01-10-03 20:38, Patrick C. Ryan wrote:
> When I pursued this question on another list, I also got the
> knee-jerk reaction of 'racism' from some listmembers, the others
> being reluctant to express their opinions for fear of the same smear
> tactics.
>
> But the simple facts are that NO ONE has yet been able to
> satisfactorily explain why sound systems change.
Are you suggesting that "racial" factors have something to do with
language change? What's the evidence? Languages and their subsystems
change because they have all the necessary properties of evolving
systems. A language is a population of potential replicators (idiolects)
with built-in diversity. A complex code of communication is transmitted
from one generation of speakers to the next; the nature of the process
of language acquisition guarantees imperfect replication. The size of
the population is limited, so variants are involved in competition, etc.
Change is _inevitable_ in such circumstances, just like Darwinian
evolution in the living world, because there is nothing to guarantee
long-term stability. A living language that resists all change would be
a _real_ miracle. Studies of sound change in progress are a busy field
nowadays. I dare say we understand the general mechanism of change
rather well, and I see no reason to build an aura of mystery around it.
Piotr