Military industrial complex lays Pommy lexicographer low

[Peter A. McGraw]

I'll have to dissent from the consensus that seems to exist that "yonder"
has to be a noun here.  I don't think I ever parsed the song that way
conscously or unconsciously, and it's been a surprise to read that others
have.  It may be true, as dInIs writes, that "'Yonder' cannot be adverbial
unless there is some falling tone ('juncture') on the preceding element" in
normal intonation, but for me, at least, this tone pattern would be lost if
primary stress were placed on "yonder" for contrast or emphasis--e.g., (Not
the wild blue here,) "the wild blue YONDER."  The same pattern could occur
with other adverbial elements, e.g., (Not the wild blue down here,) "the
wild blue UP THERE," without any danger of having "up there" parsed as a
noun by the listener.

Sure I've heard a derivative "wild blue yonder" where "yonder" clearly
functioned as the noun, but I've always thought the user of it was
conscious of its origin and was deliberately altering its grammar.

I know there isn't an overt context of emphasis or contrast in the song,
but I would think "musical license" (if that's what you'd call it) would
allow a song to use the pattern if it was convenient for the melody (which
in this case requires steadily rising notes for obvious reasons of imagery).

Peter Mc

--On Tuesday, May 1, 2001 9:14 AM -0400 "Dennis R. Preston"
<preston at PILOT.MSU.EDU> wrote:

> One the things that I think we know about songs and phonologies is
> that tunes seldom break contours which are important signals in the
> language. "Yonder" cannot be adverbial unless there is some falling
> tone ("juncture") on the preceding element. In the song, the notes
> for "wild" "blue" "yon" and "der" steadily rise. I suspect a falling
> contour on "blue" would be necessary for adverbial interpretation.
>
> There are some studies of this. (I sure as hell, didn't make it up.)
> Who remembers where?
>
> dInIs
>
>> This song has lexicographical interest.  "Wild blue yonder" is parsed by
>> many people as a noun phrase and used in conversation that way.  ("I
>> lost my wallet.  I guess it's gone into the wild blue yonder.")  I don't
>> have any citations for this, nor can I prove that the original intent of
>> the first line was that "blue" was the noun and "yonder" was an adverb
>> ("wild blue, yonder"). I certainly never parsed it as an adverb as a
>> child or when I was in the USAF. However, I grew up in the south where
>> we did in fact use "yonder" as an adverb.  (Not as an adjective, though.)
>>
>> (I learned this from Michael Barr.)
>>
>> --Charles Wells
>> ____________________
>>> U.S. Air Force Anthem
>>> (Off We Go)
>>>
>>> Off we go into the wild blue yonder
>>> Climbing high into the sun;
>>> Here they come zooming to meet our thunder,
>>> At'em boys, giv'er the gun!
>>> Down we dive spouting our flames from under,
>>> Off with one hell-uv-a roar!
>>> We live in fame or go down in flame,
>>> Nothing'll stop the US Air Force!
>>
>>
>>
>> Charles Wells,
>> Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, Case Western Reserve University
>> Affiliate Scholar, Oberlin College
>> Send all mail to:
>> 105 South Cedar St., Oberlin, Ohio 44074, USA.
>> email: charles at freude.com.
>> home phone: 440 774 1926.
>> professional website: http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/math/wells/home.html
>> personal website: http://www.oberlin.net/~cwells/index.html
>> NE Ohio Sacred Harp website: http://www.oberlin.net/~cwells/sh.htm
>
> --
> Dennis R. Preston
> Department of Linguistics and Languages
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
> preston at pilot.msu.edu
> Office: (517)353-0740
> Fax: (517)432-2736



****************************************************************************
                               Peter A. McGraw
                   Linfield College   *   McMinnville, OR
                            pmcgraw at linfield.edu