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New Language Necessary?

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New Language Necessary?

SimplyPlatonic
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Posted 10/17/05 - 09:18 PM: Subject: New Language Necessary?	#1
I dont know about other lanuages but English is a terrible language in my opinion. The way we write we have to memorize rules that dont hold up and learn which way to say the vowels of every word, like i heard growing up that eastern cultures that use a different symbol for each word have to memorize thousands of words and everyone said things like "oh, wow i cant imagine" I can, i did basically the same thing trying to learn english grammar and it is my native language (unfortunately) when you could teach the next gen to write using vowels that look different depending on how they are supposed to sound. And words like: sure and sugar, are pronounced with an 'sh' sound at the beggining instead of simply 's'. All the english letters have names, why not just how they are spoken? like w is named double 'U' or dubbya depending on your region. Why cant it just be pronounced 'w' as in way without the 'ay'? And words get messed up. like water is often pronounced as wood-er. And distinctions between words that are related are lost. Couldn't a bunch of linguists get together and make a language that is clear and distinct with rules that work all the time? Edited by Paul on 10/23/05 - 12:59 PM
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softtarget
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Posted 10/17/05 - 09:25 PM:	#2
There are many different dialects to many different languages. Ironically, regional and cultural usage leads to the distortion of language, thus it is these misspronunciations and differences that ultimately leads to new languages.
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Lucy
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Posted 10/17/05 - 10:18 PM: Subject: language of confusion	#3
Now than it gets even worst in terms of language. Imagine a woman present you in public as her husband by saying this is my man or my husband. My firs though about it were how much have she paid for you? You can only declare something as yours if you have owned it, in order to posses it. This is how we become a subject or commodity of somebody else, so be carefully with the word my mine. As it could be misunderstood very easily.

Cuthbert
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Posted 10/17/05 - 11:55 PM:	#4
Lucy wrote: Now than it gets even worst in terms of language. Imagine a woman present you in public as her husband by saying this is my man or my husband. My firs though about it were how much have she paid for you? You can only declare something as yours if you have owned it, in order to posses it. This is how we become a subject or commodity of somebody else, so be carefully with the word my mine. As it could be misunderstood very easily. I think that point shows that 'my' and 'your' etc don't always signify possession. They can also signify relationship (my brother is your father), responsibility (it's my turn), personal significance (my time has come, my God!) and probably many other things. 'I have two legs' doesn't mean I own two legs, because I have a body, mind and soul, and if I owned a body, mind and soul then there would be no 'me' left to do the owning. ('I have two legs' signifies possession when they are chicken legs in my shopping basket.)

SimplyPlatonic
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Posted 10/18/05 - 10:05 AM:	#5
Cuthbert wrote: I think that point shows that 'my' and 'your' etc don't always signify possession. They can also signify relationship (my brother is your father), responsibility (it's my turn), personal significance (my time has come, my God!) and probably many other things. 'I have two legs' doesn't mean I own two legs, because I have a body, mind and soul, and if I owned a body, mind and soul then there would be no 'me' left to do the owning. ('I have two legs' signifies possession when they are chicken legs in my shopping basket.) Perhaps then another classification should be made for the words that are used to mean too different things.
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Cuthbert
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Posted 10/18/05 - 11:38 PM:	#6
SimplyPlatonic wrote: Perhaps then another classification should be made for the words that are used to mean too different things. OK, here's my suggestion. When something belongs to me, like a book, I'll say, 'It's the book to me', meaning it's my book. When someone is in a relationship to me, I'll say 'He's the brother by me', meaning he's my brother. And when something is a bodily part or faculty, I'll say 'There are two legs of me', meaning that I have two legs. So if I've just bought my chicken legs for dinner, there are two legs to me and there also happen to be two legs of me. Lucy's point is that the wife by me is definitely not the wife to me although metaphorically she is the wife of me ('we are joined together in love as one'). Some languages use inflection to convey these distinctions, but English is richer in prepositions than inflections. Unfortunately - or perhaps not - I don't think my idea will catch on.... (And just to clarify the use of 'my' there, 'my idea' means the idea occurred to me, but I'm not claiming intellectual property rights on it. Unless there's money involved, of course. ) Edited by Cuthbert on 10/18/05 - 11:54 PM

Stefan
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Posted 10/19/05 - 01:09 AM:	#7
SimplyPlatonic wrote: I dont know about other lanuages but English is a terrible language in my opinion. The way we write we have to memorize rules that dont hold up and learn which way to say the vowels of every word, like i heard growing up that eastern cultures that use a different symbol for each word have to memorize thousands of words and everyone said things like "oh, wow i cant imagine" I can, i did basically the same thing trying to learn english grammar and it is my native language (unfortunately) when you could teach the next gen to write using vowels that look different depending on how they are supposed to sound. And words like: sure and sugar, are pronounced with an 'sh' sound at the beggining instead of simply 's'. All the english letters have names, why not just how they are spoken? like w is named double 'U' or dubbya depending on your region. Why cant it just be pronounced 'w' as in way without the 'ay'? And words get messed up. like water is often pronounced as wood-er. And distinctions between words that are related are lost. Couldn't a bunch of linguists get together and make a language that is clear and distinct with rules that work all the time? Ever heard of Esperanto?
"I am not so lost in lexicography as to forget that words are the daughters of earth, and that things are the sons of heaven." Samuel Johnson

Seneca
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Posted 10/22/05 - 01:14 PM:	#8
Well English has done the most out of any other language to include words that don't exist in it. Just because english has little prounounciational nuances and rules that need to be memorized does not make it inferior. You should see how hellenistic greek was written, and it was considered the best language at the time that it was used. I think the future will be in English until computerization takes over phycical movement and all else in which case things might start moving into binary or some other form of communication. You are stuck my friend.

Mr.Bob
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Posted 11/19/05 - 09:38 PM:	#9
Personally, I'm not a big fan of English. It may lend to greater nuances in speech and word meaning, but it's incredibly varied in its rules and difficult to learn as a primary language, nevermind as a secondary one. I much prefer Romance languages like spanish. The phonetic spelling really appeals to me, although I hate the male/female thing. A new, better language would be interesting, but a change such as replacing the most used language on earth would take a long time, if it would even happen at all. People's stubbornness only adds to the slowness factor.
Words are treacherous and fueled by lies. They seek our destruction, for that is their liberation. To action!

bobbydazzler
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Posted 11/22/05 - 04:23 PM:	#10
i love english and the fact we have a larger vocabulary to call upon than any other language.

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