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From: smryan@netcom.com (@#$%!?!)
Subject: Re: Single European Language
Message-ID: <smryanDA2pL0.E28@netcom.com>
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Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 18:48:36 GMT
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: I don't understand why a "good" language would have to change
: its grammatical rules every day, especially if this brings numerous
: irregularities in the language. I know that's unavoidable,
: but I don't see why it's a "good" thing.

From a linguistics viewpoint, mutability is neither "good" nor "bad."
It is simply an observed phenomenon. But using this observation, you
can predict the difficulty of trying to prevent mutations. You can
then decide if it's worth the effort to prevent mutations or decide
not to bother.

: As for vocabulary, it's a really good thing that languages
: car integrate words from other languages; but generally speaking,
: they only modify the spelling or pronunciation, but never
: break their syntactic or grammatical rules.

Some communities do adapt borrowed words to pre-existing morphology
and syntax. Elite english speakers brought in latin morphology with
latin borrowings as way of showing they were elite.

-- 
The Brothers of the brooding Dark,         | smryan@netcom.com  PO Box 1563
the Fathers of the fighters stark,         |          Cupertino, California
that left their might, the Lake and Height,| (xxx)xxx-xxxx            95015
and met the Mother moist and dark.         |              intolerance kills
