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From: mmar@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Mitchell Marks)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: Easy languages
Message-ID: <1663@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 15-Feb-86 18:24:40 EST
Article-I.D.: sphinx.1663
Posted: Sat Feb 15 18:24:40 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 16-Feb-86 09:12:04 EST
References: <77@druhi.UUCP> <3550004@csd2.UUCP> <402@watmum.UUCP> <632@scc.UUCP>
Reply-To: mmar@sphinx.UUCP (Mitchell Marks)
Organization: U Chicago
Lines: 34
Summary: 


As Don Steiny points out, those familiar with the generative grammar scene
might well conclude that all languages derive from English, or at least
that Universal Grammar _resembles_ English grammar.  Now an important news
flash:  a group of Native American languages have now been shown to be
genetically related to the Indo European family, on classic philological
grounds.  ---
    The English word for `house made out of ice' is "igloo".
    And the Eskimo word for the same thing is 'illu'.
     (Using conventional orthography in both cases.  The "ll" is an
      unvoiced lateral.)
    The English word for `small boat made of animal skins stretched over a
     structural frame of local materials' is "kayak".
    And the Eskimo word for the same thing is "kayak" or "kayaq".

This discovery should be credited to Jerry Sadock, who also has developed
the following radical simplification of Government and Binding theory:

'Phrase structure' component:   w*  
(i.e., any number of words).
Transformation:     move-alpha
(as in usual GB)
Surface filter:     the gamma criterion
where the gamma criterion filters out all sentences except those grammatical
in English.
   A question from the audience asked Sadock to explain, under his theory,
why "Jean a vu Marie" was considered an acceptable sentence (in French).
He pointed out that people in France have slightly different phonological
adjustment rules, and the example sentence passes the gamma criterion
because "John has viewed Mary" is a grammatical sentence of English.
-- 

            -- Mitch Marks @ UChicago 
               ...ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!mmar