Were a language ever completely "grammatical," it would be a perfect engine of conceptual expression. Unfortunately, or luckily, no language is tyrannically consistent. All grammars leak.

Edward Sapir

More information about this quote

Topic

Language

Author

Edward Sapir

Language

English

Time

1921 1920s 20th century

Occupation

Anthropologist Linguist

From

United States

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sapir, Edward. Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1921, ch. 2.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Edward Sapir about language: “Were a language ever completely "grammatical," it would be a perfect engine…”
Download
A quote by Edward Sapir about language: “Were a language ever completely "grammatical," it would be a perfect engine…”
Download
A quote by Edward Sapir about language: “Were a language ever completely "grammatical," it would be a perfect engine…”
Download

Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote from the 1920s

Like everybody who is not in love, he imagined that one chose the person whom one loved after endless deliberations and on the strength of various qualities and advantages.

Marcel Proust

In Search of Lost Time

Buy Sodom and Gomorrah at Amazon Buy Sodom and Gomorrah at Amazon
More information about this quote
Topic
Nature of love

Author

Marcel Proust
Source
Sodom and Gomorrah In Search of Lost Time
Medium
Novel
Genre
Modernist literature
Language
French
Time
1921 1920s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Proust, Marcel. Sodom and Gomorrah. Paris: Grasset/Gallimard, 1921-1922.

Current Citation

Proust, Marcel. Sodom and Gomorrah, translated by John Sturrock. Penguin Classics, 2005.