Darwin-L Message Log 4:33 (December 1993)

Academic Discussion on the History and Theory of the Historical Sciences

This is one message from the Archives of Darwin-L (1993–1997), a professional discussion group on the history and theory of the historical sciences.

Note: Additional publications on evolution and the historical sciences by the Darwin-L list owner are available on SSRN.

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<4:33>From idavidso@metz.une.edu.au  Thu Dec  9 17:55:30 1993

Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1993 10:58:16 +0700
To: darwin-l@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu
From: idavidso@metz.une.edu.au (Iain Davidson)
Subject: Re: DARWIN-L digest 88

>A silly question came to my mind after reading Nelson's interesting question,
>and its equally interesting responses. Couldn't a language, whether extinct
>or pseudoextinct, be brought back to life? [sort of a linguistic 'Jurassic
>Park' maybe?] Take Latin, for example. Surely enough 'fossils' and other
>specimens of Latin exist that a rich linguistic context could be supplied to
>any community that desired--for whatever reason--to raise its upcoming
>progeny as native speakers of Latin? Wouldn't that count? I mean, I suppose
>we could dig far enough to find some technicalities to rule it out a Real
>Latin; but it seems to me that maybe this might be a case of bringing
>something back from the Dead.

Hebrew, Gaelic?

Iain Davidson
Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology
University of New England
Armidale NSW 2351
AUSTRALIA
Tel (067) 732 441
Fax (International) +61 67 73 25 26
    (Domestic) 067 73 25 26

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