Re: Conlangs in History

Nik Taylor wrote:

> "Thomas R. Wier" wrote:
> > Not so bad, if you assume that it removes other number distinctions with it.
>
> Well, that doesn't seem probable, as, for example, the Gaians used a
> dialect that involved "fractional numbers", I guess you could call
> them.  The Gaians possessed a kind of group mind, so they had to use
> forms like "I/we" and "she/Gaia", so it's clear that number distinctions
> existed in at least 1st person, and probably 3rd person.
But you're not talking about Galactic there, but Gaian, which was a total
backwater in the Empire.  I mean, the Empire didn't even know it existed!
There's no reason to think that Galactic was in any way similar to Gaian.

> Also, number
> presumably exists in nouns, as there are things along the lines of
> "Ships?  Not just one ship?", where a person was surprised to hear a
> plural form used.
I don't think that's evidence about whether number is grammaticalized
in Galactic morphology.  That could be because of the hubris of the
Galactic fleet, something Asimov writes on at length, or any other number
of cultural factors.  Remember:  while all human societies understand the concept
of number, just because they do does not mean that they will then encode that
into their language's morphology.

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Tom Wier   |     "Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."
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