LINGUIST List 8.26

Thu Jan 16 1997

Qs: Parser, Initial clusters, Trial number

Editor for this issue: Susan Robinson <suelinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Stella Nikouli, Morphological parser for Spanish
2. Joaquim =?iso-8859-1?Q?Brand=E3o?= de Carvalho, initial sonorant+obstruent clusters
3. Greville Corbett, Query: Trial number

I am looking for a Morphological parser for Spanish (or a Morphosyntactic
parser) for Windows NT/95 or SunOS.

If there is something available please let me know:

Stella Nikouli
snikoulisyrlang.com

Dear Linguist-Listers,

I'm currently working on syllable structure and mora-related topics.
I know that word-initial sonorant+obstruent clusters (#rf-, #rb-, etc.) may
be found in some non-concatenative systems like those of Afroasiatic
languages.
But : (a) are there similar sequences in concatenative systems?
 (b) if so, is the sonorant moraic in word-internal position?
Could anyone kindly help me at least with the first of these questions?

Thank you very much. I promise to post a sum as soon as I get some
answers back.
Please send your messages directly to me.

Joaquim Brandao de Carvalho
Universite Paris V
E-mail (home) : carvalhoclub-internet.fr

There are many reported cases of trial number (for three, as the dual
is for two), particularly in Austronesian languages. However, it is
frequently the case that the label 'trial' represents the origin of
the forms (they reconstruct with a numeral three) rather than their
use; often what is labelled 'trial' is actually paucal.

Nevertheless there are instances of genuine trials, available for
referring to three and to three only, for instance Larike (Central
Moluccan, source: Laidig and Laidig 1990) and Ngan'gityemerri (Daly,
source: Reid 1990). My first request is for information on other
languages with genuine trials (i.e. published sources specifically
stating these are genuine trials or replies from people who can vouch
for the use of the trial in a given language).

All the genuine trials I know of are 'facultative'; that is to say,
the trial is used when the fact of there being three is significant,
but otherwise the plural is used. My second request is for
information on genuine trials which are also obligatory (i.e. required
to be used for referring to three, in the way that the dual is
obligatory for referring to two in many languages).

Greville Corbett (g.corbettsurrey.ac.uk)


Greville G. Corbett
Department of Linguistic and International Studies
University of Surrey
Guildford email: g.corbettsurrey.ac.uk
Surrey, GU2 5XH FAX: +44 1483 302605
Great Britain phone: +44 1483 300800 ext 2849