could total isolation be the reason English didn't change in 2000 years on Novus?

[LT. COL. John Sheppard]

Do we have any examples of how a language changes when a group is in isolation? One reason that languages change is contact with other languages. Novus was isolated form change, but that's not the only thing that causes language changes. The English of Novus would likely lose a lot of words. Many words just wouldn't be relevant to anything on Novus. If a word isn't used, it will be lost. The meaning and connotation of words will change over time.

here is a few from the paper i posted
Attack is Atak
Times is Tymes
Siege is Seege
Horror is Horor

[garhkal]

I loved those screen caps of the news paper... or was that pics of an actual prop used?

[QuantumIguana]

One change that would happen quicky is a rapid pruning of the language. Any English words that the Destiny crew didn't use would disappear out of the language. And even of the words they used, some of them would have little or no meaning on Novus, some technical terms, and they would fade. words would also change their meaning as the people on Novus repurposed to the words.

Much of the culture would be pared down. For example, they would only know the story of the Trojan War if someone recorded it in the Kino. But they wouldn't record the whole thing, just highlights from memory. Over time, people would flesh out the stories with their own experience, turning the skeleton of the story into something of their own.

[Mardus]

I'm surprised given how fast a drone attack (or "ATAK" ) is that they had enough time and organisation left to keep printing the news paper

If electricity is out, then using a good old mechanical printing press is eventually one of the last reliable things to disseminate textual information with. Chances are that the attacks happening on one part of the planet (it was not Novus, btw) reflected quickly on another in as yet unaffected part of the world in local news (if they used something similar to the Internet to spread information quickly).

[blueray]

i'd image the language would change but not as much as if they had contact with another group of people. though i imagine new words would be added to describe the planet, and as people have said old words would seize to exist.

[LT. COL. John Sheppard]

I loved those screen caps of the news paper... or was that pics of an actual prop used?

prop i can grab the cap if you want

[garhkal]

Na, since its a cap, i can do it myself.. but man that was a score getting the prop.

[slimjim]

If electricity is out, then using a good old mechanical printing press is eventually one of the last reliable things to disseminate textual information with. Chances are that the attacks happening on one part of the planet (it was not Novus, btw) reflected quickly on another in as yet unaffected part of the world in local news (if they used something similar to the Internet to spread information quickly).

that assumes 1)there are other cities besides Terminus (why does no real city have a name that cool?lol)on that planet. 2) the drones didn't attack every city at once

[garhkal]

It would be easy to see them NOT attacking every city at once, as depending on where/the size of the city, it would 'show' more of a technicial signature the bigger it was..
Though i wonder if they ever thought to make tunnels, to hide in.

[QuantumIguana]

Why wouldn't their be more cities. Our species is social, we're much more likely to live in cities than to be hermits, but we don't all congregate in one city. It probably wouldn't have been too long before people started spreading out and starting new villages.

[slimjim]

Why wouldn't their be more cities

because gateverse planets usually aren't very heavily populated and on an under populated world you would only likely get a large city around the stargate owing to it's connection to other worlds

[LtColCarter]

Why wouldn't their be more cities. Our species is social, we're much more likely to live in cities than to be hermits, but we don't all congregate in one city. It probably wouldn't have been too long before people started spreading out and starting new villages.

I don't know why there aren't more cities. However, look at how the US has grown in just over 200 years. You'd think in 2000 years there would be a lot more growth.

[slimjim]

I don't know why there aren't more cities. However, look at how the US has grown in just over 200 years. You'd think in 2000 years there would be a lot more growth.

the difference is that the USA has had continues influxes of immigrants over that time where as all the humans in this galaxy are descended from one original group of about like 88 original colonists

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

slimjim,

the difference is that the USA has had continues influxes of immigrants over that time where as all the humans in this galaxy are descended from one original group of about like 88 original colonists

With lots in that gene pool haveing the gene for ALS. It's no surprise they developed a cure. It must have been a real problem given the genetic bottleneck they started with.

[slimjim]

slimjim,



With lots in that gene pool haveing the gene for ALS. It's no surprise they developed a cure. It must have been a real problem given the genetic bottleneck they started with.

I like that idea, I think it's what TV tropes call "Frigid Brilliance"

[Quetzocoetl]

I think we're forgetting that Novus had recordings of the Destiny crew that survived up until they fled the planet.
It's likely that the language didn't change much because they were able to listen to from the source rather than have it taught and passed down from generation to generation.

[garhkal]

Plus maybe they reviered that language since they did say they called them the ancestors!