Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Appositives, more gender, careers

From:Matt McLauchlin <matt_mcl@...>
Date:Friday, September 8, 2000, 16:02
Stupid razzafrazzin web browser crashed in the middle of my reply. Anyway:

>>I should have mentioned that in cases like Masiu Makláklan, the second >>name is treated as an apposite to the first one, i.e. it always is left >>alone in the nominative, although the first one can be marked for case >>depending on which declension it fits in >Right. This follows the convention in many European languages with case >systems. I was just reading the line at the beginning of the Iliad the >other day:
>Greek: > all' ouk Atreidêi Agamemnoni hêndane > thumôi... > but not Atreus:PATRO:DAT Agamemnon:DAT be.pleasing:IMP heart.DAT > But for Agamemnon, son of Atreus, it did not please his heart...
Actually, that's not what I meant at all; quite the opposite. Look at this: Gor izadi tejen ias, Trele. He:ERG married daughter:ABS me:GEN, Trele:NOM. "He married my daughter, Trele." In this case, "Trele" is an appositive of "tejen ias", so it does NOT take the case marking; it's left in the nominative. If I said instead *Gor izadi tejen ias, Trelen He:ERG married daughter:ABS me:GEN, Trele:ABS it would imply that "daughter" and "Trele" are two different people. Compare Gor izadi tejen ias, Trelen, nojonuj ézires ias. He:ERG married daughter:ABS me:GEN, Trele:ABS, son:ABS:and friend:GEN me:GEN. "He married my daughter, Trele, and my friend's son." (he married three times). and contrast that with Gor izadi tejen ias Trele, nojonuj ézires ias. He:ERG married daughter:ABS me:GEN, Trele:NOM, son:ABS:and friend:GEN me:GEN. "He married my daughter Trele and my friend's son." (he married twice).
>I'm not so sure that that is a fundamental difference. English has >gramaticalized gender. It just happens that it's highly predictable, >while in French or German the predictability is low. There's a whole >range of languages from the completely predictable (English coming very >close to that) to very arbitrary (French and German coming pretty close >to that).
Oh, that's an interesting way of thinking about it. Further to Lyanjen gender: Like English, there is a high degree of correlation based on semanticity. (I.e. you call a female "ge", a man "go", and a thing "ga".) I mentioned that many words for men end in "o" and many words for female end in "e". I think I also mentioned about the easy-swap gender changing affixes: like in Spanish (tío-tía, hermano-hermana) a lot of kin terms and titles and whatnot have swappable gender endings. asir = sibling asiro = brother asire = sister
>So my main question is: What applications of a B.A. in Linguistics are >there, career wise? My ultimate goal would probably be a professorship, >however likely that may or may not be, but what can I do with a B.A. and >a Masters degree in the Interim. I don't want to get a degree in >Linguistics if I wouldn't enjoy any of the careers I can get with it, >although in a land without consequences I'd take Linguistics in a >second.
I initially started taking a linguistics major because I was going to get a master's in library science, which had no particular BA requirement. Then this plan morphed into using linguistics, which apparently counts as a social science, to get me into the special certificate in social work program. Now I may still do that and also use it as leverage in my translating career. I've also heard that linguistics can help you in several computer fields such as voice recognition and the like. But mainly - you're talking about a university here, not an apprenticeship. People these days are much too obsessed with what would help their careers versus what would improve and stimulate their intellectual life. <wise old granny accent> Follow your heart. </accent> Blessed be, Écartons ces romans Matt McLauchlin qu'on appèle systèmes, GM18, Montreal, Canada Et pour nous éléver English/français/esperanto descendons dans nous-mêmes. icq: 4420218 -Voltaire http://www.crosswinds.net/~montrealais _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com.