Latin and Slavonic for `moon'

[X99Lynx at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/28/99 9:13:05 AM, JoatSimeon at aol.com wrote:

<<Linguistic change is generally unconscious.>>

What does this mean?  That it happens while people are knocked out or
sleeping?

If you mean that people are not always aware that the structure of their
language has changed, I don't disagree.  But language itself is filled with
purpose, intentionality and function.  And if the structure of a language
does not serve those purposes and functions, it will change, sooner or later.

People don't pay attention to the structure of their language, but they are
very aware of how it functions.  Here, as everywhere else, form ultimately
follows function - with or without awareness.

I wrote:
<<and therefore invented seems a better word than "first evolved."

JoatSimeon at aol.com wrote:
<<-- it's actively misleading.>>

Its far more misleading to pretend that language is something that grows on
the side of a hill.

I'm trying to recover a computer generated "family tree" of automobiles and
their designs that I saw back in the 80's.  It looked exactly like one of
Larry Trask's IE family trees, only a little more "unconscious" and complex.
Human invention - whether it is language or cars - developes in ways that are
in striking contrast to random growth.  Intentionality is the difference.

S. Long