Is "worth" a preposition?

[mmasny]

It works amazingly well, I agree. I just don`t expect it always works. Animals don`t study zoology, and languages don`t study linguistics.... so they sometimes just don`t fit into pidgeon-holes.

Actually, languages do study linguistics at least to some extent. Since ancient times, linguistics have played an important role in the process of shaping the languages (by important I don't mean 'good', rather 'noticeable').

So, although very figurative, the comparison to animals and zoology is not entirely cogent. But it serves its aim well - shows that the language is not merely an academic notion.

 

[konungursvia]

For the most part, I'd say it's non-linguists that drive innovation in language; or, as we hear so often in North America, it's "so not the linguists" that make things happen in the hood.

Example: Ronsard and Du Bellay attempted to shape the French language with their "Défense & Illustration de la Langue Francoyse", and they were the ones to succeed, if anyone could. No one paid attention, and their proposed innovations never caught on. Does the Académie Française do anything? Do we lose anything not having an English Academy? I think it's clear language is influenced very little by those who study it formally, as compared to those who merely use it.

 

[mmasny]

For the most part, I'd say it's non-linguists that drive innovation in language; or, as we hear so often in North America, it's "so not the linguists" that make things happen in the hood.

Example: Ronsard and Du Bellay attempted to shape the French language with their "Défense & Illustration de la Langue Francoyse", and they were the ones to succeed, if anyone could. No one paid attention, and their proposed innovations never caught on. Does the Académie Française do anything? Do we lose anything not having an English Academy? I think it's clear language is influenced very little by those who study it formally, as compared to those who merely use it.

I beg to differ. I did not say the lingusts were the ones to drive innovations. I meant that they were something noticeably influencing the language. It doesn't necessarily mean changing it. Constraining the changes is influence too. And people do follow lingusts' directions sometimes. This is true that they somehow don't want to do that always. I'd just like to point that the opposite is also untrue. For example, there are two Polish guys (Miodek, Bralczyk) whose words certainly don't return to them empty (although if they always accomplish what they desire is not obvious). Many people listen to them and some (still not few) try to adjust their speech and writing so that they meet those requirements.

 

[Frank Antonson]

You are probably right about the "not always". Now and then I like to return to the fact that I am in this for the fun of it. Competitive Sentence Diagramming (CSD) is fun. My students yesterday proved that again.

 

[mmasny]

I think I follow you, and I think I agree.

But, I find it interesting and amazing that such a fairly limited set of (Platonic) ideals can cover such a wide range of communication -- at least when you limit it to the written words themselves without their actual oral delivery.

Thank you for this thought, it was new to me.