Re: All languages are equally fit

On 2009-09-27, Trond Engen wrote:

The subject looks like trolling but isn't.

In another group, when someone recently opined that some languages are
more elevated and thus more fit for abstraction, I answered that
linguists agree that all languages are equally fit to express any
thought, with the qualification that some may have a pre-existing
lexicon in a field but all are equally fit to create new terms for
anything from internal resources. I was challenged to provide support
for that, and now I realize that if I've ever seen it in print in a
linguistics book I can't remember where. Any suggestions?

I think most introductory and popular texts on linguistics say this,
but I've never seen a "proof" or even an outline or proposal for a
method of demonstrating it.

I suspect that if someone devised a method of analysing and measuring
this and got the (unwanted) result --- that all languages are not
equally versatile --- linguists would go nuts and attack it (or him),
because this is required dogma. (I'm not claiming it's wrong, just
that it's something linguistics students are told they have to
believe.)

I'm curious as to how "fit to create new terms for anything from
internal resources", can be reconciled (redefined?) with the frequency
of borrowing words from other languages.


--
Taken on the whole however this is a fine disc and a good example of
the current pop scene attempting to break out of its vulgarisms and
sometimes downright obscene derivative hogwash.
(Julian Stone-Mason B.A., 1972)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: All languages are equally fit
    ... linguists agree that all languages are equally fit to express any thought, with the qualification that some may have a pre-existing lexicon in a field but all are equally fit to create new terms for anything from internal resources. ... eloquence - nor is there one for abstraction - but that doesn't stop ... True, but I tried to make it simple for myself by a sweep in the general direction of linguistics, and when some people just won't accept appeals to anonymous authority I have a problem. ...
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  • Re: All languages are equally fit
    ... In another group, when someone recently opined that some languages are more elevated and thus more fit for abstraction, I answered that linguists agree that all languages are equally fit to express any thought, with the qualification that some may have a pre-existing lexicon in a field but all are equally fit to create new terms for anything from internal resources. ... I was challenged to provide support for that, and now I realize that if I've ever seen it in print in a linguistics book I can't remember where. ...
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  • Re: All languages are equally fit
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  • Re: All languages are equally fit
    ... when someone recently opined that some languages are ... linguists agree that all languages are equally fit to express any ... linguistics book I can't remember where. ... Surely it's in every intro book on linguistics for the gen pub? ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: All languages are equally fit
    ... when someone recently opined that some languages are ... linguists agree that all languages are equally fit to express any ... equally versatile --- linguists would go nuts and attack it, ... internal resources", can be reconciled with the frequency ...
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