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Re: The Germanic language formby Moron (Curate) |
on Jun 01, 2007 at 10:11 UTC ( [id://618683]=note: print w/replies, xml ) | Need Help?? |
It all started either as sanskrit, the classical language of India, which became the origin of the Indo-European languages (most of the European languages in fact).
Update: or it could be that some other proto-indo-european language was the origin of both Sanskrit and the Indo-European languages - the evidence I have read is as yet not definitive in my opinion and I am by nature skeptical of everything!)
Finnish is one of the few exceptions The main difference between natural and programming languages hitherto is that natural languages may be ambiguous and may break rules faster than they are made with long-standing popular mistakes often changing the official spelling of the words (e.g. "give a dam" (a low-valued Indian coin) being the origin of "give a damn" (should be meaningless - would have to be "a damnation"). A programming language bears no real resemblance to a natural language, it is usually a formal instruction language with a simple grammar. Perl does not have a simple grammar and has potential ambiguities that are context-resolved and so begins to take steps in the direction of a natural language. I wonder if that has been a factor in its increasing popularity? (* ref. The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language, by Melvyn Bragg, pub. Hodder & Stoughton, 2003)
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