I am happy to present the fourth edition of the Lingua Franca Website. Since it is in essence the same as the third edition, albeit with a number of significant additions, I have decided to discontinue that edition in order to husband resources. I have left the two earlier editions on line as a matter of historical record. I have left unchanged my introduction as it was published in the third edition, as I felt it could still stand.
In this new edition, various minor errors have been corrected, but nothing has been omitted, with the exception of the print facility which was difficult to maintain, and has been discontinued. It is replaced by a version of the Glossary that is superior for printing. This Acrobat® version includes an English index, covers 86 pages, and takes up 304K of space. This format is popular with those who are interested in depleting our forests. It will lack the valuable hyperlinks that are in the online version, but may be convenient for leisurely perusal, and has an English to Lingua Franca index, the first time, I believe, that such a thing has existed. Leslie Lamport's makeindex program was helpful in creating this. I can also supply a "device independent" file that can be used for printing on installations that handle TeX.
A transcript of a valuable lecture delivered on April 22, 2002 by Professor Roberto Rossetti at the University of Nantes, France, has been included. Of particular interest are the Bibliography and Chronologies which follow his lecture, and are given a separate listing on the Index. Even individuals who do not read French readily will be able to make good use of these careful listings. Some additional texts have been added and annotated.
A new section called “Conversazioni” contains materials received from colleagues which I have slightly annotated and edited. It seems to me that these may give encouragement to younger researchers to expand our knowledge of this area, and also demonstrate how the Internet can increase knowledge. As King Solomon said: Iron sharpeneth iron; and a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. (Proverbs 27:17)
I wish to express thanks to all those who have helped improve this edition, especially Jonathan Bellman, Martha Brummett, David Mediavilla, Roberto Rosetti, M.R. Saulle and Lameen Souag.
Alan D. Corré
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, January 3, 2003