Is it of much use?
Melissa Smith
mtsmith02 at YSU.EDU
Fri Mar 9 16:22:24 UTC 2012
This discussion reminds me of why I ultimately went into literature
rather than linguistics. that is, in my grad school days, structural
linguistics ruled, with its reliance on formulae. At a certain point, a
broader context becomes critical to choices of tense/aspect. And
literature is about those very complications!
No Slavist is an island, entire to him/her/itself. For those of us
without an archipelago, SEELANGS discussions have a special fascination.
Melissa Smith
On 3/9/12 9:56 AM, Goloviznin Konstantin wrote:
> 09 марта 2012, 08:53 от Robert Orr <colkitto at ROGERS.COM>:
> >
> >
> > > Is it just me, or are things becoming more complicated? AM
> >
> > > More complicated than anyone seems to think so far.
> >
> > Indeed.
> >
>
> Не так черт страшен как его малюют ;)
>
> Any language ruled by two powers (as to my seeing). That is, with
formal and phonetical logics. For axample I take the rule - forms of
be + not = be+n't. This rule has only exception for the form am + not
that is equal to ... ain't (because fonetical logic takies over in
this case). Any rule within any language works this way. Majority of
cases are matches to their rule and the rest are exceptions.
>
> Another example. Make some group out of four words - this, the, every,
his. Impose on this group two rules. The first - don't use any two of
them together and the second - one of them mandatorily used before any
noun. This works in about 80-90%% and the rest of 10-20% are exceptions
(= 1. You don't count the this and the this. 2. She hangs on every his
word.).
>
> This way the problem of the table for tenses and aspects can be solved
with considering long perfects as extension to short perfects with
correction of meaning. Moreover if we take only rules and
corresponding to these in-rule cases without exceptions (so far as
possible) we'll get a priming layer of grammar (but the grammar must be
a very practical description not theoretical ). Adding exceptions to
that layer makes the picture full. This two-staged way of mastring any
language through that kind of grammar is of much simplification.
>
> Btw, this idea (not mine) has already been embodied for
russianspeaking studying English and I consider it very effective.
>
> Konstantin.
>
>
>
>
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Melissa T. Smith, Professor
Department of Foreign Languages and
Literatures
Youngstown State University
Youngstown, OH 44555
Tel: (330)941-3461
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