Re: CHAT: _Describing Morphosyntax_

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 10:36:43 -0500, J. K. Hoffman <ryumaou@...>
wrote:

> I think the book [Describing Morphosyntax] was written with
> the idea that the reader had quite a bit of linguistic education
> already.  And, indeed, that may have been the intention of the author.
Indeed. It's a guide for field linguists, who are very probably doing
post-grad research work, unless the field in which you happen to be
linguing is that of your own conlang.

> As I mentioned, I'm about the furthest thing from a linguist or
> linguistics student one could imagine.  I've never taken *any* classes
> in it at all.  I've slogged my way through several textbooks and other
> books, mainly introductory texts, just trying to get a handle on all the
> technical jargon that's required to adequately describe even a "simple"
> language, if such a thing exists.  So far, I don't think I'm doing too
> well, honestly.  But, I'm stubborn, so I keep coming back for more!
Let me give you the one piece of advice that has helped me more than any
other from this list: Get a decent linguistics dictionary.

I personally own, use and love Larry Trask's _A Dictionary of Grammatical
Terms in Linguistics_, so much so that it's the one book which lives
permanently on my desk, and never gets retired to the bookshelf. It's
amazing what having all these dry, obscure terms at your fingertips can do
for your understanding and appreciation of almost any other linguistics
text. Sure, sometimes looking up a definition will lead to looking up a
second or third definition, but it's amazing how quickly the brain
silently absorbs this knowledge. You'll find yourself not looking up
things you used to look up every time, without even realising it.

If I ever teach linguistics (unlikely, but it's a semi-dream of mine),
Trask's dictionary is going to be firmly on the "required" list for my
students.

Get a decent linguistics dictionary, and keep it handy. You wont be sorry.
I paid fifteen pounds for mine, and it's probably the best fifteen pounds
I ever spent.






Paul

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