Babel bobbles. (Letters).Linguistic cladistics cladistics (klədĭs`tĭks) or phylogenetic systematics (fī'lōjənĕt`ĭk) ? Based on vocabulary? Linguistic froth, such as loan words from other languages, frequently becomes a source of heated debate ("Search for the Tree of Babel Babel (bā`bəl) [Heb.,=confused], in the Bible, place where Noah's descendants (who spoke one language) tried to build a tower reaching up to heaven to make a name for themselves. ," SN: 5/25/02, p. 328). The deep structures of language that can provide a relatively stable field for analysis are more subtle. These include verb-substantive-object order, verbs of giving or receiving, noun declensions, and the like. But even these are subject to extreme transformations. Besides, any genetic tree that places English more than one node away from Frisian is too arbitrary to be credible. DAVID David, in the Bible David, d. c.970 B.C., king of ancient Israel (c.1010–970 B.C.), successor of Saul. The Book of First Samuel introduces him as the youngest of eight sons who is anointed king by Samuel to replace Saul, who had been deemed a failure. C. OSHEL, CEDAR RAPIDS Cedar Rapids, city (1990 pop. 108,751), seat of Linn co., E central Iowa, on the Cedar River; inc. as a city 1856. The second largest city in Iowa, it is named for the surging rapids in the river. , IOWA Iowa, state, United States Iowa (ī`əwə), midwestern state in the N central United States. It is bounded by the Mississippi R. In the article, evolutionary biologist Mark Pagel says that "languages have discrete units: letters, syllables, and words." This is accurate for some writing systems, but not for language itself. Any linguist would point out that language is composed of phonemes (distinct sounds), morphemes (meaningful units), and syntax or grammar (the rules governing the combination of the other elements). Some linguists, following Noam Chomsky, also maintain that there is a fourth element, an underlying or deep grammar. DIANA GAINER, GREENVILLE, TEXAS |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion