Date:  Mon, 15 Jan 1996 22:01:12 -0500

From:  Virginia Clark <vpclark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MOOSE.UVM.EDU>

Subject: Re: myths about language



At 02:42 PM 1/15/96 -0800, you wrote:

>A few years ago I had a list of myths about language that I used to begin

>my semester in Intro to Ling. I had taken quite a few from the first

>page of somebody's (work?)book, and made additions. Now I can't find it.

>

>Can you help me out? Most of these were short, such as

>

>Never end a sentence with a preposiiton

>We acquire languaguage from out parents and caregivers only

>People used to speak better English than they do now

>Redundancy has no place in English

>English is easier for children to learn than Chinese

>

>Thanks and Cheers,

>Thomas L. Clark

>tlc[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nevada.edu

>





Oh--*that* list. Sorry to be slow in replying. It's the second article

(Harvey A. Daniels' "Nine Ideas about Languagae") in the fifth edition of

_Language: Introductory Readings_, edited by Clark (me), Eschholz, and

Rosa; St. Martin's , 1994. It also appeared in the fouth edition. The

article is actually a chapter from Daniels' excellent book _Famous Last

Words: The American Language Crisis Reconsidered_. 1983. Southern

Illinois University Press.



I hope that's the list you want.



 Virginia Clark

 University of Vermont