A woman called Julia Penelope once said; ''language forces us to perceive the world as somebody has presented it to us. '' If I blamed her for being wrong then I would have been a lair. Since our language determines how we think and also limit the way we see our world.
If I had to answer, to an’ everyday matter' question such as ''Why Language is that substantial for us humans?'' I would probably say that language is considered to be an exclusively human mode of communication; without the means to communicate, human beings would be in a lost and incomprehensible world. Therefore, it is extremely beneficial to communicate with others because it helps us to reach out to people and to unite with others that are not of our same sort. It has always been important due to the fact of revitalization since it has transmitted culture and identity from one generation to another. But has also been a profound symbol of both national and personal identity.
Furthermore language is considered to be a complicated dance between internal and external interpretations of our identity. Apart from physical appearance and bodily functions affected by the genes,knoweledge and hairatages. Has our personal enviroment been another major factor when it determines linguistic affilation, values a system in the same way we value our language and gives us a sence of belonging. Then in the most cases, the place where we grew up or still live has a special significance. On the contrary this may also be very complicated when interaction between genetic and enviromental effects may cause friction and conflict.
However we sometimes desire to belong to a more dominant group in terms of economic status, political power or even culture. Then is language a crucial and dynamic factor that plays a major role in creating a sense of ability and strenght. when we usually express our options and feelings through our mother tongue and other types of languages such as English, French and even body language. Not only the language it self, but also the way we speak, our accent and dialect. Which usually gives us a personal identity which makes us all individuals and each and everyone of us special in our own way.
Another important component is the level of usage, refering to a formal and an informal language. They usually say that when ideas fail, words come in very handy, informal language is spoken by most people every day an example is netspeak, the distinetive language. Where the rules of punctuation, capitalization and sentence structure are ignored. While on the other hand high thoughts demand high language and then is a formal form more appropriate.
There are many differences between a mother tongue and other languages. Especially when it has been with a person through all the years of its life. But in today’s society english has come to be the second most important language, after the mother tongue. This is a substantial reason why many English learns speak the English laguage that fluent as if they were native speakers themselves. Moreover the advantage of speaking a second language opens a new window into people’s lives. The individual can play different roles just by knowing another language and speaking in a certain way in one language and a completely different way in another one. In addition to this, language helps the individual to break down obstacles.
To sum up I would like to point that the world would be a very tedious place without its phraseology and verbalization!
...When ideas fail, words come in very handy... Δεν το είχα ξανακούσει, αλλά πολύ σοφό... Το άρθρο εκπληκτικό, όπως άλλωστε το περίμενα..! Μπράβο Μίκα, συνέχισε να γραφεις!! (Αν ψάχνεις θέμα, ξεκινησε μια συζητηση (από αυτές που συνηθίζουμε :Ρ ) μαζί μου, να δεις πως θα βρείς αμέσως...)
SvaraRaderaYou really sound like a linguistic genius ;)
SvaraRaderaIt is true that english has become a very important language and it is very good to have something that unites us all. However ! How uniting is it if we fail to see that the world is still dominated by people who have never written a word in their life, never have learned grammar and most important of all: never has gone to school !
Why don't we all just educate the world more? Let's head to India and work at an orphanage educating children. That is an option ! I mean it's easy to say: we have two mother tongues. But then you only speak of us, us rich people. Who have forgotten the real meaning with life. We're so materialistic that we can't even see ourselves in the mirror. The only thing visible is: movies, clothes, meetings, egoism...
So, in my point of view, as long as we have poverty in the world ( 80% is currently living under 1 US dollar / day ), english will only be a sofisticated language talked by 20% of the world, NOT a uniting one.
I just have to add a theory I heard about:
We humans began talking in the stage where we were living together in caves. Women felt that they needed to talk about other groups not belonging to their own. Imagine you and your friends sitting in one part of the cavern and your "rivals" beeing situated at another place of the cavern. How do you express your jealousy and anger towards your rivals? You speak :P ( this is just a theory ofcourse )
Should we let those who can't speak be? Or should we educate them and make their lives more difficult? When they see what we have done to this earth, I'm sure they will regret learning.
In the end we're all the same, we think about ourselves. I would be lying if I said that I can change the world, that I don't care about fashion and trips with aeroplanes.
You're too optimistic about english , just look at politics. They talk the same language and in the same time they don't.
// Niki
www.nikispointofview.blogspot.com