tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9192194.post7577286805220509364..comments2023-06-05T12:15:30.783+01:00Comments on East Ethnia: A quick roundupUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9192194.post-75964697804125076922008-08-22T07:22:00.000+01:002008-08-22T07:22:00.000+01:00The linguistic point is interesting. I am not sure...The linguistic point is interesting. I am not sure on the point about connotation, the other examples would seem to suggest there is a wide range of possible connotations. I think (but could be wrong here) that the term "genocidaire" came into use to refer to perpetrators in Rwanda and passed into English from there, probably for a lack of equivalents.<BR/><BR/>On the "innocent until proven guilty" point, I would have to disagree that this is an ethical argument. "Innocent until proven guilty" is not a moral but a legal formulation. It means that a court cannot impose a punishment before it has made a finding of guilt. In the world outside the courtroom, people are not guilty from the moment that a court makes a declaration that they are, but from the moment they commit the crime.Eric Gordyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11131060627074907717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9192194.post-64625587497757908142008-08-22T06:40:00.000+01:002008-08-22T06:40:00.000+01:00I would like to advise against perpetuating the us...I would like to advise against perpetuating the use of the term "genocidaire" to refer to an alleged perpetrator of genocide such as Karadzic, and for a number of reasons. <BR/><BR/>First, my syntactic objections. It is truly an abortion of an attempt to mangle the English language. There are only a handful of words ending in "aire": millionaire, legionnaire, questionnaire, and debonaire, in all of which cases the suffix is added to a two syllable base, yielding an easily pronounceable 3 syllable word accented on the first and last syllables. In English the only four syllable words with the first and last syllables accented are compounds such as overreact, videotape, etc. Most four syllable words with accent on the first syllable are followed by three unnacented syllables (literary, optimism, television, etc.) with the remainder accented on the third syllable (navigation, subcommitte, etc.)<BR/><BR/>And the pronunciation of the "i" is ambiguous. It is long in the root "genocide", but in the only other example of an -aire word preceded by a "d", namely the trademark Figidaire, the "i" is short. So we are left to wonder which it should be.<BR/><BR/>Second, my semantic objection. All of our existing -aire words have connotations ranging from neutral to positive. And thus "genocidaire", with an emphatically negative connotation, has a semantically dissonant ring to it.<BR/><BR/>And finally, my ethical objection. While it would be linguistically clumsy, it would not be inappropriate to label a CONVICTED perpetrator a "genocidaire". But it is completely wrong in a society that embraces the principle of "innocent until proven guilty" to apply such a term to someone who has merely been charged with the offense. To use this kind of language is to be a participant in the practice known as "railroading", one which international tribunals are of course notorious for.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com