![]() And just as in the “you’re not a chicken” quotation above, in the right context you can say things like, “That’s not my finger, that’s my thumb” and get away with it (sometimes even when I’m within earshot!), even though it’s still true to say you have ten fingers. Other examples are easy to find: thumb-finger, square-rectangle, rectangle-quadrilateral, lesbian-gay, senator-congressman. So for rooster and chicken, chicken is commonly used to mean all kinds of chickens except for those that are roosters. ![]() Eventually, word A comes to be used as if it refers to everything word A denotes except for the things that word B denotes. It happens when word B (in this case rooster) denotes a specific kind of what word A denotes (in this case chicken). Larry Horn has given this kind of rooster-chicken situation the name of Q-based narrowing. You are a rooster.’”Īi-yi-yi! It’s not enough for this author just to imply that roosters aren’t chickens she has to turn it into a lie by saying it outright! ![]() That was like saying, “Smart people shop here, and so do I!” I turned the page. Well, he is a chicken, for crying out loud! The chickens clucked all day long, and so did Bob: ‘Cluck, cluck, cluck.’”Īnd so did Bob? This was getting ridiculous. “OK, here we go: Bob, a rooster, lived with a bunch of chickens. “Right, so, all roosters are chickens,” I said. “Roosters are boy chickens,” Doug clarified. It had a great big black and white rooster on the front. “OK, next story,” I said, and picked up the next library book in the stack. Linguistics blogs and columns, rarely updated.Linguistics blogs and columns, occasionally updated.Linguistics blogs and columns, never updated.Lingua Franca (Chronicle of Higher Education).Johnson (Language blog of The Economist).Linguistics blogs and columns, frequently updated.Right-node wrapping ("Friends in Low Places" coordinations) (39).Coordination and quotation fronting (8).Rest you merry | 4th Point on Merry Gentlemen?.Steven Lytle on Linguistically Lost Again Barbara Falconer Newhall on Shtraight Talk
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |