From: David Starner (prosfilaes@gmail.com)
Date: Wed Apr 22 2009 - 10:57:30 CDT
On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 11:51 AM, Andreas Prilop
<andreasprilopwww@trashmail.net> wrote:
> On Wed, 22 Apr 2009, David Starner wrote:
>
>>> Estonian is not a Baltic language.
>>
>> Unless they've moved Estonia since I last checked, it is most
>> certainly a Baltic (=pertaining to the Baltic states) language, even
>> if it's not a Baltic (=subgroup of Indo-European) language.
>
> "Baltic language" is a linguistic term like "Slavic language" or
> "Romance language".
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_languages#cite_note-0
Of all the technical groups, I would think that linguists would
understand that they can't hold a term hostage and accuse the general
populace of misusing the term whenever it's used in a way that doesn't
conform to the dictionaries of their particular discipline's jargon.
Especially a term that is composed of two words with everyday
meanings; just like a hot dog can be an overheated canine, and a
normal subgroup can be a commonplace group of people who are part of a
larger group, a Baltic language can be a language from the Baltic
countries.
-- Kie ekzistas vivo, ekzistas espero.
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