Re: literacy

From: bethexton_at_...
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 13:46:42 -0000

The problem with using English as a comparison point is that English may be one of the least stable languages ever spoken. I'm told that a modern Pole can read medeival polish without much difficulty, and I've known spaniards who were able to get by in Italy quite well, by speaking spanish carefully and listening carefully to Italian--and those two languages have been seperated for ~1500 years. And I've seen it suggested that cultures relying on oral tradition generally have slower skew rates for their languages, because it is important not to change the old words in many cases.

On top of that, there is the effect that all the men hear storm speech when on the other side. While they may not remember it clearly upon returning to the mortal world, I expect this creates a stronger anchor than latin ever did for the romance languages in Europe.

So even after four hundred years of seperation the changes may not have been that dramatic.

(Sure, you can argue the other way, if you want everyone to be mutually unintelligible).

-Bryan

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