atw: Re: it's etc (was Re: US/Aus English) [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Bob.Trussler@xxxxxxxxxxx:
On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 10:47:20 +1000,  you wrote:
> I understand that the Polish language was organised
> many years ago.  The organisers thought that it would
> be a good idea to structure it like Latin.
>
> Therefore - according to a Polish lady I worked with -
> it took on a very strict grammar and that then became
> the spoken language. She spoke very good English, but
> got caught out with the use of 'a' and 'the' and when
> to use neither, because they are not used and not
> needed in Polish or Latin.

I rather think what she was referring to was that Polish
language had a history somewhat similar to English, where
Latin dominated the educated elite and the first uses
of written Polish were probably religious texts (cf Wycliff
etc..) Apparently the first learned treatises on the
language were penned in Latin, and attempted a
classification of its grammar in Latin terms... not
surprising, and it appears to be true that Polish cases
of nouns, pronouns etc follow some Latin patterns. 
But then, that's not unique to the history of 
Indo-European-origin languages. 

There doesn't seem to be much doubt that the 
Polish spoken language developed out of the Lekhitic
subgroup of the West Slavian languages, or that they were
widely spoken in a number of areas before current written
forms or formal grammars were devised.


http://www.todaytranslations.com/index.asp-Q-Page-E-Polish-Language-History--17822993
has an interesting summary. 



--Peter M
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