10.1282, Qs: Theory of Orthography, Grammatical Evidence

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LINGUIST List:  Vol-10-1282. Thu Sep 2 1999. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 10.1282, Qs: Theory of Orthography, Grammatical Evidence

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1)
Date:  Wed, 01 Sep 1999 23:13:55
From:  "Tony A. Wright" <twright at satx.net>
Subject:  Theory of Orthography

2)
Date:  Thu, 2 Sep 1999 15:12:33 +0100
From:  Geoffrey Sampson <geoffs at cogs.susx.ac.uk>
Subject:  Negative grammatical evidence

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Wed, 01 Sep 1999 23:13:55
From:  "Tony A. Wright" <twright at satx.net>
Subject:  Theory of Orthography


I would like to know if anyone knows of published work on the
linguistic nature of orthography.  I have been able to locate copious
sources of information on writing systems in particular, but so far
have come up empty on finding accounts of the nature of orthography in
general as a linguistic phenomenon.

I am interested in work on the level(s) of spoken language from which
orthographies draw, ie., phonetic, phonemic, lexical and post-lexical
rule-levels, morphophonemic, etc.  I would also be interested in
knowing if there are Optimality Theoretic approaches to orthography.
Any help would be much appreciated.

- Tony Wright
twright at intersatx.net


-------------------------------- Message 2 -------------------------------

Date:  Thu, 2 Sep 1999 15:12:33 +0100
From:  Geoffrey Sampson <geoffs at cogs.susx.ac.uk>
Subject:  Negative grammatical evidence


One argument which generative linguists sometimes use to justify relying
on speakers' intuitions about the grammaticality of word-sequences,
rather than empirical evidence about actual usage, is that grammars
depend on negative as well as positive evidence:  one needs to know
that "*teacher the here is" is ungrammatical, as well as that "here is
the teacher" is grammatical, but empirical observation only provides
positive cases.  Somewhere in the last three or four years I have read
a published discussion (not necessarily published within that period, but
not very old) which documented a number of examples of different linguists
arguing in this way that the need for negative evidence made it necessary to
rely on speakers' intuitions.  Does anyone out there recognize this
passage, please, and could they give me the reference?


Prof. Geoffrey Sampson

School of Cognitive & Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH, GB

e-mail geoffs at cogs.susx.ac.uk
tel. +44 1273 678525
fax  +44 1273 671320
Web site http://www.grs.u-net.com

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