The intention of invention as intension
The Vorpel Foundation requires publication of research even when that research is baseless or incomplete. This requirement has altered the Institute of Unexamined Semantic Correlations from a slow, archival body into a monthly producer of output.
The Institute once published once every ten years or so, a pamphlet that carried the weight of years of observation, a single set of plates that had been tested against the library, a single account that had been weighed against etymology, phonology, orthography, and history. Now the Institute is required to produce a monthly newsletter, several papers (unreviewed by peers unless noble), and a web site, which explains the plates included here. The change is not a matter of style but of duty. The Foundation demands visibility, and visibility demands frequency.
The monthly newsletter arrives with the usual tension between what we hear and how we write. Some entries are careful; some are rushed. Some carry a foundation; some carry a guess. The newsletter does not distinguish between them. The Foundation does not require distinction. The Foundation requires output.
The several papers that follow the newsletter are unreviewed by peers. A paper gains review only if its author carries a title that the Foundation recognises as noble. The rest pass without scrutiny. The Institute once insisted on scrutiny for every entry. Now the Institute insists on speed. The papers arrive with the same tension: what we hear, how we write, the misunderstanding that blooms when history is ignored. Some papers show the root structure, the path of borrowing, the shift in meaning, the mismatch between sound and spelling. Some papers show only the surface. The Institute does not mark the difference. The Foundation does not require the mark.
The web site explains the plates included here. It carries the 30 plates as a small but growing selection from the vast library. It shows the spoken form, the printed form, the historical form, set side by side. It carries the library’s claim that the plates are a sample, not a summary. It carries the Foundation’s claim that the site is evidence of the Institute’s work. The site does not distinguish between careful entries and rushed entries. The Foundation does not require distinction. The Foundation requires visibility.
Some intense clerks call this invention by intention. They say the Institute now invents correlations because the Foundation requires publication. They say the Institute now supplies foundations because the Foundation requires output. They say the Institute now offers explanations because the Foundation requires a web site. The clerks do not say this with anger. They say it with the cool observation that the Institute has always used for language. They say that the Foundation’s duty has become the Institute’s duty. They say that the Institute’s duty has become the Foundation’s habit.
The Institute once published once every ten years or so. Now the Institute produces a monthly newsletter, several papers (unreviewed by peers unless noble), and a web site, which explains the plates included here. The change is not a matter of style but of duty. The Foundation demands visibility, and visibility demands frequency. The Institute obeys. The Institute is far too busy with words to worry about the difference between baseless and complete. The Institute is far too busy to worry about the difference between baseless and complete.
Invention by intention is the clerks’ name for the new duty. The duty is the Foundation’s. The habit is the Institute’s. The output is the world’s. The Institute obeys. The Institute is far too busy with words to worry about people. The Institute is far too busy with words to worry about the difference between baseless and complete. The Institute is far too busy with words to worry about the difference between careful and rushed. The Institute is far too busy with words to worry about the difference between scrutiny and speed. The Institute obeys.
This paper is produced in accordance with the requirements of our funding. It is not designed to make sense and if it appears repetitive, that is because the more words we produce the more funding we are allowed.
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