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[Randy Rightmire]

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Cc: mposluns at accglobal.net, sovernspeakout at egroups.com, FNR_PUBPOL at YorkU.CA
Subject: Re: ELL: [Fwd: [sovernspeakout] 'Reburial of 500 Huron', evidence of
continuing  stereotyping]
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Date: Sun, 5 Sep 1999 10:09:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: Randy Rightmire <randy at vowel.ucsb.edu>
To: Endangered Languages Linguist list
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Subject: Re: ELL: [Fwd: [sovernspeakout] 'Reburial of 500 Huron', evidence of
continuing  stereotyping]
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I find three flaws in the reasoning represented by this argument being
circulated by Michael (Mickey) Posluns:

1.  I disagree with Poisluns that hunting and fishing are the most common
situations in which we "want to speak only of abstract categories without
reference to any individuation which might occur within the category."
For example, the Economist (v343, n8019:82) (May 31, 1997) writes,
"THE Irish are adept at mourning, and the tributes paid to Noel Browne
were decently fashioned even by those who could not stand him."  I found
many examples similar to "The Irish are..." just by quickly looking
through a million-word corpus of news magazine texts.

2.  The names of "first nations" are not the only group names whose plural
is unmarked.  For example: "A Japanese" (sing.) vs. "The Japanese" (pl.).
Evidence of "A Japanese..." comes from Economist (v344, n8030:69) (August
16, 1997):
"France, always happy for new evidence that it is, in
every way, the most desirable of countries to be born in, was gratified
when (in October 1995) Mrs Calment passed the lifespan of a Japanese who
had previously held this most competitive of records.

3.  "The Canadian eats heartily" is not an instance of zero plural, as
evidenced by the third-person, singular verbal suffix -s in "eats."
English plural nouns, even zero plural, exhibit plural verb agreement, as
in "The salmon are running today."

While I'm in favor of rooting out racism in all its forms, both overt and
insidious, I hope others will agree that it is counterproductive to use
bad science toward this end.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Randall Rightmire
randy at vowel.ucsb.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Sun, 5 Sep 1999, Matthew McDaniel wrote:

> A note on linguistics that first nations are discussing as they dig
> their way out from under the centuries.
>
> Matthew
>
> --
>
>
>
> Matthew McDaniel
> The Akha Heritage Foundation
> 386/3 Sailom Joi Rd
> Maesai, Chiangrai, 57130
> Thailand
> Mobile Phone Number:  Sometimes hard to reach while in Mountains.
> 66-01-881-9288
>
> US Address:
>
> Donations by check or money order may be sent to:
>
> The Akha Heritage Foundation
> PO BOX 6073
> Salem OR 97304
> USA
>
> Donations by direct banking can be transferred to:
> (Preferred)
>
> Wells Fargo Bank
> Akha Heritage Foundation
> Acc. # 0081-889693
> Keizer Branch # 1842  04
> 4990 N. River Road.
> Keizer, Oregon,  97303 USA
> ABA # 121000248
>
> Or In Thailand:
>
> Matthew  Duncan McDaniel
> Acc. # 3980240778
> Bangkok Bank Ltd.
> Maesai Branch
> Thailand
>
> Web Site:
>
> http://www.akha.com
> mailto:akha at loxinfo.co.th
>
> Discussion Groups:
> akha at onelist.com
> indigenousworld at onelist.com
>
>
-






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