-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Spruiell, William C
Sent: Wed 12/20/2006 2:32 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: usage question
A couple of quick responses to different points:
(1) Re. Yates's comment about Halliday -- Given any state of affairs,
speakers have a choice of how to construe it, and thus a choice of how
to "grammar" it (including the kind of grammatical metaphor that leads
to, for example, the use of "grammar" as a transitive verb). The ability
to do so, and the range of options available, is not arbitrary, but the
factors leading a particular individual to react a particular way in a
particular situation are complex enough to render absolute prediction
impossible in most cases. Or to put it another way, it's not arbitrary
that when you roll a six-sided die, you get a number from one to six,
but the exact number is random within those limits. Where the
dice-rolling analogy breaks down is that there can be *customarily
frequent* options, whose high rate of incidence has less to do with only
having one or two options available than with social habits of
construction. For example, "I carded Bjorn" *could* mean I sent Bjorn a
Christmas card, or even that I attempted to inflict injury on poor Bjorn
with the kind of device that was originally used to 'card' wool or
cotton, but the transitive construction with 'card' is customarily tied
to I.D.-checking situations.
(2) On weird preposition usage: I *suspect* that students' odd use of
prepositions in papers is not mirrored in their speech; it's not a
matter of changing preposition usage as much as it is a matter of
awareness of language in print. I get the impression that some students
know there's some little word there or another, and just jot one down to
fill in the space. I do know that I have repeatedly encountered students
who have enormous difficulty paying conscious attention to what words
are there and what words aren't. I find this baffling and inexplicable,
but it happens. The imply/infer thing Johanna mentions, and "fancyisms"
like use of "in which" instead of "which," are another matter entirely.
And for what it's worth, I *don't* think we should give up on the
imply/infer distinction just yet. Those words aren't really common
enough to be caught up in a normal kind of semantic drift; it's just
that students encounter them so frequently that they don't really know
what they mean.
Bill Spruiell
Dept. of English
Central Michigan University
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 1:42 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: usage question
I am confused by a Craig Hancock's recent post. Craig has a theoretical
commitment to Halliday's systemic functional linguistics. In the
preface to the 1994 edition of his Introduction to Functional Grammar,
Halliday writes, " Language has evolved to satisfy human needs . . . --
it is not arbitrary" (p. viii).
In his recent post Craig appears to acknowledge there are arbitrary
aspects of language, especially in this interface between the lexicon
and syntax with respect to the verb graduate.
>>> Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]> 12/18/06 7:49 AM >>>
If we can "finish high school" I guess we ought to be able to
graduate it.
I think we can confuse logic with what sounds right. And if it sounds
right, then we look for logical explanations.
I like the way the talk has tended. We don't need to legislate as
much
as we itch to. Even though we like to think of ourselves as experts and
sources of good advice (with good cause), we need to be careful
observers from time to time.
The language does have a life of its own.
******
My own own understanding of the nature of language is what Craig posted
and not Halliday's claim that language is not arbitrary. I am glad we
agree on something.
Bob Yates, University of Central Missouri
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web
interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
|
