Volume 04, Spring 1978

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    Comparative and typological perspectives on the reconstruction of the Indo-European "gutturals"
    (University of Calgary, 1978-05) Southerland, Ronald H
    In recent decades there has been a trend in Indo-European studies to place greater weight on typological considerations than on purely comparative evidence in reconstructions. The most oft-cited study in this regard is, of course, Jakobson (1972), in which the author introduced the notion of implicational universals and lauded the "predictive power" of typological studies in reconstruction (p. 304). The present paper takes issue with the blanket application of typological considerations to problems of comparative reconstruction. The specific problem addressed is the set of "guttural" (an out-dated but still handy cover term for the palatal, velar and labio-velars) stops in Proto-Indo-European.
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    Ergative switching in Mabuyag
    (University of Calgary, 1978-05) Roberts, Jessica Lee
    It is the intent of this thesis to examine a rule of syntax in Mabuyag, a language of the Western Torres Strait, and to determine what concerning this rule (called Ergative Swtiching (ES)) is language specific and what falls from a general theory. I show how a rule which appears to be language specific can be better accounted for as a part of a general theory rather than as a language specific fact.
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    Another look at Tunica vowels
    (University of Calgary, 1978-05) Latimer, Richard
    In several publications on Tunica, an extinct language once spoken in Louisiana, Mary Haas (1950, 1944) presents a vowel inventory which consists of seven phonemes. A close study of the morphophonemic alternations within the language suggests that there were only five underlying vowels and that the occurrence of [ɛ] and [ɔ] was predictable. In this paper, I will attempt to demonstrate that [ɛ] and [ɔ] are derived in two ways: (1) vowel coalescence and (2) assimilation. I will discuss the effects of each of these processes separately.
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    Phonological explanation in the theory of phonetics: the distributional frequency of half-nasal consonants
    (University of Calgary, 1978-05) Herbert, Robert K
    The past several years have witnessed a significant increase in the role accorded explanation within linguistic theory. There have been numerous attempts to explain linguistic phenomena on all levels of analysis by reference to linguistic and extralinguistic factors. This concern is not novel. The direction it has taken presently, however, can be traced to a dissatisfaction with the very formal and abstract conceptualization of explanation within early generative grammar. In this paper, I would like to consider briefly the present status of explanation in the area of intersection between phonology and phonetics and to suggest that just as we have come to recognize the perils of a phonetics-free theory of phonology, there can be no such phonology-free theory of phonetics.
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    A case for non-phonological constraints on nasal substitution
    (University of Calgary, 1978-05) De Guzman, Videa P
    One problem in phonology which continues to puzzle linguists in the field of Western Austronesian has to do with nasal assimilation. This seemingly simple and pervasive phonological process across languages may manifest certain complexities when it involves a prefix ending with a nasal followed by a base with an initial oral consonant. Tagalog, a major Philippine language, best illustrates these complexities. The facts of the language show that while homorganic nasal assimilation applies quite generally across morpheme boundaries, the related process called nasal substitution operates under certain restrictions which are not necessarily phonological.
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    The Greek character of Ancient Iberian inscriptions*
    (University of Calgary, 1978-05) Anderson, James M
    Pre-Roman, non-Celtic Iberian inscriptions, dating from the fifth to the first centuries, B.C. and written in a semi-syllabic orthography of Eastern Mediterranean origins, remain generally undeciphered. That some of the Iberian funeral inscriptions would have been recorded in the Greek language, however, seems logical, certainly after the fact, as Greek trading settlements occupied areas of the Western Mediterranean coasts from the Rhone river to Gibraltar for nearly two centuries before the appearance of the first Iberian inscriptions.
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    Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics, Volume 4, Spring 1978
    (University of Calgary, 1978-05) De Guzman, Videa P.; Herbert, Robert K.
    This issue is the fourth in the series of working papers published by LOGOS, the student linguistics club at The University of Calgary. The series provides a vehicle for publications by faculty members and students; these papers represent research in progress and are therefore not to be considered as final statements by the authors. The appearance of these articles in the current issue does not preclude their publication in altered form elsewhere.