"Dead" languages

[Lars Martin Fosse]

LMF:> >sometimes wonders if Sanskrit isn't an undead rather than a dead
language

Rick Mc Callister [SMTP:rmccalli at sunmuw1.MUW.Edu] skrev 17. september 1999
19:05:

> 	You say that in jest but what you need to do invent some impressive
> sounding linguistic term and we can all declare victory
> 	How about "Zombie-sprache"? or "Athanatic language"?

JoatSimeon wrote:

>-- similarly, Latin has been a continuing influence on the European
>languages; even English grammarians originally used Latin models, doing some
>violence to the language in the process.

I would claim that the influence of Skt. on Indic vernaculars at times has been
more intense than the influence of Latin on European vernaculars. However, this
is not really my point: My point is rather the relevance of the term "dead
language". The term dead depends upon the definition. If by "dead" you mean
"not learned on mother's knee", both Latin and Sanskrit are dead languages
(although I would not feel entirely certain that not some Brahmin children
learn Skt. on their mother's knee - I have met Sanskrit speaking women). But is
this really an interesting definition? We would probably all agree that Latin
is a dead language today, just like Old Norse (in Scandinavia, with the
exception of Iceland), Old English or Chuch Slavonic. But is it an interesting
proposition to claim that Latin was dead, say, 500 years ago? As long as a
language is used for general communication among groups of people, production
of literature as well as a vocabulary source for vernaculars, the claim that it
is dead sounds a bit strange. Hittite is dead, Akkadian is dead, Osco-Umbrian
is dead: None of these languages have any use today and are only studied as
literary sources. But when you have heard an Indian scholar talk for an hour in
splendid Sanskrit - and heard him exchange jokes in Sanskrit with a colleague a
bit later - then the term dead seems nonsensical. Which is why I think we need
to modify our thinking: not to "win" the discussion by introducing a new
linguistic term, but because realities are not covered by the concepts we use.

Best regards
Lars Martin Fosse

Dr. art. Lars Martin Fosse
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