Re: Settling an Argument - Assembly *IS* a Language, Right?


Christopher Culver wrote:
"Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
Since this handful is scattered around the world, there's no
expectation that different condemned children would come up with the
same strategies for making full languages out of their defective
input, so no expectation that they could fully communicate with each
other.

They can communicate with each other in some cases, since their
fanatic parents send them to the International Children's Congress
each year, where they can reinforce some standard with other children.

The good news, however, is that most native speakers abandon Esperanto
when they get old enough to realize that their parents live in a
fantasy world and the real languages out there are much more
interesting.


I doubt they leave either because they think their parents live in a
fantasy world or because they learn there are other languages out there
which "are much more interesting."

On the question of language, many Esperantists have a great interest in
other languages, including most of the Esperantists I have had
conversations with. I would expect most denaskaj Esperantistoj to have
been exposed to several languages.

As for why "denaskaj Esperantistoj" tend to abandon Esperanto--and they
do, according to what I have read--I think it can be explained better
by a couple of other reasons:


(1) *Most* people who spoke a language only in the home, when
surrounded by a community of speakers of another language or many
languages, eventually drop the minority language. For one thing, the
person one is likely to marry will be unlikely to speak the minority
language.

(2) Esperantists who are not native speakers are self-selected
enthusiasts, and that must be especially true of those who succeed
making their children "denaskaj Esperantistoj" in the face of
children's natural tendency to want to be like their friends. Simply as
a result of reversion to the mean, you would expect their children to
be less interested in Esperanto. Reversion to the mean would give
similar results in the case of *any* strong interest held by a parent!


--
Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

.

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