LINGUIST List 7.28

Sun Jan 7 1996

Qs: Generic Personal Names, Ergativity & Minimalism, Retroflexes

Editor for this issue: Ljuba Veselinova <lveselinemunix.emich.edu>

Directory

1. JPKIRCHNERaol.com, Q: generic personal names
2. Falk Yehuda, Query: Ergativity & Minimalism
3. paul manansala, Retroflexes

There've been a couple of postings on naming conventions recently,
which have revived a question that has gnawed at me for some time. We
know a lot about how societies name people who exist, but what about
people who don't exist?

 How do they name people who are generic non-existent examples in
advertising or on sample forms?

The name for a nonexistent man in the United States has traditionally
been "John Doe" with his female counterpart "Jane Doe". From what I
understand, the fact that there really are people who have these and
other generic names now arouses fear of frivolous lawsuits (not a new
or exclusively American problem; Gogol complained about it in Dead
Souls). For this reason, if the generic personal name is to be seen
in an advertisement, agencies now tend to use a staff member's name
and have that person sign a release. About five years ago, marketing
companies I worked with used the name "John A. Sample" (Cf. German
"Erika Mustermann" lit. "Erika Sample-man"). There must also be John
Samples running around, though, because now I see they're using
"Sample A. Sample". (In materials not to be seen by the public,
however, they play, using names of superheros' alter egos, etc.)

How do other cultures handle this matter of generic names for the
existence-impaired individuals?

James Kirchner

Dear netters,

I am interested in references to discussions of ergative Case and
related phenomena in the Minimalist framework, and in comments or
information about how Minimalism handles such phenomena. Please
respond directly to me; if there is enough of a response, I'll post a
summary to the list.

Thank you.

 --Yehuda N. Falk
 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
 falkhum.huji.ac.il

Hello,

I'm interested in finding examples of retroflex sounds in Southeast
Asia and Oceania. I'm already aware of their presence in Indonesia,
the Flores Islands, the Santa Cruz Islands and Formosa. Does anyone
know of other examples? I'll post a summary if there are enough
responses. Please forgive any crossposting, as I've posted the same
request on other areas of the net.

Paul Kekai Manansala
polmanslix.netcom.com