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From: deb5@midway.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff)
Subject: Re: Brazilian polyglot (news item)
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References: <19961227011300.UAA03261@ladder01.news.aol.com> <dasherE3IzpA.IA6@netcom.com> <5b0fe5$201@lex.zippo.com> <7fbuazuxac.fsf@phoenix.cs.hku.hk>
Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 16:49:01 GMT
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In article <7fbuazuxac.fsf@phoenix.cs.hku.hk>,
Lee Sau Dan ~{@nJX6X~} <sdlee@cs.hku.hk> wrote:
>>>>>> "annecy" == annecy  <annecy@mail.snider.net> writes:
>
>    annecy> I forgot how many languages this guy was supposedly able
>    annecy> to speak?  But have any of you personally known anyone who
>    annecy> can fluently speak in excess of 10 languages?  ke

Yup.  Eric Hamp, Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago.
(Although "fluently" is perhaps not the word; he knows a great many
languages thoroughly, but they don't always flow naturally in conver- 
sation.  Then again, how many of us stumble and pause when we speak
our native languages?)

>First of all, how do you define "language"?  
>
>Even those  who are called monoglots can   be claimed to  know several
>languages:  a formal language for   use with strangers  or seniors, an
>informal  language for use with relatives  and  close friends, another
>language  for  talking  to  little children,   and perhaps another for
>scolding people (swearing)...

These are usually called "registers" and mastering two or more of them is
usually considered a prerequisite for being called "fluent" in a language.
I've yet to encountre a "language" with only one register, used by all
speakers at all times.
-- 
	 Daniel "Da" von Brighoff    /\          Dilettanten
	(deb5@midway.uchicago.edu)  /__\         erhebt Euch
				   /____\      gegen die Kunst!
