Re: Age of langs (was Tempus)

David Peterson wrote:
>
> > I'm not entirely sure what you mean with "more-derived" and
>"less-derived".
> > If you're refering to how much langs have changed from their common
> > ancestor, I think the answer is still no. Modern Icelandic is more
> > CONSERVATIVE than modern Norwegian (either variant), but that doesn't
>make
> > Icelandic OLDER than Norwegian.
> >
> >
>
>        If I were to go back in time, say, 3,000 years, and I spoke modern
>English, there would be no one on Earth who understood me, not even a
>little
>bit.  So, if you want to say that someone who could neither speak nor
>understand modern English is someone who speaks and understands it, be my
>guest.  I still think this whole argument is utterly ridiculous.
Could you explain yourself a bit? I honestly don't understand what you're
trying to say. What would going back in time and finding that no-body
understands modern English have to do with what I wrote? When have I claimed
that people who can't speak English can speak English?

                                                      Andreas
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