Re: Similar (was: 'useful') languages
| From: | Lars Henrik Mathiesen <thorinn@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, February 19, 2002, 12:57 |
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> Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 15:36:51 -0500
> From: John Cowan <cowan@...>
>
> Such formas de speech haver usata manch science-fiction scriptores,
> notably Norman Spinrad in le "Void Captain's Tale" e, in kleiner
> extent, Alfred Bester in das "Computer Connection".
>
> Es possible a mixar many sprachs, provided man allzeit recordat,
> dass le proper reponse a gifting is nit "Tante danke" sondern
> "Grazie sehr".
However, in Spinrad's version at least, you don't get the articles
changing from noun phrase to noun phrase. Each speaker will pick out
idiosyncratic subsets of lexicon and grammar and create a consistent
idiolect from that. Or perhaps a few particular idiolects to use in
different situations --- the point is that the way people speak is a
clear sign of how they want to be perceived, even more so than now
that we tolerate the straitjacket of our single common language.
My favourite putdown is from that book: "Nikulturno!" Russian, I think
--- one of the such words actually found the novel, since Spinrad had
to keep to words that an averagely read US science fiction consumer
would recognize.
Lars Mathiesen (U of Copenhagen CS Dep) <thorinn@...> (Humour NOT marked)
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