Re: [xml-dev] Wikipedia on XML

[Michael Ludwig <milu71@gmx.de>]

Michael Kay schrieb am 08.08.2009 um 00:42:48 (+0100):
> > With the exception of "<!CDATA[" (which, just like the 
> > comment delimiters, looks suspiciously DTD-ish to me), these 
> > words can't be easily pronounced.
> 
> Well, I've only dabbled in linguistics in a very amateurish way, but
> I've never seen anyone maintain that an essential property of a
> language is that its words must be pronouncable. (Pronouncable by
> whom?)

Well, Wilhelm von Humboldt, considering the vocal origins of all
principal human languages, defines dialogue, or dialogicity, as the
essence of language; and pronounceability is certainly a prerequisite
for vocal dialogue.

Modern linguistics seem to have based a lot of their concepts on the
written word and the formal grammar, preferring structure to origin;
and of course I'll admit that this is much more applicable to XML than
Humboldt.

Also, my comment wasn't 100% serious. Still, I think syntax is a better
match for XML than language.

Regards,

Michael Ludwig