Date:  Fri, 17 Dec 1993 19:12:07 CST

From:  "Donald M. Lance" <ENGDL[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MIZZOU1.BITNET>

Subject: Re: modren metathesis



I thought Dennis was "playing with words" rather than proposing/using a

technical term when he opposed 'polylithic' to 'monolithic'. As Sali

pointed out in his response to my quasi-non-question about ESL students

never picking up lack of I/E before nasals, among the many liths that get

thrown onto the learning machine are our responses to spellings and the

phonological systemsof L1, L2, interlanguage(s), etc. When we talk about

language (dialects, styles, second languages) we inevitably posit an

"idealized" form as a reference. And in literacy contexts the written

form, as well as, as Sali pointed out, dictionaries enter into our

judgments.                  DMLance