Re: Language superiority, improvement, etc.

On Tue, 13 Oct 1998, Gerald Koenig wrote:

> >
> >If small matters CAN lead to differences in language ease and
> >efficiency,  it seems likely that we are being inaccurate to say
> >all languages are the same in their usability in effective communication
> >
> >Best regards,                          Leo Moser
> >
> I hope your are correct, otherwise I am a damned fool for trying to make
> NGL a better language than English. So far I have convinced myself, and
> probably no one else, that I have devised a more compact and accurate
> tense system than English. It's good to hear that at least one other
> person does believe there is a difference between languages in overall
> effectiveness. Not all swiss army knives are born equal. But skepticism
> is easier to support than belief.
>
> Gerald Koenig
I consider the "all languages are equally good" argument
very silly. Unless someone defines criteria that are capable
of independent analysis, there is no scientific basis for
this belief. By every set of criteria, languages do differ
in utility, beauty, simplicity, etc. One might as well claim
that all XXXs are equal, where XXX ranges over all the nouns
in any dictionary. It takes quite a leap of faith to claim
that two things differing in every respect are somehow the same.