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October 04, 2005
Fromkin Chapter 3, Writing Exercise #2
2.) The auxiliary verb “to be” is different from other verbs because its conjugation is not immediately obvious or what would be expected, especially to a foreign speaker. Its conjugations are arbitrary to the infinitive in structure. For example, the verb “to ask” is conjugated in a way that has more of an expected pattern we can decipher that makes more sense. The conjugations sound and appear like the infinitive: I ask, you ask, she asks, we ask, and they ask. In the irregular verb “to be”, the conjugations are completely arbitrary to the infinitive; I am, you are, she is, we are, and they are. None of the conjugated verbs are like the base of the verb infinitive “be”, whereas in a verb like “to ask”, they are.
I would not say that adverbs that quantify, like “very” are closed class. In my experience, I have seen new quantifiers being used – by different people, in different areas, etc. Some are slang, which goes to show that these types of words are opened class and that more can be created. For example, some of my friends and I would joke around and say “ouber”, like the German word, in the same context as “very”. An even more solid example is one of the amusing things I have noticed coming here to Massachusetts from California; people say “wicked”. I have never heard this word used in this context, meaning “very” or “really”, like it commonly is here! I suppose young Northern Californians are known for saying “hella” to mean “very”, which is (perhaps fortunately) not used here. These quantifiers were not used decades ago, and have probably been around only in the past five years or so.
The brain functions content and function words differently, and I think the above examples of the newer, slang-like quantifiers are evidence. Function words, like “very” and other quantifiers, have a grammatical function. They do not have a clear, specific meaning associated with them, or a specific concept that needs to really be thought about. As a result, function words are easier to create and slip in and out through our sentences and speech, as they seem to require less thought. However, function words are considered to be closed class, mostly because words such as “and,” “or,” “a”, “in,” “of,” “the”, and other conjunctions, prepositions, articles, and pronouns, are completely arbitrary and so far have been irreplaceable. In many ways, although considered open class, it may seem more difficult to create a content word, as it would mean creating a new word for concepts we think about – such as specific ideas, concepts, actions, or particular objects. When we create a quantifier, it does not denote anything too complex, and can be subconsciously slipped in and out of our speech. However, if one is raised knowing that, for example, “Kleenex” are tissues, relatively new content words do not require much thought or contemplation.
Posted by lcisthur at October 4, 2005 10:54 PM