Sandman
In article <kpt4m95etcdmei05e5la6i8ukh13g6cv1m@4ax.com>, Andreas Skitsnack wrote:

Tony Cooper
We are denied the use of italics or underlining in newsgroup postings, so we resort to other conventions to emphasize a word or phrase. Some call them "emphasis quotes" and some call them "scare quotes".

Sandman
Funny link: http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002796.html

"Emphatic quotation marks are usually mocked as an illiteratism; but in any case, they aren't standard"

Ironic :)

Tony Cooper
If you actually read the article, the thrust is that bold face, italics, or underlining is the preferable treatment. None of those options are available to us when we post here.

Sandman
"The boldfaced words were originally typed inside asterisks, to indicate emphasis in text that sticks to ASCII characters"

You don't have to use caps or asterisks, but using quotation marks is non-standard and mocked as only being used by illiterate people, so having the suggestion come from you is endlessly funny.

Tony Cooper
Interesting that you should reference Arnold Zwicky.

Sandman
Very deliberate.

Tony Cooper
He's a Professor of Linguistics at Stanford.

Sandman
I know. And he just called ju an illiterate.

Tony Cooper
Linguists are prickly about certain things, but don't always follow their own advice. At his homepage http://arnoldzwicky.org/about/ Arnold uses quotation marks for emphasis in a format where he could use bold face, underline, or italics.

Sandman
No, he doesn't.

Tony Cooper
Here's the usage in case you can't find it:

[quote] I? also doing research on the conceptual foundations of morphology, as well as developing a construction-based framework for syntax and a ?ealizational?framework for morphology.

Sandman
Maybe you just don't know what "emphasis" means, then? Or did you just read my sentence as "Maybe you just don't know what EMPHASIS means, then?"

Here's a free English lesson for you.

Quotation marks can be used for a number of things, and emphasis is non-standard usage. Some do it, but they are usually mocked as illitrate.

The common usages of quotation marks are as such:

1. Quotation He said "Can I help?"

2. Speech "Who goes there?", said the captain.

3. Irony Very nice "slippers" you've got there.

4. Unusual usage Flowers seem to "know" where the sun is

5. Word-reference "standard" is a word of many meanings

6. Titles of artistic works "Lord of the Rings" is a fantastic book

7. Nicknames Jonas "Sandman" Eklundh

As you should know by now, the quote above falls into the "unusual usage" category, where a word is used to describe something, but isn't necessarily accurate. It is often used when someone want to explain something in laymen terms for instance. Or when you can't find or don't know the correct word. Or maybe there ISN'T a "correct" word.

Tony Cooper
Also, here's an example of Arnold using quotation marks for emphasis in a post in the newsgroup sci.lang:

http://sci.tech-archive.net/Archive/sci.lang/2006-04/msg00993.html

where he says: [quote] yes. "idiom" is the term wanted here...[/quote] Not asterisks, you'll note.

Sandman
No emphasis. This falls under the Word-reference category.

You had to snip the entire sentence: '"idiom" is the term wanted here, for "more often/likely than not".'

Typical word reference.

Tony Cooper
Perhaps you should inform Arnold that you are mocking his illiteracy.[

Sandman
Sorry, I'm not as illitrate as you.

Tony Cooper
The "Language Log" article, though, was about something in a book by Leslie Savan where there was questionable use of double quotes and single quotes. And, the line you attribute to him is meant ironically. Emphasis quotes are not standard? They why does an eminent professor of linguistics use them?

Sandman
He doesn't.