new words needed

I never really considered that there would be linguistic effects of climate change but there are: the inuit are having to do an Adam: name the animals that are now entering their territories for which there are no inuit words. This should prove to be a fruitful field of study for linguits, and incidently demonstrates that the postmodern idea that there is no thought outside of language needs nuancing at the very least [if not throwing over]; in order to name something it has to first be recognised and classified in a non-linguistic [pre-linguistic] way. Admittedly we shouldn't go too far the other way either since there is clearly a linguistic framework ready-made for such vocabules to fit into and the system of oppositions beloved of structuralists is formational too. So a dialogic relationship between pre and post linguistic thought is needed, but nevertheless a reality outside of the linguistic system is forcing the linguistic system to adapt here, not the other way round. Language does not entirely determine our world; sometimes at least our world determines our language.


It does all make the GW-deniers seem a little like the Dutch boy at the dyke.

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