Re: History of French

From: Harlan Messinger (hmessinger.removethis_at_comcast.net)
Date: 09/15/04 

Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 15:03:48 -0400

Harlan Messinger <hmessinger.removethis@comcast.net> wrote:

>Mxsmanic <mxsmanic@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>Harlan Messinger writes:
>>
>>> What is "their native language" if not "the language that they speak",
>>> regardless of how they learned it?
>>
>>It's the nominal language they have supposedly learned as their native
>>language. If you say that someone's native language is English, that
>>implies that he speaks and reads and writes a standard language called
>>English. If not, then it isn't English.
>
>What's this "standard language called English" that you're talking
>about? Does the ISO know about it?
>
>English is the language used by native English speakers. Among them,
>there is variation in the language, as is the case with every natural
>human language. The fact that a language is written and that a
>population is literate doesn't change this. Do you think there's no
>difference between the way literate US English speakers, for example,
>speak today and the way their counterparts did 50 years ago?

For that matter, I should ask you if you think people speak the way
they write. 

-- 
Harlan Messinger
Remove the first dot from my e-mail address.
Veuillez ๔ter le premier point de mon adresse de courriel.

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