Re: does conlanging change your sense of reality?

----- Original Message ----
> From: Jim Henry <jimhenry1973@...>
> To: CONLANG@listserv.brown.edu
> Sent: Wednesday, April 1, 2009 11:26:03 AM
> Subject: Re: does conlanging change your sense of reality?
>
> On Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 10:15 AM, Lars Finsen wrote:
> > after all. But from a practical point of view it really would have been much
> > better if we all used the same language - unless the different
> > manifestations of language do have the ability to enrich our communication
> > and understanding in practical ways.
Define "practical." As previously discussed, there are multiple ways to express
something in a single language; the selection between these is based somewhat on
what group membership the speaker wants to claim, what mood they want to express ,
and so on. A primary function of language is communication, but another very
important function is personal and group identity management, and that's more
difficult if everyone has the same language.

> The strict
> Whorfian idea that some ideas can only be
> expressed in certain languages is almost certainly
> false
Especially with English, where when we find a notion that's hard to express in our
language but easy in another, we just grab the word and make it our own. ;)

> (On the other hand, if certain ideas can only
> be expressed in a certain language by coining
> a lot of new vocabulary, then is the resulting
> expanded language still the same language?
I'd say yes.

-- Paul