Re: Gulliver

> From: David Peterson
>
> In a message dated 1/8/02 5:17:49 PM, samuelriv@YAHOO.COM writes:
>
> << And yes, I know Japanese is a separate language
> family. But if the people of Balnibarbi appear
> Oriental in complexion, >>
>
>     The point that's missing here is that these labels "Oriental" and such
> aren't his, but are Swift's, and they were functional back when Swift was
> writing.  That they are no longer politically correct doesn't
> mean that they
> can't still bear some functional load operating in Swift's time
> and only in
> Swift's time.  Besides, that's all there is to go on (or, at
> least, this is
> what I'm getting).
This is not at all the point.

Samuel made the claim "I can't remember the complexion of the islanders, but
that can key in to what type of grammar or vocabulary the language would
have."  This was Samuel's point of view, not Swift's.

Samuel also stated "And I mentioned complexion because linguistic roots are
often linked to racial roots. Because every world was in the Pacific area,
the inhabitants could be descendents of Orientals (forgive the terminology
if its offensive- my vocab isnt that good), suggesting a Sino, Japanese,
Korean, etc linguistic group."  Again, this is Samuel speaking not Swift.

Stay curious,
David

David E. Bell
The Gray Wizard
dbell@graywizard.net
www.graywizard.net
AIM: GraWzrd

Wisdom begins in wonder.

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