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Re: No pronoun, no article

From:Stone Gordonssen <stonegordonssen@...>
Date:Sunday, October 19, 2003, 1:40
Drat my books being packed. There's a 70's sci-fi novel which uses this
idea.


> > I'm talking to you > David's talking to Erin (or whoever). > > Do you want to come outside? > Does Erin want to come outside? > > Give me that! > Give David that! > >Except, what about strangers? How would you ask someone "What's your >name?", or how would you translate "you" in, for example, a contract? I >suppose one could use a phrase like "listener" or "reader", but I >suspect that eventually that would become a genuine 2nd person pronoun, >even if this language still tends to avoid it when possible. > >And, again, using names for 1st person could be potentially ambiguous. >What if there's another person named David? And another person named >Erin? Then a phrase like "David's talking to Erin" could be ambiguous >between "I'm speaking to you", "I'm speaking to Erin [the other Erin]", >"David [the other David]'s speaking to you" or "David [the other >David]'s speaking to Erin [the other Erin]" > >-- >"There's no such thing as 'cool'. Everyone's just a big dork or nerd, >you just have to find people who are dorky the same way you are." - >overheard >ICQ: 18656696 >AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42
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John Cowan <cowan@...>