Re: Is language development evolutionary, or designed by the culture?


"Ken Shackleton" <ken.shackleton@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1118792354.592643.281900@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
> Bobby D. Bryant wrote:
>>
>> Could you clarify the question? What do you mean by "language
>> development"?
>>
> I was looking for an opinion on language development within a culture
> over many generations. I believe that it is molded by evolutionary
> forces, others argue that it is "designed" by the people within the
> culture.

Like Bobby said, you need to explain what you mean by 'language development'
before the question can be answered.

Phonological changes and syntactic changes are not molded by eolutionary
forces in a Darwinian sense (that the most useful variations sruvive - I
suppose that's what you meant), nor are they designed consciously by any
people.

Vocabulary, on the other hand, can be influenced by both of these: words can
be 'coined' or borrowed intentionally, and then whether or not these
coinages are generally adopted may depend on how much people like them and
find them useful.

What sort of change are you talking about?

Neeraj Mathur


.

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