missing "n't"!

[Laurence Horn]

>I'm replying to myself this time.  (Don't I have some work to do...?)
>
>I found it particularly ironic that in my zeal for the "n't" in "couldn't
>care less", I lost the "n't" in "isn't"!
>
>>>But this means that simple phonological reduction is the whole story for
>>>why it's lost--lexicalization (idiomatization?) of the phrase was a
>>>necessary first step.
>
>(That should be "isn't the whole story".)

I was wondering.  Paranoid that I am I figured I STILL hadn't
convinced you about the insufficiency of least-effort-based
explanation here.

>
>BTW, it was kind of George to mention my chapter in the Lex/Encyclo volume.
>I've already changed my mind about some of the things I said in it!  Wait
>for the book--or better yet, the movie.
>
>Lynne
>
I will--at least for the book, which I hope to be able to dip from
when i break in "Lexical Pragmatics" at dInIs's 2003 Institute in
East Lansing.

larry