LINGUIST List 6.718

Tue 23 May 1995

Qs: J Thurber, Ss in Eng, Sign lg, Chinese, Polemics

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. sharon shelly, Thurber query
2. Youngjun Jang, Native judgment
3. , Sign language
4. , Chinese
5. "Joerge Koch", Query on Polemic

Dear LINGUISTS:

Forgive me for cluttering up the list with what is essentially a trivia
question, but this has been driving me crazy and I suspect that one or
more of you out there can clear it up quickly...

I was absolutely convinced that in James Thurber's essay entitled "My Own
Ten Rules for a Happy Marriage" there was a passage about the dangers of
slipping into the subjunctive with your spouse. As well as I can remember
this passage, expressions like "Far be it from me" or "Never let it be said"
were judged as inflammatory and likely to escalate a minor argument into a
major conflagration.

Recently I reread the essay and found no trace of the subjunctive warning.
Nor can I find it in any other piece in "The Thurber Carnival" or "Thurber
Country". Did I just imagine it??!! Or is there something like this in
another work, or by another author?

If anyone can provide the source, I'll be eternally grateful. You may
respond directly to me:

Sharon Shelly
SSHELLYacs.wooster.edu

P.S. No, I'm not filing for a divorce. Just curious.

Dear colleagues,
Would you help me with your sharp (English) native judgment of the
following Ss in (i), in connection with Lasnik and Saito's (1991)
examples in (ii)?

(i) a. The DA [proved [the defendants' being guilty] during each other's
 trial]
 b. The DA [proved [the premeditated crime of the defendants] during
 each other's trial]

(ii)a. The DA [proved [the defendants to be guilty] during each other's
 trial]
 b.* The DA [proved [that the defendants were guilty] during each
 other's trial]

Thanks very much.
Youngjun Jang (yjanghusc.harvard.edu)

Subject--Sign language
One of my graduate students in linguistics
is working on sign language and has been training
as a translator for two years At the moment,
he is particularly interested in deixis
(pronouns, space and time reference etc.)Any references
(bibliography, ideas etc...) on the subject in French
sign language would be welcome.

I would appreciate any information that anyone has on pen-based or
voice-based systems for inputting Chinese characters that are in development
or on the market.

Thanks.
Michael Erard

Dear Linguist Readers,

I ask for Your help on the topic POLEMICAL DISPUTE (oral and written).
This involves at least rhetorics ("argument ad personam"), non-formal
discourse analysis, conflict analysis, legal (interculturally variyng
interpretations of "freedom of speech") and ethical matters.

Thanks for Your efforts.
 karpfenzedat.fu-berlin.de
 Joerge Koch
 Hollaenderstrasse 24
 D-13407 Berlin
 Germany