3-563msg1.txt

运用贝叶斯网编的一个识别垃圾邮件的程序

Subject: accent in classroom

i receive a number of helpful and informative response from a few colleague and i be grateful to all of them . below please find a digest of the response . first of all , barbara partee provide the background information on the case itself , which be play out practically in her own backyard . on july 7 , 1992 , barbara partee ( partee @ c . umass . edu ) write to me : " i ' m keep an eye on the westfield accent uproar because it 's not far from here and there 's something about it in the paper almost every day , include editorial . i ' ll be glad to help keep you update on news , and i would appreciate receive any reference you find out about to research that show that the parent have nothing to worry about . ( an article in a local paper today , about reaction , say in the last paragraph " linguist say that , as long as the teacher be comprehensible , parent concern about have a good " model " in the classroom to help their child become americanize quickly in their speech have little to worry about . " but no name or reference . ) what happen be that early last week a petition sign by 403 resident of westfield , mass . be give to the school board in response to a decision to reassign two bilingual education teacher to position as normal classroom teacher . the petition urge that no teacher be assign to first or second grade " who be not thoroughly proficient in the english language in term of grammar , syntax , and - most important - the accept and standardize use of pronunciation . " the mayor of the city , a greek immigrant with an accent , and a proponent of english - only law , and chair of the city 's school committee , have be vocally in favor of the petition . it have be denounce by the state 's secretary of education , piedad robertson , a native of cuba and a former kindergarten teacher herself , who immediately come out with the statement that the proposal " would appear to be discrimination , plain and simple . . . . this petition , instead of foster the acceptance of cultural diversity , would appear to encourage bigotry , racism , and discrimination . " the mayor in a phone interview june 30 dismiss her attack as " bovine scatology . " the state 's attorney general have offer th opinion that the plan would almost certainly violate the state 's anti-discrimination law . an article today ( both article i ' m quote from be in the daily hampshire gazette , of northampton , though there be also a mention in sunday 's nytime ) say the mayor , george varela , say he have be get call from all over the country , mostly agree with his point of view . the two parent who start the drive be express great surprise ; the wife , " who be of spanish and portuguese descent , have become so distraught over accusation of bigotry . . . that she have take to avoid people . " the city have about 36000 population and a broad ethnic mix . but like most of what one read about the english only movement , there 's a great deal of debate about whether it 's racist or xenophobic , etc . , and very little about the fundamental question that you raise , namely do it in fact have any effect on the acquisition of english by the child in the class ? " throughout last week , i be forward the response to barbara and she be update the story as thing evolve . on july the 8th , she be contact by a reporter of the westfield paper , and she ask me for ( and , of course , receive ) permission to use the material i have in her interview with the paper . on july the 9th , barbara write : " by the way , i hear second hand that the school committee or a subcommittee thereof just vote this morn 3 - 0 not to adopt the petitioner ' request . i ' ll know more by this even 's news . i expect the newspaper article that our stuff go to will appear tomorrow morn . i ' ll let you know . this be happen quicker , and come out more emphatically on the right side , than i have expect . " the article appear on friday , july the 10th , and barbara be likely to post it here on monday . as you will see , the reporter be absolutely fascinate by the fact of the ongo worldwide discussion of the issue on a computer net . the same issue of the same paper run a syndicate column by william raspberry on the subject . i have not yet find a paper available here that run bill raspberry . that be the chronicle , and now for the substance of the response . a couple of people suggest that the petitioner ' concern be about the teacher be comprehensible to the grade school student . this be , of course , a most legitimate concern , and many state , school corporation , and university have take measure to protect their student from incompetent english speaker . apparently , however , this be not the petitioner ' concern , and the core of the issue be their belief that the student would acquire the foreign accent of a teacher . all the response on this subject share the conviction that it could not happen . michael covington ( mcovingt @ uga . cc . uga . edu ) : " my own rather limit experience be that child be n't even influence by the foreign accent of their _ parent _ , much less teacher . " cliff miller ( miller @ defun . c . utah . edu ) : " of course it be possible [ for a grade school student to be influence by the teacher 's foreign accent ] , but it be highly unlikely that it will be complete or long-last . and perhap the more important question be : do it matter ? i grow up in several different place and my english have undergo a number of shift - - i even have a japanese accent for a while . my english be quite native now and i do n't think that the different stage it go through do it any harm . . . . " craig thiersch ( thiersch @ kub . nl ) : " i ' m afraid i do n't have any citation from linguistics literature , and our phonologist be n't here today , but you ' re right : it 's more or less common knowledge that child virtually alway acquire the accent of their peer , not that of parent , teacher , or other adult . i can think of countless example from my own experience : for instance , i use to live in boston , where you can cut the local accent with a knife , and play organ for a church in arlington , mass . , where the pastor and his wife be from the mid - west . but all their child have strong " towny " arlington accent . " amy sheldon ( asheldon @ vx . ac . umn . edu ) : " i be interest in learn that your daughter never acquire the pronunciation of the 3 adult at home , when they differ from , i assume , the local dialect . i can add that our 9 & 12 year old do not have any of their father 's quebec french pronunciation or translation in their speech and on occasion when they have have his speech form / usage , they seem to get rid of it when they learn the local dialect . that be , his speech do not persist in theirs . they also recently ask me if i think that daddy have a foreign accent . they say they do n't think so . i must admit , that i have to stop and think a second before i realize that he do indeed have an accent , and that on reflection , our kid will admit to it too . but there be a sense in which we do n't think on a minute to minute basis of him as speak differently from us , though certain pronunciation or translation on occasion may strike us noticeably . i 'd imagine that student in a class with a nonnative teacher muight have the same perception , esp . if the teacher be fluent in english , although have an accent . this be a good " apply linguistics " example . " the only reference that the discussion have yield so far be contribute by catherine doughty and susan ervin - tripp . catherine doughty ( catherine . doughty @ linguistics . su . edu . au ) : " the ability " to be affect by phonology " seem to be the earliest of thing to go in term of maturational constraint on language acquisition - - see the work of johnson & newport 1989 in cognitive psychology 21 . j & n set the age of the begin of the decline at 5 or 6 . another interest case that be analogous in some way but not other be the case of simon a profoundly deaf child of profoundly deaf parent . simon 's parent be late acquirer of asl ( learn at age 16 & 15 ) and so provide non-native and very different version of asl to their child . they be his only source of input , as simon go to a " normal " school where no one know any asl . simon 's asl be comparable to the asl of child who learn asl from native signer - - e . g . , nativelike . ( singleton 1989 dissertation ) . susan ervin - tripp ( ervin-tr @ cogscus . berkeley . edu ) : " it would be nearly impossible for a child to be influence by the accent of a grade school teacher unless it be the prestige accent of the community , and the child know it . as labov show convincingly , kid get their accent from their peer . on the other hand , i run into some report case of child who preserve the accent of their immigrant parent , but these be unusual case of socially isolate child . for example , in the clinical literature i find a case of an 8 year old who immigrate at 3 , and still have " his father 's accent " . as he be psychoanalyze ( ! ) he lose his accent , speak like his peer , and become able to mimic the accent at will . buxbaum , psychoanalytic quarterly , 18 , 279-289 ( 1949 ) . " - - victor raskin raskin @ j . cc . purdue . edu professor of english and linguistic ( 317 ) 494-3782 chair , interdepartmental program in linguistic 494-3780 fax coordinator , natural language process laboratory purdue university w . lafayette , in 47907 u . s . a .