Re: Lenition

On Monday 24 June 2002 08:44 pm, Christopher B Wright wrote:
> Peter Clark sekalge:
> >Are you suggesting
> >that we can identify the individuals who are more prone to alter symantic
> >ranges and pronunciation and by example lead the rest of the population
> >astray? I'm sure the Académie Française would be most interested... :)
>
> We can limit it to a broad section of the population, at least.
> Most sound changes: people ages 2?-5
> Most grammatical changes: people ages 3?-8
> Most* vocab changes: people ages 10-20
        Just out of curiousity, what is your evidence for this? I'm willing to accept
that last one, in that it makes sense and matches my general perception, but
not so sure about the first two .
        If it's true, however, I will have to be careful about visiting France with
any young children; they might be spirited away for corrupting the majestic
splendor that is/was nineteenth century French (or whatever is considered
"standard")! :)
        :Peter