Re: languages vs dialects

[mn13189@WCUVAX1.WCU.EDU]

Poster: mn13189@WCUVAX1.WCU.EDU

On Thu, 20 Mar 1997, Dick Eney wrote:
> they _could_ make sense of it, just as, say, a Spaniard, Italian, and
> Romanian could understand one another if they spoke slowly and distinctly.

I heard an interesting bit of trivia lately that was theorized by a
linguist early in this century (I forget who).  According to this theory,
a native, monolinguistic French speaker, could hike from Paris to Rome.
If he walked a few miles a day, and every other day stopped in the area
for a day of two to acclimate himself, then he could get from Paris to
Rome and never notice when he stopped speaking French and started speaking
Italian.  Interesting theory, although I don't know that it's ever been
tried.  Anyone want to apply for a grant to do it?
Aye,
Eogan

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