On 6/17/2026 9:48 AM, Paul Koning via cctalk wrote:
On Jun 17, 2026, at 4:25 AM, Doug Jackson via cctalk <[email protected]>
wrote:
...
Perhaps a better definition of a dead language is one for which there is
nobody left who can read it, write it, teach it, or care about it. By that
standard, many of the languages being discussed here are very much alive.
You could use the linguistic definition, which is similar to what you said but
a bit different. Dead languages are those that are no longer used in
conversation. For example, Sumerian is dead by that definition, as is Latin,
I have stood in on conversations in Latin. I know a lot of people who
can and do still converse in Latin. While my ability to converse has
declined I can still read Latin easily and I have at least one friend
whose Christmas greeting inside the card I still write in Latin.
bill
