Kevin Smith | Re: Freezing the basic grammar

• Autor: Kevin Smith (“kevinbsmith”)
• Tema: Re: Freezing the basic grammar
• Data: 2006-04-30 14:34
• Mesaje: 2127 (a supra, presedente, seguente)

--- In LinguaFrancaNova@yahoogroups.com, "activeselective" wrote:
> When a language is not used, how can its stability be detected?
> Only the /intention/ of having a stable language is what remains.
> What's the use of publicly anouncing an intention?

A public statement of intention is VERY important. There is no way I
will even write ten serious pages in LFN if I believe it will change
significantly. I might write (and have written) material in LFN, but I
will keep it small, aware that I may have to come back and revise it
all. I will not do my best work.

It's ok if the language does end up changing a bit, but only if those
changes are really proven necessary by actual use, as you suggest.

> What we create will never "become unreadable". That is really an
> exageration gone over the top and off this planet. What you had in
> mind? LFN turning into Traditional Chinese or English? If LFN
> changes, the texts remain very readable. Work is never lost.

Take the Glosa community as an example. There is quite a bit of Glosa
material that was written five or ten years ago. And it is very
frustrating to read, because the word choices, and even a few
grammatical elements, are quite different from Glosa today.

Either the reader suffers, or someone has to update all that old text.
Even if the text is updated, old copies remain, so there will always
be confusion.

I suppose some people have no trouble reading Shakespeare today. Most
of us find it nearly impossible to understand without a secondary
guide to tell us what the words really mean.

My point: "Medium" changes, or a series of ongoing "small" changes,
will make life difficult for authors (constant updating of "lots" of
old material) or very difficult for readers. The goal is to remove
barriers (and excuses) for people to adopt LFN. Again, most people are
NOT eager to learn another language. Seriously. It's about as much fun
as going to the dentist.

I realize that you and I disagree. That's fine. I wanted to present my
ideas to the group, and Jorj and the others can decide what to do.

Kevin