Language complexity: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 06:48, 23 April 2016

Revision as of 08:37, 23 April 2016

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=== Equal complexity hypothesis ===

During the 20th century, linguists and [[Anthropology|anthropologists]] adopted a [[standpoint theory|standpoint]] that would reject any [[Nationalism|nationalist]] ideas about supremacysuperiority of the languages of establishment. The first known quote that puts forward the idea that all languages are equally complex comes from Rulon S. Wells III, 1954, who attributes it to [[Charles F. Hockett]]. Within a year, the same idea found its way to [[Encyclopaedia Britannica]]:

{{Quote|text="''All languages of today are equally complex''(.) -- ''There are no 'primitive' languages, but all languages seem to be equally old and equally developed.''"<ref name="Joseph2012" />}}