The Neolithic Hypothesis

[JoatSimeon at aol.com]

>X99Lynx at aol.com writes:

>People, particularly children and youngsters, change the way they
>speak all the time. >>

>In a message dated 4/9/99 11:38:19 PM, you wrote:

>Languages change, but generally so slowly (on a human scale) that nobody's
>conscious of it....>>

-- as the moderator pointed out, these statements are not contradictory.

There's a continual 'fog' of small changes from moment to moment.  A limited
number of them 'stick'; that is, they spread and are adopted.

Over a _very long period_ these accumulate and become substantial, eventually
changing a language into its successors, as Old English became the modern
tongue.