Re: ,Language' in language name?

In a message dated 11/27/01 6:53:58 PM, agricola@WAM.UMD.EDU writes:

>Am 28.11.01, Jörg Rhiemeier yscrifef:
[snip]
>> My own projects often start with an "external" name assigned to it,
>> especially as long as it's little more than a cloud of ideas
>> and I can't say what the fictional speakers call it.
>
>Which, of course, isn't _really_ a name at all. "Germans" aren't
>really German - they're "Deutsch". The external name is only a matter
>of convenience - a handy label - for the external observer.
>
>> Jörg.
>
>Padraic.
>--
>Bethez gwaz vaz ha leal.
I think I disagree. Is a piano not really a piano, because that is not what a
piano calls itself? "Deutsch" is just as much of a handy label as "German"
is. All words are handy, convenient labels, and if we use a word x to apply
to something, than that thing is x. Or more accurately, that thing is
represented by x - and there is a certain group of people represented by
words including "Deutsch" and "German." I don't see what makes one term real
and another one not.
Or am I misunderstanding you?

Josh Roth
http://members.aol.com/fuscian/eloshtan.html

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