LINGUIST List 7.69

Tue Jan 16 1996

Qs: Double Negation, Poem by Dell Hymes, Malaysian Eng.

Editor for this issue: Annemarie Valdez <avaldezemunix.emich.edu>

We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is then strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list. This policy was instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate.

Directory

  1. hiro-t, Query: Double negation: You cannot get something for nothing.
  2. Jean-Louis Duchet, Ref of poem by D.Hymes
  3. Michael Herriman, Varieties of Malaysian English

Message 1: Query: Double negation: You cannot get something for nothing.

 Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 14:24:54 +0200
From: hiro-t <hiro-tias.tokushima-u.ac.jp>
Subject: Query: Double negation: You cannot get something for nothing.


Dear Linguists,
 I had a question from one of my students about the proverb
"You cannot get something for nothing." The question has three parts.


(i) Is this proverb frequently used in US and England? Have you ever
heard or used it?

(ii) Is this proverb's real meaning "Getting something for nothing
is the most expensive"?

(iii) Does this proverb have a semantic structure "It is NOT that we can
get something for nothing"?

I am looking forward to your comment, which I hope is an easy explanation.
Please e-mail me directly. I will post a summary soon. Thanks in advance.

Best wishes,

Hiroaki Tanaka, Tokushima University, Japan
E-mail:hiro-tias.tokushima-u.ac.jp
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Message 2: Ref of poem by D.Hymes

 Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 11:59:45 +0100
From: Jean-Louis Duchet <duchetuniv-poitiers.fr>
Subject: Ref of poem by D.Hymes


Dell Hymes is the author of a poem based on the famous Chomsky example of a
semantically agrammatical sentence: Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Does anyone know this poem? My colleague Marina Yaguello and myself are
desperate for a reference, or better still the complete text.

 -----------------------------------------------------------------
DUCHET Jean-Louis FORELL-AIT
4, rue Saint-Hilaire Facult=E9 des Lettres & des Langues
86000 POITIERS Universite de Poitiers
(33) 49 55 99 96 86022 POITIERS
& Universite Paris 7, Institut d'anglais Charles V, 75004 Paris
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
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Message 3: Varieties of Malaysian English

 Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 10:16:43 +0800
From: Michael Herriman <mherrimaecel.uwa.edu.au>
Subject: Varieties of Malaysian English
Dear Listers, I would appreciate any suggestions on research literature
discussing varieties of Malaysian English, particularly in regard to
inter-ethnic and inter-regional (East vs.peninsula) differences. Michael
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