http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2007/05/31/tones_and_genes/ language-related musings - one language is never enough / ét sprog er aldrig nok Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:19:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.1 http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2007/05/31/tones_and_genes/#comment-50251 Sat, 09 Jun 2007 19:01:40 +0000 http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2007/05/31/tones_and_genes/#comment-50251 The continental scandinavian languages are tonal. Do Swedes have these genes? The continental scandinavian languages are tonal. Do Swedes have these genes?

]]> http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2007/05/31/tones_and_genes/#comment-49004 Fri, 01 Jun 2007 15:32:30 +0000 http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2007/05/31/tones_and_genes/#comment-49004 I will be interested to see what the "one-world-language" theorists do with this one. I can easily imagine how such theorists might claim that when the Indo-European and Semitic-speaking populations lost the genes that made tonal languages favorable, their language groups branched away from whatever the "world language" was. I don't think I put that very clearly...basically, somebody may now try to claim that the Sino-Tibetan languages, and some African languages, are in fact related to the non-tonal languages in some obscure way. I will be interested to see what the “one-world-language” theorists do with this one. I can easily imagine how such theorists might claim that when the Indo-European and Semitic-speaking populations lost the genes that made tonal languages favorable, their language groups branched away from whatever the “world language” was. I don’t think I put that very clearly…basically, somebody may now try to claim that the Sino-Tibetan languages, and some African languages, are in fact related to the non-tonal languages in some obscure way.

]]> http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2007/05/31/tones_and_genes/#comment-48935 Fri, 01 Jun 2007 03:24:10 +0000 http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2007/05/31/tones_and_genes/#comment-48935 I hope I have the correct genes for learning tonal languages since I might be studying Chinese next year. I hope I have the correct genes for learning tonal languages since I might be studying Chinese next year.

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