http://neptune.spaceports.com/~words/linguistics.html
Interesting links to further debates on language and linguistics.
In order to completely win their hearts and minds, Taiwanese must be made to understand that English is as rich as Chinese with a history and an evolution that can be studied, marveled and cherished.
They will be more willing to accept the O-cide of their language with this comforting knowledge. Chinese linguistic heritage could live on in expressions like, hao bang, hu lan, cai guai, liao bu qi, li hai, horse horse tiger tiger, and of course gan your niang.
Eg. I saw this hao bang movie the other night.
That guy’s so full of hu lan.
Cai guai! You wouldn’t know a good idea if it smashed you in the chops.
You ain’t so liao bu qi.
I can break wind in 3 octaves – I am way li hai.
What is so bad about language genocide - give me a single reason - apart from whimsy - why the world should not speak and write one language.
The transition might be difficult - but I bet it will happen - maybe after we are all dead - but it will happen.
A language doesn’t just serve as a means for one person to communicate with another. It also puts the present in communication with the past - it acts sort of like a memory not contained inside our bodies. Take “goodbye,” which to most is simply a word you say when leaving someone, but comes from “god [be] by you.” Or the fact that “virtue” means either adherence to a high moral standard, or the effectiveness of a medicine.
I’m not a Christian and I’m not trying to argue that nice people get what they want BUT. I think you could say the words and expressions of our language carry certain values. Probably contradictory values, often not good values (some would point out, for example, the paradigm of sexual relations implicit in the phrase “make you mine” or the ubiquitous use of “my b*tch” meaning someone in your power) The language is, in a sense, storing information, and each generation that learns it is accessing that information.
When a language dies, that information is no longer available. That’s why people say language is the transmitter of culture. Maybe we would all do fine if we all had the same culture. I think not. I think that would carry risks similar to those of growing one food crop worldwide. If a problem comes up to which the single culture is particularly vulnerable, all your eggs are in the same f**ked basket.
Did I get away with the naughty words?
Can’t our thoughts and personalities be separate from language? Does the fact that I slowly lost my ability to speak Russian starting from the age of 7 (I was bilingual) mean that I am somehow in thought and action fundamentally different from the person I would have been if I had continued speaking Russian? I still had Russian influences on me- my mother- but starting at 7 she transmitted those influences only in English as opposed to Russian and English. I think that language’s power lays in it’s transmitting ideas. The same idea can be expressed in any language. The important thing is to absorb ideas consciously, not let them sneak in unconsciously through, say, advertisements. As long as someone has developed their critical faculties, and they have access to quality information, it doesn’t matter what language they are using. We can control language- language does not have to control us. The emotional associations that languages forge is another topic that I would like to explore which is separate from the thought control issue. But I have to play ping pong with my daughter now. PS I don’t think a world containing one language is better- I think it would be gross. But if it happened, I could still retain the ability to think critically even if a foreign language were imposed on me.
Let’s lay our linguistic theories aside for a moment and see just how much fun ENGRISH can be!
See: Fun in Engrish
From the Edmonton Sun (10-14-01):
quote[quote]Several Canadian tax-evasion defendants have recently resorted to a language called "In the Truth" (invented by American David Wynn Miller) when they defend themselves in court. However, only true believers can distinguish the language from gibberish (one example: "With the sovereign, hyphen, authority of the Andrew, hyphen, William, colon, Sereda (the defendant) is for the stating of the authority of the noun"). Miller said he created the language to replace the "flawed syntax" of English. So far, according to an October Canadian Press report, most judges' preferred response is to award the "In the Truth" speakers a government-paid mental examination, and Canadian Immigration's response has been to keep Miller out of the country.[/quote]This is his version of the Lord’s Prayer:
FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE FATHER
IS WITH THE CREATION BY THE FATHER.
WITH THE KNOWLEDGE IN THE HEAVEN IS
WITH THE HOLY-NAME OF THE FATHER.
FOR THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH IS FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE FATHER.
FOR THE KINGDOM OF THE FATHER IS IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH.
FOR THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SPIRIT IS FOR THE UNITY WITH THE FATHER.
FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE ACTIONS IS WITH THE KNOWLEDGE BY THE TRUTH.
FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE EARTH IS FOR THE LIFE OF THE PEOPLE.
FOR THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE FATHER IS WITH THE PROTECTION FOR THE PEOPLE.
FOR THE TRUTH OF THE PEOPLE IS WITH THE PATH INTO THE HEAVEN.
FOR THE TEACHING OF THE PEOPLE IS WITH THE TRUTH OF THE PEOPLE.
FOR THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE DAY IS
FOR THE PRODUCTION(WORKING) AND LEARNING-SKILLS OF THE PEOPLE.
FOR THE WRONGS (SINS) AGAINST THE KNOWLEDGE IS WITH THE ACTIONS OF THE PEOPLE.
FOR THE SINS (TEMPTATIONS OF THE FLESH) OF THE PEOPLE IS FOR THE WRONGS AGAINST OUR NEIGHBOR,
FOR THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE PEOPLE IN THE FORGIVENESS OF THOSE WRONG-DECISIONS.
FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE DEBTS ARE OF THE RESPONSIBLITY IN THE TRUTH.
FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE AWARENESS ARE FOR THE FORGIVING WITH THE TRUTH
FOR THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE PEOPLE-LEADER IS WITH THE TEACHING WITH THE TRUTH.
FOR THE EVIL OF THE PEOPLE IS FOR THE LACK OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH.
FOR THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH IS FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE PEOPLE
AGAINST THE EVIL OF THE DARKNESS. (-LACK OF THE KNOWLEDGE)
AmenHere’s his website… http://dwmlc.com/
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not to mention voice over pronunciations–“Air Waves” gum becomes “L Waves.” The worst are the tv shows to teach English with hosts who can barely speak themselves.
Of course, we must keep in mind how English speakers have mangled words like “Kow Tow.”