Language comes from the parts of the brain responsible for higher order thinking. It is complex and variable. This also means that it doubles back on itself.
Occasionally there are proposals to make modern languages more regular, mathematical. Maybe get everyone speaking the same one. But I suspect this would reduce it to something other than human language.
Anyway, these are just things I"m musing as bedtime approaches.
2 comments:
It's a good idea to establish common definitions as misunderstandings can be fatal to clarity. I think that's the chief reason for the English language being so complex, but probably all languages have that in common. I remember years ago when many people were interested in making Esperanto common to everyone. It failed for a number of reasons, chief among them being that nobody spoke it at home. Ah well, it was a good try.
Last night I came across an article, semi-obituary actually, about David Graeber that I'd bookmarked and read some months ago. If you have a little (lots actually - it's long) time some evening you might enjoy looking it over yourself. I haven't read much of his work other than Debt; the First 5,000 Years which I loved.
There are definitely purposes for which you want language to be as clear and precise as possible. Surgeons--and Jerry would know this, obviously--have everything down so that they can get the implements they need with minimal verbiage. But there's an improvisational side to language as well, an ability to evolve in the field. I suspect that one reason Esperanto failed was that its artificial aspect was so obvious people didn't feel like themselves when speaking it.
I don't know much about Graeber. He obviously died at a somewhat young age, which must have come as a shock.(well, not to him.) Will have to read him at length at some point. Studying anthropology does give you perspective on how other societies have approached common problems.
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