Date:    Wed, 20 May 1998 12:06:19 -0500
<br>From:    Gerald Cohen <gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UMR.EDU>
<br>Subject: Law/Principle of Least Effort
<br>
<br>    Once again, I am grateful for Larry Horn's messages on the Law/Princple
<br>of Least Effort.  Here now are some thoughts in regard to his second
<br>message (5/19/98).
<br>
<br>     The overall picture I get is of an alleged law/principle with so many
<br>exceptions that one wonders by what justification its existence as a
<br>law/principle is advanced.  Larry writes:
<br>      "In many cases, least effort is violated in parole while maintained
<br>in langue."  [G. Cohen: "langue refers to the standard language and
<br>"parole" refers to any features that deviate from the standard, e.g. slips
<br>of the tongue.]
<br>
<br>      If this statement is true, it seems to shake the Law/Principle
<br>severely.  After all, individuals speak individually;  and if their
<br>individual speech isn't subject to the Law/Principle of Least Effort, then
<br>how can one agree with Martinet  (_Elements_, p.167), when he writes:
<br>      "...Here [G. Cohen: i.e, in communication] as elsewhere, human
<br>behavior is subject to the law of least effort, according to which man
<br>gives of himself only so much as is necessary to attain the end he has in
<br>view."
<br>     As for French "pleonastic ne" (where "pleonastic"  is synonymous with
<br>"extraneous"), I fail to see how this  "ne" increases the semantic content
<br>at all.
<br>     So, with the  Law/Principle having holes like a sieve, I would ask:
<br>What evidence do we have that this Law/Principle really exists?  Martinet,
<br>_ibid._, in one same paragraph refers to this feature as a "law" and a
<br>"tendency."  Which is it?  Simply because a few linguists have assumed that
<br>a given law or principle exists does not mean that its existence should  be
<br>accepted without question in later generations.
<br>
<br>    Incidentally, here are two items I have written relevant to syntactic
<br>blending and the Principle of Least Effort:
<br>1) "Contributions To The Study of Blending," in: _Etymology and Linguistic
<br>Principles, vol. l: Pursuit of Linguistic Insight_  (ed., Gerald Leonard
<br>Cohen; Rolla, Missouri; published by the editor), pp. 81-94, esp. pp.90-91.
<br>1988.
<br>
<br>2) _Syntactic Blends in English Parole_  (= _Forum Anglicum_, vol. 15).
<br>Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. l78 pp., with bibliography, where mention is
<br>made of Martinet and Zipf).
<br>
<br>--Gerald Cohen
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]umr.edu
<br>