Re: Language superiority, improvement, etc.

Tom Wier wrote:
> What makes them different
> from conlangs?  I mean,  they are both products of the human mind
> Are they
> somehow not subject to the same laws  that have governed language since
> the dawn of time?  I think this concept is _highly_ suspect.
Well, for one, natlangs have evolved for thousands of years, there are
traces of earlier stages, features which made sense at some earlier
time, but are illogical now.  There are inflections that were once
regular, but are no longer regular (e.g., the strong verbs of English,
or the stem-changing verbs of Spanish), borrowings, formerly productive
derivations, re-analyzed forms, syncretisms, etc., which may be absent
from a conlang (unless it's intended to be naturalistic).  Natural
languages have been compared to old clothing, with patches and stains.
A conlang is a new garment which has never been worn.

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was hanged." - Irish proverb
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