I'm not the academic in this area, but the whole subject seems to relate back to Lesley's "magistral" explanations about sociolinguistics. This one is yet another example of how intriguing these language topics can be. We all have usage preferences formed by our cultural experience and level of intellectual curiosity into language esoterica. We tend to form expectations but often forget the rules.
We all know that languages rarely go unchanged over long periods of historical times. Around the world, like people, some languages are under surveillance, others have arthiritis, others thrive and get fat, other end in suicide and others get castrated. So, we create official protective devices for them. Rules. Necessary but often arcane and inconsistent. Language is there to maintain its original mandate, which is to serve as a tool for humans in order to optimize social interactions. In order to do that, it must reflect whether each individual word or idiom remains relevant to current users. RAE is slower than reality, so sometimes it does take a while for them to become inclusive and hip. :nervous: But hopefully, they do keep track of things.
We should remember that on each day, on any given interval, there are substractions and additions to the language. Actually, to the languages. Language can be like humans. Verbal units are born all the time. Others come into action later in life with bad or good habits. Like us, some seem fair or tolerable, others seem sinister or even blasphemous.
But not everyone is allowed by nature to survive. Currency is subjective. In Life, we all perish or fluorish during different times of our short natural spans.
Likewise some words have the long, majestic ancestries that slowly but usefully evolved. Most fade away, old and tired. Many, die lonely. Others remain alive in other forms or in other languages as vigorously as when they first peaked. There are words that are castaways and roamers, other zombies that came back to life after a dormant period. Many are combinations that if separated again may lose their relevance. Some words come out like orphan rockets, poppin' up from the spontaneous combustion of our many cultures.
With globalization's expansion, all languages will mingle, and you know the rest...I would suspect that if humankind gives itself enough time instead of self-anihilation, that there will be an eventual global language that is indeed a mix of everything left behind. It's both weird/eery and cool/exciting to think of a world where language is no excuse to avoid communication. In the meantime, some of us do have fun trying to have these helpful discussions.
- Tordok
We all know that languages rarely go unchanged over long periods of historical times. Around the world, like people, some languages are under surveillance, others have arthiritis, others thrive and get fat, other end in suicide and others get castrated. So, we create official protective devices for them. Rules. Necessary but often arcane and inconsistent. Language is there to maintain its original mandate, which is to serve as a tool for humans in order to optimize social interactions. In order to do that, it must reflect whether each individual word or idiom remains relevant to current users. RAE is slower than reality, so sometimes it does take a while for them to become inclusive and hip. :nervous: But hopefully, they do keep track of things.
We should remember that on each day, on any given interval, there are substractions and additions to the language. Actually, to the languages. Language can be like humans. Verbal units are born all the time. Others come into action later in life with bad or good habits. Like us, some seem fair or tolerable, others seem sinister or even blasphemous.
But not everyone is allowed by nature to survive. Currency is subjective. In Life, we all perish or fluorish during different times of our short natural spans.
Likewise some words have the long, majestic ancestries that slowly but usefully evolved. Most fade away, old and tired. Many, die lonely. Others remain alive in other forms or in other languages as vigorously as when they first peaked. There are words that are castaways and roamers, other zombies that came back to life after a dormant period. Many are combinations that if separated again may lose their relevance. Some words come out like orphan rockets, poppin' up from the spontaneous combustion of our many cultures.
With globalization's expansion, all languages will mingle, and you know the rest...I would suspect that if humankind gives itself enough time instead of self-anihilation, that there will be an eventual global language that is indeed a mix of everything left behind. It's both weird/eery and cool/exciting to think of a world where language is no excuse to avoid communication. In the meantime, some of us do have fun trying to have these helpful discussions.
- Tordok