LINGUIST List 8.599

Fri Apr 25 1997

Books: Computational Lx, African Lx

Editor for this issue: Ljuba Veselinova <ljubalinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Maureen Burke, Computational Linguistics, African Linguistics

COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS

Schuetze, Hinrich (Xerox Palo Alto Research Center); AMBIGUITY
	RESOLUTION IN LANGAUGE LEARNING: COMPUTATIONAL AND COGNITIVE MODELS;
	ISBN: 1-57586-075-9 (cloth); 1-57586-074-0 (paper); 214 pp. CSLI
	Publications 1997: http://csli-www.stanford.edu/publications/ 
	email: pubsroslin.stanford.edu
	This volume is concerned with how ambiguity and ambiguity
resolution are learned, that is, with the acquisition of the different
representations of ambiguous linguistic forms and the knowledge
necessary for selecting among them in context. 

Manning, Christopher (University of Sydney); ERGATIVITY; ISBN:
	1-57586-037-6 (cloth); 1-57586-036-8 (paper); 222 pp. CSLI
	Publications 1997: http://csli-www.stanford.edu/publications/
	email: pubsroslin.stanford.edu
	This volume considers and examines some of the phenomena that
have led languages to be considered "ergative". Languages considered
"ergative" have only been sparsely studied, and many fundamental
questions in their analysis seem at best incompletely answered. This
volume fills that void by focusing on some of the basic issues: when
ergativity should be analyzed as syntactic or morphological; whether
languages can be divided into two classes of syntactically and
moprhologically ergative languages, and if so, where the division
should be drawn; and whether ergative arguments are always core roles
or not.


AFRICAN LINGUISTICS

Bodomo, Adams (Stanford University and University of Trondheim,
	Norway); THE STRUCTURE OF DAGAARE; ISBN: 1-57586-077-5 (cloth); 160
	pp. CSLI Publications 1997: http://csli-www.stanford.edu/publications/
	email: pubsroslin.stanford.edu
	This book grew out of Dagaare field method courses at the
University of Trondheim, Norway, and at Stanford University. The
monograph covers basic aspects of the phonology, morphology, syntax
and semantics of Dagaare, such as vowel harmony, tone, the noun class
system, serial verbs and other complex constructions. Some
sociolinguistic information about this northern Ghanaian language is
also included. It is one of the first monographs on the language by a
native speaker.

Mugane, John (Stanford University); PARADIGMATIC GRAMMAR OF GIKUYU;
	ISBN: 1-57586-076-7 (cloth); 180 pp. CSLI Publications
	1997:http://csli-www.stanford.edu/publications/ 
	email: pubsroslin.stanford.edu
	This monograph grew out of a project funded by the
Berkeley-Stanford Joint Centers vocabularies project. It covers a wide
range of linguistic aspects of the Gikuyu language, most of which do
not exist in existing grammars of the language. Aspects covered
include: consonantal mutations; syllabification; the gender class
system; types of nominalizations; the noun phrase; the verb phrase;
possessor ascension; the tense aspect paradigms. Additionally, the
monograph includes a short lexicon of cultural terminology relating to
aspects of Gikuyu life such as the rights of passage; garments and
ornaments; foods; the environment; etc.