#+SETUPFILE: ../../../template/level-2.org
#+TITLE: Language
#+DATE: <2020-06-13 Sat 12:54>
#+AUTHOR: vaeringjar
#+EMAIL: vaeringjar@land
#+DESCRIPTION: Commentary and notes on folk languages
#+KEYWORDS: language

* My personal rules

/Work in progress./

I will strive to follow these rules from now on:

- No gender specific pronouns/determiners :: Use Spivak lowercase,
     except capitalize the nominative, because it has explict
     declension and seems the most dyslexic-friendly.
- No god pronouns :: They have no place.
- Use ye for plural you :: Important (ye and yers, with determiner
     yer).
- No state of being :: Use e-prime.
- Do not use "as" for "because" :: Just say because, or write the
     sentence in causal order.

** Potential rules

- Add exclusive and inclusive we, us, our, ours.
- English speakers usually refer to the "neuter" for the it pronouns,
  but I prefer the Japanese concept for inanimate objects better,
  albeit for verbs. TBD for the plural declension of the word.

* A note on pronouns

English uses pronouns and determiners (referred to below as simply
pronouns) as gender identifiers, addresses, and pointers. In general,
languages do not always do this, and not all languages allow for using
pronouns. For example, using a second person pronoun in Japanese can
mean intimacy or informal speech and thus cause offense. English also
has cases when using pronouns can cause offense when mis-gendering or
neutering someone.

Without ditching pronouns completely, I suggest reducing the use of
pronouns to pointers only. And then if someone requests a particular
address for themselves, whether it includes gender or not, use that
instead.

* Words marked for obsolescence

** man

This word and its cognates in other languages just means human, but
isms such as sexism and classism have warped its meaning. I have the
opinion that the word should no longer have any place in contemporary
language, except perhaps as an exclamation or expression such as "Ah
man! I almost had that!"

This one will take some time, so I don't expect to get it correct
while writing it this first time. Take these obvious examples:

- man
- woman
- human
- man pages

** master

This word causes offense because it has association with slavery,
often even the metaphor explicitly uses both words in practice. Thus,
one should only use this word when referring to slavery.

- master's degree
- master branch
- master device
- master drive
