No abstract

No abstract

Abstract:The basis of the widespread practice of recent years to recognise 23 or 24 species of albatross is critically examined. In large part this can be traced back to an analysis which split the traditional species of albatross on the basis of theoretical fiat: the embrace of the narrow Phylogenetic Species Concept. The role of conservation concerns in albatross taxonomy is examined and rejected. Claims that introgression is likely to explain the low cytochrome-b distance found between many "new" albatross species are rejected. An analysis of climatic conditions at albatross breeding colonies can explain plumage differences in the ontogeny of albatross taxa, and plumage colouration can be related to differing environmental pressures. It is concluded that the variation among taxa within albatross taxa is ecophenotypic. Finally, it is suggested that a plausible mechanism for such variation can be found in epigenetics.

No abstract

No abstract

The meaningfulness of auxiliary do has important implications for linguistic theory. Do signals a presupposition that some question attaches in some way to the event designated by the verb. Although useful as an auxiliary, do is semantically appropriate in all the contexts in which it is used (questions, negation, other cases of auxiliary inversion, affirmation and imperatives). Considerations of value -in particular, the relation of do to indicative forms -are important in understanding its use. The meaning proposed casts light on the origins of auxiliary do, which in turn explains some of the synchronic peculiarities of the sign.For a linguist working within the tradition represented by de Saussure, the Prague School and Roman Jakobson, and more recently Form-Content Analysis, i which views natural languages as semiotic systems rather than as formal systems, it is axiomatic that any form which appears in an utterance signals a meaning that makes a useful contribution to the message the sender wishes to convey. It is also axiomatic that the normal relationship between form and meaning in natural languages, as in all systems of communication, is one-to-one. The concept of a meaningless form would thus be self-contradictory, in that a form is fundamentally "that which signals a meaning". 2 Auxiliary do thus presents a major challenge to such a theory -and in fact constitutes a major litmus test between the views of a natural language as a * I am most grateful to Dwight Bolinger, Erica Garcia and Bob Kirsner for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper. While all three agree with me on the meaningfulness of do, they do not necessarily agree with this analysis. Any errors are, of course, my own.

No abstract

No abstract