[lit-ideas] Fwd: Re: Valid-Some Thoughts

John McC inadvertently sent the message below only to me instead of to the list.
As he is presently "up to his neck in grandchild", I forward his message to you
on his behalf.

Walter O.
MUN

----- Forwarded message from John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx> -----
    Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 10:40:51 +0900
    From: John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: jlm@xxxxxxxxxxxx
 Subject: Re: [lit-ideas] Valid-Some Thoughts
      To: wokshevs@xxxxxx

Dear Professor O.,
First, I beg to correct your impression that I belong among those who regard
dictionaries as being of philosophical worth. To an anthropologist a
dictionary is, in effect, a set of field notes, data that belong in the
third category W mentions, "the one [the rule] which he gives us in
reply when we ask what his rule is." The anthropologist's task is to
construct models that account for at least the shared assumptions those data
reveal or, in more sophisticated analyses, the variations they exhibit.
Judgements of philosophical worth are not part of the process.

Second, when you write,


>  Typically, we each know when we're (not) abiding by a rule and when
> others are (are not). If
> this were false, then the issuance of traffic tickets would be seriously
> imperilled.


your example is, I suggest, naive. I recall vividly when Ruth and I arrived
at our field site in central Taiwan. It was, I recall, a chastening
experience to realize that we had less local street smarts than the average
local two year old. Whether we were abiding by a rule or others were not was
constantly problematic. Even after two years in the field, we experienced
directly the puzzle to which W refers. We had become fairly fluent in
Taiwanese, but if asked to describe the rules that comprise Taiwanese
syntax, we would have to refer you to a linguist.  We inferred rules
governing local custom from observations. Still, we often had to seek advice
and were frequently puzzled by the advice we were given, when we asked about
the rules that applied to our situation.

That is why W's questions make a lot of sense to me.

Best wishes for a happy holiday.

John




-- 
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
http://www.wordworks.jp/

----- End forwarded message -----
Dear Professor O.,

First, I beg to correct your impression that I belong among those who regard dictionaries as being of philosophical worth. To an anthropologist a dictionary is, in effect, a set of field notes, data that belong in the third category W mentions, "the one [the rule] which he gives us in reply when we ask what his rule is." The anthropologist's task is to construct models that account for at least the shared assumptions those data reveal or, in more sophisticated analyses, the variations they exhibit. Judgements of philosophical worth are not part of the process.

Second, when you write, 
 
 Typically, we each know when we're (not) abiding by a rule and when others are (are not). If
this were false, then the issuance of traffic tickets would be seriously
imperilled. 
 
your example is, I suggest, naive. I recall vividly when Ruth and I arrived at our field site in central Taiwan. It was, I recall, a chastening experience to realize that we had less local street smarts than the average local two year old. Whether we were abiding by a rule or others were not was constantly problematic. Even after two years in the field, we experienced directly the puzzle to which W refers. We had become fairly fluent in Taiwanese, but if asked to describe the rules that comprise Taiwanese syntax, we would have to refer you to a linguist.  We inferred rules governing local custom from observations. Still, we often had to seek advice and were frequently puzzled by the advice we were given, when we asked about the rules that applied to our situation. 

That is why W's questions make a lot of sense to me.

Best wishes for a happy holiday.

John




--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
http://www.wordworks.jp/

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