tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137524909094656245.post6041837689217627331..comments2023-10-17T02:08:37.051-07:00Comments on Language Nerds: Bemoaning the Loss of English Subjuctiveaislin!http://www.blogger.com/profile/02645618404413641842noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137524909094656245.post-8482443693194955352007-11-29T11:50:00.000-08:002007-11-29T11:50:00.000-08:00I think you're right. Natural language doesn't ca...I think you're right. Natural language doesn't care that much about ambiguity. I just found a scrambling language, Tohono O'odham, with null 3p case morphology, so "John called Sally" and "Sally called John" appear in exactly the same set of forms. (approximately:<BR/><BR/>John -ed Sally call<BR/>John -ed call Sally<BR/>Sally -ed John call<BR/>Sally -ed call John<BR/>Call -ed John Sally<BR/>Meaghan Fowliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04855727153351438129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137524909094656245.post-32909085370774255882007-11-29T11:49:00.000-08:002007-11-29T11:49:00.000-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Meaghan Fowliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04855727153351438129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137524909094656245.post-45274185612535682962007-11-18T08:17:00.000-08:002007-11-18T08:17:00.000-08:00I thought I was one of those people that had compl...I thought I was one of those people that had completely lost the subjunctive, but apparently not. That's gotta be "be exponential." The modalized version is okay, but I think it sounds hedge-y, and then it no longer seems THAT important to the tech world...<BR/><BR/>And I think that while linguists like to pretend that there's a categorical difference between "prescriptivist" grammar and "meagan louiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08963362791440378566noreply@blogger.com