LINGUIST List 9.247

Wed Feb 18 1998

Qs: Romani, Tagalog, Seminole, Dutch

Editor for this issue: Anita Huang <anitalinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. NANCY MAE ANTRIM, Romani
2. Yehuda N. Falk, Tagalog
3. whalen, Seminole Speakers in Florida
4. Richard Coates, Dutch ankers

I have a student who is interested in the Romani language in the U.S. He
is particularly interested in any schools for Romani speakers - not to
teach Romani, but rather schools that would serve only Romani speakers. 
Does anyone know about such schools or where he could find the
information? He believes there have been such in California.
Please reply to me as he doesn't have e-mail. 

Thank you.
Nancy Mae Antrim
Dept. of Languages and Linguistics
University of Texas at El Paso

I have a couple of questions about Tagalog, concerning verbs of perception
with the prefixes ma- and maka-, as in:

(1) Na- kita ni Maria ang mga bulaklak.
 PERF.ma- see ACTOR Maria NOM PL flower

(2) Naka- kita si Maria ng mga bulaklak.
 PERF.maka- see NOM Maria ACC PL flower

First of all, there is (unacknowledged) disagreement in the literature
about the meanings of these sentences. (1) is universally glossed as 'Maria
saw the flowers.', but while some references treat (2) as a different
"voice" of (1) (and thus synonymous with it), others claim that the meaning
of (2) is abilitative: 'Maria could see the flowers.' Which is correct? (I
am also curious why this empirical disagreement exists in the literature.) 

Second, is it true that in (1) the experiencer (Maria) is omissible?

Thank you, and may all your ideas be colorless and green and sleep furiously!



 Yehuda N. Falk
 Department of English, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
 Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel
 msyfalkmscc.huji.ac.il
 Personal Web Site http://pluto.mscc.huji.ac.il/~msyfalk/
 Departmental Web Site http://atar.mscc.huji.ac.il/~english/

Dear Listers,
 
 Does anyone on the list work with Seminole speakers in Florida? 
Either Mikasuki or Seminole Creek (or both) would be fine. If you 
have any contact information, please drop me a note.
Thanks, Doug Whalen DhW Endangered Language Fund

whalenhaskins.yale.edu

In the Dutch dictionary available to me, there are many derivatives
of _anker_ `anchor'. Among them appears _ankersel_ glossed `anchorage
cell'. Could anyone tell me whether this is an obscure term of
structural engineering or a stray item meaning `cell for a hermit',
and, if the latter, whether there was a word _anker_ in medieval
Dutch meaning `hermit'? Also, was there a word _ankeres_ for a female
hermit?

Richard Coates
University of Sussex

Offlist replies to richardccogs.susx.ac.uk