language birth

[Page Stephens]

The most fascinating created language I know of is Klingon which, of course
stems from Star Trek.

If anyone wants to find more about it they can find it at:

http://www.kli.org

Page Stephens

----- Original Message -----
From: "Yerkes, Susan" <SYerkes at EXPRESS-NEWS.NET>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2004 3:42 PM
Subject: Re: language birth


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Yerkes, Susan" <SYerkes at EXPRESS-NEWS.NET>
> Subject:      Re: language birth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
>
> It seems to me that the only languages with "births" you can pinpoint
> would be created ones, although they, too, are created out of something.
>
>
> There could be a good argument for advancing symbol systems, such as
> COBOL, perhaps, in terms of machine language, although I assume that
> such symbol sets may not fit the general requirement for language --
> being known to a large community. That may be changing, however, as more
> people communicate through such systems.
>  I assume that's true of niche "languages" as well, even if they are
> thoughtfully constructed and known to certain groups (Trekkies, Lord of
> the Rings fans etc.)
>
> But what about Esperanto?
>
> In the late 60s and 70s, Esperanto was actually an elective in my
> (fairly conservative) Texas high school.
> With such a constructed language, one might at least pin down a birth
> point, though the universal language concept seems to be dying (or to
> have died) a slow death.
>
> Susan Yerkes
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Thomas Paikeday
> Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2004 2:20 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: language birth
>
>
> QUESTION FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH:
>
> Is the analogy of languages being born and dying like us animals correct
> or useful? So-and-so may be said to have been born at 3:20 p.m. ET, July
> 29, 2004, according to  hospital records. Ditto for death. But can the
> same be said of Latin and such "extinct" languages and "modern"
> languages like Italian, French, etc.? More to the point of Dennis
> Baron's question: A language could die by its speakers dying out, as it
> happened to the Beothuks of Newfoundland. Even so, birth and death of
> languages seem a very slow process with no clear boundaries between life
> and death. An expert in Romance languages could probably tell us when
> Late Latin (a vague and abstract term for what it's worth) became
> differentiated and how long it took for the Romance languages to evolve
> so much they became mutually unintelligible to their speakers, if that
> is a good criterion of the birth of Italian et al.
>
> THOMAS PAIKEDAY
> www.paikeday.net
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dennis Baron" <debaron at UIUC.EDU>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2004 2:26 PM
> Subject: language birth
>
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Dennis Baron <debaron at UIUC.EDU>
> > Subject:      language birth
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ----
> -----
> >
> > Okay, this is probably a question I should know the answer to, but I
> > can't think of an example. I'm writing about English as a world
> > language and I want to say that one option for the future of English
> > could be what happened to Latin, ie not death but a segue into a group
>
> > of related new languages. Sure, it's unlikely, but my question is
> > this: are there examples of language birth, like that of the Romance
> > languages, only more recent?
> >
> > Dennis
> >
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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