Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.pyt...@pearwood.info>: > Marko Rauhamaa wrote: > >> The natural language has a rigorous grammar plus a lexicon that includes >> a number of idioms. Nobody has so far been able to codify a natural >> language completely because the rigorous grammar consists of maybe >> 10,000 rules. > > If nobody has codified the rigorous grammar, how do they know it is > rigorous?
Even a five-year-old will immediately spot grammar mistakes (and let you know about them!). > Given how natural languages are constantly in flux (in both space and time), > I don't even know how you could define all the rules of a grammar > rigorously. By the time you finished, it would be different. Every brain has a slightly different variant, and that is evolving, too. However, you can spot a non-native speaker (or a speaker outside your community) in a fraction of a second after they open their mouth. > If grammar is defined by usage, not formal rule books (which don't > exist!), then surely LOLspeak is grammatical. (It's probably closer to > an argot than a full language, but even so.) Whatever it is, your brain will recognize its native language. You never make a grammar mistake that you don't spot yourself right away. Marko -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
