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From: phoogenb@liberty.uc.wlu.edu (Peter Hoogenboom)
Subject: Re: What's an old language? was Re: English import...
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Date: Mon, 1 Apr 1996 21:07:49 GMT
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Ralph T. Edwards (rte@elmo.lz.att.com) wrote:
: What does it mean for a language to be older than another?  I suppose it
: could mean "not subject to significant creolization."  Also it could mean
: "more conservative of old features."  For that of course one would need
: some reconstruction or record of the old features.  Otherwise it seems to
: me all living languages are the same age, since they presumably all are
: part of a continuum reaching back to the evolution of language in humans.

Or, as in this case, "to be oldest" could mean "to have the longest 
presence."  Basque may not be older than the other European languages, 
but it's been in Europe longer.

Peter

--
Peter Hoogenboom                        phoogenb@wlu.edu
Department of Music, DuPont 208         hoogenboom.p@fs.sciences.wlu.edu
Washington and Lee University           phoogenboom@wesleyan.edu
Lexington, VA 24450                     (540) 463-8697
