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Universal Syntax

Universal Syntax

By Marcia R Pinheiro | Published  08/25/2018 | Miscellaneous | Recommendation:RateSecARateSecARateSecARateSecARateSecI
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Quicklink: http://www.proz.com/doc/4540
Author:
Marcia R Pinheiro
Australia
English to Portuguese translator
 
View all articles by Marcia R Pinheiro

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The World Reference for linguistic affines, when it comes to cross-linguistic pairs, may change drastically or lightly, and drawing the line is a really complicated task.

Studying transitivity of the verb is complex enough in Brazil, what they call Regency if it is applied to Discourse, but if we have to cross the so meagre bridges that connect languages, then it becomes total chaos.

To give an idea to the linguist who keeps the status of peasant in the World of the Ts & Is, we examine the verb to communicate.

In Portuguese, things are really rigid, so that there is only one possible answer: teachers teach their pupils everywhere all the time how not to commit a horrible mistake.

We like something or somebody, not of something or of somebody. We look at something or at somebody, not something or somebody...

In Portuguese, it is exactly the opposite: we like of something, we like of somebody, but we do not like something or somebody instead (gosto de ti, gosto de algo, not gosto ti, gosto algo)...

Communicate: we communicate something to somebody, but things DO NOT communicate (that is a horrible mistake!).

For committing mistakes like that, my poor grandma - may God keep her spirit Saint, and helping us forever - could be kneeling on raw grains of corn with bare knees for hours in a row in front of her class.

She could also be subjected to palming via wooden hand...

In English, we can say that a paper communicates something, so that a paper, despite its nature, which is totally non-human, can communicate something to somebody.

That is in some of the most reliable sources:


So, here is the proposal: not only universalising Grammar, as already said in Universal Grammar, but also Syntax, and allowing for as many variations as possible.

Variations should respect the rule of not hindering communication, so not adding to the amount of already-existing noise/confusion.

Not many people would be against accepting gosto ti or gosto algo as well as gosto de ti and gosto de algo. In the same way, not many people would oppose accepting like of you and like of something as well as like something and like you. By accepting, we mean taking that to be elegant use of the language, rather than peasant's.








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