LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.04.08 (07) [E]

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From: Críostóir Ó Ciardha <paada_please at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.04.08 (04) [E]


Ron wrote in reply to Mike Wintzer:
"Old English is extinct, or "passé" or whatever you want to call it, but
English is still very much alive. However, having said this, whether or not
Latin (_lingua latina_ in the actual, narrow sense) is alive or extinct is
indeed a valid question, in my opinion."

In my opinion, languages can only die when absolutely all record of them has
been lost and they can no longer be revived as a native tongue, as in the
case of Beothuk, Pictish and a number of others. Cornish was declared
extinct over and over, yet it now has many native speakers and many more
speakers who learnt it as a second language. That is why I try to popularise
the usage "dormant language". Hebrew is an example of a "dormant language"
that now has millions of monoglot speakers. Latin would be a truly dormant
language given that it has no native speakers, but is still used communally
and liturgically.

Of course, there is a third category - namely, reconstructed languages.
These have "died" but been "reborn" - their rebirth is based on conjecture.
Examples here include neo-Prussian, Palawi Kani (a reconstructed indigenous
Tasmanian language). Common Cornish (Kernewek Kemmyn) fell into this
category (it has been derided as "Cornic") until it obtained native
speakers.

Lastly, we may include constructed languages that claim no lineage, such as
Esperanto, Volapuk and Klingon, which are used to some extent but have no
native speakers. (Although I am sure I will be corrected here, and deserve
to be if I have misunderstood the nature of Esperanto or Volapuk.)

(By the way, Ron: Sanskrit is not only still widely used, it is also an
official language of India. I think that is "official" in the same way Irish
is "official" - i.e., on paper.)

Go raibh maith agaibh,

Criostóir.

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From: Brooks, Mark <mark.brooks at twc.state.tx.us>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.04.08 (04) [E]

Ron wrote: "Given all this then, are these languages extinct (and
artificially maintained) or are they still alive?"

I once heard a man who was an adherent of Process Philosophy and Theology
who said that we have a word for something that doesn't change, namely
"dead."  Now, if you accept as a premise that only living things change,
then you might say that Latin is dead, because in its literary form it is
"calcified" into written works.  But, if those present day speakers, such as
priests, etc., adapt it to present day reality by adding new words, then you
might day it is still alive.  To me Latin is in a state much like Lenin
was/is in his tomb - he's preserved in an almost unchanging form, and you
certainly wouldn't say he's alive ;-)

Mark Brooks

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