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linguistics

Multithreading

I am a computer engineer.  Before I learned Japanese, I have learned about sixteen different computer languages to a degree of proficiency with which I can make production applications out of them.  In doing so, I realized that there are features every language that runs on a procedural basis will have, and each language implements these using a slightly different syntax.  The same thing is essentially true with human languages:  why do all languages have essentially the same underlying conceptual structure, and only differ by means of vocabulary and grammar? … Read More »Multithreading

How Would I Have Done It?

Let me preface this by saying: this is only a thought experiment. I have no illusions that this will ever happen. I’m not even seriously proposing it. But I do like to think about these kinds of things. So, that said, how would I redo Japanese if I were God? Well, my first thought is, expand the syllabary. Add a couple of vowels and a couple of consonants. Then, redo the syllabary to something that is logical, something like the korean hangul. Make the rules regular and predictable – this… Read More »How Would I Have Done It?