Canonge, Elliott

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Work Papers of the SummerInstitute of Linguistics,University of North DakotaSessionVolume 17 Article 31973It all started with linguisticsElliott CanongeSIL-UNDFollow this and additional works at: https://commons.und.edu/sil-work-papersThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by UND Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Work Papers of the SummerInstitute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session by an authorized editor of UND Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contactzeineb.yousif@library.und.edu.Recommended CitationCanonge, Elliott (1973) "It all started with linguistics," Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North DakotaSession: Vol. 17 , Article 3.DOI: 10.31356/silwp.vol17.03Available at: https://commons.und.edu/sil-work-papers/vol17/iss1/3SIL-UND Workpapers 1973It All Starc~d with Linguistics, but It's the Finish of Lie Elliott Canonge This lecture-is an undigested history of linguistics. In fact, most of it may .be hard to s-tomach. The beginning of linguistics is shrouded in mythology. Note: this last word is·sometimes pronounced Morphology. According to one myth, linguistics started with a girl named Lingua, who had a twin brother named Franka. To show how scrambled mythology can get, it is said that these twins were hatched from a double-yolked egg. Note: etymologically, that is why small town males are called yokels. Many insist that the egg from which these twins were hatched was a bird's egg. If so, that would account for present day pidgin English. Linguistics is sometimes referred to "11th terms such as historical and comparative. Some students refer to linguistics with terms which are hysterical and comparatively ·uncentiona\le in mixed c~mpany. People who study linguistics are called linguists. I note here a recent qucte from an enlightened student who said, "Used to was I couldn't spell linguistics, now I are one. 11 There were vary few linguists originally. Today, there are a few original linguists. Note: a linguist who is more original than his fellow linguists is called an aborjoinal. Early linguistic work was done on the walls of caves. This saved the ex-pense of publishing. Nc~e: this was the start of indoor European languages. Since this was the dawn of civilizattGn, the light was poor, and linguists seldom did their best. Today, most students still complain of being in the dark. The ancient Greeks were famous as linguists. Whenever they talked they had a word for everything. In fact, present day students are still saying, 11It'a all Greek to me." Early in life, the Greeks were ~xposed to linguistics, but it was seldom fatal. Note: with all this exposure, there is no record of a Greek epidemic, but there was mention of at least eight cases. Homer was a great Greek linguist. He always started his descript~ons in the middle so that he would never be far from either end. Even the Roman Caesar had the heart of a linguist. As he conquered Gaul, he was making up linguistic problems. Note his Veni, vidi, vici. 157. SIL-UND Workpapers 1973158. The Egyptians were very poor linguists. Most of their stuff looked like hieroglyphics. They spent most ot their time building the Sphinx, who is not paiticularly remembered for anything he $aid. The Egyptians were very busy building things. Like Egyptian ~tmnnies, they were usually pres~ed for time. They also liked to build pyramids. No matter how big they were, they always managed to get to the point. Note: this art seems to have been lost with the Egyptians. Nowadays, certain linguists are still building pyramids. They are called Pike's peaks. Present day pyramids, however, start at the pointed end, get fatte~ in the middle and are flat on top. Note: this is not necessarily a description of present day linguists. Looking ahead, we can only say that the future of linguistics promises much more of the same, which is a pretty dismal way to end a lecture. IN MEMORIAM 

It all started with linguistics, but it\u27s the finish of me

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It all started with linguistics, but it\u27s the finish of me

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