LINGUIST List 7.145

Tue Jan 30 1996

Qs: Courses, Languages, Words, Lehmann, Fricatives

Editor for this issue: T. Daniel Seely <dseelyemunix.emich.edu>

Directory

1. Lyla Barrett, Undergraduate summer courses
2. EFWAGNERaol.com, languges of 1000 BP
3. The Lillies, Word Formation Process Clips
4. Gregory Watson, Christian Lehmann
5. Roger Blench, Lateral Fricatives in Africa and elsewhere

I am looking for information about undergraduate linguistics
summer courses at universities in the U.S. and Canada. If
you know your university offers such courses, I would appreciate
some information on them or even a name of someone I could contact
at the university who would be able to provide me with information.
My e-mail address is;

yu120100yorku.ca

TIA,
Lyla Barrett

Would anyone know the phonetic spelling of these words from the period of
3,000 years ago?

Egyptian for wolf
 huge ( big )
 dog
 cat

Turkish for wolf
 dog
 cat

Masai for dog
 cat
 large (huge)

Nubian for Lion
 Leopard
 cat
 dog
 kill
 hunter ( hunt)

Thank you
Ed. Wagner

I'm looking for video clips (from movies, tv, commercials, whatever) that
demonstrate word formation processes. Please let me know if you see any.
- 
 K Andrew Lillie Diane D Lillie
(AndrewLbyu.edu) (DianeLbyu.edu)
 http://www.et.byu.edu:80/~lilliek/

Does anyone know the whereabouts, affiliated university, or contact address 
(snail and email) of 
the german (?) linguist Christian Lehmann. Dr. Lehmann presented a paper 
at the European Science Foundation Workshop: The Typology of the 
Languages of Europe. Rome (1988) entitled "Participation and predicate 
classes". I'd like to discuss this paper with him.

Thank you for any information you may be able to pass on.
Greg Watson

I am constructing a survey of lateral fricatives in Africa and I would be
grateful for comments and additional
bibliography on some preliminary results.

The table below shows the result of my present survey. I have included
all branches of Afroasiatic but only selected
branches of other phyla. Four isolates commence the list.

Distribution of lateral fricatives in Africa

Phylum	Group	Subgroup	Present
Hadza			Yes
Sandawe			Yes
Ongota			No
Laal			No
Khoisan	North		No
	Central		No
	South		Yes
Afroasiatic 	Cushitic	Southern	Yes
		Eastern	No
		Agaw	No
		Beja	No
		Dahalo	Yes
	Chadic	West	Yes
		Central	Yes
		East	Yes
		Masa	No
	Semitic	Other	Arguably
		South Arabian	Yes
		Ethiosemitic	No
	Ancient Egyptian	No
	Berber		No
Nilo-Saharan 	Kuliak	Ik	Yes
Niger-Congo 	Bantu	Zulu	Yes

Some immediate questions emerge

1. Lateral fricatives are not easily borrowed into neighbouring
languages, apparently. Is this true in other parts of the
world and is there a good phonetic explanation for this?

2. Are there any other cases of lateral fricatives in Africa outside
those mentioned?

3. As far as I can find out only one true Khoisan language, Xegwi, a
now-dead S. Khoisan language had lateral
fricatives. As these are presently found in Zulu and are clearly not
Common Bantu, I have always assumed that like
clicks, they were borrowed into Zulu. Is this true and is there a
bibliographic reference to support this?

4. Even the close relatives of Ik, So, does not have lateral fricatives.
Has anyone demonstrated the lateral fricatives in
Ik are borrowed?

5. Lateral fricatives are distressingly absent from all branches of
Cushitic except Southern, i.e. those in contact with
Sandawe. Nonetheless, they are usually (e.g. Ehret) reconstructed to
Proto-Cushitic, especially because of their
presence in Chadic and Semitic. Is it possible the lateral fricatives in
Southern Cushitic are borrowed from the
Sandawe-like substrate languages?

6. Any references on these topics (and indeed on lateral fricatives in
other parts of the world) much appreciated.

Roger Blench
CISPAL