Re: Conlangs in History

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nik Taylor" <fortytwo@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: 19 August 2000 06:36
Subject: Re: Conlangs in History


> Yoon Ha Lee wrote:
> > The seeming lack of language change in the Foundation trilogy really
> > bothered me when I first read it a month ago <ducking>, but there were
so
> > many other things I loved about it that I forgave Asimov.
>
> In "Foundation's Edge", Janov Pelorat, a comparative mythologist/amateur
> linguist mentions, in talking about languages, something about how
> Seldon sounds distinctly archaic.  This is in 498 FE.
>
> Of course, there's also a reference to the fact that "you" is both
> singular and plural in Standard Galactic.  What are the odds that a
> language spoken 25 millennia from now, even if descended from English,
> would replicate our strange 2nd person?
Quite high actually. English is the most famous example, but French very
nearly followed suit as well. Japanese traditionally makes no distinction
between singular and plural pronouns, although the plural suffix -gata
or -tachi is occassionally used.

If you want to express politeness to the lisatener, there are only so many
ways it can be done, after all. It is a coincidence, but not a particularly
unlikely one.

--
Fabian
7 days to go