CDR: Re: Treatment of subjugated people (and bagpipes)

ocorrain at esatclear.ie ocorrain at esatclear.ie
Mon Sep 4 15:17:30 PDT 2000



> There are ancient inscriptions in Wales  
> that no one has been able to read in modern times.  Deciphering 
> an unknown langauge, not related to known languages, when it is 
> written in an unknown script is a feat of linguistics that 
> transcends mere cryptanalysis and has, so far, rarely or never 
> been done.

However, one cannot discount the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics
the Rosetta Stone. I imagine it would be extremely difficult to decipher a
language that very structurally different from what is known. It is interesting
to speculate about artificial grammars. Most human and computer languages (with interesting
exceptions, such as the Hopi Indians' concept of time -- others can describe computer exceptions) 
follow the verb, noun, preposition-based method of signification.
I don't know whether any work has been done on constructing a seriously
structurally different artificial grammar. Jorges Luis Borges has an interesting
riff on the idea. If anyone's interested, I'll dig out the details.

> "Poor Man's Crypto", possibly even better than digital crypto, 
> may consist in creating an artificial language together, and 
> then using it whenever you don't want to be eavesdropped on. 

As in thieves' cant. Or Irish. Speaking Irish was such a crime that schoolchildren
wore a 'tally-stick' around their necks. Each Irish word meant a notch on the stick.
A certain number of notches meant punishment, probably not gentle. Those who imposed this
system were Irish, not English.

In France, the Africans have an argot called verlins (an anagram of l'invers - the inverse)
where syllables within words are transposed, or words are spoken backwards. Not
very popular with the Corps Republican Securite.

All the best

Tiarnan





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