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RE: Language as an Obstacle to Actuality | Communication Paradigms - Part 1
This was interesting: "The trouble with language as we know it is that its interpretation is always dependent on the listener." I find that to be true but it can go even murkier. Some languages seem "better" at some functions. English tends to be very specific in how it can express ideas but it can also be very "wordy" in how it does it. Latin and Spanish are much more streamlined but their vocabularies are smaller so there are fewer ways to say things.
This makes me wonder if there is such a language that is "best" at describing abstract things like a trip or if spoken words will always be unable to carry out that task.
Anyway, good post.
Thanks my friend!
Agreed about the wordiness, in German we have words for what Americans need to describe. And of course every culture has their own words that don't exist in other languages, which makes it so charming to learn other languages.
In my experience and knowledge German is unparalleled in nailing specific and detailed descriptions through specific words. It is perfect for science in that way.
It is not widely known but "deutsch" (German) comes from "deuten" which means to interpret or to "read the signs" (it's hard to translate into english because "deuten" is so specific, which kinda proves the point ahahaha). It has been said that German is close to the source, which is why they are doing their best to dumb it down over here and to cut us off from our source.
that said, because of its specificness German can get in your own way when talking to people. I prefer English for day-to-day language with people because it's an impulsive and direct language that shoots ideas across and not blueprints with fine intricacies that can seed confusion when interpreting the meaning of this word over that word.
Depending on your source the English dictionary contains about 200k words, whereas German counts around 20 million. The hypothesis has been offered that english was purposefully slimmed down in past centuries which originally started as an offshot of old Germanic (depending on who you ask). Anglo-Saxon.
Language is freakin interesting. And yet, so insufficient at times ahaha.
Your question about a language more prone to trips is hugely interesting! I really do not know, but will ask around at the psy festivals this summer. Someone might know something ;)
Very true. If I was still 18 and just starting college, I would go into linguistics instead of literature but I didn't develop an interest until I started studying Latin and, by that time, I was almost finished. I did go on to study Attic Greek too but I had much more trouble learning that one. I did notice quite a few similarities between and German (which I can't speak despite taking it in high school lol) and Greek. The word for head in Greek is κεφαλή and in the ancient pronunciation the "φ" is spoken as more of a "pf" than "ph" which makes it sound quite a lot like Kopf but a bit different than a lot of other Indo-European words for head (caput /caputis in Latin, for example).
I always found German to be interesting because it retains quit a few features of the ancient Indo-European languages which few other modern languages do (other than Sanskrit but there are very few modern speakers).
" [... ]which is why they are doing their best to dumb it down over here and to cut us off from our source." English is under attack too but it is different. People want to remove the "poetry" from the language by sanitizing it to keep everyone's feelings from getting hurt but, in doing so, they rob us of powerful and highly descriptive words. If I were to say that I have been "crippled," you likely get a very vivid image in your mind. It creates a strong response. If, on the other hand, I say that "I have been made differently abled" the concept remains far more abstract. In this sense, "crippled" is a better word for the job that I want it to do but I would be called intolerant for choosing to use it.
I know completely where you are coming from. The politicially correct shaping of language is everywhere, it's an agenda.
We have the same thing over here, certain words are deemed "taboo" and we are indoctrinated to use new terms instead to not hurt anyone's feelings (which is completely arbitrary) just like you have described. Some of these words have changed 4-5 times but still mean the same thing, only the last version is somehow inacceptable today but the new word (like "able-bodied person" or whatever the fuck) is somehow totally neutral and alright. It still means someone who is handicapped or retarded and people take these as great insults today when they were never meant that way to begin with. They have slowly turned into being seen as insults because of the brainwashing.
One thing about it that you guys have not (yet) had, is the introduction of new gender varieties for traditional occupations. It is hard to do in english though hmm, how do I simulate it?
You are familiar with the 3 different grammatical types of genus for words in Europe yes? It's DER Stuhl (the chair) - male grammatical genus, although it obviously has nothing to do with being male in a physical or biological sense, its a freakin object. It's DIE LIEBE (meaning 'the love') -female grammatical genus, and it's DAS HAUS (meaning 'the house') - neutral grammatical article. As there are three types of "the" there are according endings for those words that always follow to be gramatically correct.
In German we have designations for occupations that are by default going by the male grammatical article DER. This has grown and evolved for thousands of years and always included women as much as men.
It's like when Americans use "man" to refer to mankind - "the spirit of man" includes all human beings.
Now feminists and PC people are spreading the virus that this is somehow sexist and that we have to include both grammatical forms all the time to not exclude anyone on the biological level (because they blindly conflate the two levels).
So it would be "the spirit of man/woman" in any official announcement.
Firefighter, Baker, Doctor - "should all have an additional word that includes women doing those jobs!" If I were to simulate that it would sound something like - Firefighter-ine, Baker-ine, Doctor-ine. Or on a more basic level: You can no longer say policeman because it is somehow sexist against women deciding to join the police. So you always have to say "policeman/policewoman". And so on.
the result is that most public writings and political BS texts now come with both forms in tandem to not offend anyone and the texts are twice the length and totally stupid, and often gramatically false, because of this mindfuck.
It's like:
"The firefighter/firefighterine should be aware that his/her physical integrity is essential in accomplishing his/her task when he/she does engages in his/her work on a daily basis despite the preference the he/she might have for his/her being a hero in light of danger. Every firefighter/firefighterine will be honored for his/her contribution so that he/she retains a positive outlook but should be aware that his/her health is essential to further continue his/her function as firefighter/firefighterine..."
It's insane, especially because we have multiple words in two grammatical forms and they all have to be included in this, not only "he" and "his" so our texts would be even longer.
Sorry it's early for me ahahah. you're a smart man, you probably get the point or have similar examples over there. It's a worldwide program of divide and conquer.
Haha yeah that would be a bit tedious. We have a bit of that in English too but there are very few gendered nouns left in the language (it did have them at one point though). Things like waiter and waitress or steward and stewardess are being replaced with server and attendant. We don't have to worry about changing the articles though because the words are treated the same grammatically and they don't need to declined.
Very true. That seems to be way that it is going everywhere.
Right! -ess is the related ending. steward-ess. same thing.
Imagine this for every occupation and PC people trying to make it mandatory to always name both in any text. It's insane.
Everywhere dude ;)