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#122102 02/04/04 01:41 PM
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Carpal Tunnel
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assignment of penance

I won't refer you to Jackie's post.



formerly known as etaoin...
#122103 02/04/04 01:53 PM
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glad that this thread has stayed on the interesting subject of an obscure language,
Oops-- . Isn't it neat how, when we think we know so much, a new "discovery" is made?


#122104 02/04/04 01:55 PM
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I haven't listened to the report yet, but, what do we know about this language? Is it related to any other languages? Is it an isolate?


#122105 02/04/04 02:05 PM
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It's in the Turkic family and was severely repressed (as were all 'native' languages) during the Soviet regime. The oldest speaker is in her 90s and the youngest in his 50s.

As for the rest of y'all: ()

Edit: I had the brilliant idea of looking at the college's web site, et Viola's yer aunt! Here's the full story:

http://www.swarthmore.edu/news/releases/04/harrison.html/

#122106 02/04/04 02:32 PM
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dxb Offline
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In all seriousness, is it possible for a language to survive, enabling information of the type mentioned in the article to be retained, if new generations do not wish to trouble to learn it? Can it be kept and bred in captivity, as it were? I would think not.

Faldage, our doughty non-prescriptivist supreme, I'm sure would agree that, as a matter of principle, no one should even attempt it. After all, if words drop out of use so be it...

Father Steve on the other hand...


#122107 02/04/04 02:39 PM
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I think there is much that will be lost when the last speaker dies, but the comments on the unique number system and grammatical structures raise some interesting questions and aspects of these can be saved in some sort of preserved under glass mode, potentially useful to linguists and students of the mind.


#122108 02/04/04 02:44 PM
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#122109 02/04/04 02:47 PM
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Hmm. A cilam is also a simple clay pipe. I bought one in Kathmandu. The Chilam Balam is a sacred text of the Maya.


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