[Ads-l] Query on appositive nouns

Benjamin Barrett gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM
Fri Aug 7 20:26:04 UTC 2015


FWIW, there's a close example from the X Factor (UK) on YouTube, where 
Dermot O'Leary asks Luke Lucas whether "you really like her or _like_ 
her." It's about 25 seconds in.

(There's also a good example of "piggy in the middle" about 1:50 in).

Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, AA

Learn Ainu! https://sites.google.com/site/aynuitak1/home

> Laurence Horn <mailto:laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> 7 August 2015 at 12:43
>> On Aug 7, 2015, at 2:54 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard<gcohen at MST.EDU>  =
> wrote:
>> =20
>> I received the query below from another listserv and immediately =
> thought of English examples
>> of the type: (Young woman A): "Mike Tyson asked me out." (Young woman =
> B, incredulously): "Mike Tyson Mike Tyson?!!"  Or: "It's the same old =
> same old."=20
>
> It's not obvious that these examples reflect the same phenomenon.  The =
> latter is a fixed collocation; notice you can't (easily) get "the same =
> thing same thing".
> But the former is part of a general construction type that has been =
> treated in of various papers, monographs and collections appearing from =
> the late 1980s on. =20
>
> The construction in question is variously termed "the Double", =
> "Contrastive Focus Reduplication", and (by me) "the Lexical Clone", and =
> applies to proper nouns as in "MIKE TYSON Mike Tyson" above, common =
> nouns ("a DOG dog"--perhaps a collie or shepherd as opposed to a =
> chihuahua, or a hot dog, or an ugly or repellent person), adjectives =
> ("TALL tall", "RICH rich"), adverbs ("SOON soon", "LITERALLY =
> literally"), verb phrases ("Do you LIKE her like her?", "Did she SLEEP =
> with him sleep with him?"), prep. phrases ("I'm not WITH him with him") =
> and so on.  A good starting place in the literature is provided in these =
> papers, although the first is not easily accessed:
>
> Dray, Nancy (1987). Doubles and modifiers in English. Unpublished M.A. =
> thesis, University of Chicago.
> Ghomeshi, Jila, Ray Jackendoff, Nicole Rosen, and Kevin Russell (2004). =
> Contrastive focus reduplication in English. Natural Language and =
> Linguistic Theory 22: 307-57.
> Hohenhaus, Peter (2004). Identical constituent compounding--a =
> corpus-based study. Folia Linguistica 38: 297-331.
> Horn, Laurence (to appear). The lexical clone: Pragmatics, prototypes, =
> and productivity.  Presented at DGfS workshop on exact reduplication, =
> March 2015, to appear in de Gruyter volume on repetition and =
> reduplication to be published in 2016.  (Detailed handout available on =
> request.)
> Stolz, Thomas, et al. (2012). Total Reduplication: The Areal Linguistics =
> of a Potential Universal. Berlin: Academie.
>
> LH
>
>> =20
>> Can anyone help him out with references to the literature on this =
> topic in English? It may serve as good background information for his =
> thesis.
>> =20
>> Gerald Cohen=20
>> Missouri University of Science&  Technology
>> cc. Cammeron Girvin=20
>> =20
>> ________________________________________
>> From: Cammeron Girvin [cgirvin at berkeley.edu]
>> Sent: Friday, August 07, 2015 12:50 PM
>> To: SEEFA at LSV.UKY.EDU; slavicling at utlists.utexas.edu
>> Subject: appositive nouns in folk texts
>> =20
>> Dear colleagues (with apologies for cross-posting),
>> =20
>> I=E2=80=99m writing a dissertation on the linguistic patterns of South =
> Slavic folk songs, and I=E2=80=99ve encountered a number of instances of =
> a peculiar structure. Essentially, this consists of two appositive =
> nouns, often appearing in transcription with a dash between the two. =
> They are either two words with the same meaning but different roots, as =
> in Bulgarian:
>> =20
>> =D0=9E=D0=B9 =D1=82=D0=B5 =D1=82=D0=B5=D0=B1=D0=B5, =
> =D0=BF=D1=8A=D1=82=D0=BD=D0=B8=D1=87=D0=B5-=D0=B4=D1=80=D1=83=D0=BC=D0=BD=D0=
> =B8=D1=87=D0=B5 =E2=80=94 =E2=80=98Oh, you, traveler-traveler=E2=80=99
>> =D0=A7=D0=B5 =D0=BD=D0=B8=D0=B9 =D1=81=D0=BC=D0=B5 =
> =D0=BD=D0=B5=D0=BC=D1=86=D0=B8-=D0=B3=D0=B5=D1=80=D0=BC=D0=B0=D0=BD=D1=86=D0=
> =B8 =E2=80=94 =E2=80=98For we are the Germans=E2=80=93Germans'
>> =20
>> or two nouns where one is more general and one is more specific:
>> =20
>> =D0=B2=D0=B7=D0=B5=D0=BC=D0=B0=D0=B9=D1=82=D0=B5 =
> =D0=BF=D1=83=D1=88=D0=BA=D0=B8-=D0=BC=D0=B0=D1=83=D0=B7=D0=B5=D1=80=D0=B8 =
> =E2=80=94 =E2=80=98take your guns-Mauser.guns=E2=80=99
>> =D0=BE=D0=B6=D0=B5=D0=BD=D0=B8 =D1=81=D0=B5 =D0=B7=D0=B0 =D0=B5=D0=B4=D0=
> =BD=D0=B0 =D0=BC=D0=BE=D0=BC=D0=B0 =D1=83=D0=BD=D0=B3=D0=B0=D1=80=D0=BA=D0=
> =B0 =E2=80=94 =E2=80=98he married a maiden-Hungarian.woman=E2=80=99
>> =20
>> (These are from WWII Partisan songs.)
>> =20
>> I=E2=80=99m wondering to what extent such a phenomenon is encountered =
> in traditions of other languages and genres. More critically, I=E2=80=99m =
> hoping to find out whether there=E2=80=99s some sort of accepted term =
> for such a device that would lead me to other scholars=E2=80=99 analyses =
> of the phenomenon. It=E2=80=99s occurred to me that a few English =
> diminutive formations like =E2=80=9Cpuppy dog=E2=80=9D and =E2=80=9Cbunny =
> rabbit=E2=80=9D do this, but I=E2=80=99m unaware of any formal analyses =
> of such structures.
>> =20
>> Any leads that would help me link this to a broader discussion would =
> be most welcome!
>> =20
>> Sincerely,
>> =20
>> Cammeron Girvin
>> Ph.D. Candidate
>> UC Berkeley, Slavic Languages&  Literatures
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list