Language Center

"There is no W." ~Professor R. Fink

Finally -- the word you've all been waiting for... pa'ro�nym (n.) A word containing the same root or stem, as in "wise" and "wisdom". Source: Random House Webster's College Dictionary

Optimality Theory is my NEW BEST FRIEND!! Thank you Prince and Smolensky! I wonder if there is a way for me to incorporate all of my theoretical interests into my career(s)... I think I'd really be interested in researching speaker knowledge of language. But how to get into such a career, and stay in it while making enough to sustain myself and a family... That is the question!

My two major theoretical interests (on which I will later elaborate/build): Signed language Multilingualism It would be interesting, also, to combine the two and look at bi-modalism, and at a comparison of multilingualism within modes (i.e. how signed language multilingualism compares to spoken)

Syntax in nature It's there. Some seem to think that syntax could not have developed in the human brain as a natural outgrowth of the way nature is and how we conceive it, but look, for instance, at the way we in North America see actions -- everything in our concept of the world moves from left to right, linearly. Actor comes first, then action, then object, in our conceptualization. This is the way it is in English writing, and in English syntax interestingly enough. I don't think it's completely coincidental. I suggest that syntax is now its own mechanism, but that it stems from an outgrowth of nature. This idea too will need more development, but possible evidence I've caught in passing (on spatial-temporal orientation and syntax) has come from readings on Language Disorders (Luria p 78; Chatterjee & Maher p 138).

on�to�lo'gi�cal (adj.) #3. Of or relating to the argument for the existence of God holding that the existence of the concept of God entails the existence of God. Source: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

Ever wonder why "Colonel" is pronounced "Kernel"? Well now I've found out! Derivation courtesy of Merriam-Webster OnLine and R. L. Trask's Historical Linguistics: (Latin) columna "column" -} colonna "column - diminutive" -} (Italian) colonnello "column of soldiers; colonel" -} (English spelling) colonel (Latin) columna "column" -} colonna "column - diminutive" -} (Italian) colonnello "column of soldiers; colonel" -} (Spanish, Middle French) coronel "colonel" -} (English pronunciation) kernel