On Thu, Aug 25, 2022 at 5:02 PM Dirk Van Niekerk <[email protected]> wrote:
> > *Languages like Chinese and English have indeed simplified and one of the > reasons is that these imperial languages have added large numbers of adult > speakers who had to newly learn the language which tends to lead to > simplification. * True, the only time language becomes more complicated is when small populations are cut off from others, then for some reason they always start adding bells and whistles and wheels within wheels to their language until it's so complicated it's virtually impossible for anybody not born into the culture to learn it; some Native American languages and the languages spoken by isolated African tribes are examples of this. And more complicated certainly doesn't mean better, even if they're born into such an isolated culture it takes several years longer for children to become fluent in it than it does for larger better connected languages. Today fewer cultures are so isolated and thus such hyper complex languages are on the verge of extinction, and I don't think that will be any great loss. Some things should go extinct. John K Clark See what's on my new list at Extropolis <https://groups.google.com/g/extropolis> 3vr -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAJPayv0cuXnT_6dLrRyroHYp%2BGsYqBOJz33tAwNxhUNG3FB5nA%40mail.gmail.com.
