tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jan 22 19:26:50 1996
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Re: "Native Speakers" (was Re: chu' mu'mey nuqDaq vItu'laH'a')
>Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 07:27:56 -0800
>From: "Garrett Michael Hayes" <[email protected]>
>This leads to a very interesting question... How are we to define
>"native speakers"? For example, are there *any* "native speakers"
>or Esperanto? Clearly, there was never a land where Esperanto
>evolved on it's own! Perhaps the fact that some people have been
>raised speaking the Esperanto from childhood is enough? If so, can
>we look forward to a day when there *will* be "native speakers" of
>tlhIngan Hol?
Well, there actually *are* native speakers of Esperanto: peopole for whom
it is the first language, learned at home, etc. (usually the children of
parents who met at Esperanto events and who shared no other language in
common). Not many, and Esperantists are sort of ambivalent about them,
since E-o is not supposed to be a native language, but a second language
for everyone.
As to tlhIngan-Hol, it's safe to say that my son, at least, will not grow
up speaking tlhIngan-Hol as a native language. You really need to have at
least both parents and then some speaking it to the child. And my wife
would probably kill me even if I managed it another way. But who's to say
there never will be? And as for me, I'm not all that concerned one way or
another, at this point.
~mark