MESSAGE
| DATE | 2004-11-18 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir Secretary NYLXS
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] Re: [marsee@oreilly.com: Word Annoyances Needed for New Book]
|
On Thu, Nov 18, 2004 at 10:27:50AM -0500, Frank Speiser wrote:
> Jordan Coleman wrote:
>
> >On Nov 18, 2004, at 1:57 AM, Ruben Safir Secretary NYLXS wrote:
> >
> >>Well, for one thing, the development of language is not arbitary, and
> >>the
> >>shackling of language to a standard, in fact, is arbitrary, and probibly
> >>unhealthy for the language.
> >
> >
> >Please provide references to substantiate this thesis.
>
>
> Just generally out of curiosity, I'd be interested to see more on this,
> and how it applied to both natural and artificial languages.
>
> For instance, can a language ever be different from T to T+n /without/
> arbitrary development? Can a word for a new event be chosen any less
> arbitrarily than a beer when the bar is missing the Pilsner Urquell that
> you would normally seek out?
>
> I guess more importantly, what is arbitrary, really? Is the definiton of
> "arbitrary" standard?
> Has Perl's development been arbitrary? It may possibly have been. If so,
> is Perl unhealthy?
>
See the recent work on the origins of the Indo-Eurpean language family and the
basic rules for sound transitions and dialect evolution. It is not all chance
and seems to be embeded into our biology.
A google search will get many scolarly sources, including a recently published
work in National Geographic.
Ruben
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