LINGUIST List 13.2722

Mon Oct 21 2002

Qs: Lang Transfer, Vowel Harmony

Editor for this issue: Renee Galvis <reneelinguistlist.org>



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  • yooulee noh, language transfer
  • Les Zsoldos, vowel harmony in the Finno-Ugric languages

    Message 1: language transfer

     Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2002 13:24:23 +0000
    From: yooulee noh <say9511hotmail.com>
    Subject: language transfer


    Hello. All

    I'm a student in NYU TESOL program. As one of my projects, I'm planning to study language transfer, especially Korean to English. The specific topic of my project is negative questions. For example, Koreans will answer in Korean "No, I can play guitar." to the nagative question such as "Can't you play guitar?" When Koreans say "no", unlike English, it is not related to the truth of the ability but negates the semantic content of what the person is asking. Because of this, Korean students learning English, in particular beginners, tend to make mistakes when they answer to negative questions in English.

    If you know some books, research papers, or articles about this topic, would you kindly reply me? Or, if you have general suggestions or comments on my topic, please reply me. Thank you very much in advance.



    YOOULEE NOH NYU TESOL 646-654 6585

    Message 2: vowel harmony in the Finno-Ugric languages

     Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 20:16:10 +0000
    From: Les Zsoldos <lgzsfu.ca>
    Subject: vowel harmony in the Finno-Ugric languages


    I'd like to know more about vowel harmony in Mordvin, Cheremis (Mari), Votyak (Udmurt) and Zyryan (Komi). Are there many examples of vowel harmony in these languages? Do they have palatal harmony (front/back) and labial harmony (rounded/undround) or only one or the other? Do the two dialects of Mordvin (Erzya and Moksha) exhibit differences in their systems of vowel harmony or are they identical? Here's a good example of vowel harmony in Hungarian: megyek, jo:vo:k and csina'lok. These words mean I'm going, I'm coming, I'm doing/making. These verbs consist of a stem plus linking vowel and k. The o: corresponds to a mid front rounded vowel, and a' to a long vowel. Are there similar paradigms in the languages which I've already named?

    Thanks.