Re: my grammar

>Depends on what you mean by "learned". In my time (I'm 26), I've studied
>some languages in depth, a lot of languages at a fairly superficial level,
>and there are even more languages that one picks up bits and pieces of
>just by reading technical theoretical literature.  (I mean, really, how
>many people know much about Hixkaryana? Not me, but IIRC it has weird
>word-order and stress-assignment system that Kager talks a lot about in
>his OT book)
>
>
>
I know what you mean. :) I have lots of bits and pieces too, but only a
few languages which I can actually talk in... I can speak Spanish pretty
well still although I haven't practiced much in ages, and my Basque is
getting better every day... still limited, but I can say a lot more in
Basque than most foreign languages. Other than that I just know a few
bits and pieces of lots of other languages.

>But speaking only of languages I've actually had some coursework in,
>I'd include: German (8y), Ancient Greek (3y), Latin (2y), Modern Georgian
>(2y), Meskwaki (1y), Akkadian (2 quarters), Old Georgian (1q), Russian (1q),
>French (1q), Lak (1q), Nahuatl (1q) (though the federal government is
>paying me to take this last, so I'll be taking 2 more quarters of Nahuatl).
>
>
My personal interest is the non-IE languages, since IE languages
obviously have a tendency to work in similar ways.... if you've learned
one, you can expect many of the same things in another. That's why I've
taken up Basque now... to be honest the biggest difficulty I have is
sometimes I have to stop to think to plan out my sentences, not because
of the ergativity which is easy, but because apart from adjectives
Basque is pretty left branching.... *sigh* I'm getting better, but it
can be difficult sometimes since the heavy elements that english tends
to shift as close to the end as possible often seem to be smack bang in
the middle of the clause in Basque, so if I'm trying to say something
really complicated with lots of "heavy" elements I sometimes get confused.
 Anyway... I'd love to learn some Georgian or Nahuatl... were they fun?
I know Georgian at least is supposed to be pretty difficult
grammatically because there are so many irregular forms...

>That is, if you sit me down with a dictionary and a text, I can actually
>begin to read in those languages, to varying degrees. (Only really in
>German can I speak with anything approaching fluency.) I can also speak
>not totally incompetently about Atkan Aleut, Svan, Mingrelian, Mam,
>Abkhaz, Luiseño, Shoshoni, Hurrian-Urartian, and Hattic. In some cases,
>that means I've actually studied these languages in some detail (e.g.
>Mingrelian); in other cases, it means I've merely read a grammar
>(Shoshoni and Abkhaz).  With these languages, I can't read, only know
>structural facts about them. I am not, in other words, the most amazing
>linguist you've ever met.  My former girlfriend could speak seven or
>eight languages fluently, and could read in a few others;  a good
>friend of mine in Chicago is fluent in about five languages, and can
>read more or less fluently in 15-20 others.
>
>
>
Well, I think being fluent in one foreign language puts you above most
people, and I'd say that a linguist isn't really the same as a language
learner... you don't need to be fluent without a dictionary for a lot of
work you do in linguistics I don't think. You'd know better than me
though. :) I would have liked to meet your ex... what could she speak?

>>Any specific areas of linguistics you specialize in?
>>
>>
>
>Theoretically, I'm most interested in the morphosyntax of grammatical
>relations, which should probably not strike members of this list as
>strange. In terms of languages families, I'm most interested in Kartvelian
>and Algonquian families; although they have little or nothing to do with
>one another, they're both great for gratuitously complex morphosyntax and
>for typological weirdness.
>
>
>
Kartvelian? Algonquian? Which are those? :) Sorry... guess I'll go look
it up....

>>I take it from your sig that you're a 100% paid up linguist instead
>>of a hobby linguist like most of us. :)
>>
>>
>
>Well, yes and no.  I'm a gradstudent, which means I rarely get
>paid for anything linguistic whatsoever. :)
>
>
>
But you might be someday. :)

>>*hums* I'd love to try naturalizing in a
>>foreign language for a while... learning from books just doesn't give
>>you as much of a feel from the language it seems. :(
>>
>>
>
>Yes, I'd like to do that too.  I'm greatly looking forward to
>my talk in Leipzig next May at the Split-S conference, in part
>because it'll give me a rare chance actually to use my German.
>
>
I'm saving to spend a month or two in the basque country this coming
summer.... the only problem I have is that I think that most people
would choose to speaker to a foreigner in Spanish or English if they
speak it, so I might have difficulty persuading them to speak Basque to
me. Much as how when you go to the Netherlands everyone seems really
keen to speak English to you even if you try to speak their language to
them.

Reply