LINGUIST List 8.1225

Mon Aug 25 1997

Qs: Ger.,DistanceEd,Afrikaans,Structuralist

Editor for this issue: Brett Churchill <brettlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. dwiles, German in Nova Scotia
2. Thomas E. Loyd III, Distance Learning Programs
3. gmodica, Resources on Afrikaans
4. Bill Croft, Apocryphal American structuralist assertions

Several decades ago I collected some interesting songs and a Neijohrspruch
from Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. Is anyone interested in them? If so
please get in touch with me: dwilesccs.carleton.ca

I am currently serving in the U.S. Air Force and would like to pursue a MA
and or PhD in Linguistics. I was wondering if anybody on this list knows
of any programs available for Distance Learning that can lead to either of
the aforementioned degrees? Also, if it can be accomplished over the
Internet or some other medium (video, etc.). Thank you beforehand for any
material or information you might be able to send to me!
Thomas Loyd

A student of mine here in Japan wishes to examine the evolution of
Afrikaans and its relationship to Dutch/German/English. Source material is
scarce in local libraries, and I personally have not much knowledge of the
language or literature on it. Both diachronic and synchronic studies would
be of interest - overview and broadly drawn material would be preferable to
highly technical (e.g., syntactic) analysis. Thank you in advance to
helpful linguists who can take the time to point us beyond "The development
of Afrikaans" and "A grammar of Afrikaans" and work by Botha to further
material.

Reply privately to Guy Modica <gmodicafh.seikei.ac.jp>.

There are two common, apocryphal assertions identified with
American structuralist linguistics, and I am wondering if either
of these assertions was actually made by an American
structuralist. They are:

1. Language structures vary in infinitely many ways. This
statement has been associated with Boas, but it's not in the
HAIL Intro. This statement has also been associated with
Martin Joos, who supposedly said something along those lines
attributing this view to Boas (but not necessarily endorsing it
himself).

2. The distributional method, applied rigorously, would yield a
distinct syntactic category for every word in a language. It is
possible that Z S Harris made such an assertion, though I haven't
seen mention of it in the secondary literature.

I am particularly interested in some form of these assertions
made by structuralists who believed it themselves; but if such
do not exist, I am interested in attribution of these two beliefs
to structuralists by others.

Thanks,
Bill Croft