Re: USAGE: Language revival
| From: | Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, November 24, 1999, 0:20 |
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Ed Heil wrote:
> Where humans have the luxury to make things complicated and difficult
> (but not impossible) for themselves, they seem invariably to do so. :)
My hypothesis is that these difficulties are somewhat intentional -
irregular forms make it more difficult for outsiders to learn. One of
the functions of language is not only to communicate with each other,
but to distinguish those in-group from those out-group.
--
"Old linguists never die - they just come to voiceless stops." -
anonymous
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