LINGUIST List 7.614

Wed Apr 24 1996

Qs: Texts,Modals,Job Survey,Spanish,Uncertainty,Discourse

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

Directory

1. Livia Polanyi, Texts for Structure of English
2. "Alan R. King", Q: More modals please!
3. Tancredi Chris, linguist job survey
4. "Alan R. King", Q: Quiero que vaya a Mexico
5. Ted Harding, Language for Uncertainty
6. Topsie Ruanni Fernandez Tupas, Discours Analysis Models

I am looking for suggestions for a textbook to use in an undergraduate
course on the structure of English. Since I would want to cover
material in phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax, discourse and
sociolinguistics, the book could be an introductory general
linguistics text with primarily English examples or a book specially
written with the Structure of English in mind. Please reply to
polanyiruf.rice.edu. I'll post a digest of responses to LINGUIST.

Thanks to all those who responded to my recent request for sentences
containing modals in different languages. I now have data for over
fifty languages, but would like to extend the data base still further
before summarising. All languages remain welcome, EXCEPT for the
major Germanic and Romance ones which are now well-covered. I'd like
to make a special plea for data from any AFRICAN, AMERICAN INDIAN,
AUSTRALIAN, CAUCASIAN, CENTRAL ASIAN, and PAPUAN languages as well as
from little-known languages anywhere in the world.

I would furthermore be particularly interested in seeing data for the
following languages:

Albanian Irish
Amharic Kiribati
Aramaic Latvian
Breton Lithuanian
Bulgarian Polish
Catalan Samoan
Estonian Serbo-Croat
Fijian Slovene
Gaelic Somali
Georgian Tagalog
Greek (especially Classical) Tok Pisin
Haitian Creole Tongan
Icelandic Zulu (and other Bantu)

The question remains the same, and is repeated below:

As part of a study on the typology of modality expressions in the
world's languages, I request translations into as many languages as
possible (especially non-European ones!) of the following three
sentences:

1) I can go to Tokyo.
2) I have to go to Tokyo.
3) I want to go to Tokyo.

Please literal-gloss the sentences; any further grammatical
explanations or comments will also be most welcome. "Tokyo" may be
replaced by any other place if that is more convenient. If there is a
choice of possible translations, you may give more than one,
commenting if possible on differences between them.

I may want to come back to those who reply with a longer list of more
detailed questions on the subject, so you may wish to indicate in your
reply whether or not you would object to this.

Alan R. King | EMAIL: mccayjet.es
Indamendi 13, 7C | [or if all else fails] 70244.1674compuserve.com
20800 Zarautz | FAX: +34-43-130396
Gipuzkoa
Euskal Herria / Basque Country (Spain)

We are in the middle of reforming our university, and are hoping to be
able to make linguistics more prominent. Our current plan combines
linguistics, congnitive science and mathematics together in one
department. In order for the plan to succeed, we will need to
convince the Japanese Ministry of Education that undergraduates
graduating from the new department would be able to find jobs. Toward
that end, I would like to find out what jobs people have obtained who
majored in linguistics or cognitive science. I would greatly
appreciate receiving information about such positions, including some
or all of the following:

Undergraduate Major:
Highest degree:
Company/Agency (optional):
Title of Position:
Description of Work:

I need to collect this information by April 30, and will post the results
to the Linguist List. If there is any information that you do not want
to have posted, please leave it blank, or identify it as DNP (=Do Not
Publish). Responses about colleagues, friends, acquaintances, etc. also
appreciated. Send responses by e-mail to:

	tancredied.ynu.ac.jp

Thank you for your cooperation.

Christopher Tancredi
Yokohama National University

One correspondent informs me that in some varieties of Spanish, the sentence:

Quiero que vaya a Mexico.

can mean "I want to go to Mexico" (sic). This is news to me, and I've
spoken Spanish for years. Can anyone confirm this, and specify dialect,
register etc.?


Alan R. King | EMAIL: mccayjet.es
Indamendi 13, 7C | [or if all else fails] 70244.1674compuserve.com
20800 Zarautz | FAX: +34-43-130396
Gipuzkoa
Euskal Herria / Basque Country (Spain)

I would like to consult expert and experienced linguistic opinion
about the following type of question.

I am interested in the capacity of "everyday" language to express
uncertainty, and in the extent to which "linguistic" (in the broadest
sense) constraints on what may be said, or grasped, as an utterance,
limit expression of the uncertainty inherent in what is being
described.

As an example, to set the ball rolling, consider the last (set out on its
own) of the following three sentences.

	The number of drug users officially registered as "drug addicts"
	in [ X City ] is just over 1,000. The number of users with similar
	usage is, of course, greater than this.

>>>	The number of unregistered such users exceeds a number which is
	probably between 5,000 and 10,000

I know what I mean by this last sentence, and someone from my field
(which is Statistics) might have to look twice, but would also know
what I mean.

But, when I read it, I suspect that the "general reader" might fail to
grasp it. I would be grateful to receive comments on this (anything
interesting will be summarized).

In order not to bias responses, I'm not saying what I intend that
sentence to mean.

With thanks,
Ted. (Ted.Hardingnessie.mcc.ac.uk)

I am doing a research on The Sinclair and Coulthard Model of Discourse
Analysis to be evaluated in the context of critical linguistics whose
results will then be tried out in some language classrooms. Could you
please help me in this regard? Where can I find books which deal with
not only the Model itself, but with a critical analysis of it and its
application in the classroom. Responses will be posted, and shared
with those who might be interested.

Tops