Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 10:19:37 -0500 From: "William A. Kretzschmar, Jr." Subject: Re: see or say Generalities just won't do for trying to cope with Labov's *Principles of Sound Change*. You really have to go and read it to see the complexity of what he is trying to do. There are several things going on in chain shifts, and several patterns which include both long and short vowels in different ways. "Complexity" as a term doesn't really do justice to the book or set of ideas: I just finished a quarter with the book in a graduate seminar, and we managed to get just half way through. Regards, Bill ****************************************************************************** Bill Kretzschmar Phone: 706-542-2246 Dept. of English FAX: 706-542-2181 University of Georgia Internet: billk[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]hyde.park.uga.edu Athens, GA 30602-6205 Bitnet: wakjengl[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uga