Dear Keith
No the alternative to dropping etymology in the sense discussed is not to aggregate uses. 19th century philology is separated from modern linguistics (particularly historical and comparative linguistics) by, among other things, dropping the etymology (fallacy) as a relevant language game. The alternative as corpus linguistics, sociolinguistics, sociology of language, discourse analysis and other modern forms of linguistic work is to treat (social, interactive ...) context and so forth as significant in helping assemble the relevant meaning for the context of use. But look I'm talking as a trained linguist so the fact that some groups, e.g. designers on this list, want to continue to use etymology as a tool in their language game(s) is fine ...
Dr Gavin Melles (EdD)
Research Fellow
Swinburne Design
-----
Swinburne University of Technology
CRICOS Provider Code: 00111D
NOTICE
This e-mail and any attachments are confidential and intended only for the use of the addressee. They may contain information that is privileged or protected by copyright. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, distribution, printing, copying or use is strictly prohibited. The University does not warrant that this e-mail and any attachments are secure and there is also a risk that it may be corrupted in transmission. It is your responsibility to check any attachments for viruses or defects before opening them. If you have received this transmission in error, please contact us on +61 3 9214 8000 and delete it immediately from your system. We do not accept liability in connection with computer virus, data corruption, delay, interruption, unauthorised access or unauthorised amendment.
Please consider the environment before printing this email.
|