Re: Linguistics
From: =?Windows-1252?Q?Gerald_P._Rodríguez?= (geraldpr@cybermesa.com)
Wed Jun 25 20:36:54 2008
De aquerdo amigo.
Gerald P. Rodríguez, M.D., FACOG
Santa Fe
>----- Original Message -----
From: "Efrain Ramirez" <eramirezt@coqui.net>
To: "Multiple recipients of list OB-GYN-L" <ob-gyn-l@mail.obgyn.net>
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 6:19 PM
Subject: Re: Linguistics
> Que vive el idioma español.. :)
>
> Ef
>
>>At Wed, 25 Jun 2008, Gerald P. Rodríguez wrote:
>>
>> ¡Que viva la idioma Española!
>>
>> Gerald P. Rodríguez, M.D., FACOG
>> Santa Fe
>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: R. Daniel Braun
>> To: Multiple recipients of list OB-GYN-L
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 9:23 AM
>> Subject: Re: Linguistics
>>
>> That's all fine and good, but if our congressmen don't get off their
>> butts and make English, the OFFICIAL language of the good ole US of A.
>> we're all going to be speaking Spanish anyway.
>>
>> Dan
>>
>> On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 11:15 AM, <DoctorJoe@aol.com> wrote:
>>
>> In a message dated 6/24/08 11:17:01 PM,
>> Stephen.Raymond@dhhs.tas.gov.au writes:
>>
>> Horrified as I am, I can't resist asking, why logical?
>>
>> Well, not to beat a dying horse, but ...
>>
>> Remember that English (and I'm not sure about other languages) became
>> somewhat "formalized" after the invention of the dictionary. Before then,
>> words were spelled irregularly, evidenced by any reproduction of old
>> books and other printed materials. The dictionary was a force which
>> regularized the language and attempted to keep it that way.
>>
>> However, with the expansion of the English language (e.g. American
>> English, Aussie & Kiwi English, "English" English, Indian English), there
>> is a vulgarization of the language in different ways and in different
>> areas of the world. In other words, it's not just whether you're from
>> London or Liverpool any more. And each country is independent of the
>> source of the mother tounge now. In fact, there is some sense of pride in
>> speaking differently from the Queen.
>>
>> So too, in large countries like the US of A, there are large regional
>> differences (along with regional allegiences and pride) which facilitate
>> the very same phenomenon on a more local scale, perhaps more dramatic
>> than the local scale of London versus Liverpool.
>>
>> Therefore, it's logical to think that there would be a relatively
>> active movement to formalize such differences ("ask" versus "axe") from
>> region to region.
>>
>> Perhaps the most obvious historical example of the above is the Roman
>> Empire. Latin was the official language of Rome and thence of the Empire.
>> But after the Empire expanded and then lost control of the different
>> regions, the vulgar Latin in each region became characteristic unto
>> itself, giving us Italian, French, Spanish, Portugese, Romanian, etc.
>> About half way through the Crusades, Europe fell into the inability to
>> understand itself. Languages tend to do that, it seems. There's your
>> logic.
>>
>> Joe P.
>>
>> P.S. An even more interesting subplot of this phenomenon is Italy (and
>> Emilio, correct me if I'm wrong). Each major city or center in Italy had
>> its own dialect of Latin/Italian, even into relatively recent history.
>> (Not to include Sicilian, which is a bit different altogether.) However,
>> when Vittorio Emanuele unified the country, he picked Florentine as the
>> official language, since Florence/Firenze was the relatively
>> well-recognized literary and artistic capital of the country. Thus,
>> Italian today is not a subdialect of Latin, it's an artificially selected
>> sub-subdialect of Latin.
>>
>> Ya know -- This stuff is pretty cool!
>>
>>used cars.
>>
>> --
>> R. Daniel Braun, MD FACOG(L) ABMP CMTh
>> Professor Emeritus
>> Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology
>> Indiana U. School of Medicine
>>
>> R. Daniel Braun
>>
>> "Science without Religion is LAME; Religion without Science is BLIND"
>> Einstein 1941
>
> --
> "I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying." - Michael Jordan
