re Re: re Re: re Re: SLSL language

[Abdiel OAbdiel]

--- David Morris <fqmorris at yahoo.com> wrote:

 These forms spring from the street
> -they start from accidental
> mistakes contrary to Standard English, not from
> purposeful expression- which, I
> think, is important to acknowlege.  But over time
> they become a commonly
> understood form of speech.  There are times and
> places for these forms of
> expression, and they work fine down here because
> everyone is familiar with
> them, even though everyone knows they sound
> "ignorant."  

You know, at one time Dutch and English were dialcts
no further apart than New York English and New Orleans
English. Over time, all languages show slow, gradual
changes in pronunciation, in meaning of words, and in
grammar. I think Shakespeare pronounced "reason" the
way you probably pronounce "raisin" and your  "grease"
was his "grace."  I think Shakespeare's "lover"  was a
"louver"  to you. Let the fresh air in. Open your
lover. 

If this be false and upon me proved I never wrote nor
no man ever loved. 

Chacer's "see" was like our "say". 

Oh see can you say my Ize if you can than my hair's
too short. 

And meanings have changed too. Chaucer's "sely" is our
"silly." But to Chaucer it sely meant blessed. I
wonder if being silly, perhaps neurotic, gay, even
queer, was considered a blessing? 

Cometh now and endeth this stupid stuff with an S. 
He comes and that ends our Louver's loving. 

The US is an usual place for lots of reasons, but one
is certainly the stain of slavery. That damned spot.
Another is its bigness. It's big. Over time, seperate
areas develop different dialcts of the same language.
As MalignD suggests, this is what happens to languages
over time and one can hear differences from villiage
to villiage and from town to town. When dialcts go
there seperate ways over many centuries, they become
different languages. Migration too has an influence.
English speakers didn't say Kangeroo until English
speakers went to Austrailia. Computers, like Rail
Roads before them, add new words to the lexicon,
change the meanings of existing words. Armed conquest
and slavery have influenced English in America. So on
and so on. 








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