[Ads-l] Was "Language Nerd" Really Adjectived?

[Randy Alexander]

Now I see that if I had scrolled down a tad on Language Log, I would have
seen Mark Liberman's liberal helping of nouns in the "go all ___ on you".

Randy

On Fri, Nov 7, 2014 at 1:45 AM, Randy Alexander <strangeguitars at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Yeah, I don't understand Arnold's "adverbial" either.  I agree with
> Geoff's predicative analysis, but I think (like Arnold) that this is
> clearly a N+N modifier, as there are other examples that would fit:
>
> go all diva
> *she's very diva
>
> go all soldier
> *he's very soldier
>
> Randy
>
> On Fri, Nov 7, 2014 at 12:21 AM, Baker, John <JBAKER at stradley.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM>
>> Subject:      Was "Language Nerd" Really Adjectived?
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> The most recent XKCD, http://www.xkcd.com/1443/ has the following text,
>> pur=
>> portedly from a conversation between its cartoon characters:  "I don't
>> mean=
>>  to go all language nerd on you, but I just legit adverbed "legit,"
>> verbed =
>> "adverb," and adjectived "language nerd."  (For extra jollies, not
>> germane =
>> to this email, the cartoon also includes as a tooltip:  "Not to go all
>> sent=
>> ence fragment on you.")
>>
>> Now, I have no problems with the adverbing and verbing, but I don't feel
>> co=
>> mfortable with the claim that "language nerd" was adjectived.  It seems
>> to =
>> me that "to go" is a copulative verb and "language nerd" is a predicate
>> nou=
>> n.  Geoff Pullum on Language Log,
>> http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=
>> =3D15576 <http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p==3D15576>, seems to be
>> inclined toward this approach, while concluding that =
>> it may be consistent with adjectiving, since he writes:  "So perhaps it
>> wou=
>> ld have been safer for a real language nerd to say (I just)
>> predicative-com=
>> plemented 'language nerd'. But for the most part what you get in the go
>> all=
>>  ____ on you is adjective-headed phrases, so (I just) adjectived
>> 'language =
>> nerd' is arguably accurate."
>>
>> Arnold Zwicky takes a different approach on his blog,
>> http://arnoldzwicky.o=
>> rg/2014/11/06/language-nerd/, where he writes:  "Then there's the
>> construct=
>> ion in go (all) X (on s.o.), where X is a nominal - here, a N + N
>> compound =
>> (language nerd, sentence fragment) - converted to an adverbial in
>> construct=
>> ion with the verb go."  So Arnold, although he doesn't entirely spell it
>> ou=
>> t, is rejecting the propositions that "to go" is copulative and that
>> "langu=
>> age nerd" is adjectival.
>>
>> I'm clearly out of my depth.  What's really going on in the XKCD text?
>>
>>
>> John Baker
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Randy Alexander
> Manchu studies: http://www.sinoglot.com/manchu
> Language in China (group blog): http://www.sinoglot.com/blog
> Music: http://www.metafilter.com/activity/56219/posts/music/
>



-- 
Randy Alexander
Manchu studies: http://www.sinoglot.com/manchu
Language in China (group blog): http://www.sinoglot.com/blog
Music: http://www.metafilter.com/activity/56219/posts/music/

------------------------------------------------------------
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