Edward Sapir
Edward Sapir
Edward Sapirwas an American anthropologist-linguist, who is widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the early development of the discipline of linguistics...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth26 January 1884
CountryUnited States of America
expression perfect would-be
Were a language ever completely "grammatical" it would be a perfect engine of conceptual expression. Unfortunately, or luckily, no language is tyrannically consistent. All grammars leak.
sacrifice demand facts
A common creation demands a common sacrifice, and perhaps not the least potent argument in favour of a constructed international language is the fact that it is equally foreign, or apparently so, to the traditions of all nationalities.
past light done
I am convinced that the stratigraphic method will in the future enable archaeology to throw far more light on the history of American culture than it has done in the past.
simplicity example limits
These examples of the lack of simplicity in English and French, all appearances to the contrary, could be multiplied almost without limit and apply to all national languages.
expression world common
A common allegiance to form of expression that is identified with no single national unit is likely to prove one of the most potent symbols of the freedom of the human spirit that the world has yet known.
matter facts language
As a matter of fact, a national language which spreads beyond its own confines very quickly loses much of its original richness of content and is in no better case than a constructed language.
giving elements movement
Comparison of statements made at different periods frequently enable us to give maximal and minimal dates to the appearance of a cultural element or to assign the time limits to a movement of population.
religious latin long
Both French and Latin are involved with nationalistic and religious implications which could not be entirely shaken off, and so, while they seemed for a long time to have solved the international language problem up to a certain point, they did not really do so in spirit.
historical realizing anthropology
Cultural anthropology is more and more rapidly getting to realize itself as a strictly historical science.
age legends information
A second type of direct evidence is formed by statements, whether as formal legends or personal information, regarding the age or relative sequence of events in tribal history made by the natives themselves.
country countries-of-the-world doe
A firm, for instance, that does business in many countries of the world is driven to spend an enormous amount of time, labour, and money in providing for translation services.
simple creative language
A standard international language should not only be simple, regular, and logical, but also rich and creative.
heart crowds hopeless
It would, of course, be hopeless to attempt to crowd into an international language all those local overtones of meaning which are so dear to the heart of the nationalist.
teaching secret fruit
It is no secret that the fruits of language study are in no sort of relation to the labour spent on teaching and learning them.