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Welcome, and if so: first from Belgium: double welcome.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Remus, you're absolutely right that I based my comments on my impression, and - really - I meant no insult. As a biologist, I have always noted the almost perfect parallel between human language and organic evolution. Both seem to follow the same rules, at least on superficial inspection. My comment was a way of saying that compared to the natural evolution of other languages to their present states, Esperanto seems, well - is - artificial. As to your other point, I'll take your word for it that there are a great and increasing number of speakers of Esperanto, but I'll offer that none have it as their sole, native language. It seems more a useful hobby than one of the world's languages.
On the other hand, I will not take your word for it that Esperanto is growing as fast as any other natural language. Even if I spoke Urdu from birth, it would be hard not to notice that there are a tremendous number of non-native English speakers throughout the world, and I would be willing to bet that many more people around the world are learning English as a second language than Esperanto.
Last edited by beck123; 02/26/10 04:22 AM.
"I don't know which is worse: ignorance or apathy. And, frankly, I don't care." - Anonymous
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This Latin was imposed on them by the Roman Empire. If Esperanto is ever "imposed" on anyone it will be by voluntary vote of the people on whom it is imposed not by imperial conquest by the dread armies of Esperantujo. Your're right, I forgot about the Hadrian Wall and Nijmegen. But I guess that we mud dwelling barbarian Batavians were quite impressed by their techniques and roads and posh Latin.
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As a biologist, I have always noted the almost perfect parallel between human language and organic evolution. Both seem to follow the same rules, at least on superficial inspection. it seems many linguists do not share this view. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2132
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I should make myself more clear. I did not mean to say (and I did not say at all) that the evolution of human language parallels human evolution. The evolution of human language sheds light on the movement of human populations throughout the last few thousand years, but the time scales are too vastly different for the evolution of languages to reflect human evolution.
I mean to say that the rules that seem to govern the evolution of language are largely parallel to the rules that govern the organic evolution of all living things (again, on a different scale of time for most organisms.) For a simple example, consider a human population in the past that - for whatever reason - becomes divided into two populations that are more-or-less isolated from one another. If the isolation persists over centuries, two distinct languages will likely result (and neither will remain exactly the same as their original language.)
"I don't know which is worse: ignorance or apathy. And, frankly, I don't care." - Anonymous
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In all optimism I think we - they - who? will never retrace it all and what would be the fun in that?
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I for one would like to find out. I want to know exactly who first said it (whatever it was) and when. And I'll say it again: I would prefer that there be one Authority somewhere who would say definitively what IS and IS NOT right, re: spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. No "alternative spellings" for me, tyvm. [nod to Max, for the tyvm]
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And I'll say it again: I would prefer that there be one Authority somewhere who would say definitively what IS and IS NOT right, re: spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. No "alternative spellings" for me, tyvm.OK, I gladly and humbly fit that bill. There is no right or wrong. Everything is allowed. Language changes. Get used to it.  But, seriously, at this point, it would have to be an international non-governmental organization (and we've seen how effective those are). Like it or not, English is an international language, not owned by one nation. And, even those academies don't do so well. They suggest and proscribe, and folks, they just ignore them, and the language changes.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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BTW, all languages are constructed. It's just a question of how many there are on the committee and whether there's a final arbiter to declare the project done.
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It's just the point that there is no final arbiter. (and the job is never done)
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