LINGUIST List 2.560

Thu 26 Sep 1991

Misc: Professeure, IPA fonts

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1. Dennis Baron, genius of the language
2. , ProfesseurE
3. BROADWELL GEORGE AARON, IPA fonts and WordPerfect

I've been following the debate on French sex rather closely
and I am struck by the commitment that many who would clearly
call themselves linguists (that's another issue, too) have to
the notion of the genius of the language. That is, so many
criticize the innovations proposed by the Canadiens (-ennes?)
because they (the innovations, and to some extent, the Canadians)
are simply "not French." Which usually means they don't fit
some paradigm or other the critic has just decided to hold dear.
But many linguistic innovations represent pattern violations, or
are perceived to do so until the larger pattern becomes clear.
Thus, to cite a common English example, _hopefully_ as a sentence
adverbial is still roundly criticized for violating the genius
of English, whatever that is. The argument goes something like
this: hopefully can only mean `in a hopeful manner.' It cannot
mean `it is to be hoped.' (Despite the fact that it almost
universally used this way in American English and has been common
for 30 years, at least.) Critics then go on to suggest something
like _hopably_ or _hopingly_, which fit the pattern of English
thus:
*Hopefully, this will all be over soon.
Hopably (or hopingly), this will all be over soon.
However, the two more correct forms just don't do it for most
speakers of English, who persist in their erroneous ways and
form an extended new paradigm of -fully forms.
So how do we define what fits the genius of the langue? Probably
retroactively: once something becomes accepted/widely used/seems
to be gaining ground despite complaints from the bleachers,
then it is English, or French or whatever..Simply saying this
isn't French is not enough to deter its users.
--
debaronuiuc.edu ____________ 217-333-2392

A propos de la f'eminisation des titres, noms de professions et
de m'etiers: le Qu'ebec n'est pas seul en cause. Voir la parution r'ecente
du Dictionnaire f'eminin-masculin des professions des titres et
des fonctions, aux 'editions Metropolis (1991, 6 Pedro Meylan 1208 Gen`eve,
Suisse) r'ealis'e sur la demande des Bureaux de l'Egalit'e des cantons
de Gen`eve et du Jura.
Et, pour aller plus loin que la seule adaptationlexicale, le livre de
Th'er`ese Moreau, Le langage n'est pas neutre, Guide de r'edaction
non discriminatoire 1991, Secr'etariat romand de l'ASOSP,
case postale 63, CH-1000 Lausanne 9.

In response to Leslie Barrett's inquiry about IPA fonts for the IBM,
I just bought some lovely IPA fonts from M.A.P. Systems, Inc.; 18100
Upper Bay Road #100; Houston, TX 77058; 713-333-9640. There is a toll-free
number, but I can't find it (directory assistance might have it).
The fonts is called Lines, Boxes, etc. -- Phonetic edition. It works
entirely within WordPerfect, and comes with both screen fonts and
printer fonts. The phonetic fonts are installed in WP's character
set 12. To use them you need a VGA, EGA, or Hercules graphic screen.
The fonts will print on both laser printers and dot-matrix printers.
You also need WordPerfect 5.1 (if you're working with an earlier
version, you really ought to upgrade anyway ... 5.1 is *much* better
than 4.2 or 5.0, IMHO). The program is memory-resident and takes up
a bit of RAM, so you really need 640K. I have a mere 512K RAM, and
the fonts still work, but I had to do a few contortions.
The fonts look beautiful, and there is a really full IPA set (including
relatively new things like diacritics for phonation type). They
cost $89.95.
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Aaron Broadwell, Dept. of Linguistics, University at Albany -- SUNY,
Albany, NY 12222 gb661leah.albany.edu
"A bigot delights in public ridicule, for he begins to think he is a
martyr" -- Sydney Smith
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