Sociological Linguistics

[Nik Taylor]

[ moderator re-formatted ]

"Dr. John E. McLaughlin and Michelle R. Sutton" wrote:

> I'm sorry, Pat, but your statement about Evolution here shows EXACTLY why
> modern languages (and any other language we have any evidence of) are NOT
> evolving.

Actually, "evolve" is a neutral term, indicating mere change by the
accumulation of small scale changes.  It is usually "survival
enhancing", at least in the short term, but can also refer to changes
that are neutral, or even harmful.

> What it did was make English hugely ambiguous in terms of specifying the
> number of addressees.

Which is exactly why many dialects have developed various plural forms,
such as y'all in the South.  "Survival enhancing", you could say.  :-)

> Could we discuss nuclear physics without all the Greek, Latin, and French
> loanwords that entered the language after Hastings and use just our
> Anglo-Saxon heritage with compounding?  Absolutely.  The Icelanders do it
> just fine.

True, by coining words, that is, by changing.  It's only a matter of how
it changed.  English changed by borrowing (very odd terminology, when
you think about it, "stealing" would be more appropriate) words, while
Icelandic changed by creating new words.

--
"It's bad manners to talk about ropes in the house of a man whose father
was hanged." - Irish proverb
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