LINGUIST List 4.1034

Tue 07 Dec 1993

Qs: LAD, Folk etymology, OK, Manczak's review of Hock

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1. mark, LAD hypothesis citation?
2. Reinier Post, any studies on folk etymology?
3. Ali Aghbar, Inquiry: "OK" Use Research
4. , Query: book review

When and where did Chomsky first hypothesize an innate
"device" to constrain and support human first language
acquisition, based on the apparent fact that the child's
sample is inadequate to support correct extrapolation of the
grammar of the language?

 Mark A. Mandel
 Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200
 320 Nevada St. : Newton, Mass. 02160, USA : markdragonsys.com

In etymological dictionaries and elsewhere, the term 'folk etymology'
is often used to explain the form of a word or phrase; it is used to
indicate a change of form due to reanalysis by the speaker community.
I will take the liberty to quote from a recent contribution to the LINGUIST
list:

>Date: Tue, 28 Sep 93 10:21:02 EDT
>From: Larry Horn <LHORNYALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU>
>Subject: Re reanalysis: the spittin' image
>
>The recent discussion of metathesis, metanalysis, and reanalysis evokes our
>extended colloquy, almost exactly a year ago, on that subset of reanalysis
>due to folk etymology--the category of "pullet surprises". One of
>the all-time pullet surprise winners, along with the doggy dog world and the
>devil-make-hair attitude, is 'spittin' image'. The standard story, as Mike
>Kac mentioned during last year's exchange (citing William Safire), is that
>the earlier 'spit and image' had become opaque with the loss of the relevant
>meaning of the nominal 'spit', and speakers reanalyzed the expression as if
>it
>contained the participle, hence 'spittin(g) image', which is now frequently
>seen in print.

[remainder omitted]

Is there any study which treats folk etymology as an interesting phenomenon
in its own right? I am asking this question on behalf of someone who is doing
linguistic investigations in which reanalysis plays an important role.

Any pointers to literature, or even suggestions for keywords to use in
searching, will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

 --
Reinier Post reinpostwin.tue.nl
Eindhoven, the Netherlands

Does anyone know of completed or on-going research on the use of "OK"? Your
response would be of great help to a graduate student of mine who has been
exploring this topic.

Please respond to me directly. If you are interested in getting a copy of what
I receive, let me know. I will either forward everything to you OR, if there is
great interest in the topic, I will cut and assemble highlights from the
responses I receive and send the collection it to the entire list.

Thanks.

Ali
================================================================================
 Ali-Asghar Aghbar, Dept. of English, Indiana U. of PA, Indiana, PA 15705
 Bitnet: aaghbariup Internet: aaghbargrove.iup.edu Phone: 357 2262

Can anyone point me to the review that W. Manczak wrote of
H. Hock's "Principles of Historical Linguistics"? It has
to be after 1986, publication date of the book, but I have
thus far failed in tracking it down.

Many thanks.

 Margaret Winters
 <ga3704siucvmb.siu.edu>