LINGUIST List 8.517

Sun Apr 13 1997

Qs: Non-communicative lg, Lg policy

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

Directory

1. Martin Haase, Non-communicative use of language
2. Senans, Native Am. Lang. Policy

I am working on the use of language to measure time and to synchronize
work. I'm interested what expressions or short texts are used in
different languages in order to

a) synchronize the movements of people working together, e.g.
fishermen
hauling their nets out of the water (English "yo ho", German
"hauruck",
Italian (Sicilian): "gnanzu'"), 

b) measure time, e.g. in cooking. In Romance-language areas, Latin
liturgical texts are sometimes used (which are no longer used in
Church
by the way), e.g. Ave Maria,

More examples of both (or similar) kinds are welcome, possibly
with additional explanations about their use, structure, literal
meaning, etymology, pronunciation (accent position!) etc.

Since such expressions do not convey semantic information, I call them
non-communicative. What other non-communicative use of language can
you think of (besides poetry, which I hold to be basically
communicative)?

Please reply directly to me, I'll post a summary to the list, if I
get interesting material.

Thank you very much!
Martin Haase
- ---------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Martin Haase, Universitaet FB 7, D-49069 Osnabrueck
Tel.:+49-541-969-4340, FAX:+49-541-969-4256
http://www.cl-ki.Uni-Osnabrueck.de/~haase/

Greetings! I am a graduate student in search of information about the
history and evolution of language policy in the US with regards to
Native American populations and bilingual education. I am writing a
paper that will address the differences in language policy for Native
American bilingual education, as contrasted with other linguistic
groups. I will also be exploring the following questions: What brought
about recent changes in language policy for Native American education?
Why did federal policy change? How has it been implemented? What is
likely to be the future direction of language policy? What is the
future for language renewal of these hundreds of languages threatened?
Will the changes in bilingual education have some success with the
language renewal?

If anyone has, or knows of, information related to these themes that
could be helpful, please inform me at this address:

senansworldnet.att.net

Thank you very much!

A. Senanayake