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Grammaticalization in an Inflationary System of Signs, (Or: Excerpts from The Swollen Tongue). Frederic de Saucisson. [Frederic de Saucission is best known as the Gulf Coast Functionalist who removed that school of thought from the realm of the esoteric to mainstream linguistics. Less often is he remembered as the Polish composer who emigrated to Louisiana and gained a modicum of fame from such noted Cajun operas as Il Pleut Plus and Permis de Pêcher. But, in fact, de Saucission's career in linguistics was a late development, and he spent the first forty years of his life as a composer and lyricist. Unfortunately, though his musical works were remarkable, de Saucisson had great ... [ more ] 
Dates in the Month of May that Are of Interest to Linguists. James D. McCawley, University of Chicago. (Note: May, the month in which Goodspeed day is celebrated, by recently established tradition, can be seen from the following to be a linguistically auspicious month), May 2, 1919. Baudouin de Courtenay concedes defeat in his bid for the presidency of Poland. May 3, 1955. Mouton & Co. discover how American libraries order books and scheme to cash in by starting several series of books on limericks. The person given charge of this project mishears and starts several series of books on linguistics. No one ever notices the mistake. May 5, 1403. The Great English Vowel Shift begins. Giles of Tottenham calls for ale at his ... [ more ] 
Twenty Special Forms of Rhetoric. Rhetoric has been a topic of academic interest for, approximately, forever. Below are detailed a number of special types of rhetorical argument, some of which (eg, (3)) have been observed since the time of Aristotle [Aristotle] and before. Others (eg, (1)) have been clearly recognized only within the last century [eg, Davis and Hersh]. Some of these (eg, (2)) have never been explicitly delineated before. The uses of rhetoric are manifold and many explications of such have been made before, which this paper will not repeat. Proof by Intimidation, A: What do you think about objection X?, B: That's silly!, Proof by Loudness, A: What do you think about objection X?, B: That's VERY ... [ more ]
Cartoon Theories of Linguistics, Part 九—Lexicostatistics vs. Glottochronology. Phineas Q. Phlogiston, Ph.D. Unintentional University of Lghtnbrgstn. If you are new to Cartoon Theories of Linguistics, please review back issues of this journal. Now let us consider the fundamental difference between Lexicostatistics and Glottochronology: Lexicostatistics Glottochronology Up next: Feeding and Bleeding with guest cartoonist Erin Taylor. References, Arndt, Walter W. (1959). “The performance of glottochronology in Germanic”. Language, 35, 180-192. Bergsland, Knut; & Vogt, Hans. (1962). “On the validity of glottochronology”. Current Anthropology, 3, 115-153. Chretien, Douglas ... [ more ]
Language Made Difficult, Vol. L — The SpecGram LingNerds are on their own this time. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss the dangers of mispronouncing the names of Canadian provinces, and then advise students as to what they should *not* do. They also fail to celebrate the 50th episode. Many outtakes are provided. ... [ listen ]
Deluxe Layered Model of Linguistics. by Bjorn-Bob Weaselflinger. ... *Choice of colors not guaranteed to match intuitions of any professional linguists. Conception of relationship of Lexicon to Grammar not guaranteed to match all theoretical models. Existence of external reality (including sound) void where prohibited by postmodernism, solipsism, and some forms of constructivism. Existence of extralinguistic meaning void where prohibited by deconstruction. In situations where existence of language play threatens formal generalizations, no guarantee is made that theory will acknowledge the existence of language play. Proportional areas occupied by syntax and morphology may vary per local language. Manufacturer reserves the ... [ more ]
SpecGram, Quarterly. A Letter from the Editor-in-Chief. [Note: Due to a scheduling error 0 and tight deadline, we were unable to cull a small percentage of the Editor-in-Chief’s extensive and extraneous footnotes. Our usual modus operandi is to allow him to annotate and divagate to his tiny black heart’s approximation of contentment, and then mercilessly cut the dead weight with a red pencil-cum-machete. In this case, we were only able to remove and repair the subsequent rhetorical and narrative damage for approximately 86.7% (by weight) of the Editor-in-Chief’s most egregious footnotery. We apologize for the unavoidable ... [ more ]
Ph.D. Qualifying Examination for Linguistics. January 1978 Keith Mountford. Historical State conclusively the origin of language and the date of its appearance on each of the five continents. Be prepared to defend your statements with original evidence. Theoretical Develop a new non-verbal system of communication independent of all known linguistic models. Estimate the impact this form of communication would have had on the oral tradition in literature if it had developed instead of speech. ... [ more ]
Language Made Difficult, Vol. XLVI — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by returning guest Pete Bleackley. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds discuss something *else* that tries to look like iconicity, and then look at some innovative and/or abominable on-going changes in English. ... [ listen ]
Language Made Difficult, Vol. XLVII — The SpecGram LingNerds are joined by guest Kean Kaufmann. After some Lies, Damned Lies, and Linguistics, the LingNerds briefly discuss some innovative bits of English Grammar—no, totally!—and then try out some new parlor games featuring archaic English words. ... [ listen ]
The Speculative Grammarian Essential Guide to Linguistics . For decades, Speculative Grammarian has been the premier scholarly journal featuring research in the neglected field of satirical linguistics—and now it is available in book form—both physical and electronic! We wish we were kidding, but no, seriously, we’ve published a large collection of SpecGram articles, along with just enough new material to force obsessive collectors and fans to buy it, regardless of the cost. From the Introduction: The past twenty-five years have witnessed many changes in linguistics, with major developments in linguistic theory, significant expansion in language description, and even ... [ more ]
Speculative Grammarian Volume CXCI, Number 3 Editor-in-Chief, Trey Jones, Executive Editor, Keith Slater, Senior Editors, Mikael Thompson, Jonathan Downie, Contributing Editor;s, Pete Bleackley, Deak Kirkham; Associate Editors: Vincent Fish, Mark Mandel; Assistant Editors: Emily Davis, Luca Dinu, Yuval Wigderson, Editorial Associate, Reed Steiner, Comptroller General, Joey Whitford, Palatalizing the Glottal Stop Since 1205; December 2021 ... [ more ]
Rule. Metalleus. ...Let us now restate the above rather unwieldy sentences in terms of a more concise and perspicuous formalism, as in (4). (4), V → [+long] /, ... [X__C, 0, (, ... -, ant, +, cont, 1<+, Italian>1, ... CVC, 1, 0, 0, ... -, stress, -, tense, -, cons, -, voc, <+, NSF> ... ), ... <+Di> ... +Anglo-Frisian Brightening, -tense, -cons, ... -seg, < -rule 14, > 3, 3, ... <1, >2 [βstr], ... C0 +ic, +id, +ish, (C1, +, ... -str, V, ... C0 [-cons], ... <NSP< VA, > 3, 3, ... #, ... [ more ]
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Last updated Dec. 4, 2021.