Last week in class we covered alot on the topic of Linguistics and how language is such a complex and unique thing for people. I began to think more and more about how many languages there must be on this one planet. I am also in a cultural anthropology class which is also discussing the wide range of possible languages on Earth. An example of the exotic variety of languages would the San Bushman tribe of the African plains. An extremely old tribe that has ancient history emitting purely from their voice. The Bushman people speak in "clicks." The tone and speed of which the clicks are spoken change the meaning of the click itself. Language is sometimes said without any sort of sound at all, sign language deals with hand motions/signals for those who are deaf. It may seem like a quiet language but for the people who rely on it, everything is heard loud and clear.
Ferdinand de Saussure said it best, "To prove that language is only a system of pure values, it is enough to consider the two elements involved in its functioning: ideas and sounds.(Saussure 1:1,6)" Have you ever taken the time and think about what it would be like living in a culture that has completely different language than you. The concept of communication between others might be the most vital ability of all mankind. Societies are characterized by the language they speak and one can definitely see the difficulty variations between them. My roommate last year was from Sweden, he told me that he has lived in Sweden his entire life and there are still some words he does not know. Which just goes to show how tough to learn some of these languages outside of America truly are. All in all, the best way to get to know a culture is simply, learn the language....
Great tie-in, Rich, to your other course of study. By quoting de Saussure, you are also able to broaden the discussion to get at (whether you knew it or not) an aspect of a Rollins education that's very mission-driven: internationalization (of which only one aspect is Study Abroad).
ReplyDelete