ILAT Digest - 20 Oct 2010 to 21 Oct 2010 (#2010-218)

[Rudy Troike]

Richard,

    Very interesting thoughts -- but haven't ALL languages always been
adapted by their speakers to meet the needs of culture change? When
agriculture was adopted and replaced purely nomadic ways, new ways
of living and interacting were developed and communicated about. The
Cahokia mounds even show the presence of an incredibly organized and
presumably hierarchically structured society in the midst of North
America, requiring new and different modes of communication.

   I've always been impressed by the way the code-talkers were
transported from the midst of a traditional way of life to the front
lines of the most modern mechanized culture of the time, and figured
out how to communicate about it effectively, incorporating all of the
advanced technology into their normal language. The structure of a
language does not have to be affected by culture change, and the
structure can change even with no change in culture. If a language
is "museumized", it will no longer function for its speakers to cope
with communicating about and in a changed cultural landscape, and
will stop being used.

    Rudy

    Rudy Troike


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