Somehow, perhaps due to the fact that I fiddled with the TrackBack details by accident, I missed the fact that Kai von Fintel has also mentioned Semantic Compositions. Fortunately, SC inspects referral logs (oh goody-goody! [reduplication, folks -- we finally have our first phonology post! -- ed.]), and thus has an opportunity to correct the oversight. Thanks, Professor!
Now for a bit of sad news...although SC has enjoyed a phenomenally successful launch, there is an imminent cross-country trip in your host's future. As in first thing Friday morning. The blog will resume on Tuesday, assuming that no opportunities for updates present themselves (and they're not likely to, alas). However, Semantic Compositions aims to please, and so here is a preview of coming attractions:
1) In 1998, SC found himself with a bit much time on his hands once his undergrad thesis was finished, but before graduation occurred. During "dead week", he read two books. One was Randy Harris' "The Linguistics Wars". There may or may not be a place for talking about that in the future. Feedback appreciated. Of more immediate relevance, though, he also read Geoff Pullum's book "The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax". Among the many delights of that book was a phrase that has been on Semantic Compositions' mind ever since, "cracker barrel philosophy of science". Because your host enjoyed it so much, he is quite bewildered to see that the only references to it on the web are in notices of the book's publication. When this blog was in the planning stage, it was decided that this would be the title of a running, not to say quite regular, feature (source material needs to present itself). The first installment will come on Tuesday.
2) Also coming on Tuesday, "Blasts From the Past". Part of SC's undying allegiance to linguistics came from the early-on discovery that example sentences were not all like "Jack depends on himself" (pulled out of a humor-free textbook on SC's shelf, by opening to a random page). In fact, many of them from the '70s were quite funny. SC does not understand why so few of them are on the web, although he understands that perhaps it was best for the maturation of the field that journals became a bit more intolerant of this sort of thing. In the spirit of popularizing the rich humor of the field, Blasts From the Past will pass along interesting old sentences, accompanied by brief discussions of what made them interesting linguistically (the humor ought to be obvious). Because SC was not involved in linguistics in any fashion until 1996, there's more out there than he knows about. Coming on Tuesday will be a new e-mail account, where interested readers can forward examples they know about -- the earlier in the history of the field, the better. Due to the linear nature of time from our observation standpoint, and the unlikeliness of the '70s repeating with all-new jokes, this will be an occasional feature to avoid exhausting it too quickly.
3) Despite the title, one of Semantic Compositions' very favorite aspects of linguistics is Optimality Theory. So very much so that its terminology has surfaced in his casual everyday speech patterns, in discussion of totally non-linguistic topics with non-linguists. Because SC finds it inconvenient that other people do not understand the references, he is plotting a long-term project to smuggle his preferred terms into general usage. Admit it, SPE fans, even you sometimes wish that your storehouse of jargon made you look cool at parties. So show me some Sympathy ([we'll send the flower to the loony bin -- ed.]) and maybe this will get somewhere.
I'm new here (but so is almost everyone, I suppose). Interesting. I'll certainly be back. One suggestion: reading would be so much easier if your body font wouldn't be Times New Roman.
Posted by: Irene | January 16, 2004 at 01:18 AM
Ah, but some of us like Times New Roman!
"the unlikeliness of the '70s repeating":
And a good thing too; they were fun but somewhat exhausting. And the fashions!
Have a good trip, and I look forward to the example sentences.
(On preview: Ah, no HTML in the comments, I see. Pity.)
Posted by: language hat | January 16, 2004 at 10:17 AM
In the Denver airport, laid over, stopped to have a look. The font is locked in by my choice of TypePad styles (for $50/yr., you don't get too much control). As for the HTML in comments, it was an oversight, and is now fixed. Enjoy!
Posted by: Semantic Compositions | January 16, 2004 at 10:50 AM
isn't it self-defeating to INSERT OT terminology into everyday conversation? where are your constraints!? your rankings!?
;)
Posted by: michael | January 16, 2004 at 01:35 PM
On the subject of "funny stuff from the 70s", take a look at the section on generative semantics in Newmeyer's Linguistic Theory In America (Academic Press, 1980). He quotes three examples of each of amusing titles, silly example sentences, facetious remarks in papers, and oddly-names rules and constraints. In the interests of fostering scholarly research, I am not going to tell you what they are, however.
Posted by: David Elworthy | January 16, 2004 at 03:22 PM
Enjoy
Whee!
Posted by: language hat | January 20, 2004 at 12:34 PM