Thread: Is Language Being Devalued?

Originally Posted by ppsage

Since when is is a preposition?

Sshh. I just wanted to see how many I could fool into believing it. Looks like I got two.

Originally Posted by ppsage

Since when is is a preposition?

To quote Bill "I'll have a cigar" Clinton, it depends on what the meaning of is is...

Originally Posted by DuKane

If it is Greek that provides the true richness of our language, then why do educational establishments still insist on teaching Latin?

Because Latin uses the same alphabet. Latin used to be compulsory in grammar and public (private) schools with Greek as an addition if you wanted to study The Classics. Latin was commonly used in biology because of classifications of plants, animals, birds and insects. Of course it used to be de rigueur for the medical profession, so that any medical condition could be transmitted accurately regardless of language. It was also a prerequisite for those wishing to enter the priesthood as all Catholic masses were conducted in Latin, so wherever you were in the world you could go to church and know what was going on, bit like a religeous Starbucks or McDonalds...

There are a goodly number of Greek words in common use in the English language but not, I think, as many as Latin.

Originally Posted by The Backward OX

Sshh. I just wanted to see how many I could fool into believing it. Looks like I got two.

Yeah, right...

Regarding the OP, there are two principles at work. One, language will evolve, whether we want it to or not. Two, language, and with it the cultural heritage of a people, should not be allowed to disintegrate. The stays'l must be balanced by the drogue.

Originally Posted by garza

Regarding the OP, there are two principles at work. One, language will evolve, whether we want it to or not. Two, language, and with it the cultural heritage of a people, should not be allowed to disintegrate. The stays'l must be balanced by the drogue.

You have two forces at war with each other then. How do you evolve as a language if you stay rooted in the past? How can you expect English to be the same in the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Australia and adhere to either of the principles you have stated above?

For English to evolve freely and provide a window into a culture you have to let it go free. In other words, English is likely doomed to fracture further, not come together.

The two principles apply to Language, all human languages. English is only one of many. The principles are in opposition, but are not at war. A proper balance between the two allows for rational evolution.

What should not be allowed to happen is the disintegration of Language, the entire set of human languages, into fractured subsets that mutate in radical ways so that communication across time from age to age is lost.

Arawak was once a dominant language in the Caribbean, no doubt rich in oral history. Today Arawak, what's left of it, is spoken only by the women and girls in the more traditional Garifuna communities. Arawak has been reduced to a language useful only for running a household, doing the marketing, and raising children.

If you take anything I say to mean that language should not change, then you misunderstand. And while I know that evolution is inevitable and, indeed, necessary, I will play the part of the drogue, doing my small bit to keep the gail-force winds of change from driving either English or Spanish onto the rocks.

Gail-force? You know her too?

Of course I know her. She's a force eight kind of a woman.

I was tempted to go back, correct the spelling, and ask what you meant by your comment, but that wouldn't be any fun. Not near as much fun as a date with Gail Force.

Originally Posted by garza

Of course I know her. She's a force eight kind of a woman.

I was tempted to go back, correct the spelling, and ask what you meant by your comment, but that wouldn't be any fun. Not near as much fun as a date with Gail Force.

It's OK Garza, it's not like intentionally leaving your spelling errors uncorrected will do anything like... blow English onto the rocks with gale-force?

Who, including English, wouldn't appreciate a good blowing?