Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!xanth!mcnc!ecsvax.uncecs.edu!dgary
From: dgary@uncecs.edu (D Gary Grady)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Re: Global Cultural Prototype
Summary: information generally preferable to guesswork
Keywords: Esperanto
Message-ID: <1989Oct17.165631.13294@uncecs.edu>
Date: 17 Oct 89 16:56:31 GMT
References: <3366@ccnysci.UUCP> <2145@avsd.UUCP> <18291@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> <1989Oct13.142526.13122@uncecs.edu> <1489@intercon.com> <1989Oct15.142457.9248@uncecs.edu> <1493@intercon.com>
Reply-To: dgary@ecsvax.uncecs.edu.UUCP (D Gary Grady)
Organization: Datalytics, Inc.
Lines: 51

In article <1493@intercon.com> amanda@intercon.com (Amanda Walker) writes:
>Sigh.  I'll be a little blunt here.  Prescription, whether of grammar,
>vocabulary, or usage, is a crock.

I thought I'd made that very point myself; sorry if I wasn't
sufficiently clear.

>I
>just claim that it is not in the same class as languages that have developed
>historically, despite the fact that it shares many of their characteristics.

I'm not clear on your point here.  Certainly Esperanto can be placed in a
distinct class.  How does that mean it is necessarily inferior or
restricted as a medium of discourse, as I take it you're arguing.

>If you could supply some quotes or references, I would appreciate
>it.  I can say that I've seen no mention of Esperanto in any of the liguistics
>journals that I read from time to time...

Try Language Problems and Language Planning, edited by Humphrey Tonkin
and published by (I believe) the University of Texas Press.  Several
books on Esperanto have recently appeared in Brittain.  The best single
work I know of is by Pierre Janton of the University of
Clermont-Ferrand; unfortunately it has not yet (to my knowledge)
appeared in English.

I suspect there are many languages you've never seen mentioned in
linguistics journals.  As you say, linguists and other scientists (for
reasons of practical necessity) tend to be specialized.  I would hope,
however, that you would not dismiss all such languages simply because
they hadn't been cited.

>I don't know much about Esperanto.  I do know a fair amount about language
>in general.

Many people know a fair amount about movies in general but wouldn't be
so bold as to review one they had never seen!

Let me say that if Esperanto were as you imagine it to be, I would
probably agree with you in dismissing it as a linguistic curiosity.
I'm not asking you to suddenly accept Esperanto as a grand idea; I'm
just suggesting that you not jump to conclusions based on incomplete (or
nearly nonexistent) information.

Best,
Gary
-- 
D Gary Grady
(919) 286-4296
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