Copyright © Museum Tusculanums Press The Domain of Language Michael Fortescue: The Domain of Language; e-book. 2004. ISBN 87 635 0213 5 Copyright © Museum Tusculanums Press Michael Fortescue: The Domain of Language; e-book. 2004. ISBN 87 635 0213 5 Copyright © Museum Tusculanums Press Michael Fortescue The Domain of Language e-Book Museum Tusculanum Press University of Copenhagen Michael2002 Fortescue: The Domain of Language; e-book. 2004. ISBN 87 635 0213 5 [e-book – 2004] Copyright © Museum Tusculanums Press Michael Fortescue: The Domain of Language; e-book © Museum Tusculanum Press 2004 Drawings by Henrik Maribo Composition by Ole Klitgaard Set in Janson Text ISBN 87 635 0213 5 Unchanged version in pdf-format of the printed book: Michael Fortescue: The Domain of Language © Museum Tusculanum Press 2002 Front cover by Bjørn Skaarup Drawings by Henrik Maribo Composition by Ole Klitgaard Set in Janson Text Printed in Denmark by AKA Print, Aarhus ISBN 87 7289 706 6 For copyright permissions see Acknowledgements, p.391. Published with support from: The Faculty for the Humanities, University of Copenhagen Københavns Universitets Almene Fond The Danish Research Council for the Humanities Museum Tusculanum Press University of Copenhagen Njalsgade92 Michael Fortescue: The Domain of Language; e-book. 2004. DK-2300 Copenhagen S ISBN 87 635 0213 5 www.mtp.dk Copyright © Museum Tusculanums Press Contents Preface (post hoc) 7 1. The back way in 9 2. Semiotics at gunpoint 13 3. Plumbing the depths: from phonetics to phonology 26 4. The library: where words gather 39 5. Of syntax and thumb-tacks 52 6. Feeling the way forward1 67 7. Sentenced (almost) to death: an introduction to pragmatics 88 8. A discourse concerning the family archives 102 9. Nursery talk 126 10. The kitchens: where William is witness to a right old morphopho- nological stew 147 11. In a manner of speaking... 170 12. Back to the apes 183 13. Birds of a feather 196 14. The historical propagation of language 209 15. Language in the wild: a forest walk 228 16. Linguistics through the ages 244 17. Pull-ups and put-downs: how to transform your life by hopping on bars 270 18. A matter of phrasing 291 19. Events come to life 304 20. The inner sanctum 329 21. The way back 349 Questions that might be asked 375 Acknowledgements 391 Michael Fortescue: The Domain of Language; e-book. 2004. ISBN 87 635 0213 5 Copyright © Museum Tusculanums Press Michael Fortescue: The Domain of Language; e-book. 2004. ISBN 87 635 0213 5 Copyright © Museum Tusculanums Press Preface (post hoc) This book is intended as counter-evidence to the perception (one wide- spread these days) of Linguistics as the domain of dusty schoolroom grammar, where proponents of one theoretical orientation or the other spend their brief breaks in the playground bashing the other lot over the head with their favourite abstractions. The discipline may appear to outsiders as fragmented and – worse still – lacking in relevance to the real world outside its gates. I hope to show that Linguistics, in all its varied branches, can be entertaining as well as thought-provoking, and that its domain is indeed a coherent one despite all the internecine squabbling. By introducing the subject in an unconventional way – as a kind of fable (one with a historical moral even) – I hope to make the reader think for his or herself (or is that ‘him or herself’?). The usual references to the scientific literature are lacking, and exemplification of all points is made with the help of the substance of the text itself. Obviously, the book – if used pedagogically – will have to be supplemen- ted by a standard introductory work (such as O’Grady, Dobrovolsky and Katamba’s excellent “Contemporary Linguistics”) where such informa- tion is supplied. Questions are nevertheless provided for each section which the reader, ideally, should solve before proceeding further (they are gathered at the end of the book). There is also a good deal of nonsense and irreverent (if not irrelevant) word play that needs to be cut away from the story for the core to become apparent. But this is true of the discipline itself! Distinguishing what is permanently won territory from the fluctuating gains and losses at the theoretical periphery is not an easy task for the newcomer. Best not to take anything for granted – and to form your own opinion. Michael Fortescue: The Domain of Language; e-book. 2004. 7 ISBN 87 635 0213 5 Copyright © Museum Tusculanums Press Michael Fortescue: The Domain of Language; e-book. 2004. ISBN 87 635 0213 5 Copyright © Museum Tusculanums Press 1. The back way in It looked for a moment as if a large floppy tongue was jammed at a painful angle into the space between the upright of the old arched gate and the high stone wall and was wriggling desperately to escape. But then one saw the spindly legs kicking out spasmodically below the near end of the object and heard the shouts of the two men, one on each side of the gateway, and realized that it was in fact a rolled up carpet, now partly unrolled, that they were trying to get through the gap that way. On closer inspection it became clear that the gate – closed by a rusty padlock – had long been in disuse, although its filagree metalwork, incorporating two identically plumed coats of arms, was still impressive. Less so was the state of the wall itself, partially hidden at the base by weeds and covered by straggles of ivy that had worked their way between the stones and loosened the mortar, causing the upper part next to the gate to crumble right away and leave a narrow fissure. It was through this that the two men had apparently tried to force their load after ascertaining that the way was otherwise barred. The words on the side of the van that was parked at the edge of the lane flanking the wall provided a clue as to the nature of their strange behaviour: William Horricks & son, Carpet-fitters and (Re)Upholsterers The two dangling feet dropped to the ground, quickly followed by a cloth cap; between the two came the assumed referent of the elder of the eponyms on the side of the van, clad in overalls. He stood there on wiry legs now, still springy from the drop, and mopped his brow in exaggera- ted fashion. “Ease ’er over gentle now, Jack,” he shouted back. “I done me bit.” “Aaagh!” was the only reply as the end of the tongue shot up in the air like the stern of a torpedoed ship then slithered out of sight down an invisible throat. It was immediately followed by a dull crash and the crepitation of loose mortar on sundered undergrowth. A moment later, a muscular young fellow in jeans and a T-shirt stood glaring through the gate at his progenitor, foliage sticking out of his dishevelled mop of red hair. Michael Fortescue: The Domain of Language; e-book. 2004. 9 ISBN 87 635 0213 5 Copyright © Museum Tusculanums Press “Brilliant. That’s probably gone and creased it permanently. It’s your fault, you stubborn old git! I told you we should have gone round to the front entrance, like everybody else!” “Aw, stop yer yammerin’. Of course we got to use the tradesmen’s entrance. That’s what we be, tradesmen, right?” “You’re a dreamer, you live in a past that doesn’t exist any more! This way in obviously hasn’t been used for donkey’s years – I told you that bell doesn’t work, the wire’s not even connected to anything on this side.” “That’s as may be. I still be the zenior partner in this business, zo it be my word as goes. And I zays we got to treat our customers in the manner they ’ave the right to expect. We should be proud to be zervicin’ a real duke for once, quite a different class of volks to the usual riffraff calls themselves gentry round ’ere.” “Don’t start in on all that again. Now that me and the carpet are on this side we might as well carry on. Just fetch the tools and get on over here.” “Not every day d’yer get a letter from a duke,” the ancient one continued clucking to himself as he moved in a kind of springy shuffle across to the van, retrieved the heavy wooden tool box and returned with it in both hands, talking all the while. “On crested paper too! Like I zaid to Mrs ’Orricks, this be quality, Glad! You can tell it a mile orf. They knows exactly what they wants and comes right to the point, no tryin’ to cut corners or argufyin’ about price. Just instructs us to zend the pattern and the measurements straight to the best manuvacturer up north: ‘We leave that entirely to your discretion – as professionals you are doubtless the best qualified to judge’. Qualified – good that bit. Shows happrecia- tion of professional pride.” “It’s not as if we actually wove the thing – we’re only laying it for them,” Horricks junior grumbled. “And being paid precious little for our ‘qualified’ assistance at that. I doubt if he realizes we can do more than lay other people’s carpets for him – anyone owns a palace of this size must have heaps of ancient old chairs and draperies that are just crying out to be refurbished professionally. Probably too stingy to care though. Here, stand on the box so I can get a hold of you and pull you through..