16.149, Qs: Gesture/Spoken Language; 'What on Earth' Construct

[LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-16-149. Tue Jan 18 2005. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 16.149, Qs: Gesture/Spoken Language; 'What on Earth' Construct

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1)
Date: 17-Jan-2005
From: Joan Leopold < joanleopold at hotmail.com >
Subject: Gesture and Spoken Language

2)
Date: 17-Jan-2005
From: maria polinsky < polinsky at ling.ucsd.edu >
Subject: 'What on Earth' Construction

	
-------------------------Message 1 ----------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 17:04:41
From: Joan Leopold < joanleopold at hotmail.com >
Subject: Gesture and Spoken Language


Does anyone have references to historical or recent articles on the issue of:

whether gesture language existed before and preceded all forms of spoken
language; or whether gesture language always coexisted with spoken language.

Thank you.

Linguistic Field(s): Anthropological Linguistics



	
-------------------------Message 2 ----------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 17:04:44
From: maria polinsky < polinsky at ling.ucsd.edu >
Subject: 'What on Earth' Construction

	

In several languages, questions of the type ''what on earth'', or ''what
the hell'' (what on earth/the hell were you thinking?) involve the mention
of hell or devil. Some examples: wh- the hell (English), que diable
(French), Was zum Teufel (German), wh- le-'azazel (Hebrew). I am curious
how widespread this tendency is and whether or not it represents an ''areal
cultural'' phenomenon, somehow rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition. So
here are my two questions:
1) are there any studies of the composition of what-the-hell expressions?
2) how do these expressions pattern in other languages?
I will be happy to post a summary of your responses.

Thank you!
Maria Polinsky

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics






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LINGUIST List: Vol-16-149