So much for the individual gain, in that my perspective in a way enhances
that expressed by Eva Ekblad. But in addition, I think that a related kind
of triangulation takes place on XMCA anyhow, within the one English
language medium -- just because so many and different voices are not only
uttered but also sensibly received and taken up. This requires an agreed
upon form. I comply with Jay that overscrupulous form deviations should not
be taken as a basis for judging those who commit them. But I am not so sure
as Ana when she applauds the changeability of English and so emphasizes the
medium's flexibility. It was Fritz Heider who in 1921 aready has pointed
out that a medium is useless in both cases: when it is too resistive
because of its own character and when it is too adaptive to what it is to
confer because of no proper character. The English language today, in my
opinion, is perhaps quite a bit on the flexible side; too many people are
then tempted to recognize "the" reality in the words, while, when language
resists, you realize, a text is a version of something beyond, a form of
some set of conditions and a phase of some ensuing effects. Indeed, as Mike
Cole hinted at in another context: "when words are remembered,
'automatically'" then "culture becomes transparent", i.e. not properly
valued.
Alfred
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Alfred Lang Internet: lang who-is-at psy.unibe.ch
Psychology, Univ. of Bern, Unitobler, Muesmattstr. 45, CH-3000 Bern 9
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