Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 18:39:14 -0500

From: Gregory {Greg} Downing downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]IS2.NYU.EDU

Subject: Re: syntactic blends



At 04:05 PM 1/25/98 +0000, you (Duane Campbell dcamp[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]epix.net) wrote:

I suspect what she [Lewinsky] said was, "... that's the ...

[unable to think of the right word, changes gears] [that's] how you got

along."





A listen to the tape would maybe clarify the correctness of this hypothesis

(i.e., there'd be a pause and a new start). Certainly, people talk a lot

more messily than we are used to seeing in writing, and transcripts of press

conferences etc. often clean up all the umming, and the backing and filling.



The fancy term for changing your syntax in midstream in a sentence is

anacoluthon or anacoluthia.



Greg Downing/NYU, at greg.downing[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nyu.edu or downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]is2.nyu.edu