax: _________________________________________________
 _________________________________________________
Semantics: _________________________________________________
 _________________________________________________
Pragmatics: _________________________________________________
 _________________________________________________
Others: _________________________________________________
 _________________________________________________

==============================================================
 3 Organisation of the Grammar
==============================================================

3.1 Give your preferred order of the chapters that describe
 the subsystsems you chose under 1.2 above:

[ ] Same order as in 1.2
[ ] order as follows:
 1) _______________________________________________________
 2) _______________________________________________________
 3) _______________________________________________________
 4) _______________________________________________________
 5) _______________________________________________________
 6) _______________________________________________________
 7) _______________________________________________________
 _) _______________________________________________________

3.2 Which additional ordering principles should be observed
 in a good reference grammar?

() From the simple cases to the complex ones.
() First the grammar, then the lexicon.
() Other: ___________________________________________________

3.3 What information retrieval tools do you expect to find in
 a good reference grammar?

() Table of contents
() Index of linguistic terms
() Index of names
() Index of languages
() Index of tables
() Index of abbreviations
() Index of symbols
() Index of words
() Cross-references within the grammar
() Cross-linguistic references
() Others: __________________________________________________

3.4 What kind of structural organisation do you expect in a
 good reference grammar?

() Chapters
() Paragraphs
() Introductions:
 () to the whole grammar
 () to the main chapters
 () to each single chapter
() Summaries

*3.5 What kind of metainformation do you expect to find in a
 good reference grammar?

() Information on the theoretical background of the author
() Information on the terminology used
() Information on the research situation of the author and
 on the field methodology used
() Information on the general research situation of the
 language described
() Others: __________________________________________________

==============================================================
 4 Ergonomy
==============================================================

4.1 Which ergonomical means do you expect to find in a good
 reference grammar?

() Pure text
() Tables and paradigms
() Graphics
() Maps
() Illustrations
() Others: __________________________________________________

4.2 What media do you prefer a good reference grammar to be
 presented in?

() Books
() Electronic media
() I don't care
() Others: __________________________________________________

*4.3 Which metalanguage do you expect a good reference grammar to
 be written in?

() English
() Spanish
() Russian
() French
() German
() Chinese
() Other: ___________________________________________________

*4.4 What kind of layout features do you prefer?
*4.4.1 Font size (body text):
[ ]) 12 points
[ ] 12 points
[ ] 10 points
[ ] ( 10 points

*4.4.2 Font type:
[ ] Times Roman (proportional serif font)
[ ] Helvetica (proportional sans serif font)
[ ] Courier (mono-spaced typewriter-like serif font)
[ ] Gothic (mono-spaced typewriter-like sans serif font)
[ ] Others: __________________________________________________

*4.4.3 Font styles:
() Bold
() Italics
() Underlined
() Small caps
() Others: __________________________________________________

*4.4.4 Font usage:
[ ] Use one font for everything
[ ] Use different fonts/font styles for
 () Headings
 () Body text
 () Examples
 () Structural translations
 () Literal translations
 () Footnotes
 () Others: ______________________________________________

==============================================================
 5 Importance of parameters
==============================================================

5.1 Please give a priority ranking from 1 (= "very important")
 to 5 (= "rather unimportant") to the following criteria as
 defined in the sections above:

 1 2 3 4 5
Quantity () ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Quality () ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Organisation () ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Ergonomy () ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

*5.2 Please choose the 10 most important questions of the
 above list and give them a priority ranking from 1
 (= "very important") to 5 (= "not so important"). You
 can refer to the questions simply by the appropriate
 number (e.g. "4.4").

 1 2 3 4 5
_________________________ () ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
_________________________ () ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
_________________________ () ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
_________________________ () ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
_________________________ () ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
_________________________ () ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
_________________________ () ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
_________________________ () ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
_________________________ () ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
_________________________ () ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

==============================================================
 6 Examples
==============================================================

() My favorite reference grammars are:

 __________________________________________________________
 __________________________________________________________
 __________________________________________________________

() The following reference grammars are quite acceptable:

 __________________________________________________________
 __________________________________________________________
 __________________________________________________________



==============================================================
 7 Personal Information
==============================================================

Name:
______________________________________________________________

Address:
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

Email address:
______________________________________________________________

Phone/Fax:
______________________________________________________________

*Main Interests
______________________________________________________________

*Practical experience (field work, etc.)
______________________________________________________________

*Preferred theoretical framework
______________________________________________________________

*Present projects
______________________________________________________________

*I use the following operating system(s):

() OS2
() DOS
() Windows
() Apple Macintosh
() Unix: ____________________________________________________
() Others: __________________________________________________

*I use the following Software products:

() Word processor: __________________________________________
() Spreadsheet: _____________________________________________
() Database: ________________________________________________
() Hypertext: _______________________________________________
() Graphics programs: _______________________________________
() Programming languages: ___________________________________
() Others: __________________________________________________

Dietmar Zaefferer
Institut fuer Deutsche Philologie Phone: +49 89 2180 2060 (office)
Universitaet Muenchen +49 89 36 66 75 (home)
Schellingstr. 3 Fax: +49 89 2180 3871 (office)
D-80799 Muenchen
Germany Email: ue303bhsun1.lrz-muenchen.de