Re: accents

From: Ruud Harmsen (realemailseesite01_at_rudhar.com.invalid)
Date: 03/29/05 

Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 20:21:00 +0200

29 Mar 2005 06:53:31 -0800: "Iain" <iain_inkster@hotmail.com>: in
sci.lang:

>Don't you think that if Standard Written English didn't exist, spoken
>English would have evolved further beyond recognition?

I doubt it. Just this last week I found examples of texts 400 or 500
years old, in Dutch and Portuguese, that have changed very little, and
are still comprehensible. A large proportion of those periods the
majority of these language communities were illiterate. So I think the
influence of the written language on the spoken language has been very
limited, and it hasn't slowed change. Change is slow with or without
written language.

>Or perhaps the
>"recognition" in question is provided by writing.

Possibly. Now, but not in the recent past.

>Writing is an axiom reminder than the /t/ sound at the end of "chased"
>has the same semantic function as a written "-ed" -- our mental image
>of the "-ed" distinguishes "chased" from "chaste" in our minds.

In the mind of those who can read, yes. Until recently, they were a
small minority. 

-- 
Ruud Harmsen - http://rudhar.com/