Some Some
Afterword
Multifunctionality in linguistics describes where a lexical item, that is, a word, takes on more than one grammatical function. ‘Some’ is one such multifunctional lexeme. You may have noticed the persistence of ‘some’ beginning all the article titles of this issue. This hasn’t occurred by accident. On the contrary, the ‘some’ leitmotif has purposefully been employed to do theoretical work. I now explicate ‘Some Some’ to adjudicate whether the hypotheses posed in ‘Some More Islands’ have been confirmed or refuted.
As a determiner, a modifying word that determines the kind of reference a noun or noun group has, ‘some’ can mean an unspecified amount or number of things, e.g. ‘I have some islands I’m thinking about’. It can be used to refer to someone or something that is unknown or unspecified, e.g. ‘there must be some islands somewhere.’ ‘Some’ can signify an approximate amount when linked with a number, e.g. ‘some 30 islands in the sea’. When pronounced stressing ‘some’, it means a considerable amount or number of something, e.g. ‘Some Islands’ editor went to some trouble to recruit articles for this issue.’ Again, when stressing ‘some’, this word can express admiration of something notable, e.g. ‘Some Islands 2 was some issue!’, or used ironically to express disapproval or disbelief, e.g. ‘Some people!’ [what Some Islands’ editor thinks about people who don’t read Some Islands. I know, right? Some such people actually do exist!].
When used as a pronoun, a word that can function as a noun phrase used by itself and that refers either to the participants in the discourse, e.g. I and you, or to someone or something mentioned elsewhere in the discourse, e.g. she, it, and this, it can mean an unspecified number or amount of people or things, e.g. ‘here are some of our islands’ and ‘if you want some islands, I'll give you some.’ Again pronounced stressing ‘some’, ‘some’ means at least a small amount or number of people or things, e.g. ‘surely some have noticed Some Islands 2.’
As in an adverb, a word or phrase that modifies the meaning of an adjective, verb, or other adverb, expressing manner, place, time, or degree, ‘some’ can mean quite a lot or to some extent, e.g. ‘Some Islands 2 has definitely filled out some.’
Finally, there are also the suffixed –somes, which are etymologically distinct from some somes, though still worth mentioning some. There are those forming adjectives which mean ‘productive’ like ‘That’s very Some Islands-some of you’ and those which mean ‘characterised by being’ like ‘I am feeling quite Some Islands-some’ (inspired, tired, whatever). We could cheekily ask anyone when denoting a group of a specified number, ‘How many people for a Some Islands-some?’ We would have to answer, ‘At least some islands and then some.’
This is not intended as a tricky or tongue-in-cheek lesson in grammar. You have Some Islands 2 in front of you. This expansive corpus of articles by 25 authors has been purposefully woven around relevant trends in linguistics—Helen, Míša, and Peter—island studies—Godfrey, Nicholas, and Ole—and architecture, visual art, and design—James, Jonathon, and Richard. Some Islands 2 is intentionally disparate and multifunctional.
The selection of articles and their curation has led to an evolution of its own time-space representation-abstraction. Where I could argue that this has evolved linearly and alphabetically as you read, this is not necessarily the case. Theories and outcomes should develop between the cracks and schisms created by the interleaving of ideas and the (non-)solving of dangling postulates.
The ‘some’ Some Islands — collective — and Some Islands 2 — the actual journal — have outlayed is far from complete. The duo of collective and journal is a generative art server. It is a hub and nexus of productive infinities, never full, always reproductive and reproducible. The available presentation of micro-conceptual proclamations, as Some Islands 2 exudes, is not limited nor in danger of drying up. There is eternally ‘some’ or ‘something’ more in the emergence and incubation of art, linguistic thinking, islanding, and design and architecture. The Some Islands Collective Server keeps growing. It is all offered for free.
You are tasting what you are reading and perusing. You are not only engaged in darshan(sacred viewing) about something; you are reading the very same performance piece, art installation, and sound and thought archive being described. This should be viscerally experiential-existential. Do you agree? Has this been your experience? We want to know more about what you think of Some Islands 2.
Returning to the hypotheses, both have been strongly, softly, and all in-between confirmed. The meta-ness of Some Islands and Some Islands 2 is palpable. It represents and is represented; it is simultaneously referred, referee, and referent. Some Islands as collective-personage has resulted in an ever-expanding archive and portrayal of art-science, with linguistics and island studies ballasting the ride. It is these developed conceptual foundations which form the basis of the proposed theme for Some Islands 3 (2024): Theory. Please keep reading and writing.
By understanding Some Islands—the journal generally—and Some Islands 2—this issue specifically, you are participating in, methoding, and meta-ing the process which brings about The Collective and The Journal. By reading Some Islands (2), you are engaging in the process of Some Islands-ing. By acknowledging the diversity and pluricity of ‘some’ as driver, you are part of a subtle ignition-recognition of information distillation, a mainlined algebraisation [algebra, from Arabic al-jabr ‘the reunion of broken parts’] of words and art, an equilibrium of the perennial struggle to find the beauty where the dirt encounters the non-dirt, where the rubber meets the road, the place the ash hits the asphalt. We inhabit the cusp of the quotidian everyday and the extraordinary. There is some coercion. There is some affliction. There is some hope. There is some vibe shifting. There is Some Love made real. There is some some.
Joshua Nash
West Cronx, South Australia
November 2023