> >Nope, just a lowly grad student polishing up my thesis in Humanities
> >Interdisciplinary (philosophy/psychology/anthropology/sociology) at
> >the University of West Florida (grin). Salamantis
>
> Yup, you have demonstrated a masterful instantiation of academic
> language.... A couple of comments:
>
> "Spoken and written
> language forms will continue vanishing as quickly as endangered
> species, as informational selection takes its Darwinian toll."
>
> What is the rationale for this conclusion (last section)? Are you implying
> that info / cognitive overload will destroy language?
How many people will speak Tagalog or Urdu in 500 years? Our
language forms are reducing gradually to english (due to the
internet and commerce) and a few other widespread tongues, whose very
mass of users will keep them alive (e.g. spanish, chinese, etc.)
Simplicity and precision of expression combined with efficiency of
transmission are winning the day.
> And, "Now [with text] history can be recorded" -- it isn't that simple.
> And, more seriously, "So far this may seem mere speculation, but watch how
> it dovetails with history."
>
> An interesting book is Edward H. Carr's 'What is History?' -- an very
> pleasant intro to historiography. Unfortunately I for one don't see how
> much of this dovetails with history. But you've offered some interesting
> speculations nonetheless....
>
> lena
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Lena Rotenberg
> lrr@netkonnect.net
>