From: Marion Gunn (mgunn@egt.ie)
Date: Sat May 31 2003 - 11:52:51 EDT
Thank you, Peter - for the first time in years, I find we two share some
measure of agreement. Perhaps this planet your people and mine inhabit may
yet be saved.:-)
mg
>Brian on 05/29/2003 09:37:31 AM:
>
>> Why is Ethnologue flawed?
>
>Because:
>
>1. research that has gone into it has only been going on for 50 years with
>limited manpower, not 150 with unlimited manpower;
>
>2. linguistic and sociolinguistic change is on-going, and it is difficult
>to keep research current on all of the change that occurs (see 1); and
>especially
>
>3. language as a phenomenon does not occur in discrete, sharply defined
>categories, but involves a large number of possible parameters of
>variation; hence, any attempt to enumerate "languages" must be the result
>of a process of analytical abstraction that merely approximates reality
>(but is still useful, and is done because in practical terms organisations
>must conduct their business in terms of a finite list of entities rather
>than an all-but-endlessly variable continuum).
>
>As John Cowan said, any aspiration of a flawless catalogue of languages is
>a pipe-dream; and I'd also add, it's naive.
>
>- Peter
>
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Peter Constable
>
>Non-Roman Script Initiative, SIL International
>7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd., Dallas, TX 75236, USA
>Tel: +1 972 708 7485
-- Marion Gunn * EGT (Estab.1991) * http://www.egt.ie * fiosruithe/enquiries: mgunn@egt.ie * eamonn@egt.ie *
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