ozarque: Linguistics haikus...

ozarque (

ozarque) wrote,
@ 2008-05-09 09:33:00

Linguistics haikus...
(1)
The words of English
can always be made empty
by intonation.

(2)
A noun is not a
person or a place or thing.
A noun is a name.

(3)
A verb is not an
action word. It is a word
you can add "-ing" to.

(4)
A preposition
isn't just a word that is
short and on a list.

(5)
A preposition
is a word that tells you how
all the parts are linked.

I'd be pleased to have additions to this set from you [youall], if you're willing...

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(Post a new comment)

	andrewducker 2008-05-09 02:53 pm UTC (link)
	A more general version of 2 and 3: The map is not the territory. Nor does the menu taste like food. === Dictionary fun. I trace meanings to their source. Infinite Regress. === My speech is impure Words plundered from everywhere This gives it power === Someone says "Linguist". My inner twelve-year-old asks "But are they cunning?" (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

(no subject) -

dteleki, 2008-05-10 01:55 am UTC (Expand)

	dpolicar 2008-05-09 02:56 pm UTC (link)
	Short English words are easier to use than to define clearly (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

(no subject) -

brynndragon, 2008-05-09 03:03 pm UTC (Expand)

(no subject) -

andrewducker, 2008-05-09 03:10 pm UTC (Expand)

Response to dpolicar... -

ozarque, 2008-05-12 12:44 pm UTC (Expand)

	morgan_morgan1 2008-05-09 03:08 pm UTC (link)
	Nice userpic! (Reply to this)

	pgdudda 2008-05-09 03:10 pm UTC (link)
	Oooh, fun!! Here's three I whipped up, but no promises on quality: Speech is an action It can be blunt and direct Or quite indirect * Its is not "it is" It's its own pronoun, just like Your is not "you are" * Subjects are not doing Just ask an ergative verb: Its subject, a patient. (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

(no subject) -

pgdudda, 2008-05-09 03:15 pm UTC (Expand)

Response to pgdudda... -

ozarque, 2008-05-09 04:43 pm UTC (Expand)

Re: Response to pgdudda... -

pgdudda, 2008-05-09 07:49 pm UTC (Expand)

Re: Response to pgdudda... continued... -

ozarque, 2008-05-10 12:26 pm UTC (Expand)

	i_o_r_h_a_e_l 2008-05-09 03:29 pm UTC (link)
	Wow. These are going to be great for my students! :D Thank you! (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

Response to i_o_r_h_a_e_l... -

ozarque, 2008-05-09 04:35 pm UTC (Expand)

	pperiwinkle 2008-05-09 03:29 pm UTC (link)
	The Preposition, as a rabbit to a log, over, on, et al. (Reply to this)

	maribou 2008-05-09 03:41 pm UTC (link)
	not awake enough to add haiku of my own, but just wanted to mention that I LOVE the first one. (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

Response to maribou... -

ozarque, 2008-05-09 04:43 pm UTC (Expand)

(no subject) -

victoriacatlady, 2008-05-11 12:58 am UTC (Expand)

Response to victoriacatlady... -

ozarque, 2008-05-12 12:48 pm UTC (Expand)

	sturgeonslawyer 2008-05-09 03:43 pm UTC (link)
	Addendum to #3 When you add the "ing" The verb becomes a gerund. It can modify. (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

Changing direction halfway through -

andrewducker, 2008-05-09 03:49 pm UTC (Expand)

Re: Changing direction halfway through -

pperiwinkle, 2008-05-09 04:45 pm UTC (Expand)

	vesta_aurelia 2008-05-09 03:57 pm UTC (link)
	Am I the only one having flashbacks to Grammar Rock? grin --- The conjunction is just the train car linking words -- and the wreck of them. --- Interjections! Show excitement and emotion All hail the F-bomb. --- (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

Response to vesta_aurelia... -

ozarque, 2008-05-09 04:40 pm UTC (Expand)

Re: Response to vesta_aurelia... -

archangelbeth, 2008-05-09 04:51 pm UTC (Expand)

Re: Response to vesta_aurelia... -

vesta_aurelia, 2008-05-09 05:22 pm UTC (Expand)

"In 1787 I'm told, our founding fathers all sat down..." -

akitrom, 2008-05-09 07:37 pm UTC (Expand)

Re: "In 1787 I'm told, our founding fathers all sat down..." -

ysabetwordsmith, 2008-05-10 02:03 am UTC (Expand)

Re: "In 1787 I'm told, our founding fathers all sat down..." -

phantomcranefly, 2008-05-10 04:15 pm UTC (Expand)

	A critique of English Teachers wyld_dandelyon 2008-05-09 05:00 pm UTC (link)
	Grammar seems random Until somebody shows you How it shapes meaning (Reply to this)

Off the top of my head...

akitrom
2008-05-09 05:14 pm UTC (link)

What good is language?
Such folly, unfit tool. Yes,
But it's all we got.

Just as my lover
Twists restless 'neath the bed clothes,
Find meaning in words.

A subject does, or not.
The tao of verbs is zen.
To be. Being. Be.

Each word has its role.
Adverbs swim, cavort, modify.
Pronouns bear witness.

Punctuation halts
and stays there. For years I've been
trapped in a comma.

As children, we built
fluttering mobiles filled
with sentence structures.

(Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

Re: Off the top of my head... response to akitrom... -

ozarque, 2008-05-09 05:54 pm UTC (Expand)

Re: Off the top of my head... response to akitrom... -

akitrom, 2008-05-09 06:28 pm UTC (Expand)

Re: Off the top of my head... response to akitrom... - (Anonymous), 2008-05-10 11:46 am UTC (Expand)

nolly
2008-05-09 05:15 pm UTC (link)

I'm not good with the haiku, but this reminded me of the parts-of-speech posters my 5th and 6th grade teacher had up. Each one had a sentence with a blank; if the word fit that sentence, it was that part of speech. I don' think I'm explaining well, so here are the examples I still remember:

Prepositions: The squirrel ran ________ the tree.
Adverbs: He pushed the rock ________.
Adjectives: I have a _________ wagon.

I know she at least had nouns and verbs up, too, and possibly conjunctions and interjections, but I no longer remember those. I'm sure these leave gaps, but they certainly helped me.

(Reply to this)

	lyonesse 2008-05-09 05:16 pm UTC (link)
	the determiner -- head of the "noun phrase" -- shows its features. (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

Response to lyonesse... -

ozarque, 2008-05-12 12:52 pm UTC (Expand)

kelsied
2008-05-09 06:01 pm UTC (link)

Oh, he doesn't have it online.

Rathflaed DuNoir did "A Period Song" (When you come to the end of a sentence YOU STOP. Because at the end of the sentence THERE'S A DOT. ...)

One of my favorite bits of grammar-themed artistry of all time.

Anyway, you just reminded me of it. Well, you and the school house rock people. Though I'm quite fond of these haikus as well. They're wonderfully functional. I think I will have to print them against future need. Unless you have in mind to do a "grammar book" in which case I would happily wait... *grins*

(Reply to this)

	dulcinbradbury 2008-05-09 06:12 pm UTC (link)
	Pidgin is not a stop-gap or laziness but a bridge of cultures. (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

(no subject) -

wyld_dandelyon, 2008-05-09 10:11 pm UTC (Expand)

(no subject) -

pgdudda, 2008-05-09 11:10 pm UTC (Expand)

(no subject) -

dulcinbradbury, 2008-05-14 01:49 pm UTC (Expand)

	akitrom 2008-05-09 06:33 pm UTC (link)
	Ghosts of obvious conjunctions haunt the tombs of My semi-colons. Edited at 2008-05-09 06:37 pm UTC (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

Response to akitrom... -

ozarque, 2008-05-12 12:56 pm UTC (Expand)

	Living in the Past (Anonymous) 2008-05-10 12:27 am UTC (link)
	In Russian grammar, "to be" has no present tense - I think; therefore, I. (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

Re: Living in the Past... response to Someone... -

ozarque, 2008-05-12 01:10 pm UTC (Expand)

	dteleki 2008-05-10 02:15 am UTC (link)
	So many adverbs! They're not quite so simple, as just Hyphen L Y. (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

Response to dteleki... -

ozarque, 2008-05-12 01:07 pm UTC (Expand)

Re: Response to dteleki... -

dteleki, 2008-05-14 11:11 pm UTC (Expand)

	(Anonymous) 2008-05-10 06:53 am UTC (link)
	(Michael Farris) Dental fricatives, Though thinly threadlike, they thrive Thornless, thoughtful things. (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2008-05-10 06:55 am UTC (Expand)

Response to Michael Farris... -

ozarque, 2008-05-10 12:29 pm UTC (Expand)

Response to Michael Farris, continued... -

ozarque, 2008-05-12 01:14 pm UTC (Expand)

	(Anonymous) 2008-05-10 07:02 am UTC (link)
	(Michael Farris) Infixes nestle Deep within the core of words, Wh-in-ich they f-are-ound. (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

Response to Michael Farris... -

ozarque, 2008-05-10 12:30 pm UTC (Expand)

	(Anonymous) 2008-05-10 07:08 am UTC (link)
	(Michael Farris) Mikasuki past. Just now, last week, months before, Very long ago. note: In the Mikasuki language (spoken by some Seminole and Miccosukee people in South Florida) past tenses refer to (relatively) how long ago something happened with distinct forms for things that happened recently to many years ago. (Reply to this)

	(Anonymous) 2008-05-10 07:14 am UTC (link)
	(Michael Farris) Tone languages vex: What? What... What! one is thankful, _Our_ language abstains. (Reply to this)

	victoriacatlady 2008-05-11 12:50 am UTC (link)
	An article is The words "a," "an," or "the" -- yes, Those words only, still. Yet then, what about An article of clothing? How does that fit in? (Reply to this)

	OT, but... jehannamama 2008-05-11 10:55 am UTC (link)
	(Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

Re: OT, but... response to jehannamama... -

ozarque, 2008-05-11 12:11 pm UTC (Expand)

	porcinea 2008-05-11 03:24 pm UTC (link)
	Ejaculation is an abruptly uttered exclamation. O! P.S. No Wiscon this year? Edited at 2008-05-11 03:25 pm UTC (Reply to this)

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