Extinction of Languages

I found this article very interesting. It says that although many languages around the world are becoming extinct, the dominating languages are becoming increasingly varied & complex.

Included on the list of dominating languages is English. I wonder if by the english language become more varied & complex, they mean the continuous addition of 'slang' terms added to it.

What do you think they mean by english becoming more varied & complex?

www.newscientist.com...

It only makes sense that English would become more complex, considering how deeply rooted language is in our perception of reality. It plays a larger part than you would think at first. There are many languages that do not contain some of the same concepts as others at all, such as love, time, etc.

Its very interesting how much language does form your world.
Example:

I Once read a book (although I cant remember the title ATM) that mentioned a certain group of aborigine tribes whose language did not contain a word for "me" or "I". They would have a very different mindset than we would, IMO.

So IMO, language deeply affects many more aspects of a society than are readily apparent, and vice versa. A society adopting a new language as the native one, would also carry over abstract concepts as well, and if no word exists to properly describe these concepts, new ones will be made.
Hope that makes sense.........

They say the knowledge of the culture whose language becomes extinct also becomes lost.

The only way to preserve the knowledge is to keep a record of the extinct language. This kind of historical knowledge I think is important.

That's why people in Quebec will continu to fight to keep our French language. We won't be assimilated.

i think that languages ae just evolving into one, or will do so overtime... just because that would be easier than having hundreds of languages throughout the world.

also, in my opinion, language evolves through 2 ways:
a) people are lazy and come up with things like ATM and IMO and LOL instead of typing actual words or emotions. these acronyms are becoming more and more mainstream, as that nearly everyone who has a computer uses them. personally, i try and avoid them. no offense to anyone who uses them though (including you, DjNothing, since you used them in this post ).

2) as technology evolves so does mindset, as mindset evolves so does language. new words have to be created to be applied for the new creations and feelinsg of this world.

Language is a very restrictive form of communication anyway. It doesn't even come close to thought.. as telepathic communication needs no language! Also, one can transmit an idea instantly in telepathy, wheras in english you'd have to speak a few sentences to get what you're thinking across.

You know how when you have an idea, you don't necessarily think it out in words, you just sorta have a "feeling" and you already KNOW what the idea is? Without even saying it in your mind? Well imagine being able to transfer that IDEA as you have it in your mind to someone else, without having to translate into some language and hope you can get it across that way.

Also, telepathy cancels the need for cell phones, email, mail, telephones... it's a great thing all around! And it's free!

You can also send pictures or videos from your mind to someone else, with infinite bandwidth and no long distance charges! Take a mental picture they say, it'll last longer.

People wonder, if aliens were here now, how would they communicate with their "base" or home planet? Well, why not instantly, by thought? Do you really think grays use that tiny little slit they call a mouth to talk? It'd be lucky enough to have a muscle in it to even move!

We'll all be able to telepathically communicate in a few years, so if you have that pressing thought of "Well this is great, but we don't KNOW how to do that yet" then don't worry

The internet is a big network designed to ease communication and subject any one person to many other people. What if we had a mental network? A HUGE database of knowledge that is gathered by everything that exists anywhere, at our "fingertips"! So we could have an infinite connection to that network just through our minds, and it would be infinitely vast and ALL that exists can be easily accessed in that way!

Once again, this is coming up for us also in a few years! The internet is an idea based on our subconscious memories of a universal network, but the best we could do for now is a poor imitation using technology. No worries Just wait!

I don't really think that acronyms are making the languages "evolve"...

WTF lol...

(j/k)

globalization brings everyone together, and its hard to talk in different languages, so everyone learns others, and things assimilate. there was this guy who knew like 88 languages, some of which he was the only person alive to no. and he jsut died, taking with him a number of languages.
its all very sad and all, but its jsut like with animals, some stay alive, most die out, 99% or so.

I don't think that it is that big of a problem. I think it would be a great thing so that we all could communicate with each other more effectively.

I like the variances of English. It brings cleverness and wordplay to the forefront of the spoken language. There are times when I don't know what the hell an Aussie or a Brit is talking about( no offense). That's the fun of it.

Check this out on the Cockney Rhyming Slang:

www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk...

I'm sure some people in England would know what they're talking about, but I sure as hell wouldn't!

But, languages are also changing because of technology, and the words associated with it.

In Slavic (Serbo-Croatian, Russian, etc.) there is no word for 'a' or 'the'.

Originally posted by cmdrkeenkid
..... these acronyms are becoming more and more mainstream, as that nearly everyone who has a computer uses them. personally, i try and avoid them. no offense to anyone who uses them though (including you, DjNothing, since you used them in this post

).

Aww, you caught me....I must be chatting with the kids on AOL too much lately.

But seriously......in the future, all races, all over the universe will speak english! Watch Star Trek, youll see.

........ahem.
I was just thinking though how its interesting that acronyms like lol and brb and lmao, etc. are only used on the internet. Just lazy typing I guess. Ive never heard anybody say "L-O-L" instead of laughing. Actually, Im pretty sure also that every single time Ive ever typed LOL, I wasnt actually laughing at all.
Hm............But more back to the point. Unification of the language would definitely have its good and bad points, although, like lilblam is saying, telepathy would be the way to go.
I can dream, cant I?.....(lol)

It would be just so much simplier if one language was used all over the world. I can't really see any bad side at that.

Originally posted by DjNothing
ve never heard anybody say "L-O-L" instead of laughing.

i have. its not pretty. ive even heard someone say R-O-F-L-O-L
DEPRESSING!
if we use one language, we lose the flavor and feeling of other languages. so, as the Dj said, that group that had no word for 'i', if they were to speak english, their philosphy wud radically change. a number of asian languages, especially japanese, i believe, find the emphasis on words and syllables really important in the language, and that gets reflected in their cultures. we dont want to lose that.

for one single unified language, heres one (pdf) that i was lookin at and maybe considering learning.
official site

I recall a singer said certain latin songs would lose some of their appeal if sung in english.

Something akin to a full bodied wine turning flat.

Originally posted by Questor
I recall a singer said certain latin songs would lose some of their appeal if sung in english.

Something akin to a full bodied wine turning flat.

pretty much. not to mention the truly strange translations that can happen (I'm thinking mainly of Japanese to English translations, but I've seen some pretty amusing ones from other languages too). we won't ever know how things should really sound, either because of incompetent translation or meanings simply being lost in translation.

thats exactly why lojban cud succeed. not only is it culturally neutral, but its easy to learn and is pure logic, so we cud use it for computers as well. at least this wud be a bridge.

Originally posted by MorningtonCrescent

Originally posted by Questor
I recall a singer said certain latin songs would lose some of their appeal if sung in english.

Something akin to a full bodied wine turning flat.

pretty much. not to mention the truly strange translations that can happen (I'm thinking mainly of Japanese to English translations, but I've seen some pretty amusing ones from other languages too). we won't ever know how things should really sound, either because of incompetent translation or meanings simply being lost in translation.

I can think of one example of a Coke advertisement (the SODA.......) I read somewhere.
In english it read :The choice of a new generation

In japanese it read : Ressurect your dead ancestors with coke.

(or something very very similar)
There was a website that had a lot of these. Ill try to get a link.

www.geocities.com...
(edited to add link)

[Edited on 17-2-2004 by DjNothing]