Read about Linguistics
The following was sent to me by a friend, the original source is unknown, and google wasn’t much of a help.
The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.
As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as ‘Euro-English’.
In the first year, ’s’ will replace the soft ‘c’. Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy.
The hard ‘c’ will be dropped in favour of ‘k’. This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.
There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome ‘ph’ will be replaced with ‘f’. This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.
Benjamin Whorf’s “Language, Mind and Reality” and egocentrism
In general, although Benjamin Whorf was obviously well-read and has mastered the use of language, I find him to be rather culture bound and egocentric. Although he is able to construct his writing in such a way as to appear intellectual to the average person by using a large number of obscure and obtuse words, his words say very little. His claims about language are, in general, very egotistical. He seems to think linguists superior to the rest of the world because they understand the concepts of language when no one else has. However, he makes one glaring error: he makes rather biased comments and then blames the failings of linguistics on other disciplines.
Benjamin Whorf claimed that scientific thought is a specialization of Indo-European cultural systems but this view ethnocentric at best, exclusionary at worst. Scientific thought has existed in many cultures throughout history.
English Conundrums
A long time ago I found the following poem, and I believe it is the best indicator that the English language needs to be reworked.
The first poem is a modern reincarnation of “The Chaos” (1922) by G. Nolst Trenite, a.k.a. “Charivarius” (1870-1946). The original (which you can read below this one) was a little more Shakespearean.
Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh, hear my prayer.Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.
Diffusion as Evidenced Through the English Language
I think this selection of words shows evidences the many ways words enter into the English vocabulary.
Itinerary:
Itinerary began as the word itinerarium from Latin which means “account of a journey”.
Mouse:
Mouse began as the Greek word m?s it the evolved over time to be (in chronological order) m?s in Latin, maus in German, m?s in Old English, then finally as mous in Middle English. This word is interesting for two reasons the first is that it has a rather long etymology and the second is that English first borrowed the word directly from Latin and then later borrowed it in a different form from the Germans.
Algebra:
Algebra began as the Arabic word al-jabr and then when introduced into Latin it was rewritten into Algebra where it remains.
Sapir and Whorf Linguistic Theory
Sapir and Whorf postulated that grammar and language are part of the mental process, thus they help to shape the way an individual interprets and views the world around them. However, the theory has always been controversial because people tend to see language as a tool created by humans instead of a mold that shapes people. By accepting this theory one must accept that humans do not have complete control over language, allowing a language to die out is as much a loss as any other extinction, and forcing people to adopt a new language forces them to change the way their mind works. If this view is accepted as fact, factors such as the environment would be seen as less important to culture than language. Creating a situation where languages are not just a superficial divide between groups but a concrete difference as much as skin color has been in the past.
