> > we know that nearly every language in existence tends to
> >undergo successive phonetic changes which over the course of just a few
> hundred
> >years can transform the language into something remarkably different.
>=20
> However, this linguistic law is based on past observations. But there is
> something radically different about the world today that will probably ca=
use
> this law to be repealed, or at least beome far less apparent. That
> something is the ability ot record sound and pictures. At no previous ti=
me
> in the entire history of language has it been possible for a people to wa=
tch
> or listen to historical events from 100 years before, or to watch reruns =
of
> I Love Lucy 50 years after the fact.
Yes, I imagine that does slow down the process somewhat, but I don't think =
it
can really hinder changes. One doesn't talk today quite like one does in
popular old movies and such -- surely much of the difference consists of
passing slang (luckily, terms such as "groovy" and "neat-o" didn't stick :)=
--
but I don't think that old recordings can have *that much* more influence o=
n
the way we speak than old books. Just my personal opinion/hypothesis.
Josh
_/_/ _/_/ _/_/_/_/ Joshua Shinavier =20
_/ _/ _/ Loorenstrasse 74, Zimmer B321=20
_/ _/ _/_/_/_/ CH-8053 Z=FCrich =20
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ Switzerland =20
_/_/_/_/ _/_/_/_/ _/_/_/_/ http://www.delphi.com/aring