LINGUIST List 9.1838

Thu Dec 24 1998

Qs: Object agreement, Ling. course, Comprehension

Editor for this issue: Jody Huellmantel <jodylinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Asya Pereltsvaig, Object agreement
2. Alysse Lemery Rasmussen, Less Commonly Taught Linguistics
3. hepeichang, Conjunctions and memory and comprehension of texts

Dear Listers,
I am looking for a language that has BOTH the following constructions:
1) overt object agreement morphology
2) nominal adverbials of the kind:
 John ran two miles.
 John read two hours. [maybe awkward in English but possible in other
 languages]
 John read the book three times.

Any suggestions are welcome. 

I will post a summary if there is enough interest.

Thanks a lot and holiday greetings for all,
Asya


*********************************
Asya Pereltsvaig
Department of Linguistics - McGill University
1001 Sherbrooke St. West
Montreal, Quebec, CANADA, H3A 1G5
phone: (514) 931-5046
*********************************

I have the opportunity to teach a linguistics course (more like a
mini-course) this next semester to 27 middle school students. Any
suggestions as to "introductory linguistics" materials would be
appreciated. I've seen a couple of books from the National Textbook
Company (exploring language stuff) that aren't too bad ... but I was
hoping for something a bit more like a Junior version of Dwight
Bolinger's Aspects of Language. Any suggestions?

I'm starting with 
	language origins
	language families
	phonetics (quick & very dirty)
	morphology (mostly of English)
	and a bit on scripts

My main goal is to convince the kids that English isn't the be-all and
end-all of languages. My second goal is to convince them that it
doesn't have to be written to be a language.

Suggested sites (or cites :-) for FUN Linguistics stuff would also be
appreciated.

Alysse

I am not a member (least-wise I don't think I'm a member) of this
listserv, so please email me at Alyssecde.com. 

Thanks!


Alysse Lemery Rasmussen
Instructor ASL & Spanish, co-owner TeachASL (listserv for Teachers of ASL)
http://members.aol.com/alysser/slll.htm
Lemery Surname Research: http://members.aol.com/alysser/gnlgy.htm
__________________________________________________________________

Dear linguists,

I am interested in the research on the effect of conjunctions on the
memory and reading comprehension of expository texts. I have read
papers on this topic and found that previous researches produced quite
controversial results. Their conclusions mainly fall into two
categories,that is,conjunctions either have significant effects on
reading comprehension and memory or they do not make any difference
compared with the non-conjunction text version.Common sense seems to
favor the former result,and Halliday in his book "Cohesion in English"
(1976)placed relatively high importance on conjunctions stating that
they specify systematically the relations between the clauses or
sentences they connect.However,more and more experiments show the
opposite results.Although the materials(charateristics of texts),the
subjects(charateristics of readers), and the research methods in
different experiments may no doubt cause the differences, the quite
miscellaneous results certainly discount the conclusion of the former
category.

Based on the above reasons, it seems significant to find out how
conjunctions affect the reading process. Is there any method which can
help prove the process? I wonder if Verbal report/ think aloud can
serve to do so? If conjunctions neither facilitate nor interfere
reading, how to explain this result?

I am eager to read any relevant research summaries and suggestions on
this topic. Any recommended papers or works are greatly
appreciated. Discussions are also welcome! Merry Christmas!

He Peichang