linguistic questions

[Gretchen Pfeil]

And, indeed, all speakers/hearers of language are linguists. Not a trivial
observation, that.

Gretchen

Quoting Stephen C Hollister <sch99 at u.washington.edu>:

> If a linguist is someone who analyzes data to determine how a linguistic
> system works then all seven-year-olds (indeed all children) are linguists.
> It they weren't they would never learn their native languages.
>
> Stephen
>
>
> On Thu, 17 Apr 2003, Robert Lawless wrote:
>
> > It is not just linguists who ponder these questions. My seven-year-old
> > crawls into bed with me this morning and asks, "How do people come up with
>
> > words," "Hmmmmmmmm," I sleepily respond. Looking up at the ceiling fan, he
>
> > asks, "How did they decide that the word for fan was fan?" Waking up and
> > realizing that I was in trouble, I say, "Well, people who study that sort
>
> > of thing are called linguists, and I have a friend named Ron who is a
> > linguist. I'll email him with your questions when I get to the office."
> > "Okay. Daddy, can I cuddle with you?" "Sure." A moment of silence and
> > relief. Then, "Daddy, how do you know what I mean when I use the word
> > cuddle?" Robert.
> >
>
>