LINGUIST List 2.460

Tue 03 Sep 1991

Disc: Linguistics in Novels, Film... (Part 2)

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. Ellen Prince, Re: Linguistic Terms in Titles
2. Phil Bralich, Movies with linguistics themes
3. Richard Coates, Re: Linguistic Terms in Titles
4. , RE: Linguistic Terms in Titles

wrt michael kac's point about how linguistics is viewed by the public, i'd
like to add 'the exorcist', where the georgetown lx dept decodes the devil's
language by cleverly playing the tape backwards and discovering that it's
standard american english in reverse. gee, i never would have thought of doing
that...

I am surprised someone hasn't reminded subscribers that the "Planet of the
Apes" and subsequent spinoffs were based on the premise that chimps, gorillas
and other primates took over the planet earth after having been taught to
speak. Dan Quayle is problem enough are we going to sit idly by and see
Washoe and Koko move to places of prominence in our society? But then again
Koko and Washoe might be not be a step a backward.

Dr Syntax: He goes back much further than any 20c novels. He was the hero of
some very long narrative poems published in the early part of the 19c, and
illustrated by Rowlandson. The writer's name escapes me, probably with some
justice. Dr Syntax was very famous. A headland near Land's End in Cornwall
is called _Dr Syntax's Head_ after him.
Richard Coates

How come nobody has yet mentioned Derek Bickerton's science fiction
(and I don't mean Roots of Language)? His novel "King of the sea"
is one of the best attempts to construct a believable dolphin language
I have seen. I won't give the game away, but lets just say that it all
hinges on the arbitrariness of the linbguistic sign - at least as far
as human language is concerned.
Alan Dench.