LL-L: "Grammar" LOWLANDS-L, 27.JAN.2001 (02) [E]

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  L O W L A N D S - L * 27.JAN.2001 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: john feather [johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk]
Subject: Grammar

I considered making a detailed reply to Stefan's posting of 21 January
relating (ultimately) to my modest proposition that "morphology is junk"
but
I suspect that other people are probably bored with it. I would like to
say,
however, that in writing

>But what would be the point of disrupting people's
language to switch to a system that doesn't work any better (or
worse)?<

and

>But what community is going to radically rearrange
their language?  And how could you justify the upheaval?<

he seems to be implying that someone (probably me) had suggested that some
language be "downsized" by deliberately eliminating "redundant" morphology.

I never said anything like that.

John Feather johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

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From: john feather [johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk]
Subject: Grammar

The "Penguin Dictionary of English Grammar" contains the following entry:

"noun used as adjective. An old-fashioned label for a noun used to modify
another noun, such as the first noun in 'bus station', 'pea soup' or
'physics textbook'. The term is inaccurate and should not be used, since a
noun in this position remains a noun and does not become an adjective."

This seems to me curiously pedantic and even inaccurate. It might be
entirely correct to say that the jargon has changed, so that this is now
the
preferred term of art, but to complain that "noun used as adjective"
implies
that the noun *becomes* an adjective seems perverse.
Even so, perhaps the noun *does* become an adjective in this situation. We
seem happy to say that a preposition can *become* a verb ("out", "off",
etc). One might say that the preposition adopts the endings appropriate to
a
verb, and the fact  that "offed" or "outs" cannot possibly be a preposition

justifies the statement. Since adjectives do not decline we cannot use the
same test. On the other hand, nouns generally do take a  plural marker
though not (usually) when they have this adjectival function. Thus "pea
soup", not "peas soup"; "tool cupboard" not "tools cupboard; even though
soup is made from peas and tool cupboards store tools. The fact that in the

general case the noun behaves in this respect like an adjective (by doing
absolutely nothing) could be taken to reinforce the idea that to all
intents
and purposes it *is" an adjective.
The two main exceptions to the rule do not seriously weaken it. The first
is
some plural nouns with no singular, so "clothes closet".  (Though we do not

say *"spectacles case", *"trousers press" [the singular "trouser" is, to
the
best of my knowledge, part of the jargon of the tailoring and outfitting
trades, not a term in ordinary use], *"scissors grip".) The second is the
use of the plural where the use of the singular would suggest a different
meaning, thus "glasses case" not *"glass case".

John Feather johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

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