From cowan@mercury.ccil.org Tue May 13 04:48:06 2003 Received: with ECARTIS (v1.0.0; list lojban-list); Tue, 13 May 2003 04:48:06 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mercury.ccil.org ([192.190.237.100] ident=mail) by digitalkingdom.org with esmtp (Exim 4.12) id 19FYGF-0000tC-00 for lojban-list@lojban.org; Tue, 13 May 2003 04:47:59 -0700 Received: from cowan by mercury.ccil.org with local (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 19FYGE-0001W5-00; Tue, 13 May 2003 07:47:58 -0400 Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 07:47:58 -0400 To: jexOm@free.fr Cc: lojban-list@lojban.org Subject: [lojban] Re: Language vs. tongue? (was: native language) Message-ID: <20030513114758.GI777@ccil.org> References: <200305130638.44005.phma@webjockey.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.3.28i From: John Cowan X-archive-position: 5236 X-ecartis-version: Ecartis v1.0.0 Sender: lojban-list-bounce@lojban.org Errors-to: lojban-list-bounce@lojban.org X-original-sender: cowan@mercury.ccil.org Precedence: bulk Reply-to: lojban-list@lojban.org X-list: lojban-list jexOm. scripsit: > A little off-topic, but it is a question I always have when reading > articles about linguistics in English. What is the difference between a > "language" and a "tongue"? Is lojban a language or a tongue? "Language" is the only and invariable word in English covering all three of "parole", "langue", and "langage". "Tongue" is used only in poetic contexts. -- John Cowan jcowan@reutershealth.com I am a member of a civilization. --David Brin