LINGUIST List 7.1745

Tue Dec 10 1996

Qs: App psycholing meeting, Mai mai, Chinese ling

Editor for this issue: Ann Dizdar <annlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Sergey Avrutin, Applied Psycholinguistics meeting
2. Joyce Neu, Mai mai
3. kate, Chinese linguistics

Dear Readers,

I am trying to get more information regarding the International
Society of Applied Psycholinguistics meeting in June 1997 in Portugal.
The information in the LSA bulletin does not contain the e-mail
address of the organizers, or the deadline for submission. The phone
number given there does not seem to be correct (the recording says
that this number is not in service). I'd appreciate any
information. Please reply to avrutinminerva.cis.yale.edu.

Thank you very much.
Sergey Avrutin
Dept. of Linguistics
Yale University

"Mai mai" is the name of a group in Eastern Zaire who reportedly
practice witchcraft. A colleague has passed on this question and I
thought someone on this list could respond.

________________ 
Question: Mai-mai (the term) comes from the word for water. But "mai"
is the Arabic word for water (cognate with the Hebrew Mayyim, which
for some reason is in the dual, and which appears in Hungarian
Budapest slang in the expression, "I'm in mayyim up to my neck). Did
this word enter the local vocabulary from Arabic via Swahili? Anybody
know?
________________

Thanks,
Joyce Neu

Dear Sirs,

I'm currently considering my MA Chinese Linguistics research titles, I
was going to compare Cantonese-English bilingual children with
Cantonese monolinguals, but I don't seem to be able to find suitable
subjects in Hong Kong, so I have to think of something else to do, any
ideas in this area welcomed!!