User talk:Mark Dingemanse/Archive1

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Archived discussion from the Talk page of my old Strangeloop-account

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Good work on the Gbe languages article! I don't know which area you're most interested in, but there are several articles I've been working on that might interest you, in particular Fur language, Nilo-Saharan languages, Afroasiatic languages, Berber languages, Cushitic languages, Korandje language, Bench language, Laal language, Shabo language, Jalaa language. - Mustafaa 01:37, 19 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Hi Mustafaa, thanks for the compliment. I already spotted you on some languages and language families I checked out. I like what you do, being at work on what some people would call unimportant languages. At the first glance there is much to do on African languages here. Lots of African countries only have language information like "Languages: English (official); indigenous languages". I don't like that at all.

Currently I'm most at home in the Niger-Congo area (West-African languages as well as Bantu). I'm studying African Linguistics, and last year there was not so much of Afro-Asiatic or Nilo-Saharan. All the more reason to do some research and dive in it again. Nice to meet you! - Strangeloop 16:41, 19 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Nice to meet you too! I look forward to seeing more of your articles. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the Shabo language - it's unclassified, and for all I know not many Niger-Congo-ists may have looked at the language. (I'll be putting up stuff on Laal language too, soon, which probably is Niger-Congo in my opinion, though I understand Roger Blench disagrees...) - Mustafaa 01:17, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Shabo is indeed an interesting case. I haven't read anything about it yet, except your article, but after a quick glance at the data you provide I would say it doesn't make me think of Niger-Congo. Niger-Congo (in any case, Proto Niger-Congo) is most probably SVO. The obscurity of the nominal plural makes me think of a system with a derivational nature (like for example the southern Cushitic language Iraqw, which has fourteen different (mostly lexical determined) suffixes to form a plural, and the possibility to derive the singular from a plural form) and you generally don't find things like that in Niger-Congo.

I'll put Laal on my watchlist, hope to see some more syntax. I see that you are linking to the (not yet written) articles about alienable and inalienable possession. That's a very important distinction in many languages of the world. Ewe also has it. Phew, there is so much to be written! --Strangeloop 10:04, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

OK - I've just about finished the Laal language article. Sadly, there is no general grammar of Laal, but Deux études laal has enough to cover most of it (although not, for some reason, any numbers other than "one".) It is SVO, incidentally - although barely any slightest trace of noun classes, apart from maybe in the plurals themselves... - Mustafaa 08:47, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Wow, the Laal article looks good and pretty extensive. I haven't looked into the data yet. Funny that you mentioned Roger Blench in your previous post; I didn't know him then, but I met him last week on CALL (Colloquium on African Languages and Linguistics, Leiden University). I would have talked with him about Laal, but unfortunately I recognize his name only just now. CALL was interesting. Some of the 'better known names' participating included Derek Nurse, Paul Newman, Philip Jaggar, Laura Downing, and of course Thilo Schadeberg (Leiden). Roger Blench told some interesting things about an unreported sign language of the deaf in the Bura community, Nigeria.

I also partook in the 'endangered languages programme' [1] last week, and guess what: Laal is mentioned as endangered language in the document 'Endangered Language Research in The Netherlands: an Overview and Proposals'. Not surprising, in view of its position; but the good news is that NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research) provides grants for investigating endangered languages like Laal.

Interesting! I'm tempted to apply for one of those grants sometime... :) Sounds like a great meeting. I wonder what the historical linguistics of sign languages is like; where does a language like this Bura sign language come from, and how does it develop? - Mustafaa 03:01, 30 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Yeah that's a very interesting question. The interesting thing with Bura sign language is that it seemingly never has been in contact with any other of the sign languages of Nigeria, so that it would have developed on its own. Here's a link to Roger Blench's story: [2]. - Strangeloop (talk) 08:03, 30 Aug 2004 (UTC)