The years of UCal budget cuts are working! ("sign-up")

[Brian Hitchcock]

I apologize for not knowing where Mr. Gray went to college, and for
somehow mistaking UCLA for UC Davis when apparently neither was mentioned
explicitly. As I said, I'm not a Californian; I'm a stranger in a strange
land. In addition, I  apologize for not having a linguist's vocabulary to
discuss the subject in terms of [V+Prt], or [externalized inflection]. Nor
can I debate the fine distinctions between (Verb + separable particle) and
(Verb + inseparable particle).*   Apparently such subjects remain the
matter of no small dispute among experts in the field  (see, e.g.
http://www.metaphorik.de/01/Dirven.pdf ) Have I stumbled into that fray?
Nevertheless, I still think you might have understood better what I was
trying to say. Let me try again.

Arnold Zwicky wrote:
==================================
.Hitchcock's ravings about California speakers.
-       I did not rave about how Californians SPEAK, only about how [some]
Southern Californians WRITE.  I really don't care (and, frankly, can't
tell) whether they SPEAK a hyphen or not, but as an editor, I care whether
someone WRITES a hyphen, because it can affect readability and meaning.
And when I mentioned, in my earlier post, the alleged infinitive form ~to
sign-up~ , I meant it as a counter-example; something I assumed you would
all recognize as an intentional caricature on my part, a deliberate
example of misusage.
-       ==================================
Arnold Zwicky wrote:
==================================
.  Hitchcock goes on to argue that if V+Prt combinations were units, you'd
expect externalized inflection.
-       I never argued that ~sign-up~ is not a UNIT.  I really do not
know, or care,  what a UNIT is.  What I argued is that ~sign-up~ rendered
with a hyphen is NOT a VERB, and that if it were, it would be conjugated
as a verb (which, I now infer from Mr. Zwicky's comment, is equivalent in
linguist-speak to saying that it would be inflected externally.) This is
exactly  what occurs in my original absurd examples.  Apparently Mr.
Zwicky does not see them as absurd, and to support this view, he cites
anecdotal evidence from the internet (though admitting that the examples
are ~non-standard~ (and just how odd is it that they DON'T OCCUR IN GREAT
NUMBERS?**) Yes, I can see from those examples that the same people who
confuse the noun, adjective and verb forms of a V+Prt also fail to see the
absurdity of conjugating the noun form as if it were a verb (no big
surprise there).  Am I to understand that those writers cited should be
viewed simply being creative, opting for externalized inflection?   They
couldn't be. [gasp]. wr++g!, could they?
-       Yes, there is a verb contained within ~sign-up~ --  that's what is
represented by the V in the shorthand V+Prt, is it not?  And that verb is
~sign~.  When I write ~This is how to sign up.~, I consider ~up~ to be
functioning as an adverb.  When I write ~Please complete the signup
process.~ or (~Please complete the sign-up process.~), I consider ~signup~
(or ~sign-up) to be an adjective, as its function is clear from the
construction, with or without a hyphen.  When I write ~Sign-ups end
tomorrow.~,  I consider ~sign-ups~ to be a noun, and the hyphen is useful
in identifying the rendering as a noun (that, plus the fact that it can be
rendered in plural form, and that in this case it is the subject of the
sentence).
-       ==================================
Arnold Zwicky wrote:
==================================
..Hitchcock goes on to complain about hyphenated ("sign-up") and solid
("lookup") spellings.
-       No, I did not complain about those SPELLINGS per se.  I recognize
that each of the three forms (separate, hyphenated, and solid) might exist
for any given base verb, and each can be considered valid spellings, when
used in their respective, appropriate syntax. I know that hyphenated forms
and solid renderings of the ADJECTIVE and NOUN forms can coexist,
concurrently, and that the solid form then typically supplants the
hyphenated over time (thus look-up morphs into lookup, set-up morphs into
setup, make-up morphs into makeup). My point was that these ADJECTIVE and
NOUN forms are often used in inappropriate syntax, where a different form
is called for; namely when a VERB is called for.  That is, I complained
about inappropriate USAGE.  I contend that the rendering of the phrasal
VERB, unlike the nominative and adjectival phrasal forms, does not change
over time.  Please set up the tent.    does not become.     Please set-up
the tent.     and then.     Please setup the tent.          Perhaps that's
why all of the phrasal verbs mentioned in my dictionary (sorry, I don't
have the OED, just a plain old Am Heritage) , at least all those
associated with the verb ~sign~ (namely, ~sign in~, ~sign on~, ~sign off~,
~sign out~, ~sign up~) are spelled WITHOUT HYPHENS. ****
-       ==================================
Arnold Zwicky wrote:
.punctuation is irrelevant here; the example is equally problematic with
solid ("signup"), hyphenated ("sign-up"), or separated ("sign up")
spellings...
-       Au contraire, monsieur Zwicky.  Misuse of hyphenation (which you
call punctuation, and then immediately contradict yourself by calling it
spelling - which is it?) is at the heart of my concern about this USAGE
ERROR, but you have conveniently ignored that by conflating it with
externalized inflection. What I am arguing is that the hyphenated
rendering is not just an alternative ~spelling~ of the verb.  It is an
appropriate rendering of the noun or adjective form, but an incorrect
rendering of the verb form. *****

= = = = = = f o o t n o t e s = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
*nor am I equipped to debate how many angels can dance on the head of a
pin.
** is Mr. Zwicky arguing that if something appears on the internet, even
very rarely, that means it is NOT absurd?  If so, then anyone could posit
virtually any non-standard usage as a viable alternative, by citing a
single anecdotal shred from some member of a puerile, sub-literate online
subculture that thumb-keys their tweets and blog posts from Lilliputian
keypads!  I suppose if I looked hard enough, I might find anecdotal
evidence on the internet of someone who writes DOG when she means CAT, but
that would not convince me to use DOG as a substitute for CAT.
*** On the other hand, if I were to write ~Put the sign up over the door~
I would consider ~sign~ to be a noun, and ~up~ to be an adverb (in this
case would a linguist say that although ~sign~ and ~up~ adjoin, they  do
not form a unit? Or would the linguist say that using the rendering
~sign-up~ in that construction would just be a preference that some
creative internet users might opt for?)
****Is Mr. Zwicky arguing that there is a PHRASAL VERB ~to sign-up~
(and/or ~to signup~)?  If so, would their  meanings differ from ~to sign
up~?   And should all three be shown in dictionaries?
*****Oh, there, I've gone and done it   -- used two politically incorrect
words (~appropriate~ and ~incorrect~), and thereby outed myself as one of
those dreaded prescriptivists.  But then, if we were all pure linguistic
descriptivists and moral relativists around here, there would really be no
need for anyone to consult a dictionary, a style guide,  an editor, a
lexicographer or a linguist -- would there?    Oh, I forgot, we're
supposed to be DIALECT specialists. just idly noticing the myriad ways
that people happen to say and write things, not coming to any conclusions,
or making any judgment as to whether some verbal constructions make more
sense than others...  maybe I need to find a group for dialecticians
instead.)
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

And if, by now, you still don't catch what I'm get-atting (sic), I shall
give-up (sic),  quit rambling-on (sic) about this, wrap-up (sic) the
argument, putdown (sic) my virtual pen, stand-up (sic) from my chair and
go-away (sickened.... and mumbling to myself the first line of that
classic spiritual - Godown, Moses.)

Brian Hitchcock
Torrance, CA

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