LINGUIST List 8.706

Mon May 12 1997

Qs: Lx atlas, 'As if', Particle movement

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

Directory

1. Earl M. Herrick, Lx Atlas of Mexico
2. Sugayama Kensei, Q: 'As if/though ...'
3. StThGries, Particle Movement

Query-Atlas Linguistico de Mexico.

Does anyone know whether the Atlas Linguistico de Mexico has finally
been published? If it has, can somebody send me the info that my
campus library will need for ordering it: the author(s) listed for it,
its exact name, its publisher, its price, its ISBN, etc.

<e-herricktamuk.edu>

Dear Colleagues,

If anyone knows any reference on a possible (semantic/syntactic)
difference between 'as if...' and 'as though...' constructions,
instantiated by the examples below, in English, I would be most
grateful if you colud let me know.

 (1) Tony writes as {if/though} he {were/was/is} left-handed.
 (2) She looked as {if/though} she {were/was} ill.



Kensei Sugayama
Dept of English
Kobe City Univ. of Foreign Studies
Department of Linguistics
University of Manchester
e-mail: XJ9K-SGYMj.asahi-net.or.jp
e-mail: k.sugayamastud.man.ac.uk

Dear Linguist Listers,
I am a student of linguistics at the university of Hamburg, Germany
and I shall soon start to write my M.A. thesis on the phenomenon
commonly referred to as 'particle movement' as exemplified in (1) and
(2):

(1) a. John brought the book back.
 b. John brought back the book.
(2) a. John picked him up.
 b. *John picked up him.

(2b) is starred unless 'him' is contrastively stressed
The objective of my own research is to formulate an explanation in
cognitive and functional terms for the position of the particle,
i.e. to find out under what conditions the particle is positioned (to
avoid the theory-laden concept 'moved') on which side of the direct
object or, to put it more precisely, how the nature of the direct
object contributes to the choice of the position of the particle.

In the course of looking for the relevant literature so far (I have
been searching our libraries, the LinguistList archives, and the MLA
archives since 1963) I have come across many references, among them
the works or papers of Bolinger (1971), Charlton, (1990), Chen (1987),
Cumming (1982), Fraser (1965, 1966, 1976), den Dikken (1995), Lindner
(1981), to name but a few.
Unfortunately for me, many of the references I have found concentrate
mostly or solely on the problem of distinguishing verb-particle
constructions from other constructions such as verb-adverb
constructions or verb-preposition constructions rather than on the
investigation of the factors contributing to the position of the
particle. I, on the contrary, would like to find some more works on
the latter subject, so I would be very glad if some of you had some
ideas on references which I might not have found up to now and mailed
them to me directly to "StThGriesaol.com". I will then post a summary
of the responses.

Thank you very much in advance,
Stefan Th. Gries