docoflove1974

Part 2: Mutual Intelligibility: Another slippery topic...one which doesn't have an exact definition, as mentioned earlier. Again quoting from Hock (1991:381), mutual intelligibility as an 'exact measure', doesn't always work. As he states, a Norwegian and a Swede will tell you they speak different languages...yet the two 'languages' are nearly identical; same with a Serb and a Croat. The various 'dialetti' of Italy are another question. Put another way, it's a linguistic and a sociolinguistic element, one which is part of a continuum. So, when one goes to measure, or attempt to measure, mutual intelligibility, one looks at a few criteria (this is taken both from Hock (1991:385) and what I've been taught over the years): Basic vocabulary (same topics I talked about in Part 1); Morpho-syntactic simiarlities in the Noun Phrase, Verb Phrase, and Prepositional Phrase structure Now, there are serious complications with all of these criteria. With basic vocab, while it generally isn't borrowed, there are instances. Rumanian provides a good example of this; there are so many layers to Rumanian, that at times the 'basic vocabulary' is not Latin-based: vatră 'hearth' (possibly Dacian or Slavic); g

As I told Asclepiades, I needed a bit to figure this puzzle out, so to speak. So sorry for the delay...and for the long answer upcoming! Part 1: Lexical similarity: I really went through Ethonologue's site and their web-based edition for the answers...and to be honest, I found none. They do not define how they measure 'mutual intelligibility' save for this (taken from their website😞 But Asclepiades' question was the manner in which these concepts of 'mutual intelligibility' and lexical similarity are measured. Ethnologue doesn't discuss this anywhere on their site, that I could find. So...in general, how is this done? I was taught by my professors to use certain 'core' categories of words when judging or evaluating lexical similarity: family terms, particularly that of parents, children, siblings; numerals 1-10, and often the number for the 10s; body parts, particularly 'head', 'hand', and 'leg'; pronouns meaning 'I/me', 'we/us', 'you'; function words (prepositions, articles); basic verbs for everyday life ('to eat', 'to sleep', 'to bathe' and the like) This is not an exhaustive list; some include a wider scope of words. The work of Joseph Greenberg, particularly on African and American languages, includes words for all family members, the numerals for the 100s, and others. The reason behind this 'core vocabulary' is that these words are less likely to be borrowed across languages. There are some anomalies, but they tend to be rare. But just as a comparison, look at the following table which samples these types of 'core lexicon' from English, French and German (from Hock 1991: 559-560): English: to; too; two; twenty; eat; bite; father; mother; three; thou French:

Heh I was giddy that Germany lost. They don't need another championship, really. As for the other game...I admit I fell asleep before the equalizer (rough night last night...party out back lasted longer than we all expected), but I did feel for the Austrian goalie. He stopped just about everything that came his way. There were some great saves, and I really hoped that Austria at least tied things up, which they did. Now tomorrow...I thankfully can watch both games tomorrow (although I'll probably watch most of the first game from the gym), so I'll be happy. I really hope both games are good!

This is a big trend in both 4-year and 2-year higher education institutions, to use more technology, particularly discussion boards and/or online assignments, in order to enhance the learning experience. With my students, I work certain grammar or vocabulary lessons online, and it makes them work on their lessons in a thoughtful manner. When I taught literature courses, I took topics which require a fair bit of thought and expansion and made them online questions. This is increasingly common. I wholeheartedly disagree...not only because I have my PhD from a MAJOR university which happens to be public, which is in the top 5 in the country in my field...as well as my BA and MA from another public university which is again very highly regarded. Let's face it, if you go to a university which is in the top 5 or top 10 in your field, particularly for your graduate work, then it doesn't matter a lick if you went to a public or private university.

So, basically, Turkey and the US are on the same level? Italy is my first choice to win it all, and then probably Spain...although this makes things difficult when I'm around my Spanish friends. I can't ever seem to root for France or Germany; Portugal to me is like the kid brother, always hanging around, causing trouble, but not much about them that's interesting. I'd like to see them succeed, but who knows. In truth, as long as Germany and France come up short, I'm pretty happy

Wow...what a great late goal by Turkey! A tear came to my eye...the Turks fought hard in the second half, and got the win. Question: is Turkey supposedly that great a team? Or are they one of the 'middle' teams...good, but not great? Or not even that? I admit I know nothing about them.

Plus, diesel engines can run on biodiesel! That means, more vegetable oil! Well, what is almost certain is that my next car will be a hybrid...I just happen to like the idea of the Prius, but haven't driven one. I really want Toyota to make a hybrid of their RAV4...small SUV but with great mileage. No plans for that as of yet, though.

I believe Agrippa owns a trademark on The Pantheon

Wow, sounds like it was a helluva game...and hopefully things go better for Italia.

Oops, yeah, true. As to your other point about parents feeling like they're too busy to socialize (etc.) their kids...part of me wants to say that 'being too busy' is a relative term. For example, my paternal grandmother constantly worked, had 7 kids by 2 husbands, and still all of them turned out 'ok'; there were no hoodlums, despite living in a poor, rural area. With this, one would argue that the central issue is discipline; one could take this argument in various directions. On the other hand, I know of cases where despite the parent(s) best intentions, they truly are so busy with work (and, in the cases that I'm talking about now, necessarily so) that they cannot effectively discipline the kids themselves. In these cases, there have to be other members of the family and of the community who step in and help the parent(s) along.

On cheese ravioli, yes. If filled with meat and/or herbs, I prefer a simple brown butter sauce (with perhaps some sage).

Oh, sorry...wrong impression. He's Mr. Scrooge!!!

Here here for not buckling to peer pressure! I *ahem* actually have a Corolla, and have almost complete decided that my next ride will be Prius. For me, it's a question of cost...the MPG that Consumer Reports gives the Prius is still at 41 MPG, way higher than even my 2002 Corolla (which Toyota says gets 39, and both CR and I have figured it's closer to 33-34). Bridge tolls here would be great to avoid...$5 to cross a bridge 'round here is just 'round the corner, and it's already $5 to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. But if I had my druthers...well, yeah, I'd have a sporty steed. Just that for me, costs are prohibitive.

How can these kids be educated, when they are not first being "socialized" by their parents? Does this socialization come first, or is it a normal part of their elementary school education along with parental guidance? That's what the phrase means, Faustus...that you haven't been educated at home, aka you haven't been taught about what your society deems 'right' and 'wrong'...that's part of the first education that a child receives, long before any formal education.

Many studies have shown just this...the phrase that 'it takes a villiage to raise a child' is true in the sense that the child has to learn from all those around him/her of what is acceptable behavior in the society, and more importantly what is not. Many of these kids (baring true learning disorders) never had that education. The phrase in Italian and Spanish for calling someone rude is 'maleducato/maleducado'--explained to me once that your mamma didn't educate/raise you right. Sometimes, that's too true!

People keep saying this...yet more and more teams are flopping... My guess is that it'll be a defensive game, but I have no idea who will win. I want Italy to win, but I'm not so sure it'll happen.

Looks like you're in the money, GPM. As for me, I just found out that I'm gonna be in a meeting during the Netherlands/Italy game. I'm not happy...

Gordon Brown seems like he's trying everything to NOT be Tony Blair...hey, I get it. But still...he reminds me of the 'typical' John Cleese Monty Python character...'authority figure' who never has real control and is a bit grumpy. He's in need of a 3 week holiday with lots of drink and sex. Dude, seriously, let your hair down....

Mille grazie, Silentium! Yeah, I love doing a 'fagasse' with pesto...and as for linguine, yeah, fresh linguine with pesto works beautifully. Actually, maybe I can make some...meh, too much work. Go figure, I like making bread, but hate making pasta!

Oh, it's a slippery definition, to be sure, and why it's one that while used with 'lay people' (for lack of a better term), it's usually quanitified by most linguists. Think of it this way: British English vs. American English vs. Irish English all have almost identical syntax and morphology, both of which are very hard to borrow across languages. The basic phonetic inventory is about the same; the biggest difference is in the vowel inventory, which is slippery in English (as a whole); there is much movement in the history of the language on how the vowels are pronounced, etc., and this is true across modern dialects. One can't go by the lexical inventory, as borrowing of terms is profound. By all rights, these three Englishes are all of the same language, just of different dialects. Granted, there are many times when a speaker of one has a hard time understanding a speaker of the other, but if one were to write it out, one could understand what is being communicated. Now take English (as a whole language) and Dutch. The grammars have much similarity (lack of subjunctive, SVO word order, etc.), but they are still quite different. Dutch still has some assemblance of case and gender, whereas English lost both hundreds of years ago. There is still considerable verb morphology in Dutch--inflection for various tenses and for 3 persons--which English no longer possesses and instead uses complex verb constructions and adverbial constructions. There are still quite a few differences in the syntax between the two languages; for example, if there is an auxilliary verb and a main verb in the sentence ("I can work"), the main verb will be at the end of the phrase in Dutch. If an English speaker (who has never had any lessons in any other Germanic language) were to try and read Dutch, they wouldn't understand much of it; test yourself by going to Onze Taal's site, which is geared for advanced learners of Dutch. Granted, English and Dutch are 'close cousins' in the Germanic-speaking world, but there are enough differences that a speaker of one cannot (usually) understand a speaker of the other. (FYI: a great breakdown of Dutch grammar can be found, oddly enough, at Dutch Grammar.com The same would be true for a Spanish and an Italian speaker, if neither speaker were educated in foreign Romance languages; there are various differences which would keep a speaker of one from fully understanding a speaker of the other. That's not to say that there wouldn't be a little bit of intelligibility; let's face it, Europeans and Latin Americans are educated in at least one other foreign language anymore, as long as they are not of the poorest social class. Most anyone who goes to university in these countries at least learns English and/or French, and often other languages. This is to say nothing of those who grow up in bilingual situations, which often happens.

Your place or mine?

Let the fruits (and vegetables) of summer appear! Like a good Genovese girl, I have a basil plant in a pot in the backyard. It's a staple for me; if I only can grow one herb, it's Italian basil. The reason is simple: it's one of the few herbs which really doesn't hold up well when bought at the store and kept in the fridge. I've had a lack of counterspace my entire adult life, so that pretty much prohibits me leaving it in a mug of water on the counter...besides, Bella gets a bit too possessive of any greenery in the dwelling. So, once I figured out that I'd be at this apartment for a while, I turned my thoughts to the garden again. Like many of the apartments I've lived in, I have a porch. Unlike most all of the previous apartments, it's big, faces east, and gets plenty of sun. At the store a few weeks ago, I saw a bunch of big basil plants for sale, and decided that it was time to invest. So, I bought one, and along with a trip to the home store for a pot and potting soil, I'm back to my gardening ways. (For the record, I've also purchased a jalape

I really can't add anything else to that; it's sound advice, no matter what area you want to study. There are websites which can tell you more about universities here in the US; Chronicle of Higher Education, Peterson's and others that I'm blanking on. The internet makes these searches so much easier. Oh, a good local library should have Peterson's guide in print, too.

Um, what legal reasons????

I love being on the West Coast...8:30am, I wake up to Tommy Smythe wanting to waltz and boogie along with the dancers of the opening ceremonies. Wheeeeeeeeeeee!