Re: A New Language
| From: | Jan van Steenbergen <ijzeren_jan@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, August 19, 2002, 15:47 |
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> andrew 2002.08.19. 19:58:28 +12h-kor írta:
> > > Are they living in patriarchism?
> > >
> > That's a hard question to answer. Their society is traditional, but
> > some aspects are unorthodox. They allow for women-run households as
> > well as men-run ones. Also the naming rights of a first-born is not
> > gender-specific. If a man marries a first-born woman in a familyline he
> > may choose to take her surname for the prestige.
But that would mean that the number of people with a surname will decline
steadily.
If two people with a surname can have only one child with a surname, one of the
two will disappear.
If none of the two partners has a surname, no new surname will emerge.
So, after a while, there will be only one surname left, and its possessor or
one of his heirs is doomed to die childless, so that the whole surname concept
eventually disappears.
How do you handle that problem? Perhaps by offering the possibility that people
can be "knighted" with a surname because of extraordinary merits?
Jan
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"Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones
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