Re: LUNATIC again
| From: | Matt Pearson <mpearson@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, November 10, 1998, 22:50 |
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John Cowan wrote:
>BTW, in rereading this essay to find the reference, I stumbled
>across a most interesting sentence which I had never noticed
>before, in the seventh paragraph (p. 200 of the Houghton Mifflin
>hardback):
>
> Few philologists [i.e. linguists] even are devoid
> of the making instinct --- but they often know
> but one thing well; they must build with the
> bricks they have.
>
>This seems to mean that many linguists would be language
>constructors if they could! What do you all make of this?
I've known several linguists who've admitted to me that they've
dabbled in the secret vice. However, they all claim to have
given it up long along, as if to imply that they have "put away
childish things"...
Matt.
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Matt Pearson
mpearson@ucla.edu
UCLA Linguistics Department
405 Hilgard Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543
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