Letters to the Editor SpecGram Vol CLXVI, No 1 Contents Big Ten Conference Cancels 2013 Linguistics Season—SpecGram Wire Services

Hymns for the Reverent Linguist

From The Linguistick Hymnary (1845)

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Great is thy faithfulness, optimal output,
Thy violations aren’t really too bad.
Thou changest not what the ranking prohibits;
For thy great faithfulness list’ners are glad!


Typology, Typology

Typology, typology, we love your universals!
Typology, typology, we need your universals!
They tell us what will come to pass,
When objects lead and verbs come last;
Typology, typology, alas they’re only tendencies.


The Linguist’s One Foundation

The linguist’s one foundation is sound change regular:
Exceptionless it marches to split or merger.
From borrowing preserve us, and from analogy,
That every reconstruction may true and faithful be.

Joy to the Word

Joy to the word, though linguists can not tell you what one is.
It’s somehow phonological, syntactic and morphological,
But one thing is for sure,
Yes one thing is for sure:
We’re pretty sure it’s listed in the lexicon.
D.S. al Coda


Letters to the Editor
Big Ten Conference Cancels 2013 Linguistics SeasonSpecGram Wire Services
SpecGram Vol CLXVI, No 1 Contents