Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 13:07:34 -0400

From: "E. Wayles Browne" ewb2[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CORNELL.EDU

Subject: Re: RE Amerax?



From the Ethnologue Database:

-- AMERAX (USA), Language code AEX, Continent North America, Genetic

affiliation Unclassified, Needs survey. Remarks: Spoken by Neo-Muslims in

prisons. It may have Arabic influences (J. Milton Cowan 1990). Religion:

Muslim



Books edited by J. Milton Cowan:

-- Hans-Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, published by Spoken

Languages Services.





J. Milton Cowan was a pioneer in using linguistics in organizing

intensive language courses for the Army during World War II.

After the war he founded the Division of Modern Languages at Cornell,

which later became the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics,

later the Department of Linguistics and the Department of Modern

Languages. He retired as chair of the Division/Department about 1972,

continued to live in Ithaca, ran the Spoken Language Services

publishing house (which distributed the World War II courses and

a number of newer ones), and died a couple of years ago. He was indeed

an Arabist, and produced the Arabic-English version of Hans Wehr's

highly regarded Arabic-German dictionary.





Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics

Department of Linguistics

Morrill Hall, Cornell University

Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A.

tel. 607-255-0712 (o), 607-273-3009 (h)

fax 607-255-2044 (write FOR W. BROWNE)

e-mail ewb2[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]cornell.edu