LINGUIST List 7.1811

Sat Dec 21 1996

Disc: Analogy

Editor for this issue: T. Daniel Seely <seelylinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. George Elgin, Suzette Haden Elgin, analogy
2. Ellen F. Prince, analogy

It seems to me that poetry demonstrates beyond question that any analogy
whatsoever may "happen" and probably will, and that the relevant question
is which analogies *persist* in a language, not which ones happen. And that
- as Benji Wald points out -- this is independent of questions about how
analogy may figure in Universal Grammar and similarly farflung
neurolocales.

Suzette Haden Elgin

i got this in an email msg today (from a non-linguist):

'My RAV4 finally got off the boat!
I went to the importer's yard to look for it today. Thought maybe it
was one of 'a few' blue ones. Imagine my surprise when I saw all
 ^^^^^^^^^
of them blue (with only a few aquamarine)!!! So I don't know which
^^^^^^^^^^^^
one is actually mine...'

notice, btw, that it does not have the causative sense the earlier
discussions assumed it would have. also please note that i am not
making any claims that analogy had anything to do with this
utterance -- just thought it might amuse/interest you.