Haven't numerals always been graphemes? "Grapheme" doesn't even require that the symbol stand for a speech sound, does it? It just has to be a category such that a given set of marks used in a writing system (graphons) are taken as instantiations of it. A stylized line drawing of an ibex is a grapheme in hieroglyphic Egyptian.

Side note: Ads that people particularly dislike can boost sales -- at some level, the important bit is that you remember the name. The total cultural awkwardness of Mentos ads in the early 90s probably drove most of their sales.

--- Bill Spruiell


________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Dick Veit [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2011 10:08 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Worst advertisement

T.J.,

My experience of numerals as graphemes goes back a half-century to my grade school days, when female classmates wrote in each other's memory books phrases like "2 young 2 B in love." The memory causes me no "deep sadness," not even for the triteness of the sentiments. Today I see lots of numerical rebuses on vanity license plates ("GR8FUL"). Wasn't it the rebus principle that gave us our alphabet, when some clever Semite decided to use the Egyptian ox character to represent the vowel it sounded like, the end result being our Roman letter A?

I also see graphemes used for visual effect. The title of a best-selling book about the financial meltdown appears on its cover as "RECKLES$ ENDANGERMENT," with the dollar sign skewed as if tumbling downward.

Am I "endorsing numerals as graphemes"? Well, I guess I am, when they are used cleverly and interestingly in appropriate situations. One of our tasks as educators is to guide students to understand that different media have different conventions. What is standard in a tweet or a Facebook posting can be nonstandard in a term paper. For that matter, a style that is appropriate in an email to a close friend would be inappropriate in an ATEG email. After a few mistakes, most students quickly learn the boundaries. I think you need not worry that we are polluting the language or corrupting minds.

Dick



On Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 11:48 AM, T. J. Ray <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
May I be permitted to express my deep sadness that subscribers to this channel
are now endorsing numerals as graphemes?  Well, I just did so with no apology
for the question.

T. J.


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