Re: Language Change

On Sun, 9 Jan 2000, nicole perrin wrote:

> daniel andreasson wrote:
> >
> > Markus Miekk-oja skrev:
> >
> > > I don't think the taboo lasts for alot more than one
> > > generation...if not they tell their kids "Never, ever
> > > say these words: Eve, Ed, Bill, Eric, Anne, Alain,
> > > Roland, Marcus, ...
> >
> > Why would they? If no one uses those words, the kids never
> > hear them, they won't learn them and probably won't go around and
> > say them. Unless they spontaneously come up with new
> > words just for fun and one of them happens to be
> > a taboo word. Which is kinda unlikely.
> >
>
> I was going to mention this too, but then I realized that Markus also
> specified that this applied to a group who had also mastered the art of
> writing (it's snipped in Danny's reply and I no longer have the original
> message), so if the kid reads it, he'll learn the word, and maybe say
> it, etc.  We're talking about Australian aboriginal languages, right?
> *Did* they have a written language as well?
>
What actually happens is that these taboos extend in reality not to all
speakers of the language, but to those in the community (village) of the
deceased. In contact with other communities where said word hasn't become
tabooed, it is sure to be heard.  After a generation or two, nobody
remembers the dead person, and the word might or might not find its way
back into the village dialect.

.yasmin.