LINGUIST List 7.507

Fri Apr 5 1996

Qs: Language Acquisition, Italian phonology, English

Editor for this issue: Ljuba Veselinova <lveselinemunix.emich.edu>

Directory

1. Juan Bernardo Llanos Lamarque, Seeking Language Acquisition resources
2. Keith Carlson, Italian phonology
3. Lorena Perez, English

A friend of mine needs resources to prepare a doctoral thesis on
language acquisition, in particular on the following subjects:

 * bilingual language processing
 * bilingual cognitive functioning

I would appreciate any info (book titles and other sources) that you could
send me.

Thank you very much.


 _\|/_
 (o o)
 +-----------oOO-(_)-OOo-----------+
 | Juan Bernardo Llanos |
 | Pte. J.E. Uriburu 1234 - 12A |
 | 1114 - Buenos Aires |
 | ARGENTINA |
 | |
 | Tel/Fax: (541) 826-4938 |
 | E-mail: juanudllanos.ba.ar |
 +---------------------------------+
 (_| |_)

something has been puzzling me about italian phonology. i m looking
specifically for a constraint-based approach to this problem, and
welcome any optimality-theoretic solutions.

the facts:

(1) vowels in stressed, open syllables are predictably long
word-internally, e.g. 'vi:.no 'wine'.

(2) vowels in stressed, open syllables are predictably short
word-finally (despite stress), e.g. par.le.'ro 'I will speak', cit.'ta
'city'.

(3) if a word-final vowel is stressed, then the onset of the following
syllable closes the preceding syllable, e.g. par.le.'ro[b] # be.ne 'I
will speak well' (gemination of [b]), cit.'ta # s.por.ca 'dirty city'
(resyllabification of [s]). this is known as *radoppiamento
sintattico*.

analysis:

the predictable lengthening of vowels, as in (1), as well as the
gemination of [b] and the resyllabification of [s] in (3) point to the
satisfaction of the Weight to Stress Principle: the best stressed
syllables are heavy (bimoraic).

problem:

why can't vowels be heavy at the edge in order to satisfy the WSP, as
they are word-internally? It is odd that moras that 'sprout'
(i.e. are not underlying) word-internally govern vowels, as in (1) ,
while those that sprout word-finally can only govern consonants, as in
(3), otherwise they do not sprout at all, as in (2).

will post any satisfying answers received.
thanks in advance.
j
RESPOND TO: jamessensoryc.com

Dear Linguist members,


I'm currently doing some research on the cognition of requests and the
cognitive status of some well-known pragmatic principles. Not being a
native speaker myself, I am often haunted by doubts about my own
language intuitions. I wonder whether you could help me with the last
one.

 Could those of you who are native speakers of English order the
following sentences according to their degree of politeness from the
most to the least polite??? It would be most helpful!!

Can someone bring me my slippers?
Can't anyone bring me my slippers?
Can't someone bring me my slippers?
Can anyone bring me my slippers?

Thank you very much in advance,

Lorena Perez