Who's diddling and how?

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 7/17/08 9:50:21 AM, thnidu at gmail.com writes:


> On Wed, Jul 16, 2008 at 9:51 PM, <ronbutters at aol.com> wrote:
>
> One way of describing this is that transitive FUCK is marked for -MASC &
> +FEM subject. So without further info, "Chris loved fucking Lynn" will be
> assumed to indicate a male subject, at least for older speakers.
>
>
> Uh, switch signs? Or do you mean that trans. FUCK with -MASC or +FEM subject
> is a marked usage?
>

I don't think I said this wrong. What I meant was that the marked case is
that the subject is -MASC +FEM. The unmarked (= default) case is that the subject
is +MASC -FEM.


(I realize that I'm using a theoretical framework here that is sbout 35 years
out of date--though it is the one that most introductory linguistic textbooks
still embrace, perhaps because more "sophisticated" semantic and syntactic
theories change so quickly. Are we being diddled in this respect?)


**************

Get the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your
area - Check out TourTracker.com!

(http://www.tourtracker.com?NCID=aolmus00050000000112)

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org