Re: Buffalo sentence (sidebar to Yakyakian Sentence)

From: Brett Paatsch (paatschb@optusnet.com.au)
Date: Sun Jun 01 2003 - 21:07:51 MDT

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    Michael M Butler writes:

    Brett Paatsch wrote:
    > >
    > > What do you figure the following actually means?
    > >
    > > Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
     
    > I lack context, regrettably.

             A fair point !

    Let me quote a bit more and hope I get by inside the
    "educational copyright" limit.

    "The Language of the Mind"

    "Perhaps the most important result of ... many and varied
    empirical and theoretical findings is that human consciousness,
    together with its predecessors and components, is in certain
    important ways localised rather than global, just as the cells
    and functions of the rest of the body chunk together into
    relatively autonomous organs. Even when the world comes
    at us in heavily preprocessed human language, we do not
    always find it easy to comprehend. Suppose you flip to the
    golden oldies station, and the Beatles sing 'the girl with colitis
     goes by'? Is this a weird acid flashback? Someone remarks,
     'It's a doggy-dog world', Then John Prine is singing, 'It's a
     happy enchilada, and you think you're gonna drown'. That
    can't be right! Ah: "It's a half an inch of water', 'dog-eat-dog',
    'kaleidoscope eyes'. These comic examples are from linguist
    Steven Pinker."

    "It is much worse when we try and understand some
    completely new aspect of the world, one not yet modelled
    by our customary fallible set of linguistic gadgets. Arguably,
    this is why science took so long to emerge, why it has done
    so only once in history (despite some honourable near-
    misses), and is easily shoved aside by inane but comforting
    superstitions. Even ordinary speech can be evasive, which
    is why we are baffled by this perfectly grammatical sentence:

    'Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.'

    ... A buffalo from Buffalo is a Buffalo buffalo, which might
    'buffalo' or browbeat its kin."

          So.... [insert interpretation here]

    "This diabolic sentence is cited by Steven Pinker as an
    instance of the reach and limitations of our language 'organ',
    the DNA-specified mental 'instinct' that powers our speech
    and writing."
    --------
     
    - Brett Paatsch
    (who needs to work on the skill of concise excerpting)

    BTW. If I quoted successfully I have two degrees of
    separation from the assertion that 'buffalo' is a verb. ;-)



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