>
>
> The basis is different, though. Pali is much more specialized. Both Latin
> and Sanskrit have been used by several religious/philosophical schools, as
> well as for secular purposes, but all Pali literature is in some way
> connected with Theravada Buddhism.
>
>

Well, Pali is already being used as a means of communication between
Burmese, Sri Lankan and Thai monks (Even though English is replacing that in
many cases). Pali was a living language at one time - many of the colloquial
expressions/phrases and day to day vocabulary are there. If someone
standardizes contemporary vocabulary (take for instance Buddhadatta's
attempt in his English-Pali dictionary) then I don't see any reason why you
could not learn or teach how to use Pali in a revived spoken form. I think
it is not so much a question of how or if but rather why. If someone sees
enough reasons to do so and has enough time and skill it should not be a
problem, especially looking at the very effective methods developed in
recent decades to revive spoken Latin (i.e. seminars where people go to and
try to talk only in Latin, improving their impromptu Latin knowledge by
being forced to talk in that language).

Anyway, not really that important, but an interesting way of deepening one's
Pali knowledge.

metta,
Lennart


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