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Re: NonVerbal Conlang?

From:R A Brown <ray@...>
Date:Tuesday, June 27, 2006, 19:52
David J. Peterson wrote:
> Sally wrote: > << > Is the proper term for "oral" in signing "verbal"? A *verbal* language > as opposed to one signed by the hands? > >> > > No, "oral" is the term. But recall: it was one person that posted the > question, and they used the term "non-verbal". Seeing that word, > one was left with two possibilities: (1) a language without verbs, > or (2) a language that didn't have a spoken component.
No - there is the possibility: (3) a language without words. Indeed (2) did not occur to me.
> Though > technically speaking the first definition is the correct one, pragmatic > concerns indicated to most that the second definition was the > appropriate one. After all, the goal in responding was to answer > the question of the poster.
Indeed it is - and it was, I agree, clear in the poster's mail that "a language without verbs" was not meant, which is why I thought it meant "a language without words." I thought 'Is such an animal possible? Are all these examples really wordless (I assumed some were)? Looks as tho this could be interesting.' [snip]
> So that's why I interacted with the term "non-verbal" the way I did.
That's when I was getting puzzled & confused. I was thinking of asking for clarification but Sally posted her Kelen post ....
> And because I was thinking that way, when I saw you responded > with Kelen, I first thought, "Wait...Kelen has a signing component...?" > Oops!
Then, of course, when Sally asked: 'Is the proper term for "oral" in signing "verbal"? A *verbal* language as opposed to one signed by the hands?" Light began to dawn. I'm glad to hear the answer is "No" - but a little sad to realize that it was not, apparently, a 'fully multi-dimensional non-sequential language' thread after all :=( -- Ray ================================== ray@carolandray.plus.com http://www.carolandray.plus.com ================================== "A mind which thinks at its own expense will always interfere with language." J.G. Hamann, 1760

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Sai Emrys <sai@...>