LINGUIST List 13.591

Mon Mar 4 2002

Qs: Unicode & Tones, Communicative Lang Teaching

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Musgrave, S., Query re Unicode and tone languages

jinys, Re: Communicative Lang Teaching

Message 1: Query re Unicode and tone languages

Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2002 16:03:23 +0100
From: Musgrave, S. <S.Musgravelet.leidenuniv.nl>
Subject: Query re Unicode and tone languages

In developing a typological database which will include text data from numerous languages, we have encountered a problem with the representation of tone using Unicode fonts (we are using Lucida Sans Unicode in our application). The Unicode standard includes two diacritics which can be used to represent contour tones, those normally used for HL and LH contours. But many languages have more contour tones than these two: for example, Ngiti has three tone levels and all combinations of levels allowed in one contour tone: HM, HL, LH, LM, MH, ML. In principle it should be possible to combine more than one diacritic with a text character in a Unicode font, and therefore (if the font in question includes the full diacritic set) it should be possible to provide diacritics for all contour tones. However, our attempts suggest that this method is not workable because the positioning of diacritics cannot be controlled finely enough. That is, the various diacritics tend to be positioned on top of one another, rather than beside each other. Our first question then is:

1) has anyone else had more success in producing diacritics for contour tones using the Unicode standard, and if so, what technique was used?

If no satisfactory answers to this question emerge, we intend to explore the possibility of creating a set of contour tone diacritics for inclusion in Unicode, either as a part of the user-defined area which the standard makes available, or (preferably) as a part of the defined standard encoding. To this end, we also seek answers to a second question:

2) what range of contour tones have been reported for the languages of the world?

We will post a summary of responses to the list.

Simon Musgrave Spinoza Program Lexicon and Syntax (SPLS) University of Leiden

Message 2: Re: Communicative Lang Teaching

Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2002 13:41:49 +0800
From: jinys <jinysnwnu.edu.cn>
Subject: Re: Communicative Lang Teaching

Re LINGUIST 13.423 Subject: Qs: Communicative Lang Teaching

Dear Linguists,

After 2 weeks of scholars' warm help and myself searching, Interneting, my research (the controversies between the criticisers and the proponents of Krashen and the communicative language teaching. It seems to me that these controversies must be solved before Applied Linguistics can hope to make any progress) still badly needs 20 articles to complete. My view, though new, has found indirect support from cognitive linguistics. Could any scholar please give me a big warm hand and help me quickly over this crisis.

At my university's library, teachers have free electronic access to aricles in all Chinese academic journals but no access to Western journals, and researchers like me are left to solve this problem themselves.

If possible, the articles (txt, doc, html or pdf) could be scanned into a computer with an OCR scanner, compressed into zip files and sent as email attachments. Max size for each email could be 500 kilobytes.

These articles are chosen from: http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~vcook/slabib.html (a comprehensive SLA bibliography 1920-1998, _in alphabetical order of authors' names) http://www.deil.uiuc.edu/academicprogram/ComprehensiveExams/389.html (new)

Alan Pulverness, ELT consultant, of Norwich Institute of Education, UK, sent me in all 8 articles, some crucial to my research, by using his University's library or purchasing.

Dr. Stuart Stewart, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Southeastern Louisiana University was kind to send me 3 articles.

I've emailed both, thanking them for their warm and timely help.

Sincere thanks for warmest help! Yu-shi Jin Professor, retired Northwest Normal University Email <jinysnwnu.edu.cn>

The 20 Articles needed to complete my research

1. Articles in Journals Hyltenstam, K. & Abrahamsson, N. (2001). Age and L2 learning:The hazards of matching practical 'implications' with theoretical 'facts.' TESOL Quarterly, 35, 151-170.

Marinova-Todd, S., Marshall, D. & Snow, C. (2000). Three misconceptions about age and L2 learning. TESOL Quarterly, 34, 9-34.

Marinova-Todd, S., Marshall, D. & Snow, C. (2001). Missing the point: A response to Hyltenstam and Abrahamsson. TESOL Quarterly, 35,171-176.

Nikolov, M. (2000). The critical period hypothesis reconsidered: Successful adult learners of Hungarian and English. IRAL, 38, 109-124.

Spada, N. & Lightbown, P. (1999). Instruction, first language influence, and developmental readiness in second language acquisition. Modern Language Journal, 83, 1-22.

James, C. (1994). Don't shoot my dodo: On the resilience of contrastive and error analysis. IRAL, 32, 179-200.

Pica, T. (1994). Review article: Research on negotiation: What does it reveal about second-language learning conditions, processes, and outcomes? Language Learning, 44, 493-527.

Yu, L. (1996). The role of L1 in the acquisition of motion verbs in English by Chinese and Japanese learners. Canadian Modern Language Review, 53, 191-218.

===================== 2. TESOL QUARTERLY

Mills, Douglas, Web-Based Technology as a Resource for Form-Focused Language Learning, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 603-615.

Warschauer, Mark, The Changing Global Economy and the Future of English Teaching, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 511-535.

Warschauer, Mark, and Kern, Richard, Network-Based Language Teaching: Concepts and Practice (Leo van Lier), Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 617-625.

Sharkey, Judy, and Layzer, Carolyn, Whose Definition of Success? Identifying Factors That Affect English Language Learners' Access to Academic Success and Resources, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 352-368.

Egbert, Joy, and Hanson-Smith, Elizabeth (Eds.), CALL Environments: Research, Practice, and Critical Issues (Leo van Lier), Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 617-625.

Conrad, Susan, Will Corpus Linguistics Revolutionize Grammar Teaching in the 21st Century?, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 548-560.

========================= 3. Articles in Books Long, M. & Robinson, P. (1998). Focus on form: Theory, research and practice. In C. Doughty & J. Williams (Eds.), Focus on form in second language acquisition. Cambridge: CUP.

McLaughlin, B. (1998). Second language learning revisited: The psycholinguistic perspective. In A. Healy & L. Bourne (Eds.), Foreign language learning: Psycholinguistic studies on training and retention (pp. 399-411). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Swain, M. (1995). Three functions of output in second language learning. In G. Cook & B. Seidlhofer (Eds.), Principle and practice in Applied Linguistics: Studies in honour of H.G. Widdowson (pp.125-144). Oxford: OUP.

Schmidt, R.(1995). Consciousness and foreign language learning: A tutorial on the role of attention and awareness in learning. In R.Schmidt (Ed.),Attention and awareness in foreign language learning (pp. 163). Honolulu: Uni-versity of Hawaii Press

Bley-Vroman, R. (1989). What is the logical problem of foreign language learning? In S. Gass & J. Schachter (Eds.), Linguistic perspectives on second language acquisition (pp. 41-68). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Roberts, J.T. & Hardern, T. (1997), Native or non-native speaker teachers of foreign languages? Old and new perspectives on the debate, TEANGA: The Irish Yearbook of Applied Linguistics, 17, IRAAL, 1-27