Re:Linguist claims that English Is a Scandinavian language
by anthonyu on Wednesday November 28, 2012 @06:15PM
(#4845353)
It's an interesting argument; however I am a little dissuaded by the fact that half of the support for the claims of similar syntax between Norwegian and English (split infinitives and placing a preposition at the end of a sentence) are generally considered poor grammar in English.
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Re:Linguist claims that English Is a Scandinavian language
by fusiongyro on Wednesday November 28, 2012 @06:30PM
(#4845419)
They're considered "poor grammar" for historical reasons (mainly because they're impossible in Latin), not because they are not understood (compare to "I the dog kick" which is ungrammatical in a much more rigorous sense). From a linguistic standpoint what's interesting is what is understood and what isn't, not what is the most proper.
Re:Linguist claims that English Is a Scandinavian language
by mc32 on Wednesday November 28, 2012 @06:31PM
(#4845429)
Those protests were popularized by grammarians who learned grammar thru a Latin lens, so, to them, being used to the Latin grammar, this construct in English looked incorrect. From a Germanic language context, though, it's perfectly normal.