Date:    Mon, 18 May 1998 19:31:29 -0500
<br>From:    Gerald Cohen <gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UMR.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: Law/Principle of Least Effort
<br>
<br>    I am grateful to Larry Horn for his 5/18/98 message concerning the
<br>Law/Principle of Least Effort.  It's been a while since I've worked on this
<br>topic, and I appreciate the update.
<br>
<br>    I realize it's risky to advance thoughts without first checking the
<br>latest literature, but here goes anyway.  I approach the Law/Principle of
<br>Least Effort from the perspective of my work on syntactic blends, and from
<br>that work it seemed clear to me that in many instances the above
<br>Law/Principle is violated by blends.
<br>
<br>   To take just a few examples.  There's French  "pleonastic ne," which as
<br>far as I can tell adds nothing to the content of the message and yet takes
<br>additional effort, however minimal, e.g.: Il est plus riche que je ne
<br>pensais. (Literally: He's richer than I didn't think.")
<br>
<br>   Secondly, I once heard someone say: "simultaneously at the same
<br>time"--without his intending  any special emphasis. I've also heard  "It's
<br>full up," whereas "full" alone would suffice.
<br>
<br>   Finally (although I have more), I noticed "although...but" in the
<br>Pushkin short story "Baryshnja-Krestjanka";  one or the other could be
<br>dropped with no change of meaning:  "Xotja eto rassmeshilo Alekseja, no
<br>uderzhalo ego ot dal'nejshix pokushenij." = "Although this struck Aleksej
<br>as funny, but (it) restrained him from further (amorous) attempts."
<br>
<br>   Is there in fact there is a rational purpose for these seemingly
<br>extraneous features?
<br>
<br>--Gerald Cohen
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]umr.edu
<br>