Re: dialectal diversity in English

Quoting Stone Gordonssen <stonegordonssen@...>:

> >Is Chinese history that poorly known that a major depopulation event a
> mere
> >400 years ago has to be infered from linguistic data? Odd ...
>
> During humanity's existence, control of the foci and details of
> recorded
> history has lain primarily in the hands of those holding power.
Sure, but there's no reason a priori to suppose that the powers that were had
any particular interest in hiding a such disaster. And at least in the western
world, bureaucrats have a tendency to spend time and energy at perpetuating
evidence incriminating to themselves and their masters - I have, in my
ignorance, no reason to suppose that Chinese bureaucrats would behave any
differently. China's supposed to be one of the better chronicled pieces of the
globe.

                                                       Andreas