Volume 08, Fall 1982

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https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/100068

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Browsing Volume 08, Fall 1982 by Subject "Historical linguistics"

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    Hispano-Celtic languages
    (University of Calgary, 1982-09) Anderson, James M
    Celtic documentation from Spain dates back to the second century B.C., predating the Ogham funerary inscriptions of Ireland by about four hundred years. They were inscribed sometimes in the Roman alphabet, sometimes in that curious semi-syllabic writing system employed by the ancient Iberians. Both Roman and Iberian cultures were in immediate contact with the Celtic tribes of the eastern portion of the Peninsula. The significance of these early inscriptions lies not only in their philological importance but also in their linguistic characteristics which are helpful in piecing together the even earlier common Celtic of Europe, and the relationship of Celtic to Italic languages and to Proto-Indo-European.
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    Manichaean elements in the Turkic Brâhmî
    (University of Calgary, 1982-09) Hitch, Douglas A
    When a script suited to one language is used to write a second, there are often new linguistic features which require some orthographic innovation to be adequately rendered. New signs or devices may be invented outright, old characters and principles may be modified, or features may be borrowed from another already existing orthography. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries numerous manuscripts were brought to light in Chinese Turkestan (modern Xinjiang) in a script which has been labelled the Slanting Gupta. This is a form of Brâhmî writing which contains a number of unusual features which could not have been derived from Indian practice. It has been generally assumed that these features are all either new inventions or modifications of original Brâhmî elements. In contrast to this view, it will be argued here that some characters and principles in the Slanting Gupta were borrowed from the Manicheaean (Syriac Estrangelo) script.
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    Saussure's "Cours de Linguistique Générale"
    (University of Calgary, 1982-09) Allen, Derek
    The "Cours de linguistique générale" was my first introduction to linguistics. It struck me then as a peculiar mixture of obvious truisms and obscure jargons. So I put it on an inaccessible shelf, and, fifteen years later, having scattered most of my readable books across Europe and Canada, found it again. Having recently stumbled into the linguistic jungle, been bitten by Bopp and Rask, and stung by Chomsky and Postal, I can now see the "Cours" for what it really is. No, not the proverbial elephant, but an elementary trekkers' guide for lost linguists.