Board Thread:Skyrim/@comment-12599067-20130928060857/@comment-24589685-20140227201533

But languages DO just evolve and grow, no matter how much people try to control and maintain them as defined structures, and they DON'T "degrade" or "disintegrate" in the absence of dictionaries or strictly defined they standards. Languages can grow and thrive and live for thousands and thousands of years without *even having a written version*. Some languages remain fairly static and unchanging over time (Mandarin, Formal Written Arabic), for various reasons, while others are ABSURDLY mercurial and molten, constantly changing and adapting and adopting new words, grammars, meanings and dialects (English being one of the most mercurial and fast-changing of all). It doesn't *hurt* a language to be in constant flux, it just serves different sorts of needs. Like the purpose and use of language is, contraditory to expectation, based on balances between many different goals, not just "clearly communicate a practical meaning". Sometimes the purposes of language even contradict... sometimes you're attempting to communicate something to one person while attempting to obfuscate meaning for 'outsiders' (like in drug slang, for example), sometimes you're attempting to preserve or identify or express a cultural identity, sometimes you're attempting to express things that have nothing to do with practicality whatsoever, etc.

There is absolutely no evidence that "language degrades quite rapidly in the absence of dictionary use", and plenty of evidence that it does not. Unless your definition of "degrade" is just "ends up being used differently than how it was used 25 years ago". Languages only even "degrade" or "die" under extreme conditions, like the death or dissolution of the  culture that was defined by that language... Latin and the unified Roman Empire, for example. And the Romans, along with contemporary scholars of Latin, have PLENTY of dictionaries. Heck... I'd even argue a language is only truly dead when it STOPS changing and ends up SOLELY DEFINED BY DICTIONARY USAGE.