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Today I had a thought a problem I couldn't resolve it on my own. I just can't realize what people will think right after they hear others using the word "co-living" and "co-evolving". I mean a particular thought of any specific information that comes to mind once you may hear I say "they have co-lived and co-evolved since then", for example.

Another example I doubt if their use is truly versatile and correct,

Your and my native languages have been co-living and co-evolving for hundreds of years
JSBձոգչ
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Aussay Marshal
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    Hi @Aussay! I'm not sure I understand what your question is. Are you asking for a definition, or do you want help re-phrasing you sentence, or are you wondering whether such a word exists? – Kit Z. Fox Jan 23 '12 at 16:38
  • We say co-existing, not co-living. For reasons I can't explain straight off, I would say Yours and my language (not Your and my) but other than that your example is fine. – FumbleFingers Jan 23 '12 at 16:39
  • @FumbleFingers "Your native language and mine ..." – slim Jan 23 '12 at 16:42
  • @FumbleFingers: If we're using possessive pronouns, wouldn't it be more usual to say 'Your language and mine' or 'My language and yours'? – Barrie England Jan 23 '12 at 16:44
  • "Your and my native languages" is grammatically correct because it can be parsed into "Your native language and my native language", but it's definitely not the friendliest construction as others have pointed out. – Thomas Raywood Jan 23 '12 at 16:52
  • @Aussay Marshal: If you rewrite you question so that it actually asks an answerable question, we might vote to reopen. As it stands it is not clear what you want. – Mitch Jan 23 '12 at 16:58
  • @Barrie England: In Google Books I found 2 each for "Your/s and my language" - with "your/s and my parents" it was 9 for "yours" and 10 for "your", but with "houses" it was 4:2 the other way. Weird, huh? I sense a question coming on... – FumbleFingers Jan 23 '12 at 17:13
  • @Tom Raywood: If you'd like to set your thoughts out about this on my newly-asked question, be warned I will ask you to expand on exactly what you mean by "not the friendliest construction". I'll admit I personally don't like *"Your" here, but obviously not everyone feels that way, so in what sense is it "unfriendly"? – FumbleFingers Jan 23 '12 at 17:34

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Co-evolving is an established word, at least among evolutionary scientists.

Co-living is not an established word.

Cohabiting is such a well established word that it doesn't even need a hyphen, and has the meaning that you might expect from co-living.

Although we sometimes describe a language as "living", it's not clear to me that a pair of languages could "cohabit", however. Try coexisting instead.

slim
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