Re: virus: Tools, Language and Text (is this an ok example?)
Lena Rotenberg (lrr@netkonnect.net)
Fri, 19 Jun 1998 12:16:24 -0400
>> "Spoken and written
>> language forms will continue vanishing as quickly as endangered
>> species, as informational selection takes its Darwinian toll."
>>
>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.
I hadn't understood what you'd meant by 'Spoken and written language
forms': I'd suggest you replace that by 'Many natural languages' to
prevent other people from jumping in their chairs when reading that.
As for what languages will be spoken in 500 years, who can tell? And I'm
not so sure that English is becoming the universal language, or that the
fact that English is more prevalent than French these days allows us to
infer anything about what languages will survive in the future.
--
Lena Rotenberg
lrr@netkonnect.net