Re: Are some languages easier to learn?

On Fri, 16 Oct 1998 20:05:55 -0400 Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> writes:

>But why should some languages be harder *inherently* to learn?  All
>children learn languages in about the same time, suggesting that
>there's
>no inherent differences in difficulty, and that ease and difficulty
>depend purely on your L1, and previous second languages.
Indeed...suddenly I have this sense of deja-vu.

>Well, about a quarter of the world's languages are classified as
>ergative, so it's not all that rare.  Ergative isn't one of the basic
>types, it's more a continuum with accusative on the opposite end.  The
>four (or three) main types are: isolating, agglutinating, fusional
>(AKA
>(in)flectional), and polyagglutinative; altho the last is sometimes
>considered a subtype of agglutinating.
Wow! Really? That's very cool--I had no idea there were that many
ergative languages around. Could you list some? I know of Basque and
Georgian, but that's all I can think of.

"Polyagglutinative"...I think you mean "polysynthetic," yes?

----------
Josh Brandt-Young <neonwave7@...>
http://geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/6073/
"After the tempest, I behold, once more, the weasel."
(Mispronunciation of Ancient Greek)

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