LINGUIST List 3.625

Wed 12 Aug 1992

Qs: Discourse; WECOL; Addresses

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. akman varol, On referring
2. Carl Alphonce, WECOL Inquiry
3. Randy Allen Harris, Query: contact with 3 linguists

The following four passages are excerpts from Scott Turow's PRESUMED INNOCENT
(Warner Books, 1987), a murder mystery.

----------

Sandy summons Jamie Kemp to take part in our discussion, as it is bound
to suggest various motions for discovery that we will soon be called upon to
file. To hold down my expenses, Stern agreed to allow me to assist in research
and investigation, but I must act under his direction.

Recognizing all of that, I have put my hostility aside and told Sandy that he
has my blessings to treat Raymond gently. As Stern has pointed out before,
Raymond's credibility, born of years in the public light, will make him hard
to successfully assail, in any event.

"Oh well," says Stern. Sandy, despite his fine manners, is a considerable
egotist, like every other noted trial lawyer.

Stern does his little cut-rate bow, inclining his head and shoulders. I find
myself disconcerted by Sandy's lapse of judgment.

----------

Each passage consists of two sentences with the following property: First
sentence refers to Sandy (resp. Stern) whereas second sentence refers to
Stern (resp. Sandy). Now, what I find unusual is that Sandy Stern is one
and the same person in this novel! There are other similar passages in
the novel which have the same property.

Is this something interesting? Or, is it quite standard? I'm familiar with
a variant of this "technique" where there is some intervening text between
the uses of the <first-name> and the <last-name> but Turow's version
made me rather weary while I was reading the book. Maybe, this is one of
those standard tricks to confuse the reader.

- Varol Akman
Dept. of Computer Eng. & Info. Science
Bilkent University, Ankara

Here in Vancouver, Canada, it seems that nobody has gotten any information
concerning this year's WECOL conference. We have heard rumours that the
deadline for submission of abstracts is August 17th, but that's it.

If anyone has information regarding WECOL (where to send abstracts, length
of abstracts, deadlines, etc.), PLEASE forward it as soon as possible to
the following email address:

	daviscs.ubc.ca

DO NOT forward it to this account, as I will be leaving town tomorrow,
and will be gone for three weeks.

Many thanks for your help.

Can anyone please help me contact any of the following
three linguists (preferably by email):
 Jeffrey Gruber,
 Frans Liefrink, and/or
 Rudolf de Rijk?
Thank you, --Randy Harris, rahawatarts.uwaterloo.ca