Rejects the "etymological fallacy" theory, which seeks to minimize the role of etymology in the study of semantics, arguing that etymology represents a perfectly coherent philosophy of language, given that linguistic change is a legitimate source of anxiety for any culture founded on laws or sacred texts, whether oral or written. (MSE)

Instead of being completely arbitrary, the meaning of many idioms is "motivated" by their original, literal usage. In an FLT context, this offers the possibility of presenting idioms in ways that promote insightful learning rather than "blind" memorization. Associating an idiom with its etymology has been shown to enhance retention. This effect…

An analysis of a corpus of 252 specialized terms relating to the field of videotex, 144 in French and 108 in English, is presented in this document. The methods by which these terms are formed in both languages is examined, focusing on whether the terms have a linguistic basis in the French language or are borrowed from English. The differences…

Discusses the estrangement between etymology and modern linguistics, and concludes that a reconciliation between spatio-temporal linguistics and etymology must occur, because without it, both disciplines are doomed to inanition. (Author/AM)

This article proposes a California Penutian etymology for two distinct roots meaning "two," and shows some of the transformations of morphological material which have characterized innovations in language subgroups related to California Penutian. This provides important evidence for the history of California Penutian. (CLK)

The encyclopedia is designed as a reference work on the history, structure, and use of English. The first section outlines five phases in the development of the English language (origins, Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, Modern English) and then proceeds to the varieties of world English and perceptions of English and its future.…

The first of two papers on language history broadly defines historical linguistics and considers the activities of the descriptive linguist, who classifies the features of a language; the comparative linguist, who relates languages to one another; and the historical linguist, who is interested in the changes, completed and anticipated, of a living…

Following a brief summary of Trubetzkoy's views of Russian word roots, a statistical analysis is performed on a short literary passage in seeking to examine whether all types of roots merely coexist in modern Russian or whether there is an expansion of certain types and a contraction of others. Results point out statistical and semantic…

Papers from the linguistics colloquium address a variety of topics in linguistic theory and language research, most in French. Topics include: objectivity and subjectivity in understanding language; focalization in conversational language; the notion of "popular etymology"; serial construction in Malagasy; linguistic competence (in German);…