Re: Etymology: Deutsch and "tautos" - just a coincidence?


Franz Gnaedinger wrote:
bulkington63 wrote:

I can sing "fa la la la la la la la la"; that doesn't mean it's a
language.

JK

Language is the means of getting help, support and
understanding from those we depend upon in one way
or another --- and every means of getting help, support
and understanding may be called language, on whatever
level of life it occurs (my definition of language from
1974/75).

Suppose you want to build a house and need a credit
from your bank. You may try it with "fa la la la la la ..."
but I doubt that your banker will take you seriously.
If you were a bird and sang something like "fa la la ..."
you might succeed in finding a pretty female.

But of course, this isn't what I was responding to. You conveniently
snipped your comment from the reply. You said:

So you can sing Magdalenian. The language
works.<<

I attempted to point out that being able to sing something does not
prove that it works as a language.



My
Magdalenian serves the purpose of expressing needs
and wishes. Consider my example of a paleo-linguist
going on a time travel to the Guyenne, meeting a lovely
young woman, learning Magdalenian, being invited by
her parents, and addressing them as follows:


Why would anyone want to consider this as evidence? Your fairy tale
stories may be fun to invent but the "sci" at the beginning of
"sci.lang" stands for "science". Isn't there a group that deals with
made up languages... or a support group for people that hear the voices
of the past speaking in their heads?



JK

.

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