nominals

[Robin Leech]

On Tue, 4 Apr 1995, Stephen Halford wrote:

>   Would "winged/wingless" be a nominal?  Several species of insect have
>   winged males and apterous females -- but if we "allow" sexual
>   dimorphisms,  then I can think of a number of examples of nominals in H.
>   sapiens alone :-) !!
>
>   Steve (halford at sfu.ca)
>
On Wednesday, Robin Leech replied:

Sounds good, but, insects are not clearly winged or wingless.  Some
species have everything from full-size wings and flight to brachyptery to
wing buds.  Where does one say stop and start with the declaration of
"winged"?

Even if you declare "full-size wings", does this mean that the insect can
fly?  In some cases, the insect cannot fly, even with full-size wings.

Robin Leech