Re: Case Systems and Chaos
Mary L B Pendergraft (pender@wfu.edu)
Wed, 05 Nov 1997 14:16:09 -0500
>
>This is a fascinating response. I was under the impression that
>languages deteriorated over time. Where did I get this idea?
>Is there not a observable pattern outside of natural sciences
>that shows a tendency for things to *fall apart.* Language is a
>social phenomena, other social phenomena have a tendency to
>move from organization to disorganization. A few examples of
>this are Civilizations, Nations, Clubs, Churches, Families,
>Tribes, Businesses. All of these move from ordered states to
>disordered states with a fairly predictable pattern.
>
>Now you will probably argue that Languages are not like
>Civilizations or Families, that this is an unseemly comparison.
>Perhaps you are correct in making this objection (if you make
>it). But I think there is more to be said about the tendency
>towards disorder than what the second law of thermodynamics
>states. After all the Chaos dragon had been around several
>millennia before thermodynamics came along.
>
>Clay Bartholomew
>Three Tree Point
>
>
>
CLASSICS-L has seen a fascinating discussion of just this point, language
change over time, in recent weeks. Digests of the last four weeks can be
found here:
http://weber.u.washington.edu/~lwright/classics.html#digests
Mary Pendergraft
Associate Professor of Classical Languages
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem NC 27109 910-759-5331 pender@wfu.edu