On Татьяна’s lingvistic devotion:
It can’t help but to cause the commotion—
Derailing discussion
Of grammar of Russian
To get back to the verbs of the motion.
—Ко́мма О’Кѡ̃лон
A linguist who sought to learn Navajo
Decided at fieldwork to have a go.
But he knew his mistake
Did indeed take the cake
When ordered his first day to grab a hoe.
—Pumptilian Perniquity
A linguist with whom I did sup,
Cried “Alas that I drink from this cup!
My paper’s been cited,
And I’d be delighted,
If I hadn’t made it all up.”
—Pete Bleackley
A linguist who pondered a bit
On Chomsky became a harsh crit-
ic of empiricis-
m and questioned the wis-
dom claimed for the functi’nal gambit.
—Hester Fester-Münsterfenster
Conclusion
In this paper I have solved longstanding issues.
(Those who failed to solve them in the past may now get out their tissues.)
Compared to previous approaches, I admit that my approach seems somewhat crazier,
And the brevity of my treatment might suggest that I’m just lazier,
But if they want to argue with me, I will appeal to Occam’s Razior!
—Morris Swadesh III
