Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83 (MC840302); site mcvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!mcvax!steven From: steven@mcvax.UUCP (Steven Pemberton) Newsgroups: net.ai,net.nlang Subject: Re: natural language deficiencies? Message-ID: <6115@mcvax.UUCP> Date: Wed, 24-Oct-84 11:49:14 EDT Article-I.D.: mcvax.6115 Posted: Wed Oct 24 11:49:14 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 26-Oct-84 06:58:58 EDT References: <12582@sri-arpa.UUCP> <12300003@uicsl.UUCP> <194@oliveb.UUCP> <619@gloria.UUCP> <801@aplvax.UUCP> Reply-To: steven@mcvax.UUCP (Steven Pemberton) Organization: CWI, Amsterdam Lines: 18 Xref: mcvax net.ai:1452 net.nlang:90Summary: I find this talk of 'deficiencies' a little disturbing. A deficiency is in the ear of the listener, surely. If a language doesn't have a particular feature, then that is only because the speakers of that language don't need it. If they perceived a need for it, something would develop. As an example, 'standard' English doesn't distinguish between 'you' singular and plural, while many languages do. Is this a deficiency of English? Most English speakers would probably say not because they get along fine as it is. However certain dialects of English apparently found it a deficiency, because they went and invented a plural version (y'all in USA, youse in England). A similar example is the difficulty in English of saying something in a gender-neutral way (Chinese has a single word for 'he or she' for instance). Many English speakers find this a deficiency, and so are developing ways to express these things.