Wilson Gray was Re: linguist (UNCLASSIFIED)
Laurence Horn
laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Tue Jan 4 21:14:41 UTC 2011
At 2:54 PM -0600 1/4/11, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:
>Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>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-)
>> >>
>> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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