Science Says You Can Split Infinitives and Use the Passive Voice

[erwins]

It's more likely that the word "language" is being used loosely. It has bugged me when, for example, lawyers refer to "the language of the statute." All of the times I've seen that phrase, the language of the statute was English. What the writer meant was "the text of the statute."

[Esprise Me]

I'm with LPP on this. One of the things that's so cool about language is how the existing structure allows new words to become integrated as various parts of speech, so that, for example, when we learn of a new technology called Skype that allows you to video-call people over the internet, we somehow all immediately know that making these calls should be referred to as "Skyping." It's not a new language; it's thoroughly English. If we were speaking Spanish, we'd probably be verbing it as "Skypar" and conjugating it as a regular -ar verb.

[ganzfeld]

Originally Posted by erwins

It's more likely that the word "language" is being used loosely.

I don't really get what you mean here. The word language has always meant the words used as well as the language system.

[Lainie]

What Ganza said. Parents who tell their kids "watch your language!" are not warning them against unintentionally slipping from English into Dutch.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Originally Posted by Lainie

What Ganza said. Parents who tell their kids "watch your language!" are not warning them against unintentionally slipping from English into Dutch.

It would be pretty cool if they were.

Last night at dinner, a friend was talking about the frustrations concerning the way some work related notes were being taken, that the language wasn't correct. I kept asking her what language she thought should be used and she finally said "Business English." At that point I said, "okay, now you can complain about specifics. You can't complain about the language someone uses to write the notes until you identify the language they should be using." (yes, I know that business English is at best a dialog; work with me here).

Seaboe

[erwins]

Originally Posted by ganzfeld

I don't really get what you mean here. The word language has always meant the words used as well as the language system.

Fair enough. I'll restate the point I was making then. I don't think Latiam and LPP are using the same sense of the word "language." I don't think Latiam literally meant that a new language was being created by a collection of neologisms.

ETA: Only because I'm curious, do you have a cite that it has always meant both? I accept that from a descriptivist perspective, it has both meanings, but I'm curious about the timing.

[Alarm]

Originally Posted by Esprise Me

I'm with LPP on this. One of the things that's so cool about language is how the existing structure allows new words to become integrated as various parts of speech, so that, for example, when we learn of a new technology called Skype that allows you to video-call people over the internet, we somehow all immediately know that making these calls should be referred to as "Skyping." It's not a new language; it's thoroughly English. If we were speaking Spanish, we'd probably be verbing it as "Skypar" and conjugating it as a regular -ar verb.

and in French it would be Skyper, conjugated like a regular ER verb...

[Little Pink Pill]

Originally Posted by Lainie

What Ganza said. Parents who tell their kids "watch your language!" are not warning them against unintentionally slipping from English into Dutch.

Yep, when people refer to the language of a contract or to someone's potty mouth, they are talking about the use of that language, not an entirely new one.

Originally Posted by Esprise Me

It's not a new language; it's thoroughly English. If we were speaking Spanish, we'd probably be verbing it as "Skypar" and conjugating it as a regular -ar verb.

Exactly! And that's what makes it so brilliant. The rate at which these new terms are entering vocabularies all over the world reflects not only how universal the technology is, but how perfectly adaptable these ancient systems of communication are, and how quickly the human mind can grasp a new concept and own it.

The fact that we don't need a new language is actually astounding. We can tweet in the language of Shakespeare.

[Little Pink Pill]

Originally Posted by erwins

I don't think Latiam and LPP are using the same sense of the word "language." I don't think Latiam literally meant that a new language was being created by a collection of neologisms.

That's possible, and why I asked her for clarification.

But she said "a new language." If you said, "this law is written in a new language," no one would think you were refering to the wording.