two paragraphs about Anthropology: Language in Society

Topic: Language origins & evolution; IndoEuropean and the history of English; World Languages

You will be required to write two paragraphs.

The first paragraph, which will be critical thoughts on the course materials. By critical reading, I mean a close examination of the main argument of a text, as well as what evidence is used to support the argument.

Related materials:

The Social Art (TSA), Chapters 24-28, 32

The second paragraph will be a response to one of your classmates’ original posts. Think of these blogs as a way to explore a major theme or two from the week's reading in more personal terms. Once you’ve analyzed the major points, how do you react to what you're reading? Can you think of experiences from your own life that either support or contradict what you're reading (considering I am an international student from China)? The following is one of my classmate’s post:

Week 4 Blog

Like a great many subjects, it seems almost anticipated that the origins of how language formed is lost to our knowledge. This is of course a very important clue towards understanding many aspects of language which can continue into what we may discover today. In The Social Art: Language and Its Uses, Ronald Macaulay speaks about the evolution of humans and how posture may have attributed to the beginning of language. He says, “In physiological terms it led to the flattening of the chest, lowering of the larynx, and better control over breathing” (Macaulay 2006, 124). In the most basic terms, this seems to be the very start of language evolution as the organs for creating sound are becoming better compatible with our need for them. This seems like a very intelligent point in the discussion as animals can only create basic sounds while looking at the structure of their bodies compared to humans. Later, Macaulay mentions that it is beneficial to look at language acquisition in children when attempting to study its origins. He writes, “… some scholars have postulated that infants are born with a specific innate ability to acquire the grammar of any language” (Macaulay 2006, 127). Although we may not know how this aptitude evolved, it seems as though we are able to link this to a greater discussion of what we are not aware of. This observation makes sense through witnessing wherever one acquires language, we are capable of doing so with the same speech organs. Macaulay continues on by saying, “One of the remarkable characteristics of language is the fact that it can be transmitted so effectively from one generation to another over centuries” (2006, 128). Although each generation is learning from the last, they are still able to form their own lexical additions and change the semantics of previous words, which aids in language change. This alone seems amazing as we are still capable of communicating among generations even though much of the vocabulary we use changes, and we evolve with it. Macaulay also mentions that “As the need arises, new words are created or borrowed from another language” which also adds to the increase in variation (2006, 132). From the lecture, it is clear that many languages formulated others from Proto Indo-European to Indo-European and onto Romance, Germanic, Gaelic and other languages. Through the necessity of language arising for communication in the earliest form and continuing on to be suitable for our conversations to continue, language change has been a vital key in allowing this to occur.

Overall, I find it amazing at how much our language has evolved. This change is also quite sad however, as we only distantly recognize languages which have been lost and older forms of English our ancestors spoke. I do not side with others we have seen in previous chapters who try to keep languages from evolving. In contrast, I feel it is vital that languages continue to grow with its people. It is a bit upsetting however, to know how many languages have been lost along with cultures and stories. It is also disheartening that indigenous peoples are required to learn a major language to support themselves in the modern world as well. In its entirety, language change seems to be bringing cultures closer and allowing us to communicate with others more effectively. As some history is reflected in the words we maintain and ones we have borrowed, other cultures move into the modern world by retiring their languages to history books. Overall, it seems to move forward, we may need to sacrifice what we’ve had.

Rachel Dolan