LL-L "History" 2011.04.14 (04) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 14 April 2011 - Volume 04
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From: Paul Finlow-Bates <wolf_thunder51 at yahoo.co.uk>

Subject: LL-L "History" 2011.04.14 (03) [EN]



A dominant language, and a dominant country, are two unrelated things.
English is all over the globe, but the last time England existed as a real
political entity, it's global might extended to a few log huts in Virginia,
where everybody died anyway.



English is dominant because the United Kingdom used it. Then when that
Empire waned, the powerful successor happened to use the same language. That
power might just as easily have used French, Spanish or German; most
Americans aren't of English descent, or at least not dominantly.



Paul

Derby

England



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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>

Subject: History



Dear Lowlanders,



Someone posted a link to an article on my Facebook page that I am sure many
of you will find interesting.



http://tinyurl.com/3fbbvxb



It asserts that recent findings point toward there having been one proto
language, i.e. one ancestor of all of today’s languages.



Mind you, this is by most considered fringe science. Although I have
personally always assumed that all of today’s language varieties have a
common ancestor, I acknowledge that this is pretty much impossible to prove,
since it involves too long a timeline and too much of a muddle of “static,”
including language contacts, universals (e.g. onomatopoeia), and shifts of
all sorts of types.



Regards,

Reinhard/Ron

Seattle, USA



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