Gingerbread Man on 9/7/2002 at 03:03

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Tuco, you're getting dangerously close to what we consider "Asshat" with this trolling and general bullshit.

Friendly warning, me to you: Simmer down.

Exodus_dk on 9/7/2002 at 07:54

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Oh well... I thought that asterisks were " 's... My bad :tsktsk:
But that's the price of being danish I guess!

Quote:

*ponder* I see... so you would say that words from the spoken languages that early man developed, that we no longer know what they sounded like, still qualify as real words?

Well, they didn't have a written language - so their language is lost in time... If it were reinvented then those words would ofcourse be real words... But if you consider some african tribes - they have languages mainly consisting of - to out ears - rather weird sounds made in the throat... I would consider you an narrowminded person if you did not consider that a language - and I believe you would need some time to pronounce those words.


*COMF* not that what I'm doing is exactly challenging... However it sure beats most other jobs available to students! :cheeky:

Forsythe on 9/7/2002 at 08:50

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*ponder* I think we're just rehashing old turf now; I never said that my understanding a language is a criteria for my considering it a 'real word'. My understanding or lack thereof of a word is irrelevant, what I believe matters is that a decent portion of language-enabled listeners are able to share an understanding as to what a particular set of characters/sounds represents or symbolises.



*chuckle* Yeah, I can't deny I'm happy to be employed in the local depressed economy, I just wish I had something a trifle more fitting to my talents ;)

Forsythe on 9/7/2002 at 09:44

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*grin* That's one thing I've never even attempted to define; twins have been known to develop private languages that noone else understands, and by extension any combination of sounds is theoretically a word. I like to think it takes at least 3 or 4, but if you want to be literal about it it only takes two. Of course, if one of those people then forgets what it means, then its very existence is in extreme jeopardy unless the other person spreads the meme.



I'd hardly continue if I thought it boring, now would I? ;)

As to location...
Forsythe
Member

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Phoenix, AZ, USA
(Edit: Well, to be literal I grew up in Los Angeles, CA, USA... I'm in Phoenix because I love the heat)
;)

Forsythe on 9/7/2002 at 21:11

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As words are fundamentally used to communicate, I think it's safe to assume that it requires two people who understand them; they need not be in the same space-time coordinates as yourself of course. So in the same sense that an ancient Egyptian wrote something that today's archaeologists are only now reading (and thus communicating in a decidedly one-way path), so it can be said that your present you is taking notes in class to communicate a reminder for the future you. Of course, if you use words that you invent and provide no translation key or means of deciphering them from context, they die with you. Why, do you have a specific case in mind?



Hrm... I'd classify what you speak of here as the concepts behind the words; words can represent feelings, images, etc. while reverse is much harder to do. It could be argued that one person seeing another as sad will know that the other is sad, but that's really body language; body language is a cultural thing at heart, and not a universally accepted format (sure, crying usually means 'sad', but there are tears of relief/happiness as well; or to a more extreme degree, some cultures enjoy tension and others are repulsed or frightened by it)

As to language and advanced thought, I agree completely; many scientists have stated their belief that language, not brains, is what allowed humanity to conquer its environment. Being able to communicate more evolved thought to our children is what allows them to stand on the shoulders of their ancestors; otherwise, they'd have to start all over again.




It's 2:13 PM here just now; it was ~ 2:50AM when I wrote the previous post (I'd had a 4 hr nap, hence the late time ;) ).