[PLUG-TALK] begging the question

John Jason Jordan johnxj at comcast.net
Sat Oct 3 04:51:24 UTC 2009


On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:18:20 -0700
Galen Seitz <galens at seitzassoc.com> dijo:

> Saw the following comment on slashdot.  JJJ, can you translate this 
> into something I might understand?  It's been ~31 years since my last 
> English class.
> 
> http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1390695&cid=29621279
> 
> > Begs the question" has a specific meaning related to circular 
> > arguments.
> 
> Yes, the intransitive construction "begs the question' does. The
> transitive constructions "begs the question <question>" is also in
> common use, and has a different meaning regarding calling for a
> resolution of a question. The meaning of the transitive form is
> essentially a generalization of the intransitive form such that the
> intransitive form is identical to the transitive form with the assumed
> object being the question actually at issue in the debate. This is a
> rather elegant rationalization of the poor translation into English of
> the dubious translation into Latin of the Greek phrase that ultimately
> turned into "begging the question".
> 
> Arguing that the use of the transitive construction is wrong because
> of the well-established technical definition of the intransitive
> construction is, IMO, one of the most inane forms of misguided
> linguistic prescriptivist pedantry commonly seen, as the two are
> distinct constructions which are impossible to confuse with each
> other, and have meanings that are related the way one would expect the
> meanings of transitive and intransitive phrases to relate to each
> other (even though the more general, transitive form, is generalized
> from the more specific, intransitive form in a way which reflects the
> normal use of the English words in the phrase rather than etymology of
> the transitive form.)

Let's start with some definitions.

1) "Transitive" means the lexeme can (optional) or must (obligatory)
take an object complement. Although the term can be applied to several
different parts of speech, it is most commonly encountered when
speaking of verbs. For example:

The boy disappeared.
*The boy disappeared the mess in his room.

'Disappear' in English is obligatorily intransitive. It cannot take an
object complement and, if you try to do so, the result will be an
ungrammatical utterance.

The children left.
The children left their clothes in a heap.

'Leave' in English is optionally transitive. Grammatical sentences can
be formed with or without an object complement.

*The crew constructed.
The crew constructed a house.

'Construct' in English is obligatorily transitive. That is, it requires
an object complement. If you use it without an object the utterance
will be ungrammatical.

2) Prescriptive linguistics is in opposition to descriptive
linguistics. Prescriptive is what you were told as a child in language
arts classes was "wrong" or "incorrect English." Examples are negative
concord ("We don't need no ..."), third singular leveling ("He walk")
and a long list of other non-nos. Prescriptivists are convinced they
are working to save the language from certain destruction.

Descriptive linguists say "there is no right or wrong, there just is
what is." If a native speaker utters it, it is grammatical. It may be
grammatical only for a particular variety of the language, but it is
still grammatical. Descriptivists make no value judgments.
Descriptivists know that languages have always changed and will
continue to change regardless of any attempts fix them, and no language
has ever died from failure to follow the rules of self-appointed
grammarians.

3) As for the meaning of 'beg the question,' in all human languages the
majority of words and expressions have more than one meaning. If you
don't believe me, pick up any dictionary and look at a random page.
Most of the words will list meaning (1), meaning (2), and so on. That
'beg the question' has developed a second meaning is scarcely
remarkable. Semantic drift is just another way in which languages
continually change. It would be easier to stop the tides than to freeze
language. If someone insists that 'beg the question' has only one
meaning they are being a silly prescriptivist. Their efforts are doomed.



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