Talk:Natural language

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[edit] Native speakers of constructed languages

Constructed languages can still have "native" speakers, if children learn it at a young age from parents who have learned the language.

Why is this factoid about here but not in constructed languages? --Ed Poor

I don't think this is actually true, unless the constructed language obeys universal grammar, which I don't know of any that do. Unless there is a citation for this? -- Beland 19:20, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure if got this right, but you seem to be saying that 1) constructed languages cannot have native speakers if they do not obey "universal grammar", and 2) you don't know any constructed languages that obey it. But it is a well-known fact that there are native speakers of Esperanto, whereas universal grammar is a disputed theoretical concept that does not have any commonly accepted definition. --AAikio 06:12, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Modes of languages

I'm not sure if it should be added, so I'll let someone else do so if they think it's worth noting. In the opening sentence, it is mentioned that languages can be spoken or signed. I'm wondering if that should be eliminated or expanded in a list. There are many more language modes, which would not fit into a concise sentence. They should either be listed or left out. The modes I can come up with are: spoken written signed tactile Certainly the different modes of a language are related, and not all languages have exist in each mode. Actually, 4 modes could be incorporated into a sentence. I'll try.