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Revision as of 15:46, 10 December 2013 view sourceClueBot NG (talk | contribs)Bots, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers6,438,396 editsm Reverting possible vandalism by Smessi49804 to version by Hgilbert. False positive? Report it. Thanks, ClueBot NG. (1612477) (Bot)← Previous edit Revision as of 15:48, 10 December 2013 view source Smessi49804 (talk | contribs)3 edits →Sentence constructionNext edit →
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Hey Hgilbert, i'm right. you are wrong. This is not a sentence.
The sentence is unpunctuated and uses three different readings of the word "buffalo". In order of their first use, these are:
* '''a.''' the city of ], ], which is used as a ] in the sentence and is followed by the animal;
* '''n.''' the ] ], an animal, in the plural (equivalent to "buffaloes" or "buffalos"), in order to avoid ]s;
* '''v.''' the ] "]" meaning to bully, confuse, deceive, or intimidate.

Marking each "buffalo" with its use as shown above gives:
:Buffalo<sup>a</sup> buffalo<sup>n</sup> Buffalo<sup>a</sup> buffalo<sup>n</sup> buffalo<sup>v</sup> buffalo<sup>v</sup> Buffalo<sup>a</sup> buffalo<sup>n</sup>.

The sentence uses a ], so there are no commas, nor is there the word "which," as in, "Buffalo buffalo, which Buffalo buffalo buffalo, buffalo Buffalo buffalo." This clause is also a ], so the word ''that'', which could appear between the second and third words of the sentence, is omitted.

Thus, the ] sentence reads as a claim that bison who ''are intimidated or bullied by bison'' are themselves ''intimidating or bullying bison'' (at least in the city of Buffalo– implicitly, Buffalo, NY):
:#Buffalo buffalo (buffalo from Buffalo NY) Buffalo buffalo buffalo (that the buffalo from Buffalo NY bully) buffalo Buffalo buffalo (are bullying buffalo from Buffalo NY)
:# buffalo(es) from Buffalo buffalo(es) from Buffalo intimidate buffalo(es) from Buffalo.
:#Bison from Buffalo, New York, who are intimidated by other bison in their community, also happen to intimidate other bison in their community.
:#'''''The''''' buffalo '''''from''''' Buffalo '''''who are''''' buffalo'''''ed by''''' buffalo '''''from''''' Buffalo, buffalo (verb) '''''other''''' buffalo '''''from''''' Buffalo.
:#Buffalo buffalo (main clause subject) Buffalo buffalo (] subject) buffalo (subordinate clause verb) buffalo (] verb) Buffalo buffalo (main clause direct object).

The sentence can be clarified by substituting the synonym "bison" for the animal "buffalo", "bully" for the verb "buffalo", and "New York" to refer to the state of the city Buffalo:
:*"New York bison New York bison bully, bully New York bison", or:
:*"New York bison whom other New York bison bully, themselves bully New York bison".

Or, alternatively with the city name intact:
:"Buffalo bison Buffalo bison bully bully Buffalo bison".

Removing the classifier noun "Buffalo" (the city) further clarifies the sentence (note that the initial capital is retained as the common noun "buffalo" now starts the sentence):
:"Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo."
:"Bison bison bully bully bison."

===Usage===
] has pointed out that there is nothing special about eight "buffalos"; any sentence consisting solely of the word "buffalo" repeated any number of times is grammatically correct. The shortest is "Buffalo!", which can be taken as an ] instruction to bully someone (" buffalo!") with the implied subject "you" removed.<ref>{{Cite book | year=2000 | title = Sweet reason: a field guide to modern logic | author1=Thomas Tymoczko | author2=James M. Henle | edition=2 | publisher=Birkhäuser | isbn=978-0-387-98930-3 | pages=99–100, 104 | url=http://books.google.com/?id=LQnsSuvP9dAC&pg=PA99 | postscript=<!--None-->}}</ref> Tymoczko uses the sentence as an example illustrating ]s in linguistics.<ref>{{Cite book | year=2000 | title = Sweet reason: a field guide to modern logic | author1=Thomas Tymoczko | author2=James M. Henle | edition=2 | publisher=Birkhäuser | isbn=978-0-387-98930-3 | pages=104–105 | url=http://books.google.com/?id=LQnsSuvP9dAC&pg=PA99 | postscript=<!--None-->}}</ref>


==Other words using the same pattern== ==Other words using the same pattern==

Revision as of 15:48, 10 December 2013

Simplified parse tree
PN = proper noun
N = noun
V = verb
NP = noun phrase
RC = relative clause
VP = verb phrase
S = sentence

"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" is a grammatically correct sentence in American English, used as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated linguistic constructs. It has been discussed in literature since 1972 when the sentence was used by William J. Rapaport, an associate professor at the University at Buffalo. It was posted to Linguist List by Rapaport in 1992. It was also featured in Steven Pinker's 1994 book The Language Instinct as an example of a sentence that is "seemingly nonsensical" but grammatical. Pinker names his student, Annie Senghas, as the inventor of the sentence.

The sentence's meaning becomes clearer when it's understood that it uses three meanings of the word buffalo: the city of Buffalo, New York, the somewhat uncommon verb "to buffalo" (meaning "to bully or intimidate"), as well as the animal buffalo. When the punctuation and grammar are expanded, the sentence could read as follows: "Buffalo buffalo that Buffalo buffalo buffalo, buffalo Buffalo buffalo." The meaning becomes even clearer when synonyms are used: "Buffalo bison that other Buffalo bison bully, themselves bully Buffalo bison."

Sentence construction

Reed-Kellogg diagram of the sentence
Bison engaged in a contest of dominance. This sentence supposes they have a history of such bullying with other buffalo, and they are from upstate New York.
A comic explaining the concept

Hey Hgilbert, i'm right. you are wrong. This is not a sentence.

Other words using the same pattern

Other English words can be used to make grammatical (but not necessarily meaningful) sentences of this form, containing endless consecutive repetitions. Any word that is both a plural noun and an uninflected transitive verb will work; for example, police or dice. Adding a place name like Police, Poland, can allow for a sentence identical in structure to the Buffalo example, though not necessarily with uniform pronunciation: "Police police Police police police police Police police."

A somewhat similar non-punctuated example is "James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher". This could concern a situation in an English class regarding the usage of the word had, and might be punctuated as, "James, while John had had 'had', had had 'had had'; 'had had' had had a better effect on the teacher."

In popular culture

An expanded form of the sentence is a lyric in the Alt-J song "Buffalo" from the soundtrack of Silver Linings Playbook.

See also

References

  1. Rapaport, William J. 22 September 2006. "A History of the Sentence "Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo."". Accessed 23 September 2006. (archived copy)
  2. Rapaport, William J. 19 February 1992. "Message 1: Re: 3.154 Parsing Challenges". Accessed 14 September 2006.
  3. Pinker, Steven. The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language, William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, 1994. p. 210

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