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Also, Too And Moreover In A Novel By Dorothy L. Sayers, Stephen H. Levinsohn

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

When Dorothy Sayers uses also in her novel The Documents in the Case, this indicates that the material that is added is at least as important as that to which it is added. She uses moreover, as Blakemore (1987) has observed, to indicate that the material that is added provides further evidence for a recently stated conclusion. Too is the 'elsewhere' additive. Sayers uses it when the information that is added confirms or contradicts a previous utterance or assumption. She also uses it when the material concerned is of lesser or greater importance than that to which it …

A Synopsis Of Bora Tone, David J. Weber, Wesley Thiesen

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

The tonal system of Bora, a Witotoan language of Colombia and Peru, has high and low tones. Most tonal phenomena refer to low—not high—tone. For example, virtually all lexically marked tones are low. Further, many suffixes assign low tones to preceding syllables, but never creating a sequence of adjacent low tones. This is modeled with the cyclical addition of suffixes where adjacent low tones are avoided by either blocking the placement of the suffix's low tone or by delinking a previously assigned low tone. Finally, low tone plays a role in various syntactic constructions.

Participant Reference In Narrative Discourse: A Comparison Of Three Methodologies, Stephen A. Clark

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years several linguists have developed quantitative methods for analyzing and describing how speakers of languages refer to activated participants in narrative discourse. One of the first of these was Talmy Givon, whose method (referred to by some as the Recency/Distance method) measured three factors in participant reference: referential distance, potential interference, and persistence. A few years later, Russell Tomlin proposed an alternative model, which he labeled the Episode/Paragraph method. He felt that Givon's method fails to account for the fact that the thematic paragraphs or "episodes" found in narrative texts largely determine the amount of coding material used. …

Np References To Active Participants And Story Development In Ancient Hebrew, Stephen H. Levinsohn

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

Ancient Hebrew is compared with two languages that use a conjunction or pre-verbal particle to signal new developments in a narrative. This comparison shows that Hebrew makes a significantly greater number of full NP references to active participants than the other languages. Typically, languages refer to active participants with NPs when the subject remains the same in two contexts: to mark the beginning of a narrative unit and to highlight a speech or action. Such references are found in Hebrew not only in these contexts, but also in connection with new developments.

Quantification With 'All' In Seri, Stephen A. Marlett

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

Words meaning 'all' in Seri include a verb, a pronoun (which often cooccurs with a coreferential NP), and an NP modifier. This paper explores the syntax of the constructions in which these words occur. It also explores the scope relationship between these words and negation, which seems to vary depending on a non-surface syntactic relation.

Language And Ethnicity Among A Group Of Pentalingual Albuquerqueans, Gregory Thomson

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

The Khoja Ismailis of the Indian subcontinent have spoken two languages in a mildly unstable diglossic relationship for centuries. In recent decades many Khoja Ismailis immigrated to East Africa, and many learned three additional languages. Descriptions of the situation in Africa suggested the hypothesis that three of the languages may have stood in a direct relationship to three different concentric levels of ethnic identity, while the other two languages may have been used in different kinds of outgroup interactions. Interviews with Ismailis who have immigrated to Albuquerque from East Africa suggest a possible approach to defining ethnic boundaries involving a …

Polar Questions In Seri, Stephen A. Marlett, Mary B. Moser

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

Polar questions in Seri are always expressed using an interrogative sentence type which, for such questions, is morphologically distinct, but not syntactically distinct, from declarative sentences. Other facts about polar questions in Seri are described and illustrated as well. (Some of the utterances are linked to sound files and require the Adobe Quicktime plug-in to be installed; this plug-in is normally installed with Acrobat Reader by default.)

Central Vs. Back Vowels, Steve Parker

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

At least fourteen languages contrast a central and a back vowel which are otherwise identical (in height, rounding, tenseness, etc.). Three previous feature systems are argued to be inadequate for capturing these contrasts. A new model is proposed, redefining the feature [± back] (as a dependent of the Dorsal Node) so that it can distinguish between central and back vowels.

Explaining Multilingual Education: Information On Some Tough Questions, Stephen L. Walter

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

A 1999 seminar on multilingual education has resulted in a book which summarizes the investigative work of the seminar participants (from ten countries). This article provides a synopsis of the book. The evidence suggests that countries which do not develop and implement mother tongue education programs will incur long-term disadvantages outweighing any short-term gains that result from using only one language of education.

Seri Dictionary: Sounds And Speech, Mary B. Moser, Stephen A. Marlett

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

The Seri language is rich in verbs and expressions for sounds and speech. This paper highlights this domain of the Seri lexicon and discusses sounds made by inanimate objects, animals, and humans.

Other excerpts from the Seri dictionary have been published in the 1997, 1998 and 1999 Work Papers. The complete dictionary was published in 2005 and updated in 2010. The second edition is available here: mexico.sil.org/resources/archives/42821

Seri Dictionary: Colors, Mary B. Moser, Stephen A. Marlett

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

A subset of the Seri bilingual dictionary includes terms referring to colors. This version includes English glosses in addition to Spanish glosses, and English-to-Seri and Spanish-to-Seri reversals.

Other excerpts from the Seri dictionary have been published in the 1997, 1998 and 2000 Work Papers. The complete dictionary was published in 2005 and updated in 2010. The second edition is available here: mexico.sil.org/resources/archives/42821

Οτι Recitativum In John’S Gospel: A Stylistic Or A Pragmatic Device?, Stephen H. Levinsohn

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

This paper distinguishes three ways in which speech is reported in the Greek of John's Gospel: directly (without the complementizer hoti), indirectly (with hoti and appropriate changes to first and second person references), and in 'hoti-direct' form (i.e., with hoti but without changes to first and second person references). The default way of reporting speech in Koine Greek is directly. Typically, when using direct speech, the reporter purports to reproduce the original speech verbatim. When in indirect form, the speech is not reported verbatim and/or is backgrounded with respect to what follows. The hoti-direct form is …

Questions And Inversion In Ocotepec Mixtec, Roy Eberhardt

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

Yes/No questions, Wh-questions, and embedded questions in Ocotepec Mixtec are described and analyzed within the Government and Binding framework. Questions involving prepositional phrases are unique in that the whole prepositional phrase must be fronted and then the question word is subsequently fronted again. Similar inversion occurs when a possessive phrase is questioned. Smith Stark (1988) documents this phenomenon as occurring across language families throughout Meso-America. Aissen (1996) analyzes it for Tzotzil, a VOS language, as secondary movement to the specifier of PP or DP. This analysis is not possible for Mixtec, a VSO language, so I posit adjunction to the …

Seri Dictionary: Plants, Mary B. Moser, Stephen A. Marlett

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

A subset of the Seri bilingual dictionary includes terms referring to plants. This version includes English glosses in addition to Spanish glosses, and English-to-Seri and Spanish-to-Seri reversals.

Other excerpts from the Seri dictionary have been published in the 1997, 1998 and 2000 Work Papers. The complete dictionary was published in 2005 and updated in 2010. The second edition is available here: mexico.sil.org/resources/archives/42821

Seri Dictionary: Earth, Sea, Sky, Time And Weather, Mary B. Moser, Stephen A. Marlett

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

A subset of the Seri bilingual dictionary includes terms referring to the earth, sea, sky and weather. This version includes English glosses in addition to the Spanish glosses, and an English-to-Seri reversal.

Other excerpts from the Seri dictionary have been published in the 1997, 1999 and 2000 Work Papers. The complete dictionary was published in 2005 and updated in 2010. The second edition is available here: mexico.sil.org/resources/archives/42821

Seri Dictionary: Mammals, Mary B. Moser, Stephen A. Marlett

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

A subset of the Seri bilingual dictionary includes terms referring to mammals. This version includes English glosses in addition to the Spanish glosses, and an English-to-Seri reversal. In addition, extensive footnotes are included which provide information from Edward Moser's field notes relating to the Seri knowledge of mammals.

Other excerpts from the Seri dictionary have been published in the 1997, 1999 and 2000 Work Papers. The complete dictionary was published in 2005 and updated in 2010. The second edition is available here: mexico.sil.org/resources/archives/42821

On The Phonetic Duration Of Huariapano Rhymes, Steve Parker

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

Huariapano, an extinct language of Peru, exhibits an unusual process of coda epenthesis by which the segment [h] is inserted in odd-numbered syllables of the prosodic word. Crucial to an understanding of this phenomenon is the correct interpretation of its metrical function: do these [h]'s represent an augmentation of the strong syllables of trochaic feet, or a partial devoicing of the nuclear vowel in the weak syllables of iambic feet? This article presents the results of an instrumental study which indicates that insofar as their relative duration is concerned, syllable-final [h]'s in Huariapano pattern as fully moraic coda consonants in …

Seri Dictionary: Body Parts, Bodily Processes, Sickness And Medicine, Mary B. Moser, Stephen A. Marlett

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

A subset of the Seri bilingual dictionary includes terms referring to body parts, bodily processes, sickness, and medicine. This version includes English glosses in addition to the Spanish glosses, and an English-to-Seri reversal.

Other excerpts from the Seri dictionary have been published in the 1997, 1999 and 2000 Work Papers. The complete dictionary was published in 2005 and updated in 2010. The second edition is available here: mexico.sil.org/resources/archives/42821

The Relation Between The Writing System And The Use Of Metaphor In English And Chinese, Kang Yuen Ma

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents evidence that there is a positive correlation between the rich visual elements in the Chinese writing system and its users' frequent use of visual imagery (specifically 'image-mappings') in composing metaphors and naming objects. In early 1997, Chinese and English questionnaires were distributed to Chine-speakers and English-speakers in the USA and Hong Kong, in which they were requested to compose twenty novel metaphors with given words and to name three rocks given the rocks' descriptions and drawings. Statistical findings from the 335 questionnaires returned show that among all participants, those who answered their questionnaires in Chinese, those who …

Reversing Language Shift: Can Kwak'wala Be Revived?, Stan J. Anonby

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis deals with the subject of reversing language shift, which comes under the rubric of language rivival. The particular situation and problems encountered by the endangered Kwak'wala language will be described in chapter one. Each community in which the language is spoken will be examined and individual language revival efforts will be discussed. The second chapter will look at different methods and procedures used in various language projects thoughout the world. In particular, it will examine some language projects which are (or were ) in a similar situation to Kwak'wala. It will also come to some conclusions regarding what …

An Ot Account Of Laryngealization In Cuzco Quechua Show Summary Item Record, Steve Parker

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

Classical phonemic accounts of Cuzco Quechua posit three distinct series of stops: plain, aspirated, and glottalized. Parker and Weber 1996 argue instead for a root-level feature of laryngealization governed by a small number of formal mechanisms. In this paper, the analysis is taken one step farther and it is shown that even greater explanatory power may be achieved by appealing to the model of Optimality Theory.

Seri Dictionary: People And Kinship Terms, Mary B. Moser, Stephen A. Marlett

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

A subset of the Seri bilingual dictionary includes terms referring to people, kinship terms, and verbs that are closely related to them. This version includes English glosses in addition to the Spanish glosses, and an English-to-Seri reversal.

Other excerpts from the Seri dictionary have been published in the 1998, 1999 and 2000 Work Papers. The complete dictionary was published in 2005 and updated in 2010. The second edition is available here: mexico.sil.org/resources/archives/42821

Empty Consonants In Root-Medial Position, Stephen A. Marlett

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

Evidence is given that empty consonants occur in root-medial position in Seri, which bears on the observation in Broselow 1995 (Skeletal positions and moras) that such had not been described in the literature. This brief work complements an earlier publication (Marlett and Stemberger 1983, Empty consonant positions in Seri) which posited such consonants at the beginning of various verbs.

Proceeding From Syllable Inventory To Phonemic Inventory In The Analysis Of Liangshan Yi, Andrew Eatough

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

Liangshan Yi (also known as Nosu, spoken in Sichuan Province, China) has many phonetically-interesting syllables. In this paper an articulatory description of the full range of distinctive syllables of this language is given and it is shown that the standard phonemicization of these is reasonable.

What Is Literature? A Definition Based On Prototypes, Jim Meyer

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

Most definitions of literature have been criterial definitions, definitions based on a list of criteria which all literary works must meet. However, more current theories of meaning take the view that definitions are based on prototypes: there is broad agreement about good examples that meet all of the prototypical characteristics, and other examples are related to the prototypes by family resemblance. For literary works, prototypical characteristics include careful use of language, being written in a literary genre (poetry, prose fiction, or drama), being read aesthetically, and containing many weak implicatures.

High Pitch As A Mark Of Respect In Lachixío Zapotec, Jan A. Persons

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

Demonstrating respect to the addressee is accomplished by speaking in a high-pitched voice among the Zapotec speakers of Santa María Lachixío. Various factors determine the use of this feature.

Rule-Governed Allomorphy Can Be Suppletive Also, David Tuggy

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

Commonly occurring linguistic forms, including allomorphs, tend to be learned (listed in speakers' mental lexicons) even if they are formed according to the pattern of a linguistic rule. They thus have dual motivation: the motivation given by the rule, and the suppletive motivation of their having been learned. This accounts for the otherwise inexplicable persistence of rule-governed allomorphy when the conditioning environment is destroyed through diachronic change, producing apparent positive exceptions to the rule.

A Comparative Study Of The Sounds Of Kuo-Yu And Taiwanese, Chia-Jung Fan

Theses and Dissertations

This study was made to explore the pronunciation rules between Taiwanese and Kuo-yu, which are the two major languages used in Taiwan today, by comparing selected features of their phonological systems. The purpose was to provide the future researchers and Taiwanese learners more information on sounds, which will be helpful in the maintenance and future development of the Taiwanese language.

In the introduction, there is a brief description of the background and formation of Taiwanese and Kuo-yu. In chapter two, the syllable structure and phonetic systems of Taiwanese and Kuo-yu are introduced. The following three chapters are about the three …

A Search For Inflectional Priming Reveals An Effect Of Discourse Type On The Lexical Access Of Inflected Verbs, Gregory Thomson, Bushra Adnan Zawaydeh

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

A cross-modal priming experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that lexical access of verbs marked with a specific inflectional suffix would be facilitated by immediately prior exposure to semantically and contextually unrelated verbs with the same suffix. Such priming was not detected. Rather it turned out that bare root forms showed an absolute advantage over inflected forms in this experimental paradigm. However, an unanticipated finding appeared: responses to inflected forms were affected by the kind of discourse that was being auditorily attended to at the same time of the visual lexical decision. There was no such effect of the …

A Backwards Binding Construction In Zapotec, Cheryl A. Black

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

Many of the Zapotecan languages have a unique way of signalling coreference between the subject and the possessor of the object: the subject is null. Such a construction is upsidedown or backwards from commonly described anaphora constructions and its analysis is therefore problematic to current theories. This paper describes the construction and underlines the theoretical problem by arguing against any obvious alternative analyses. An analysis is proposed where it is the tail (rather than the head) of the chain of coreferent elements that is identified, suggesting that this is another place where parameterization is needed.