2007/3/4, splay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > That's problematical. We're talking about tone and connotation, which > are unavoidably idiosyncratic. I gave the matter brief thought when I > encountered the locution in your piece and concluded at the time that > it was a satisfactory way of avoiding scare quotes. The thing is, "so- > called" is snide in certain contexts and absolutely neutral in others. > I think it defaults to neutral. > > Upon re-reading note 1, I see what you mean. I'm afraid I have to ask > you what is meant by "so-called" in each of the three instances. I > took it to mean that the names are not as yet widely recognized or > accepted.
Yes, that's exactly what I was afraid of when I asked the question. The sentence has been written by the other author, whose native language is either German or some a Slavic language from the southern branch (Slovenian, Serbian or Croatian) - I'm not sure at the moment. I want the sentence to look and sound as neutral as possible. The terms "Vasconic" and "Macro-Caucasian" are nothing but conventions, and it's only a matter of expertize and the on-going debate as to whether the groups are really genetic (Bengtson's view), typological or merely geographical. There should be as little connotation as possible - no irony at all. I would simply like to inform the readers that Iberian, Aquitanian and Basque are grouped together under the heading "Vasconic" by some scholars, and that the Basque language, the Burushaski language and the North Caucasian languages are grouped together in a Macro-Caucasian language family by Bengtson and others. Whether those hypotheses are right or not is irrelevant here, as the article is intended neither as a propaganda nor as a scientific paper. We're planning to include both the pros and cons, of course, but only as briefly as possible. Best, Petr --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Correct my English" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/correct-my-english -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
