ok, raise your hand if you have heard of e-prime. no, it isn't a robot fighting for the side of good. no, it isn't a computer language either, but it is a language so i might give you half-credit for that guess. this is a term that has stuck with me for generations and i have never found a practical use for it yet other than conversation topic. guess where i heard it... give up? a raver brought it up online back in the day when hyperreal was at its peak and vrave was still running under the hyperreal domain. oh you're curious now, right? guess what- it's covered over at wiki! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Prime
here is an excerpt just to get you started on a very interesting article:
"E-Prime, short for English-Prime, is a modified form of English. It uses very slightly simplified syntax and vocabulary, eliminating all forms of the verb to be: be, is, am, are, was, were, been and being (and their contractions). Sentences composed in E-Prime seldom contain the passive voice, which in turn may force the writer or speaker to think differently (compare the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis). By eliminating most uses of the passive voice, E-Prime encourages writers and speakers to make explicit the agent of a statement,[1] possibly making the written text easier to read and understand.
E-Prime is used as a mental discipline to filter speech and translate the speech of others.[2] For example, the sentence "the movie was good", translated into E-Prime, could become "I liked the movie". The translation communicates the speaker's subjective experience of the movie rather than the speaker's judgment of the movie. In this example, using E-Prime makes it harder for the writer or reader to confuse a statement of opinion with a statement of fact."
"Contents:
* 1 History
* 2 Different functions of 'to be'
* 3 Rationale
* 4 Discouraged forms
o 4.1 Allowed words
o 4.2 Allowed words with prohibited homophones or homographs
* 5 Examples
* 6 Examples of literal translation vs. translation "in the spirit" of E-Prime
o 6.1 First example of literal translation
o 6.2 Second example of literal translation
o 6.3 An example of translation "in the spirit" of E-Prime
* 7 Criticisms
* 8 References
* 9 Footnotes
* 10 See also
* 11 External links"
as you can gather, it's actually a very interesting article. however, this wouldn't be the only unusual formulation of language in existence. Who's heard of esperanto? no, it isn't a coffee, car, or bean. it's an auxiliary language and guess what- there's more than one kind of auxiliary language. check it out here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Esperanto and while you're at it, look up auxiliary languages here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_auxiliary_language. these are very interesting reads, folks. seriously!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
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2 comments:
You and your readers ought to know that Esperanto is spoken by about two million people. There are Esperanto speakers sp[eakers scattered all over the globe - even in the United States.
I have used Esperanto on my travels for many years - most recently in Cameroon.
hey bill,
thanks for the tidbit! it's always interesting to have numbers behind the facts. thank you for reading and sharing.
language has been intriguing to me for quite some time both because of my cultural diversity and my family's inherent capability. it's always interesting to know who speaks what where as well as being able to learn a new language.
for instance, i have studied english, french, spanish, japanese, and additionally know a smattering of several other languages including recreational languages such as pig latin and oppish. particularly in english, one will see a peppering of words and expressions in various other languages- and why, not? consider the origins of the english language!
it amazes me to see people who not only do not enrich their lives with the wealth of language, but discourage such integrated use of languages. sometimes the best word or expression available when describing something is, in fact, in another language. it is my hope to see more people learn additional languages and make better use of them in their daily lives because knowledge is power.
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