1:Taken with previous studies, the new research offers a two-part answer to why grammar rules are built—and lost.2:As groups grow, the need for systematic rules becomes greater; unlearnable in-group-speak with random variation won’t do.3:But languages develop more rules than they need; as they are learned by foreign speakers joining the group, some of these get stripped away.[...]114:This can explain why pairs of closely related languages—Tajik and Persian, Icelandic and Swedish, Frisian and English—differ in grammatical complexity.5:In each couple, the former language is both smaller and more isolated.6:Systematicity is required for growth.7:Lost complexity is the cost of foreigners learning your language.8:It is the price of success.
1:The issue is not comedy, of which Germany has plenty.2:The late Vicco von Bülow, alias Loriot, delighted the elite with his mockery of German pretension and stiffness.3:Rhenish, Swabian and other regional flavours thrive—Gerhard Polt, a Bavarian curmudgeon, now 72, is a Shakespeare among them.[...]114:There is lowbrow talent too, including Otto Waalkes, a Frisian buffoon.5:Most of this, however, is as foreigners always suspected: more embarrassing than funny.
1:这个议题并非是个喜剧，德国的此类例子很丰富。2:已故的 Vicco von Bülow, 别名Loriot,曾就以讽刺德国人的自负和固执娱乐精英。3:莱茵河人，斯瓦比亚人和其他地区的精英们层出不穷——Gerhard Polt是个巴伐利亚人，脾气很怪，现年72岁，就是其中的一个莎士比亚。[...]114:也有一些比较肤浅的人物，比如弗里斯兰小丑Otto Waalkes。5:然而大多数情况下，外国人的怀疑：往往是尴尬大于有趣。
||1:Taken with previous studies, the new research offers a two-part answer to why grammar rules are built—and lost.||2:As groups grow, the need for systematic rules becomes greater; unlearnable in-group-speak with random variation won’t do.||3:But languages develop more rules than they need; as they are learned by foreign speakers joining the group, some of these get stripped away.||4:This can explain why pairs of closely related languages—Tajik and Persian, Icelandic and Swedish, Frisian and English—differ in grammatical complexity.||5:In each couple, the former language is both smaller and more isolated.||6:Systematicity is required for growth.||7:Lost complexity is the cost of foreigners learning your language.||8:It is the price of success.
2
||1:这个议题并非是个喜剧，德国的此类例子很丰富。||2:已故的 Vicco von Bülow, 别名Loriot,曾就以讽刺德国人的自负和固执娱乐精英。||3:莱茵河人，斯瓦比亚人和其他地区的精英们层出不穷——Gerhard Polt是个巴伐利亚人，脾气很怪，现年72岁，就是其中的一个莎士比亚。||4:也有一些比较肤浅的人物，比如弗里斯兰小丑Otto Waalkes。||5:然而大多数情况下，外国人的怀疑：往往是尴尬大于有趣。
||1:The issue is not comedy, of which Germany has plenty.||2:The late Vicco von Bülow, alias Loriot, delighted the elite with his mockery of German pretension and stiffness.||3:Rhenish, Swabian and other regional flavours thrive—Gerhard Polt, a Bavarian curmudgeon, now 72, is a Shakespeare among them.||4:There is lowbrow talent too, including Otto Waalkes, a Frisian buffoon.||5:Most of this, however, is as foreigners always suspected: more embarrassing than funny.
