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Making a language regular and less broken isn't the same as reducing it's cognitive power though. Think of it like this: if we made English even less regular w
by boxed 5y ago
Making a language regular and less broken isn't the same as reducing it's cognitive power though.
Think of it like this: if we made English even less regular would it make us better and freer thinkers? Of course not! It would probably make it harder to think clearly. A good example is how counting is hard to learn because the words are weirdband illogical. It's like converting between roman and Arabic numerals.
- hashkb 5y agoOr it'd give us way more options for clever poetry and songwriting. Which tends to make us better and freer thinkers. The weirder your language is, the weirder art you can make with it. The more the audience understands your nuances, the better the art, the more emotional the experience, the more happiness and empathy and connection (or fear and sadness and despair) you can project.
- antiterra 5y agoNo, you don’t need weird language for weird art, and there are amazing poems written in languages far less muddled than English. Much of art is about transcending limits, and often those limits are intentionally imposed. (See Oulipo)
- hashkb 5y agoI'm familiar with intentional constraints on art... I don't personally enjoy that but I'm not against it, the way I would be against simplifying the entire language or choosing to work in one solely for its regularity.