Re: languages

From: Karin Goihl & Daniel Fahey <goihlk_at_zedat.fu-berlin.de>
Date: Sat, 30 Oct 1999 13:32:52 +0200


Peter or Bob?:
> I do not believe that Pavic natives have forgotten most of their
> EWF-era language and replaced it with foreign words.

Daniel:
Language is a complex system of vocabulary, grammar, and rules of use. All of these things change. German has taken on hundreds of English words since the war but this has had no effect on the grammar. Germans today have no difficulty understanding pre-war German. Actually REPLACING words usually occurs over long periods of time, and is only PART of a change in language.

Peter or Bob?:
> Nobody today speaks EWF-era Old Pavic nor are there any circumstances
> in which one concievably encounters a living speaker of EWF Old Pavic.

Daniel: There are lots of remnants left, most probably spirits, but there are long-lived beings from those times. Aside from Pavis himself there are beings such as Fang Forosh and the vampire from the old Sun Dome who know languages from that time.

>Waha Knots are a coded communication separate from the Praxian language.
>I think that it was introduced in 'Borderlands'. There is also a
>reference in the Prax Book of Drastic Resolutions.

Daniel: Praxian Knot Writing was introduced in Snake Pipe Hollow.


End of The Glorantha Digest V7 #133


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