All's I Want is to Know

Looking at this photo, I can almost hear Robert Irvine saying, "all's I want is..."

The use of this contraction has never jumped out at me as much as it has while watching Restaurant Impossible. Which got me to wondering what exactly is being elided because the contraction is not found in any dialect with which I am familiar. Initially, I thought Irvine was combining "all" with "is" (even though they are not adjacent) and then repeating "is".

Good thing I looked it up. The New York Times article by Ben Zimmer titled "All's I Know" reminded me that I should have checked the Dictionary of American Regional English for unusual usages. There I would have learned that what is being combined is "all" and "as" with "as" being used as a relative pronoun similar to "that".

All that I wanted was a syntactic clarification. All that I know is I got it. Thank you Ben Zimmer and DARE.

Photo credit

Sounds Like ... Word Spoonerism

What a profound way of switching sounds and words around to create a clever and appropriate advertisement.

This is just one ad from the new campaign but it is certainly my favorite.

I love the way the verb and adverb from the original proverb play with each other to become a verb and noun phrase.

Playful Parsing - What Modifies What?

I have been seeing this sign at street corners in Michigan lately and I can't help but play with the wording every time I see it. 

The first time I passed it, as I was repeating the words in my head, I couldn't help but wonder if the company would remove stains from pretty roofs as well.

[[ugly roof][stain removal]]

The more I saw and thought about the sign, the more I realized how many different interpretations are possible for the four words. And I do love having fun with bracketing paradoxes and parsing.

If I am having roof stains removed, I want it to be in a pretty fashion, not an ugly one.

[[ugly][roof stain removal]]

I'm pretty sure the following is how the sign is intended to be interpreted...
[[[ugly][roof stain]][removal]]

But this still leaves open the question of whether or not there is such a thing as a pretty roof stain?

Sign image found here
Trees via phpSyntaxTree

Always Your Flavorite

Burnett's Flavored Vodkas may have launched the "Always Your Flavorite" advertising campaign over a year ago, but I just saw one of the billboards for the first time last week. Perhaps the campaign is new to Michigan.

The company's press release stated that "the campaign includes a large scale consumer and trade advertising and outdoor campaign." This makes me wonder why, even if the campaign is new to Michigan, I couldn't find one image from the campaign on the internet.

Either way, something about the slogan didn't sit right with me.

I get the portmanteau of  flavor + favorite; that doesn't bother me, though it is nothing spectacular. So, it must be something to do with the adverb always or the possessive determiner your.

I will start with the possessive determiner your. Flavored or not, I have never had Burnett's vodka so nothing about it has to do with me. The same idea applies to the adverb always. Having never had Burnett's, it could not always be anything to me. Even if I had had the vodka, the history on Heaven Hill's website indicates that they did not launch Burnett's Vodka until 1991. I was of the legal drinking age before then and I have always preferred Absolut or Stoli (both of which have long made flavored vodkas).

Off the top of my head, I came up with a couple of alternatives (mind you, I have not done any trademark research).

Retaining the deictic nature of the message but adding an appropriately suggestive spin  -

Your New Flavorite 

And another playful, idiom-based suggestion -

Play Flavorites

Which can easily incorporate a positive reminder -

And Play Safe; Don't Drink and Drive.

Phrasal Templates in Advertising

Driving on the expressway recently, I passed a truck bearing a particular phrase. Most drivers would probably write it off as an eponymous company name and not give it any more thought. My language-loving, word-playing brain wouldn't let it go so quickly however. 

Image from: Rich Logistics

Above is what I saw, below is what I thought: 


Rich logistics, poor genetics
Rich logistics, poor athletics
Rich logistics, poor statistics
Rich logistics, poor aesthetics
Rich logistics, poor didactics
Rich logistics, poor schematics


And the list could go on and on.


These phrasal coordinations are based on the well-known and snowclone-able phrase "often imitated, never duplicated".


According to the Phrase Finder, "often imitated (but) never duplicated" has been "used in a lot of different ad copy back to the 1920's but it doesn't seem to have been a trademarked slogan exclusive to one product or company."


Snowclones of "often imitated, never duplicated" that I have seen include "big taste, small budget" and "cold beer, hot food". I'm sure there are many more too; so, please feel free to share additional examples in comments.


A semantic analysis of the snowclone: "desriptor + descriptee, desriptor + descriptee" 
Note: Descriptors in the coordinations must be antonyms


A syntactic analysis of the snowclone: "Adj + Noun, Adj + Noun" or "Adverb + Verb, Adverb + Verb"


My apologies to Rich Logistics; it is all in good fun. 

Roadside Linguistics - Sign Syntax

Michigan's warning signs regarding ice on bridges are pretty straightforward syntactically; in fact, I can't think of any other way to parse the sentence than the following - 

On the other hand, some signs from other states (like the one below) can be parsed differently depending upon which part of speech the word before is playing.

Logically, I would say that the sign is intended to be interpreted with before acting as a subordinating conjunction for a temporal, adverbial clause, as follows -

However, the option is open for before to be interpreted as a preposition telling where the bridge ices.

And this is why I don't sleep at night.

Sign image credits.

Linguistics:√ Fun:√

I love these post-it notes that came with a book I ordered. Too bad they don't sell them; I would order a carton.

And check out these fun posters from the same company

Images from Cascadilla Press

Random Linguistics Definitions Beginning with the Letter "Y"

'yes-no question' One which has a simple positive or negative answer. CF. closed interrogative, polar interrogative.

yod The sound[j] written as y e.g. in English yet [jɛt]. Hence yodization (also 'yoticization' etc.) is a sound change or other process resulting in [j].

Yurok California language related to Algonquian within Algic.

Definitions from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics, Second edition, 2007
Image credits: sharelike.me

(Not So) Random Linguistics Definitions Beginning with the Letter "X"

There are not too many words or concepts in the study of linguistics that begin with the letter "X"; thus I am unable to present a brief list to go along with the current series of definitions. Without a doubt, the most important to theoretical linguistics is "X-Bar Theory".

The above x-bar structure images are from the Linguistics Department at Bucknell University. There are also online lecture notes about syntactic structure at this Bucknell link. These notes provide a brief but clear description of heads, specifiers, complements and adjuncts.

For a more detailed look at syntax and X-Bar Theory, I highly recommend "The syntax of natural language: An online introduction using the Trees program" by Beatrice Santorini and Anthony Kroch of the University of Pennsylvania.

Random Linguistics Definitions Beginning with the Letter "W"

'wanna-contraction' The reduction in American English of forms like want to or going to in I want to (wanna) do it or I'm going to (gonna) do it.

wh-form Any of a class of words in English that typically begin with wh-: e.g. who, which, why. Also of phrases that begin with such words: e.g. which book, what people.

Thence extended, by linguists whose native language is English, to forms that play similar syntactic roles in other languages.

'whimperative' Coined in the 1970s for a sentence that has the form of an interrogative but the force of an order or instruction: e.g. Why don't you shut up?, meaning 'Shut up!'.

Definitions from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics, Second edition, 2007
Image credits: Carolita Johnson

He'd've Preferred a Quadruple Contraction

But 'twou'dn't've been easily comprehensible.


The link to the Wiktionary page about English double contractions has been making the blog rounds in the last month or so and I am embarrassed to admit that my unfamiliarity with a few of them let me to click on the explanatory links.

I guess I haven't spent a ha'p'orth amount of time on nautical endeavors. The bo's'n better send me back to the fo'c'sle.

At any rate, the list got me to wondering about the exponential potential of contractions. There is a Wiktionary page with English triple contractions but that is as far as the Wik goes (and it only includes two examples: 'twou'dn't and fo'c's'le).

I welcome comments that include a minimum of quad-contractions.

The Ch'l'ng's'n'w (okay, that's a stretch; they should be somewhat figure-out-able).

Image via Art With Heart by Micah Lexier

Random Linguistics Definitions Beginning with the Letter "S"

schwa The mid-central vowel of e.g. the second syllable of matter: in phonetic notation [ ə ] ([matə ]) . Also spelled 'shwa'.

selective listening Selective attention to an individual speaker, e.g. in a crowded room where many people are talking.

shifter Jakobson's term for words like I, you and others whose interpretation involves person deixis.

speech error An accidental error in speech: cf. slip of the tongue.

Definitions from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics, Second edition, 2007
Image credits: Wikipedia - Braille representation of letter 'S'

Random Linguistics Definitions Beginning with the Letter "R"

rhotic A term used in English phonology referring to dialects or accents where /r/ is pronounced following a vowel, as in car and cart. Varieties which do not have this feature are non-rhotic (such as received pronunciation). Vowels which occur after retroflex consonants are sometimes called rhotacized (they display rhotacization).

right dislocation In grammatical description, a type of sentence in which one of the constituents appears in final position and its canonical position is filled by a pronoun with the same reference, e.g. I know her, Julie; He's always late, that chap.

rim The edges of the tongue, the extent of whose contact with the roof of the mouth can affect the quality of several sounds, such as [s] and [l].

Definitions from: A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, Sixth edition, 2008
Image credits: Wikipedia - Flag semaphore representation of letter 'R'

Random Linguistics Definitions Beginning with the Letter "Q"

quadrisyllabic Having four syllables. A word such as dictatorship is thus a quadrisyllable.

quantifier floating Proposed syntactic process by which a quantifier is detached from its phrase. E.g. in Birds can all fly, the quantifier all is seen as having 'floated' from its position as a determiner in All birds can fly.

'queclarative' Coined in the 1970s for an utterance which has the form of an interrogative (or 'question') but the force of a statement (or 'declarative'): e.g. 'What use is that?' meaning that it is no use.

Definitions from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics, Second edition, 2007
Image credits: Type Posters

Comma: the MacGyver of Punctuation - ComMacGyver

The comma is not truly the only punctuation tool you will ever need, but it sure does do a lot.

The Purdue Online Writing Guide lists the following uses in its Quick Guide to Commas:

1. Use commas to separate independent clauses when they are joined by any of these seven coordinating conjunctions: and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet.

2. Use commas after introductory a) clauses, b) phrases, or c) words that come before the main clause.

3. Use a pair of commas in the middle of a sentence to set off clauses, phrases, and words that are not essential to the meaning of the sentence. Use one comma before to indicate the beginning of the pause and one at the end to indicate the end of the pause.

4. Do not use commas to set off essential elements of the sentence, such as clauses beginning with that (relative clauses). That clauses after nouns are always essential. That clauses following a verb expressing mental action are always essential.

5. Use commas to separate three or more words, phrases, or clauses written in a series.

6. Use commas to separate two or more coordinate adjectives that describe the same noun. Be sure never to add an extra comma between the final adjective and the noun itself or to use commas with non-coordinate adjectives.

7. Use a comma near the end of a sentence to separate contrasted coordinate elements or to indicate a distinct pause or shift.

8. Use commas to set off phrases at the end of the sentence that refer back to the beginning or middle of the sentence. Such phrases are free modifiers that can be placed anywhere in the sentence without causing confusion.

9. Use commas to set off all geographical names, items in dates (except the month and day), addresses (except the street number and name), and titles in names.

10. Use a comma to shift between the main discourse and a quotation.

11. Use commas wherever necessary to prevent possible confusion or misreading.

Help save the comma; take the "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" Comma IQ Test.

Here are some commas to get you started -

Image credits here and here.

Diagramming Dependent Clauses

Verb Phrases and Phrasal Verbs

[Infographic provided by Grammar.net]

Taking this infographic a step further, here is the phrase structure rule for verb phrases in English.

VP = (aux)+ V + (NP)/(adj) + (PP) + (DC)

Items in parentheses are optional.

aux = auxiliary verb
V = verb
NP = noun phrase
adj = adjective
PP = prepositional phrase
DC = dependent clause

Click here to see additional phrase structure rules and phrase structure trees.

Update on Contraction Retraction

Back in January, I posted about a linguistic phenomenon that I observed and was unable to label. The original post titled "Contraction Retraction - A Phono-Morpho-Syntactic Phenomenon" can be found here.

Following are some relevant excerpts from the post:

What happens when a person starts to utter a contraction and then for some unknown reason decides to utter the two word phrase instead of the contraction?

If I start to say "don't" and change midway to "do not" what comes out of my mouth sounds an awful lot like "dough not".

Transcribed phonetically below.

don't = /dont/
do not = /du nat/
dough not = /do nat/

I decided to update the post because of a recently received reader comment:

It's called allomorphy (according to my linguistics professor). And it's not limited to contractions. It happens with a lot of words. What you're witnessing is the minor change in a word [do] as its instance is changed from "don't" to "do not".

Think about "photograph" versus "photography". [fo-tow-graph] versus [fo-tau-graf-ie]. The morpheme "photograph" has the same meaning, even in "photography", but because the pronunciation is different, it is a separate allomorph.

Here is my response:

Not to argue with your professor (and I am certainly no expert), but during my MA program in linguistics I never heard an analysis of contractions that presented the phonetic changes as allomorphy.

SIL International’s Glossary of Linguistic Terms defines an allomorph as one of two or more complementary morphs which manifest a morpheme in its different phonological or morphological environments.

With allomorphy, I have always understood the phonological and morphological environments to be limited to the words in which they appear.

To me, the phrase “do not” contains two separate free lexical morphemes and when they are contracted it is like combining the two lexical morphemes into one phonetic form.

Based on the broad phonetic transcriptions I presented, I would say there is deletion and assimilation through contraction but not a different form of one morpheme that would be considered allomorphy.

The most common type of allomorphy in English involves plural and past tense suffixes, for example; the past tense “–ed” suffix can be phonetically realized as /t/, /d/ or / əd/.

The example you have given comparing “photograph” /fotogræf/ to “photography” /fotɑgrɑfi/ is an example of root allomorphy (or stem allomorphy, depending on whom you ask) that is similar to “hymn” /him/ versus “hymnal” /himnəl/.

Regardless of whether or not the act of contracting is considered a form of allomorphy, I would still regard the phenomenon I have described as a different matter. As a matter of fact, upon further thought, I believe it involves more than just phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax; it also involves psycholinguistics. The phenomenon involves the process the brain is undergoing as it chooses initially to verbalize the contraction but switches midstream to an altered, un-contracted form of the initial phrase.

I now welcome more input and data from anyone who has experienced or witnessed this "contraction retraction" or has other thoughts about the processes involved.

Verbing Kevin Bacon

From r2szoo2

Humorize and Verborize

The Verbing of America

The verbing of America
Is getting out of hand,
Yet many nouns are also verbs,
Like toast and rake and land.
When I first heard hospitalize,
I thought it was a crime;
Why don't we apartmentalize?
We will -- just give us time!
If when we change a noun to verb
To come up with our `verbing,'
Why can't I, when I'm using herbs,
Refer to it as herbing?
For if I call myself a cook
, The verbal form is cooking;
And if I give someone a look,
It's also known as looking.
I give a gift
But I'm not gifting.
You get my drift,
Or am I drifting?
I get a bill
Because of billing,
But taking pills
Is never pilling.
I place a pin,
And I am pinning.
Play a violin --
Is it violining?
But play a fiddle,
And you're fiddling;
Or is this getting
Much too piddling?
Planting some seeds
Is always seeding,
And pulling weeds
Is surely weeding;
If drawing blood
Is always bleeding,
Why does a flood
Not lead to fleeding?
I'm wined and dined
But never beered.
I've eyed someone,
But never eared!
Turn on a light,
And I am lighting.
Turn on a lamp,
And it's not lamping.
If I can verbalize
A needle,
And egging on
Can mean to wheedle,
And I am doodling
With a doodle,
When I cook pasta,
Can't I noodle?
With all these punctuation marks,
I'm doing quite a lot of dotting;
But if I were to use a dash --
Don't you agree that I am dashing?
But comma-ing and period-ing?
And yet I can italicize
And sometimes must capitalize.
I Anglicize -- but Germanicize?
Or Swedicize, or Gaelicize?
With this I could go on and on,
Really ad infinitum;
Whether I lick these word problems,
I sure cannot beat 'em.
Our language is an enigma
In how its words are used;
And that is why, in verbing nouns,
We ought to be excused.

Credits to UPenn