[B-Greek] Basic and Amazing Aspects Of Language

Steve Schlichter steve at schlichters.com
Wed Jul 12 09:34:47 EDT 2006


Your thoughts remind me of Esparonto.  It is a serious effort (at least serious to those endeavoring to create it) to create a culture nuetral language intentionally instead of inheriting what was smashed together out of history and culture.
 
I think it's following has more a bend toward trekkies than linguists. :)
 
~Steve

 
________________________________

From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org on behalf of Amos Bender
Sent: Wed 7/12/2006 7:57 AM
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [B-Greek] Basic and Amazing Aspects Of Language






Amos Bender
bendersa at earthlink.net
EarthLink Revolves Around You.

Dear Friends at BGreek,
In my endeavors to learn Greek the following are some issues about language that impressed me. 

Basic and Amazing Aspects Of Language


Language by sounds for man's ears or symbols for his eyes, can communicate all the knowledge and information of our complex world.  Because of the complexity of life and language, likely no one even knows all the words of our English language, and which pertain to so many different aspects of life and technology.  In learning a new language one then must learn a second set of sounds and symbols to describe all the knowledge and information of our complex world in that language.   

As a child grows up he first learns some basic words that are important to his life at that time, and then continues to learn many new words which become important to his life as he matures.  Just learning all the commonly used words of a language is not easy, except through a normal living experience with those of that language. 

A further issue that makes learning a knew language so difficult is the fact that many words can mean quite different things when used in various contexts, while a new language often simply does not have a word that exactly replaces the words of another language.  An example of this is a particular word may have meanings or uses A, B, and C, while in another language their word having the meaning A might not include the meaning B and C, but might rather include meanings X and Y, while this scrambling and interaction of words and their various possible meanings are spread throughout the entire language. 

In really learning a language our minds have to become so accustomed to the words and their possible meanings that they automatically grasp the intended meaning of that word as it is spoken in context.  In another context our minds have to automatically adjust the same word to mean something quite different.

It appears languages further often have strange oddities about them, which we might not be able to explain why this is said or spelled as it is.  But if the manner of speech and spelling is firmly established and clearly understood, among those who speak and read the language how can it be said to be improper speech or grammar?  If one in learning English would have just learned that the term "the lights are out" means it is dark because the lights are not giving light, then on a night when the stars were brightly shining, would hear someone exclaim the stars are really out, he would wonder what they are talking about.  Yet that form of speech is understood by those who know English and simply must be accepted as standard English, even if confusing at first.

Issues about language are quite bizarre.  One in learning English, might say that a secretary uses the office while doing her paperwork, and say a house wife uses the kitchen while doing her dishes, yet if they then would say Americans use the bathroom while taking their baths, most Americans would misunderstand him and think that kind of behavior to be absurd and quite animal like, even though what they said is true in the sense they meant it.  Further many Americans although not cannibals still freely speak of having their friends for dinner, yet meaning something quite different than when they speak of having their pig for dinner.  Although the above might sound funny it brings out a vital issue about language.  Many other examples of standard terminologies and which could be very misunderstood could be given.  In language learning the meanings of terminologies is just as important as learning the meaning of individual words.  Likely no rules of grammar can help one with t
 hese issues, but rather would just complicate things, that are already difficult to get into the subconscious mind. 

How did language begin?  Who designed the many languages?  Could it all just have happened?  Could it just be a coincidence that their are so many special languages with distinct boundaries dividing them, while yet having such obvious similarities between them?  It does not appear coincidence could or would build languages having such distinct boundaries, while yet having such amazing similarities between them.  Nor does it appear man could or would have intentionally done it.  I believe language is a wonder of God's creation.  I have already wondered if God did not design languages to be difficult to learn, to make the language barrier difficult to overcome.  Some parts of language almost seem like an intentional puzzle which our minds must learn to subconsciously unscramble and connect.  Further the fact that language often has so many different words or synonyms to largely say the same thing, requires the learning of many seemingly unnecessary words.  I sometimes wonder if
  a language could be created that would allow us humans to accurately communicate and convey all our knowledge and thoughts, yet with fewer words and with a more consistent organization of words and sounds that would not be so overlapping and twisted about and thus be easier to learn.  Yet it appears man can hardly even change anything about any language, as language is so naturally and firmly established in us humans as we grow up, so how could man start a largely new language, or how could he have designed the different languages to begin with?  These are some thoughts about language that impressed me as of late.

God Bless
Amos Bender



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