Re: [Ltru] my technical position on extlang

John Cowan <cowan@ccil.org> Sun, 25 May 2008 19:37 UTC

Return-Path: <ltru-bounces@ietf.org>
X-Original-To: ltru-archive@megatron.ietf.org
Delivered-To: ietfarch-ltru-archive@core3.amsl.com
Received: from [127.0.0.1] (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by core3.amsl.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 101793A69F9; Sun, 25 May 2008 12:37:27 -0700 (PDT)
X-Original-To: ltru@core3.amsl.com
Delivered-To: ltru@core3.amsl.com
Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by core3.amsl.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id DFFF73A6940 for <ltru@core3.amsl.com>; Sun, 25 May 2008 12:34:44 -0700 (PDT)
X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at amsl.com
X-Spam-Flag: NO
X-Spam-Score: -2.163
X-Spam-Level:
X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.163 tagged_above=-999 required=5 tests=[AWL=-0.164, BAYES_00=-2.599, J_CHICKENPOX_44=0.6]
Received: from mail.ietf.org ([64.170.98.32]) by localhost (core3.amsl.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id qFy5LzKjqPaU for <ltru@core3.amsl.com>; Sun, 25 May 2008 12:34:44 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from earth.ccil.org (earth.ccil.org [192.190.237.11]) by core3.amsl.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 37F073A68D2 for <ltru@ietf.org>; Sun, 25 May 2008 12:34:44 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from cowan by earth.ccil.org with local (Exim 4.63) (envelope-from <cowan@ccil.org>) id 1K0LzN-0000un-NU; Sun, 25 May 2008 15:34:41 -0400
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 15:34:41 -0400
To: Stephane Bortzmeyer <bortzmeyer@nic.fr>
Message-ID: <20080525193441.GD10222@mercury.ccil.org>
References: <30b660a20805181149u2e1e3fb9y1a3b5b751c3e6998@mail.gmail.com> <20080523044305.GB7960@mercury.ccil.org> <30b660a20805230851r519f5d14wd93a92494d1db1c9@mail.gmail.com> <20080523160905.GD21554@mercury.ccil.org> <30b660a20805231405q56b156c4vbb3b6abda4af3893@mail.gmail.com> <20080523225400.GB13152@mercury.ccil.org> <30b660a20805231639w1de0fda8w116662738f8c5d6a@mail.gmail.com> <20080523234427.GC13152@mercury.ccil.org> <20080525173050.GA11306@sources.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Disposition: inline
In-Reply-To: <20080525173050.GA11306@sources.org>
User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.13 (2006-08-11)
From: John Cowan <cowan@ccil.org>
Cc: LTRU Working Group <ltru@ietf.org>
Subject: Re: [Ltru] my technical position on extlang
X-BeenThere: ltru@ietf.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.9
Precedence: list
List-Id: Language Tag Registry Update working group discussion list <ltru.ietf.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ltru>, <mailto:ltru-request@ietf.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://www.ietf.org/pipermail/ltru>
List-Post: <mailto:ltru@ietf.org>
List-Help: <mailto:ltru-request@ietf.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ltru>, <mailto:ltru-request@ietf.org?subject=subscribe>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Sender: ltru-bounces@ietf.org
Errors-To: ltru-bounces@ietf.org

Stephane Bortzmeyer scripsit:

> A question for the linguists: I suspect that "mutual intelligibility"
> is not transitive. That is, A can be "mutually comprehensible" with B
> and B with C but not A with C. Are there documented cases of
> non-transitivity?

Indeed.  English being a pluricentric language, it's easy to set up
chains where each adjacent pair of varieties is mutually intelligible,
but the endpoints are not.  For that matter, there is no sharp linguistic
boundary between Italy and France at the level of local dialect (or
insofar as there is one, it is well inside the political boundaries of
Italy), though obviously Standard Italian and Standard French are not
mutually intelligible.

-- 
John Cowan                                cowan@ccil.org
I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen,    http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith.  --Galadriel, LOTR:FOTR
_______________________________________________
Ltru mailing list
Ltru@ietf.org
https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ltru