LINGUIST List 5.700

Thu 16 Jun 1994

Qs: Persian, Popularization of ling, Rhetorical ques, Me first

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. "ali miremadi-lify534utxvms.cc.utexas.emiremadi-lify534utxvms.cc.utexas.edu, persian
2. claudia brugman, Re: The popularization of linguistics
3. Bruce Nevin, rhetorical question
4. Paul T Kershaw, Me first exception

I am an Iranian linguist temporarily doing some research here at the University
 of Texas(Austin). I am working on a project concerning the history of
 linguistics in Iran and the Islamic world. Any suggestions would be highly
 appreciated.
I am also interested in the Persian syntax and willing to be in contact with
those who are working on the field.

A question related to popularization: We just got the episode of _Northern
Exposure_ where Ed dubs _The Prisoner of Zenda_ into Tlingit. Questions:
was it really Tlingit? Who did the language consultation and why didn't
they get a credit? Is "Tlinkit" (as Ed kept pronouncing it) an accepted
pronunciation of _Tlingit_?

Dr. Claudia Brugman
English Department and
School of Languages
University of Otago
PO Box 56
Dunedin, New Zealand
claudia.brugmanstonebow.otago.ac.nz

A friend has asked, and I could not say, what is "the term" for
a yes-no question with a derogatory presupposition, of the type
"Have you stopped bothering Linguist readers with trivia questions
yet?" Please reply directly to me. Thanks!

 Bruce Nevin
 bnlightstream.com

Here's a question posed more out of idle curiosity than anything else; it comes
to mind after thinking about "me first". On the old Sonny and Cher show, an
episode started with Sonny ribbing Cher about all the conjoined phrases where
the male is mentioned first: men and women, boys and girls, guys and gals (and
guys and dolls), males and females, his and hers. After a brief exchange, Cher
began the show by turning to the audience and saying, "Welcome, ladies and
gentlemen" (or something like that). Is there any reason why this phrase
should be an exception? And does it have anything to do with the formality
(prescriptivism) of "you and I" as opposed to "me and you" (which is for me
equally acceptable, although I don't have "I and you", and "you and me" I only
have in the object position, copula or no). -- Paul Kershaw, Michigan S U