💾 Archived View for yujiri.xyz › argument › changing-language.gmi captured on 2022-06-03 at 23:25:13. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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I sometimes find it irritating to see people mispronounce or mispell words, especially when it seems impossible that the person doesn't know how to pronounce it correctly. The example that irritated me most was hearing a presentation on the science of trees pronounce "mature" as "muh-turr" - no *ch*. I made fun of it to everyone I was with afterward. Some time after I started hearing other people say it outside of that, and I got even more agitated.
But a few years later, I learned something.
I've believed for years now - even before that experience I think - that the world needs a designed language to replace the current ones and that I am going to try to do it:
So what if the people mispronouncing like that were actually like me? After all, if a pronounciation becomes mainstream, then it becomes by definition correct. So there's nothing wrong with the idea of deliberately trying to change a language by being the change you wanna see. There's no reason that *t* should have a *ch* sound. Maybe that guy was wise and he was trying to make the world a better place, bit by bit.
I also have a lot more respect for people trying to institute gender-neutral third-person singular pronouns now. Not that I was ever opposed to the goal, but darn, barring a conlang, that's the way to go.