Date:  Mon, 16 Oct 1995 13:40:03 -0400

From:  Robert Nicolao <nicolai[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UNICE.FR>

Subject: : sci.lang.compar.africa



        REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)

     moderated group sci.lang.compar.africa



This a formal Request For Discussion concerning the creation of a new

moderated newsgroup called sci.lang.compar.africa. This is not a Call For

Votes (CFV). Please do not vote at this time.



RATIONALE:

Research on African Languages; all with the exception of Bantu, is at

present non-existent in discussions carried out within Newsgroups or on

mailing lists. This is also true of comparative research on African

Languages.



It is for this reason that a group of comparative linguistics specialists

dealing in African languages of the Sahel region

(http://lolita.unice.fr/~rn/GDRE_orig.html) proposes to create a newsgroup

entitled:



            sci.lang.compar.africa.



The group formed as a network around a research project concerned with

lexical distribution in the Sahel-Sahara zone, as well as with the study of

linguistic connections among languages in the region.

It is a French CNRS research organism



END RATIONALE



CHARTER: sci.lang.compar.africa



    As a moderated group, sci.lang.compar.africa would be open to

topics where comparative linguistics in african languages are the subject

of discussion, this would include :



        -languages and language families present in the

Sahel-Sahara zone: Mande, Chadic, Berber, Nilo-Saharan...

        - Analysis of results obtained in the research on genetic

relationships.

        - Problems related to the description of changes in the

context of languages of oral tradition.

        - Understanding linguistic changes and all the relevant

factors concerning language transformation.



    Research workers who do not specialize in the above-mentioned

languages, but who nevertheless are interested in general issues of

theoretical or methodological value for the work carried out or research

tools involved, are welcome to contribute.



Issues of the following type will thus be discussed:

    - Empirical issues (Particular facts pertaining to a language or a

group).

    - Methodological issues (Procedures and methods of description).

    - Theoretical issues (Principles of language change).

    - Epistemological or cognitive issues (The validity of established

facts and how these are obtained).



    Contributions can be posted either in english or in french.



END CHARTER



MODERATION:



sci.lang.compar.africa will be a moderated group. The group has designated

Robert Nicolai, initiator and director of the project, as Moderator.



Moderator: Robert Nicolai <nicolai[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]unice.fr>



Contributions liables to be refused :



 1) off-topic articles

 2) gross profanity and indecency

 3) binaries

 4) advertising

 5) non-specialist articles



END MODERATION



PROCEDURE



This message initiates a discussion period to consider the creation of a

sci.lang.compar.africa newsgroup. Discussion will take place on

news.groups. If discussions are made in other newsgroups, they should

always be cross-posted to news.groups.



* This is not a call for votes. Please do not attempt to vote now.

 A call for votes (CFV) will be issued approximately 4 weeks after this

RFD. When the CFV is posted, there will be instructions on how to mail your

votes to the independent vote-taker.



END PROCEDURE



DISTRIBUTION:



This RFD is in accordance with the Guidelines for Newsgroups Creation, and

has been cross-posted to the following relevant newsgroups:



news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,sci.lang,soc.culture.nigeria,

soc.culture.africa.



It will also be posted in the following discussion-list :



Australian-Linguistics-

L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]coombs.anu.edu.au

CORPORA: CORPORA[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]HD.UIB.NO

LINGUIST: LINGUIST[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]tamvm1.tamu.edu

SCHOLAR: SCHOLAR[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]cunyvm.cuny.edu

ADS-L: ADS-L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uga.cc.uga.edu

AMAZIGH-NET: Rodolphe Suescun

suescun[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]esmeralda.imag.fr

Djamal Bouzida

djb[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]darwin.bu.edu

ENDANGERED-LANGUAGES-L: ENDANGERED-LANGUAGES-

L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]coombs.anu.edu.au

INDOEUROPEAN-L: Antony Green adg1[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]cornell.edu

NAT-LANG: NAT-LANG[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]tamvm1.tamu.edu

SWAHILI-L: SWAHILI-L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]RELAY.ADP.WISC.EDU

SEALANG-L:  * sealang-l-request[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nectec.or.th

  * gwyn[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ipied.tu.ac.th (Gwyn Williams)

  * trin[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nucleus.nectec.or.th (Trin Tantsetthi)

KAMUSI-L : kamusi-l[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]yalevm.cis.yale.edu

Martin Benjamin, email : hickory[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]yalevm.cis.yale.edu

INFO-SIL: evan.antworth[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]sil.org

    INFO-SIL[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]SIL.ORG

ARCLING: Malcom Ross , malcom.ross[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]anu[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE].edu.au

FUNKNET : tgivon[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]oregon.uoregon.edu













END DISTRIBUTION

--

Proposed by : Robert Nicolai <nicolai[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]unice.fr>



----------------------------------------

Robert NICOLAI

GDRE 1172 CNRS - UNSA

63 boulevard de la Madeleine

06000 NICE - FRANCE

Tel. (33) 93 97 59 39

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