LINGUIST List 5.881

Fri 12 Aug 1994

Qs: Before Babel, What about Altaic?, Primate accents, PD parser

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

  • , Before Babel
  • , What about Altaic?
  • Richard Hudson UCL, Primate accents
  • James Beniger, Public Domain Parser

    Message 1: Before Babel

     Date: Mon, 8 Aug 1994 08:43:11 +Before Babel
    From: <mcconvell_puncl04.ntu.edu.au>
    Subject: Before Babel


    The TV program "Before Babel: Search for a Mother Tongue" was shown on SBS TV in Australia on 31 July. I enquired at SBS about availability of the video because I wanted to show it to some first year linguistics students, and they told me as far as they knew it is not available for sale or hire in Australia. Could anyone who knows if it is available and/or details of the makers/distributors let me know, so that I can enquire further?

    Patrick McConvell, Anthropology, Northern Territory University Darwin, Australia

    Message 2: What about Altaic?

     Date: Sun, 7 Aug 94 21:56:48 EDTWhat about Altaic?
    From: <amrzeus.cs.wayne.edu>
    Subject: What about Altaic?


    There has not been a good discussion lately, so I was wondering if anybody was interested in talking about Altaic?

    Alexis Manaster Ramer

    Message 3: Primate accents

     Date: Sun, 07 Aug 94 12:40:05 +0Primate accents
    From: Richard Hudson UCL <uclyrahucl.ac.uk>
    Subject: Primate accents


    Do primates have learned dialects for vocal calls? According to a report in today's "Observer" newspaper, chimpanzees do:

    The accents of chimp populations can, like human accents, identify which region and social class a chimp comes from. The chimps also learn from their peers, even altering their accent to fit in with others. ("Life" supplement, p. 60, by Sanjida O'Connell)

    But according to A. Whiten, in the Encyclopedia of Lang and Ling, they don't:

    There is little evidence of imitative learning of vocalizations, nor [sic] that vocal dialects found in different subpopulations of the same species are learned traditions. In these respects, primates have up to the time of writing shown less evidence of an important role for learning than songbirds. (Vol 6, p. 3331)

    Can anyone throw any light on this obvious conflict of views?

    This strikes me as an important question for those of us who are interested in sociolinguistic theories, especially Accommodation Theory.

    Since posting my query, I mentioned the issue to my daughter who told me it was discussed in an article in the New Scientist (4 June 94) by Meredith Small, of Cornell Univ. That was obviously the source for the Observer article, though not acknowledged. Anwhow, I'd still be interested if any Linguist-ers have any extra light to throw on the matter.



    Dick Hudson Dept of Phonetics and Linguistics, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT (071) 387 7050 ext 3152

    Message 4: Public Domain Parser

     Date: Fri, 12 Aug 1994 07:16:12 Public Domain Parser
    From: James Beniger <benigeralnitak.usc.edu>
    Subject: Public Domain Parser


    Do any of you know where I might find a public domain parser? The user-friendlier, the better, for a non-linguist. A linguist friend tells me that a Tomita parser is what I might need, but I remain open to any other suggestions.