3 ms·

> Seems like this would be an interesting experiment in itself. And one we have already carried out many thousands of times. Just ask a classicist or a medieva

• singularity2001 8y ago
  As useless as the bible might seem otherwise, from a linguistic point of view it is may be the most valuable document in the world. It is _the_ standard corpus for many languages going back 2000 years. The actual content becomes secondary.
• daveguy 8y ago
  I see your point, but I was talking about a controlled experiment with specific changes to a specific text at short defined intervals. The texts that historians study -- are they so frequently updated and such a well defined piece of text for a specific purpose? Maybe some are, but from what I understand new editions are much more haphazard (there isn't a specific simple goal) and old editions are often lost. I wasn't aware of a specific long term language experiment specifically designed to keep revisions over a long term, but then I'm definitely not a historian. Just a thought.
  • elliekelly 8y ago
    > I wasn't aware of a specific long term language experiment specifically designed to keep revisions over a long term It doesn't even come close to ticking all of the boxes you've mentioned but perhaps the bible is the closest thing to what you've described?
    • daveguy 8y ago
      Agreed 100%, the bible is by far the closest that I can think of too. One lack there is there are usually multiple translations to a single language, but updates within language (eg KJV to New International) doesn't come along nearly as often as that initial "authoritative" translation. As singularity2001 said, from a linguist perspective it's probably the most valuable document in the world, regardless of content.