When I'm reflecting on #Britain' trouble(s) I'm sometimes tempted by a form of #linguistic determinism.
#languages with complex tense/verb structures, require the speaker to form the whole sentence before starting to speak (#German would be my go to example).
But #English allows a speaker to start a sentence with little idea where it will end, with sentences rambling & developing while remaining grammatical.
Making it up as we go along' served us well for generations, now not so much!
Emeritus Prof Christopher May /
npub1hr…f2ktj
2023-08-11 05:37:04
Author Public Key
npub1hr0x0gm9ksmvuvqwkyzfjuczv9pln83axuftxfhnq2maday69ypqtf2ktjPublished at
2023-08-11 05:37:04Event JSON
{
"id": "e755de1f304c4009e348fb32c40b731e2950ff5faa09640720cf8ce3506ad3a4",
"pubkey": "b8de67a365b436ce300eb1049973026143f99e3d3712b326f302b7d6f49a2902",
"created_at": 1691732224,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [
[
"t",
"britain"
],
[
"t",
"linguistic"
],
[
"t",
"languages"
],
[
"t",
"german"
],
[
"t",
"english"
],
[
"proxy",
"https://zirk.us/users/ChrisMayLA6/statuses/110869363072653870",
"activitypub"
]
],
"content": "When I'm reflecting on #Britain' trouble(s) I'm sometimes tempted by a form of #linguistic determinism. \n\n#languages with complex tense/verb structures, require the speaker to form the whole sentence before starting to speak (#German would be my go to example).\n\nBut #English allows a speaker to start a sentence with little idea where it will end, with sentences rambling \u0026 developing while remaining grammatical.\n\nMaking it up as we go along' served us well for generations, now not so much!",
"sig": "6f23200fd7c2469a9dfc8c97d56efde8a934ff5be7081479c1b39db9c08189edf6e844e66b5f4a86a9c706363bff6c200b8a07748d60ae375d24525e05ad6001"
}