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<div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">=========================================================================<br>L O W L A N D S - L - 14 July 2008 - Volume 03<br style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">
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<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="HcCDpe"><span class="EP8xU" style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">Sandy Fleming</span> <span class="lDACoc"><<a href="mailto:sandy@scotstext.org">sandy@scotstext.org</a>></span></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Subject: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="HcCDpe">LL-L "Grammar" 2008.07.13 (06) [E]</span><br><br><div class="Ih2E3d">> From: jonny <<a href="mailto:jonny.meibohm@arcor.de">jonny.meibohm@arcor.de</a>><br>
> Subject: LL-L "Grammar" 2008.07.13 (04) [E]<br>
><br>
</div><div class="Ih2E3d">> But now, dear Scotsman- I do not agree with you, as well as I don't<br>
> with Ron.<br>
><br>
> Sandy:<br>
> > Idiomatic resolution aside, perhaps one problem here is the<br>
> obsession<br>
> > with grammatical gender that occurs in some language groups?<br>
> > ...<br>
> > What should we discard in inventing a world language?<br>
><br>
> > o gender: pointless;<br>
> > o plurals: useless;<br>
> > o verb tense: worse than useless;<br>
> > o word inflections: too complicated;<br>
<br>
</div><div class="Ih2E3d">> So, if I am on the correct path, you tend to erase the greater part of<br>
> grammar which our ancestors created 'with huge strenghth'? Are you<br>
> sure you want to 'bomb' our modern languages back to any Neandertaler<br>
> stammering? (You don't need to bomb; a kind of suicidal process<br>
> already has begun!)<br>
<br>
</div>As you see above, I was talking about what we should discard in<br>
inventing a world language, not about re-inventing existing languages.<br>
<br>
I brought up the subject of inventors of world languages to illustrate<br>
how people tend to think the features of their own languages are<br>
necessary to expression, when they're not.<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d"><br>
> Perhaps you should allow me to mention that there is one of the most<br>
> straight languages, in name Old Latin, since more than 2,000 years an<br>
> established part of our Western society. Pupils of -zig generations<br>
> had the plague to be forced to become more or less familiar with a<br>
> communication facility that once enabled the preeminence of the Roman<br>
> Empire.<br>
<br>
</div>I don't think Latin was any more logical than any other language, and I<br>
don't see how the form of the language used makes any difference to a<br>
society's tendency towards imperialism.<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d"><br>
><br>
> Where can we find any examples that societies with a simple, nature-<br>
> or agricultural orientated language without that 'weird' grammar which<br>
> we have to deal with in our western cultures influenced the modern<br>
> world sustainably?<br>
<br>
</div>The Romans started out as agriculturalists attempting to defend their<br>
land, didn't they?<br>
<br>
Are you saying that complex grammar is somehow the basis of military<br>
power or cultural influence?<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d"><br>
> And, Sandy, sorry for you: I fear in cases like these you wouldn't get<br>
> along with Sign Language exceptionally, but you would have to use the<br>
> written word.<br>
<br>
</div>I don't know what you're referring to here, could you explain further?<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d"><br>
><br>
> Please don't tell me, that this is just a result of the suppression of<br>
> minority languages and weak, adynamic societies!<br>
> No, gentlemen, if you want to deal with modern, evolutionary<br>
> scientology you are forced to be enabled to rely on a dependable<br>
> standard, may be called 'system', as we find in physics and<br>
> mathematics. But the same valids for languages- with any diffuse<br>
> banana-mixture you won't get forward at all. (Please, bear in mind<br>
> that I named and included Low Saxon as a part of the European/German<br>
> hemisphere *g*!)<br>
<br>
</div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">I don't think the same is valid for languages. Expressiveness in natural</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
languages doesn't arise from the logicality of the grammar, but from the</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
use of metaphor, and I'd say that can be used in any language. Unless</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
you think there are languages which render their speakers incapable of</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
making comparisons!</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<font color="#888888"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Sandy Fleming</span><br>
<a href="http://scotstext.org/" target="_blank">http://scotstext.org/</a></font><br>
•
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