reading articles

[bjking at wm.edu]

Hello, I've been a quiet lurker here for years. But I would like to respond to Paul Hopper's comment that:

>, the polemical "article of faith" abstract Fritz Newmeyer has sent round contains no empirical arguments, so it cannot be responded to without reading the entire article.

If the overall question is "what is to be the nature of Funknet," I'd suggest that it's completely appropriate for an author to send an abstract of his own devising with a link to the full article. I don't find that 'sad' or upsetting. It seems, on the contrary, ONE useful way (among others) to invite discussion, in this case from people who are interested enough to read further. 

I see no benefit in legislating the way in which people should post about their own work.

Barbara J. King
Professor of Anthropology
College of William and Mary
Williamsburg, VA, USA 23187

for more about my research + my books please see:
http://people.wm.edu/~bjking/