Quote:... wrote on Apr 18
th, 2012 at 12:37pm:
bobbythefap1 wrote on Apr 18
th, 2012 at 12:34pm:
... wrote on Apr 18
th, 2012 at 12:28pm:
bobbythefap1 wrote on Apr 18
th, 2012 at 12:25pm:
____ wrote on Apr 18
th, 2012 at 12:24pm:
About time every Australian learnt an Aboriginal languages.
Speak Aboriginal or Bugger Off !
So true!!
To what end?
If I had a dollar for every time I have heard an immigrant Australian say 'these damn immigrants should learn to speak our language or rack off' etc..
Ok.
But that wasn't the question. What's the point of forcing everybody to learn a language that is a) so incomplete as to be useless b) not spoken anywhere else.
How do you say "deoxyribonucleic acid" in pitjantjatjarra?
So OK dickhead if you don't want to use aboriginal language what are you going to do with all the aboriginal words that we use everyday now?
Parramatta what would you call that now, what about a kangaroo, what would you call Wagga Wagga
Really? If you're going to open with an insult, you'd best have a good argument to follow. Sadly, the emptiness of your argument reflects the emptiness of your head.
You see, I can refer to the name of a place without being fluent in the language.
I don't speak french, but I can say the name of the city "bordeaux".
I don't speak mexican, but I can refer to "mt popcatepetl"
Name changes are not exactly unprecedented either. Funny that the monolith formerly known as Ayers rock should still be understood now that it is referred to as Uluru. But who dam cares - this ain't about refusing to use a word cos it's from another language, the suggestion was to force everyone to start speaking a useless language.
Now since words are "made" out of necessity, aboriginal languages (of which there are hundreds) don't have words for things which they had no concept of. They migth have 100 words for sand, or spinifex, but no words for..well, just about everything apart from sand and spinifex.
You'll also be well aware that language exists only so far as it can be understood. English is widely spoken and understood, so it is useful in a wide range of situtaions. Obscure languages spoken by 100 people, all from the same area are incredibly limited in utility. So limited as to be useless in 99.9999% of situtaions.
So the question stands - what point is there, in first creating a language (as no existing aboriginal language has anywhere near enough content to be useful in the modern world) just so that we can force everyone to learn it?