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Re: English syllable structure (was, for some reason: Re: Llirine: How to creat a language)

From:Michael Poxon <m.poxon@...>
Date:Wednesday, December 12, 2001, 16:51
Dear CZS,
Why don't you post some of your own Constructed language? We'd all love to
see some examples.
Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cheng Zhong Su" <suchengzhong@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2001 9:44 PM
Subject: Re: English syllable structure (was, for some reason: Re: Llirine:
How to creat a language)


> --- Roger Mills <romilly@...> wrote: > > Andreas Johansson wrote: > > >While this seems to be question of education style > > and ideology rather than > > >of anything language-related*, I'd like to point > > out that I know several > > >people who now the table of elements by heart (in > > Swedish, but from the > > >Mandarin point of view Swedish is essentially > > English). Also, it's very > > >questionable whether the average person NEEDS to > > know all the elements. > > > > Alas, I knew most of it during highschool > > chemistry...and wish I could > > remember even a bit of it now. Since I always liked > > useless and otherwise > > marginal things, I was quite fascinated by the "Rare > > Earths", always printed > > off to the side and ignorable. Even the teacher > > couldn't say much about > > them. What, I still wonder, are the uses of > > ytterbium (??) and all those > > other strange elements? > Answer: I think the ELL give a better answer than I > P4538 said: "S.C.Gilfillan argued that technology > develops through gradual evolution and accretion of > details, and that the idea of a distinct invention is > conceptually ambiguous. Therefore, 'invention' is a > matter of language, not physical reality. " > "Ogburn held that the accumulation of inventions > followed an exponential curve, because many new > inventions are mere combinations of preexisting > elements and the more such elements exist the greater > the number of new ones that can be achieved by adding > them together. But the individual human mind is > limited, and thus there is a limit to how many > technical ideas a person can remember." "As > anthropologist Leslie A. White puts it, like all other > aspects of culture, technology depends upon the human > capacity for symbolling. Language, he says, > transformed the nonprogressive, noncumulative tool > process of anthropoids into a cumulative and > progressive process in the human species." P4536 said: > "A substantial fraction of all words used in ordinary > speech, and perhaps a majority of all nouns in modern > languages, are technological. That is, they name > elements of tools, machines, chemical processes, > agricultural techniques, transportation systems and > electronic communications network. More than a million > species of animals and plants have been named, but > George Basalla noted that three times as many > inventions have been patented in the United States > alone." "Even under more restricted definitions, > technological terminology constitutes a substantial > portion of lexicon, and the processes by which these > terms emerge present interesting challenges for > linguistics." > Su Cheng Zhong > > http://shopping.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Shopping > - Free CDs for thousands of Priority Shoppers!

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Cheng Zhong Su <suchengzhong@...>