Anglonics

[LARSSON at VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU]

Jester notes:
"And let's not forget about the "barbarian picts," whose language has never
really been recorded, though was a major influence to the Celts and the
"invading" germanic tribes, and there are Celtic/Gaelic parts of the
language that haven't even been touched by the germanic/proto-europeans.  It
is an interesting fact that Gaelic is so far removed from the Proto-European
roots.  Where did it come from?  Why did the Celts have such an "original"
language system?  You're right of course about the language being
characterized by grammar, but English grammar after Old English to
Early-Middle English developed in significantly different directions than
the other germanics and latin languages.  It's significantly more
complicated than the rest."


There was a piece on NPR the other day about a group of Japanese singers
who were in a Welsh singing contest.  The authority on Welsh choral
singing noted that in general they had an easier time pronouncing Welsh
than the English do!

One more thing about grammar--a lot of "rules" of grammar before the
structuralist revolution were in fact derived from Latin and tried to
impose a latinate model on English grammar.  

No wonder it screwed so many people up!

It's one of those 18th-century, Age of Reason attempts to impose Order.
I'll be eager to see if it comes up for discussion in M&D!

Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)