Re: Digest Number 960

From: Gianfranco Geroldi <giangero_at_...>
Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 01:28:08 -0700 (PDT)


Nick counsels to read 1984 for linguistic power reference...

Let me add merely Dune. In the appendixes (IIRC, I read it about 20 years ago) it is explained that the number of words you use to describe a thing (there it was "water" of course) is directly related to the importance of the thing in everyday life.

Let's just think about the number of "new" words we not-anglophone use currently due to computer and internet overusing ;-)

In the mind of a writer or of a scenario creator, it's easy to conceive that a meta-villain can invent a language, force people to use it and by its use brainwash them. In RW the process is much more subtle, but fiction is fiction...

There is a problem (Digest Problem, probably): our in-world accounts about Glorantha are all written (as far as I know) and in ancient RW times spoken language was a looooong way different from written language, so infering the importance of Gloranthan concepts (yes, even illumination) by consulting written sources only can drive to errated conclusions.

ciao,
Gian



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