Beyond Language

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Beyond Language: Adventures in Word and Thought
Language on Vacation: An Olio of Orthographical Oddities
 

Beyond Language: Adventures in Word and Thought is a 1967 book written by Dmitri Borgmann.

Content

Like Borgmann's first book,

recreational linguistics, and indeed is based in part on material excised from early drafts of Language on Vacation.[1]
Unlike its predecessor, however, the main part of the book is presented as a series of 119 self-contained "Problems" with accompanying "Hints" and "Resolutions".

In many cases the problems are bona fide

Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo".[2]

The book also contains a separate set of 18 "Bafflers"—short essays on logological problems for which Borgmann had no complete solution. Topics discussed here include

kinship terms, color terms, word squares, letter bigrams, and the mysterious disc shown in Rembrandt's etching Faust in His Study
.

The book's appendices contain an extensive bibliography of books and periodicals covering logology.

Reception and legacy

Beyond Language was not as great a success as Language on Vacation but it still attracted favorable reviews.[3] Kirkus Reviews called Borgmann's puzzles "unique" and "challenging", noting that "the persistent can spend a pleasant year in figuring out such problems".[4] Time recommended the book "for the tired scientist, mathematician or logician", emphasizing the intellectual effort needed to solve some of Borgmann's more esoteric challenges.[5]

In the decades since its publication, the book's Problems and Bafflers have proved a fruitful source of logological research. Many of them have been further investigated and developed by

tautology. It concluded not only that Borgmann's etymology may be incorrect, but also that the hill does not even exist.[9]

References

  1. Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics
    . 38 (4): 258–260.
  2. ^ Rapaport, William J. (October 5, 2012). "A History of the Sentence 'Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.'". University at Buffalo Computer Science and Engineering. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
  3. Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics
    . 46 (1): 35–42.
  4. ^ "Beyond Language". Kirkus Reviews. May 31, 1967.
  5. TIME
    . Vol. 90, no. 7. August 18, 1967. p. 100.
  6. Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics
    . 8 (2): 89–93.
  7. Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics
    . 25 (4): 249–250.
  8. Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics
    . 21 (2): 100–101.
  9. Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics
    . 36 (1): 6–8.
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