LL-L "Grammar" 2011.03.19 (03) [EN]

[Lowlands-L List]

=====================================================
L O W L A N D S - L - 19 March - Volume 03
lowlands.list at gmail.com - http://lowlands-l.net/
Posting: lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org
Archive: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html
Encoding: Unicode (UTF-08)
Language Codes: lowlands-l.net/codes.php
============================== =======================



From: heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk <heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Grammar" 2011.03.19 (02) [EN]

from heather Rendall heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk

 Ron/ Reinhard wrote


That is exactly my point: as life gets more complicated the language
gets more analytical and grammatically simpler, in order to cope. Even
our brains can only hold so much!

 I wonder whether it is a case of 'life getting more complicated' rather
a language becoming less isolated.

As different languages come into contact with each other, they create a
'working language' i.e. a stilted (grammatically) but fluent ( of
expression and thought) means of communication. Think of the sailors'
languages that have arisen among the merchant navies of the world  or
the trading 'pidgins' many of which have developed into permanent
creoles.

I take Sandy's point that English is not the global lingua franca
through reason of its simplicity - but through its imperial history
..... HOWEVER it may well have remained in post-imperial situations
because of the ease of learning / speaking simple English.  Despite the
difficulties with orthography simple English is more easily attained
than most other languages ( Higher level English or literary English
are something else!)

The reason is that English has moved a long way but not totally from an
inflected language towards an invariable

so that any one can learn to describe any object very quickly just by
learning the vocabulary

a big clock    a small clock  the small clock  a round clock  my new
clock     except for the possibility of adding an 's' to clock to make
it plural, all these are invariable: no gender  no number agreements
we don;t say   mys news clocks

The verb system is more difficult to handle hence the number of errors
made by learners: an over use of I do ....

as a result of learning through question and answer maybe  " Do you
like singing?" " Yes I do like singing"   What do you do in your spare
time?" " I do like singing"

But even the English verb system is an improvement on say most Germanic
or Romance systems:

look looks looking looked + auxiliaries      very simple to learn:
horrendously difficult to apply correctly in every circumstance

write writes  wrote  written + auxiliaries   still not too hard to
learn

I believe languages simplify in or after contact with other languages
especially if one or the other is dominant and of a different
grammatical system.

Heather

Worcester UK

after a long absence / silence



----------



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



Hi, Heather!

It’s great to hear from you again, and those are thought-provoking points
you make above.

However, please let me point out that the person you quoted was not I but
our trusty friend Paul Finlow-Bates.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA (where genuine springtime abounds this Purim weekend)



=========================================================
Send posting submissions to lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org.
Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
Send commands (including "signoff lowlands-l") to
listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or lowlands.list at gmail.com
http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/group.php?gid=118916521473498
===========================================================
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lowlands-l/attachments/20110319/fd2d332c/attachment.htm>