Somehow I missed seeing this. Suzette Haden Elgin has died.
I read her books and enjoyed them very much, from the Ozark trilogy through Native Tongue to the "Verbal Self-Defense" books. She will be missed.
Language Liberalism Freethought Birds Verbing Weirds Language only if you're expecting it to work in a simple way. This is a special case of the more general truth that Language Weirds. Only when a republic's life is in danger should a man uphold his government when it is in the wrong. There is no other time. The church says Earth is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and I have more confidence in a shadow than the church. If we can't find Heaven, there are always bluejays.
As I said in the comments on the Language Log post, I read her blog for a while (along with many other linguistics blogs that I gradually whittled down to my favourites).
ReplyDeleteI was always mildly curious about the Verbal Self Defense books (or "book", as I didn't know there was more than one). However, I got the impression that they were most relevant for transient encounters, whereas my experience of life is that the people who hurt us most are those closest to us. Would be interested to hear more about your perspective on them.