Re: Orthography supporting sound changes?


Colin Fine wrote:
> Seán O'Leathlóbhair wrote:
> > Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> >
> >>Aidan Kehoe wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>> > So you switched the topic, without notice, from spelling pronunciation
> >>> > to "language shift." They may look to you like the same thing, but they
> >>> > most assuredly aren't.
> >>>
> >>>The topic was how spelling pronunciation interacts with sound changes. I
> >>>haven't seen anything ruling out language shifts between related dialects
> >>>and the changes of sound inherent in that as "sound changes" in the
> >>>specialised sense, and indeed the definitions I've seen leave room for such
> >>>an interpretation; please provide something ruling this out, if you have it.
> >>
> >>No. Scientists don't bother thinking up explanations for why every
> >>imaginable contingency does not occur. You provide an example of it
> >>happening, and we'll try to explain why it does.
> >
> >
> > Depends on the science. Mathematicians frequently study why things
> > don't happen. A famous example being Fermat's Last Theorem. A huge
> > amount of effort has been expended over the years to prove that
> > something does not happen. Squaring the circle and trisecting angles
> > are other examples of a lot of effort spent on proving something
> > impossible.
> >
> Umm. Maths is not a science (in any sense relevant to this discussion).
> A mathematician's "does not occur" is qualitatively different from a
> scientist's "does not occur".
>
> Colin

Whether maths is a science is a tricky question. Universities cannot
seem to agree on whether to give BAs and MAs or BScs and MScs, some
even let you choose. Despite being at the pure end of maths (when it
was a full time occupation), I am inclined to think of maths as
science.

Also, it is hard to draw a clear line between maths and physics.
Physics is surely the archetypal science. How about statements such as
"You cannot travel faster than light"?

OK, a physicist's "cannot happen" is a bit weaker than a
mathematician's but it is still a strong statement. On my centigrade
scale with a mathematician's "cannot happen" at 100, the physicist's
"cannot happen" is over 90. Where is the linguist's "cannot happen"?
Where does anyone's "does not happen" go? Mine is quite high.

--
Seán O'Leathlóbhair

.

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