From: Andrew Jarrette
Message: 41266
Date: 2005-10-11
> But I still think the written form of a language can be
> counted a characteristic of that language. A parallel
> might be how a person's handwriting can be counted a
> characteristic of that person, even though his handwriting
> does not define him as a person.
The writing system(s) in which a language is customarily
recorded, or the lack thereof, is in a broad sense a
characteristic of that language, but it is not a
*linguistic* characteristic.
-- Well, I don't believe I ever said I was confining myself to the linguistic aspects of English - I simply meant "English" is odd because of some unusual characteristics, including its writing system.
Andrew