Wilson Gray was Re: linguist (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Laurence Horn]

At 2:54 PM -0600 1/4/11, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:
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>Caveats: NONE
>
>I was sitting here surprised that Wilson hadn't
>joined this thread, and then I realized he
>hasn't posted for 3 weeks.  Hope he's okay . .

Holiday travel to visit family beyond Pennsylvania's borders, hopefully.

LH

>.
>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>>  From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>>  ronbutters at AOL.COM
>>  Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2011 10:33 AM
>>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>  Subject: Re: linguist
>>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the
>>mail header ----------------------
>>  -
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       ronbutters at AOL.COM
>>  Subject:      Re: linguist
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  -
>>
>>  Precisely. Military linguists are, among other
>>things, interpreters. There is
>>  no need to offer a separate sub definition 'interpreter' any more than there
>>  is a need to offer a separate subentry 'transcriber' or 'language teacher'
>>
>>  Sent from my iPad
>>
>>  On Jan 4, 2011, at 9:40 AM, Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET> wrote:
>>
>>  > The job description of the US Army MOS 98G is:
>>  >
>>  > "The Cryptologic linguist performs and supervises detection, acquisition,
>>  location, identification, and exploitation of foreign communications a all
>>  echelons using signals equipment. Translates, transcribes, gists or produces
>>  summaries of foreign language transmissions in English/target languages."
>>  >
>>  > Source: http://www.us-army-info.com/pages/mos/intelligence/98g.html
>>  >
>>  > But that's not the only use for "linguists"
>>in the military. Those military
>>  linguists who assist in arms control
>>inspections routinely conduct consecutive
>>  and even simultaneous translation; it's a
>>fundamental part of their job. They
>>  also assist in other diplomatic situations where Russian language
>>  interpretation is required.
>>  >
>>  > See: http://reedline.com/Portal/DTRA_Linguists.htm
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >
>>  > -----Original Message-----
>>  > From: American Dialect Society
>>[mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>>  ronbutters at AOL.COM
>>  > Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2011 9:12 AM
>>  > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>  > Subject: Re: linguist
>>  >
>>  > I always assumed that the military use of
>>"linguist" referred to people who
>>  know more than one language. They usually
>>function as translators, not merely
>>  interpreters. In fact, many rarely if ever serve as interpreters at all.
>>  >
>>  > Perhaps the OED listing should remove the "interpreter" entirely. As V
>>  describes the entry, it seems to be little
>>different from defining "dog" as 'a
>>  fice'.
>>  >
>>  > Sent from my iPad
>>  >
>>  > On Jan 4, 2011, at 7:41 AM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>  >
>>  >> I was puzzled to discover that OED lists "linguist n. � 3. An
>>  >> interpreter. Obs.". There is an apparent exception made for China, where
>>  >> the term may be "perhaps not yet obsolete".
>>The last citation is from 1882.
>>  >>
>>  >> Yet, the term is alive an well in the US military--where it came up
>>  >> repeatedly over the past decade in connection with the Iraq War and,
>>  >> particularly, because of DADT that forced the removal of a number of
>>  >> "army linguists". Language Log has had some coverage of this, but, as
>>  >> far as I can recall, never mentioned the OED entry.
>>  >>
>>  >> The bottom line is that there is nothing obsolete about it. It might
>>  >> have been restricted to jargon and regionalism (e.g., China), but it is
>>  >> still being used regularly.
>>  >>
>>  >> VS-)
>>  >>
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