The mind of language

In advance I would like to apologize first and foremost as this initial post may not convey the meaning that I wish it to have.

Over the past few days a few thoughts have slowly begun to cross back and forth across my mind. A theory if you will if it is possible at certain points in time people are able to understand a language that they have never studied, when at other times it leaves the listener scratching their head wondering what is being said. Though the only problem I have with this theory is that at this time I only have myself and another friend so far who can coincide with this theory. So for the time being I'd like to give a small example, in the past I have taken at least five years of Spanish, some of the things I can barely remember, but I could sit and watch telamundo for a while and almost closely follow. Another example is a french heavy metal band "eths" that I listen to in which I have no knowledge of french, but at small points if I pay close enough attention I can understand some things. Now I do know that they have similarities ( French and Spanish ), but they are not 100% 1:1 ratio.

Though the downfall in this is when it comes to the writing system, though it seems that it is possible at times to understand at least a small snippet of it; it seems rather hard to understand the writing system for some reason. Is it that the writing system does not fully convey what the words in are mind are intended to convey which throws readers for a loop? An example of this is Japanese, in which I am currently learning it at the moment, and at this time I can currently understand a bit of it when spoken with the knowledge increasing; but the Kana and Kanji seems to throw me off quite a bit especially since Kanji can have up to three meanings ( and more ) for one symbol. Such as this character 神 which means God and pronounced Kami, but also this character 紙 which means paper.

So in a way this topic holds a two-fold meaning wondering if others are also experience the same thing in a similar light. As well as what language or languages that the listener seems to have a connection with. Not to mention if it also works the same if it were printed on a sheet of paper.

Again I would like to apologize if this post is not clear, I will try my best to at least make it clear for readers and posters.

I don't think you're experiencing anything more profound than a basic human faculty for language. I took high school Spanish, and I can't speak a complete sentence, but I can watch Telemundo and follow what's going on because there are visual cues, linguistic similarities, and experience with the language to draw from.

Spanish, French, and English, among others, share a common ancestry in Latin, and many Latinate words sound, and look similar across these languages. We have many words of French, Italian, Spanish, etc., langauge origin in the English language as well. Language reflects the people that use it, and we are constantly traveling, changing, adapting, learning, sharing our ideas and the specialized language we have invented to create new concepts. It's not magic, it's what we do best.

It sounds like you're a fan of language. Check out some Michel Focault, Jacques Lacan, or Ferdinand deSaussure for hard-core theory about language. You should check out an etymological dictionary too!

English "to cry out"
Spanish "gritar"
Italian "gridare"
Latin: quiritare

English "gender"
French "gendre or genre"
Latin "genus"

Cheers!

Originally posted by John_Brown


It sounds like you're a fan of language. Check out some Michel Focault, Jacques Lacan, or Ferdinand deSaussure for hard-core theory about language. You should check out an etymological dictionary too!

are any of these recommended learning tools also?

reply to post by John_Brown


Ah, interesting and thank you for the recommendations I'll have to look into them ( hopefully sometime this week ) As I do enjoy learning languages and am a huge fan of learning one after another . I've also heard most of those languages were of Latin descent, learned about them back in High school. So aside from the borrowed words that are generally seen throughout languages most of the words seem to just be "shifted" to accompany the language that it is involved in.

On a last note it seems that the French word of 'Gender' can get quite confusing if using the one that is 'genre'. I personally wouldn't know if someone was talking about Genre in terms of arts that we have, or perhaps sexes that compose our planet. Is there anyway for a speaker to distinguish the French meaning of 'Genre' from our own? Or is it simply a thing where if you speak French it's something you will come to understand?

An etymological dictionary shows the history of the word; its first usage, derivations, no longer used denotations, relationship to other languages, etc..

www.etymonline.com...

You'll notice in this link that the description of "genre" describes its first usage (1770), where it was derived from (the French) and what it meant in French ("kind, sort, style"), and where in turn this French term originated in the Old French for "gender". It also notes that in French it is used to express "independent style", independent being a connotation.

The word can mean several different things, depending on the historical or literary context, and the experience of the individual. A French speaker may understand the proper denotation of the word "gender" in both English and French, but to the native French speaker, the word carries connotation that cannot be expressed with the equivalent word in English.

To answer your question, maybe? It's not within my realm of experience.
There are brilliant minds like the ones I mentioned previously who have sought to answer questions like these.

Originally posted by hangerhead

Originally posted by John_Brown


It sounds like you're a fan of language. Check out some Michel Focault, Jacques Lacan, or Ferdinand deSaussure for hard-core theory about language. You should check out an etymological dictionary too!

are any of these recommended learning tools also?

I'm a linguistics student, so I'll take a shot at this. For straight linguistics, really only deSaussure qualifies. Focault and Lacan are interesting ideological works, but are more in the realm of philosophy. None of their works are textbooks per se, but they are interesting, and in some cases, fundamental reads.

If you're looking for explanations on how languages are related and change, I would recommend Lyle Campbell's textbook Historical Linguistics.

reply to post by John_Brown


A late reply from me, early morning studying and the likes, you know how college is . Anyway I would like to say thank you for the information you have been placing into this thread and surely has given me some reading material for the rest of this week.

Ah I see, now Hmm, guess it's one of those words in which the meaning could perhaps take on a number of different meanings until it's applied in a sentence I suppose.

Again thanks for the information .