I love English

[paulcs]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Sasq:
It's more the 'cool girls' that do it now. cool girls being the 14-20 bracket with the really high platform shoes etc.</font>

"Kogal" would be part of my fifteen word Japanese vocabulary.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net



[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 14 January 2001).]

[spoogenet]

First off, do not confuse an official language with being correct. Official langauges are adopted to standardize a system, or for other political reasons depending on the country/state.

The only thing that dictates the real structure of a language is people's understanding of what you say. The next layer up includes psychological and sociological reasons you mentioned, such as language discrimination, social status, etc. One would not walk into an interview and say "Me and my homies be goin to the mall later." However most interviewers would probably understand exactly what you meant, it is inappropriate for the situation.

The vocabulary you choose to use is often situation-dependent, but that does not correspond to the "rules" of the language, bur rather corresponds to the "rules" of your culture. Language and culture can not be separated, but do not confuse the two with each other. The culture dictates many things in the language, which could be loosely called "rules" if you want to call them that.

I think the difference between me and others here probably lies within the definition of language and the distinction between language and culture.

Languages have structural consistency among a group of people to facilitate communication, however this structure can be violated in ways while still maintaining effective communication. This is how languages evolve. Eventually more people follow suit and the language's accepted structure changes with time.

How many people are there on this planet? That's how many idiolects there are. Each of them varies from the dialect and language they are derived from.

b

[spoogenet]

Thanks for the clarification on the kanji.

b

[Technoid]

Before i read this topic I thought that i hated Swedish and English grammar.

Now I know that I would probably hate every written laungage's grammar!