LINGUIST List 7.153

Tue Jan 30 1996

Qs: WW II & Lang Change, Number Names, Spanish la -> el

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

Directory

1. TRACY RECORD, WW II Lang Change
2. Markccgate.dragonsys.com, Number-names
3. Sondra.AhlenSPEECH1.CS.CMU.EDU, Query for Spanish la->el data.

Hello! I am doing research on the effect World War II had on
language(vocabulary, neologisms) in America. I was hoping to find a
newsgroup where I could read member postings and solicit help with
sources. Am I in the right spot? If so, please send back the site
address and or www site (I am new at this--guess it shows). 

 Thank you.

 Tracy Record

I am trying to pin down the meanings and sources of several fictional
names; they may very well mean 'fifty-six' or 'five six'. The names
are: Panc Ashash, Limaono, Englok.

I recognize "panc(a)" as Hindi or Sanskrit for 'five', but I'm unsure
of "(a)shash". On the other two names I have no clue, but several
other names in the same source mean 'fifty-six' or 'five six'.

 Mark A. Mandel
 Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200
 320 Nevada St. : Newton, Mass. 02160, USA : markdragonsys.com

I'm looking for primary data of Spanish feminine determiner
alternation, e.g. la->el, to be used for a research project. I would
especially like to know if there is a data-base which includes audio
recordings, but any references to other kinds of data or studies of
this phenomenon would be welcome.

I'm interested not only in which definite, indefinite, and
demonstrative determiners native speakers of Spanish use with which
nouns, but the stress patterns of these sequences in various
environments as well.

E.g.: 	el a'gua 	'the water'(fem.)

 	u'na ami'ga	'a friend'(fem.)

 	aque'l/aque'lla a'guila	'that eagle'(fem. distal)

For comparison it would be useful to have determiner-noun sequences
with nouns of varying types: masculine vs. feminine, different initial
sounds (stressed [a], unstressed [a], other vowel, consonant,
consonant followed by stressed [a]), and varying syllable types
(monosyllabic, bisyllabic, trisyllabic, polysyllabic). Also for
comparison, single words which are minimal or near minimal pairs with
determiner-noun sequences would be helpful, e.g. aquelarre 'Witches'
Sabbath' vs. aquel arria 'that drove of beasts'(distal). I'm also
interested in these forms in isolation, within sentences, and with
varying stress patterns, e.g. normal sentential stress, emphatic on
the determiners, and contrastive stress on the determiners.

Although I don't expect to find all of these in one place, any
pointers would be welcome. Thanks in advance. I'll post a summary
to the list if there's much response.

Sondra Ahlen
NN-Speech Group
Carnegie Mellon University
ahlencs.cmu.edu