Re[2]: Language (was: Re: African Languages (was: Re: Re[2]: [tied]

At 3:56:14 AM on Friday, May 2, 2008, fournet.arnaud wrote:

> From: "david_russell_watson" <liberty@...>

[...]

>>Human language nowadays, and for some time back, has been
>>subject to conscious manipulation, of course, but only to
>>a certain, generally very superficial, extent.

> This is obviously wrong.

On the contrary, it's obviously right.

> The invention of writing has had considerable impact,
> especially in the invention of formal logic, but even
> without writing, don't tell me Homer or Rg Veda are not a
> conscious work.

Of course they were. So what? The are instances of the
*use* of language, not the deliberate development or
modification of language.

So far as I can see, the invention of formal logic had no
impact on the development of human language.

> French and German are obviously languages that have been
> consciously made to be what they are.

They obviously are not.

Brian