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Thread: Is the Chinese language dead?
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[quote=STOCKTOV,36545]If I'm getting this right you're defining a language as "dead" by its lack of "un-inventiveness". Ahh, linguists the world over cringe and get that back-of-the-neck bristling thing going at statements like this. How exactly are you defining "inventiveness". From the examples you gave, apply your reasoning to english. Is English inventing any new words? How many words are in our lexicon that are borrowed or stemmed from other languages (especially in the realm of medicine, which you cited)? What exactly does it take for a word to be considered "invented" as separate from "evolved"? Inventiveness is not a criterion for "alive" or "dead" particularly because it never really happens that a language stops being inventive (unless it's dead--meaning there aren't any speakers alive). Consider the multitudes of dialects in China...dialectal stranding is oral inventiveness in a nutshell. And rogerinca makes good points at the end of his post as well. rest easy, Griz.[/quote]
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