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Re: Con-prescriptivism

From:Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Date:Sunday, March 28, 1999, 19:08
FFlores wrote:
> In the kingdom there are several dialects, and the only > one considered "proper" is the central dialect, _rithelde'q_
There were MANY dialects of Watya'i'sa, each village having its own dialect. In addition, there's the unresearched Males' Language.
> while Edhmaquart goes > > _bramar, bramres_ (syncopes the middle -a-)
You might want to consider an epinthetic -b- here, especially if your "r" is a tap. This is similar to the evolution of the Spanish future forms tendre', pondre', etc. (tenere' --> tenre' --> tendre')
> However, Edhmaquart is more respected because it's the > commonly used dialect of the noble houses of the north. > While the southern dialects are different = gross, the > northern dialect is different = exquisitely excentric.
At the time when the dialect I'm "researching" was spoken (over 2000 years Before Landing, probably late in the BC period), no one dialect had any widespread prestige. Several dialects had local prestige, because that village was larger and/or more powerful/rich than its neighbors, but no wide spread prestige, that is, someone in the East wouldn't have any opinion about which dialect in the West was better. However, after the Prophetess, tiNakasu'ni'sa' brought the Faith to the Faithful Ones, her dialect became prestigious. The Faith now uses her dialect, in much the same way that the Catholic Church still uses Latin. Altho W. itself is dead (altho it left a number of descendants), it is still used for religious purposes, and its use is regulated by the Most High Priestess's Council for the Language, they especially make rulings on what to call new devices or concepts, usually coining words within their language. -- "It's bad manners to talk about ropes in the house of a man whose father was hanged." - Irish proverb http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/X-Files http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/Books.html ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-name: NikTailor