McWhorter Log (1-44)

           On pages 1-44 of John McWhorter’s book, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English, it briefly goes over the history and composition of the English language. It first speaks of the influence of Welsh on the earliest form of what we know as the English language, particularly the use of meaningless do and –ing(verb-noun present). It also goes on to tackle the long held, but incorrect assumptions most experts have about the history of English. The first assumption is that the Celts, the original inhabitants of England, where almost completely wiped out by Germanic invaders; the second assumption is that the development of meaningless do, the verb-noun present and other unique elements of English essentially “just happened”; the third assumption is that the written language that has survived is taken to be the language spoken at that time.

            I find the most significant passage I found in these pages is the first paragraph on the first page. It essentially sums up the overall point of our class, albeit in a somewhat humerous way: that the English language, despite being a part of the same family tree as many other languages, is uniquely different in its structure and usage. The specific line where this is expressed: “English…is kinky. It has a predilection for dressing up like Welsh on lonely nights”. Although it took some reading over a few times, I did eventually understand what was being talked about in the pages that I read, so I don’t have any questions about the section that I read.

The Importance of Language in the Modern World: Preservation or Suppression of Native Tongues

            In The Linguists, David Harrison and Gregory Anderson travel all over the world in their effort to try to document and preserve languages they believe are at risk of becoming lost forever. It is not uncommon for local dialects to be pushed aside in favor of larger, better known languages; often the result of government measures, some groups chose to abandon their language in order find better opportunities. The suppression of these languages has had negative affects as well as the perceived positives they seemingly bring. Thanks to the work of people like David and Gregory, there is now a more concerned effort to make these languages better known and keep them from being forgotten by future generations.

            The potential loss of these endangered languages is more than just the loss of a method of communication; languages contain stories, customs, memories that if just passed orally and has no written text, could go unremembered. This can be seen in the part of the film where, visiting a remote village in Siberia, a native speaker of the Chulym language recounts a humorous story about moose hunting. Since Chulym has no developed writing system, the only way anyone else would know this story is to hear it being told. The proliferation of boarding schools played a big part in creating this problem. Strict adherence to the language of the set curriculum made it difficult or even impossible to keep their first language memorized. I believe this theme to be one of the most important ones mentioned in the film because, no matter how many changes occur in the course of human history, a inherent respect for our cultures past, present and future must be maintained, including the preservation of our languages. The part of the film that best exemplifies this is the interview with Johnny Hill Jr., the last native speaker of Chemehuevi, one of many dialects of Native American origin. This reminds me of, in another class I took, how we discussed how this impacted Native Americans who went through it as part of the United States’ effort to reacclimatize them into a more  “proper, civilized way of life”.

The Continuing Evolution of Language & Its Influence on People and Cultures

           

            In the articles From English to Chinglishand How English is Evolving into a Language We May Not Understand, the main subject under discussion is the current state of the English language and the influence it subjects onto or is subjected to from other countries & cultures. The former mainly focuses on the cross influence English and the native languages of other countries have on each other, the disappearance of native languages and an effort to preserve & educate people on these endangered dialects; the latter goes into more detail on how languages can influence each other to create new languages like Chinglish (Chinese & English) or Singlish (Singaporean English). The common point both articles try to convey is that the changes these languages are going through is not uncommon; this is just the natural progression in the evolution in the way we communicate with each other.

            I agree with the authors’ assertion that, despite attempts to correct these observed inaccuracies, it is inevitable that these words and phrases will eventually become commonplace in everyday speech.  Many of the languages often used today have been subject to this very process, as they originated from either Indo-European or Semitic dialects; as their usage spread outside of their native lands, they incorporated local languages and adapted to meet the varying tongues of people from multiple countries. An example of this is highlighted in the Chinglish article, when the division of Western Europe gave rise to the development of the Germanic and Romance languages. Despite this separation, the English language (which was thought of as a Germanic language) ended up being a product of the fusion of both Romance and Germanic origins. Another, more contemporary example can be found in our class discussions covering etymology and word formation, in particular the process of borrowing. Simply defined, borrowing is the process of taking words from other languages to be incorporated into another (tycoon-Japanese, piano-Italian, yogurt­-Turkish, etc.). This is not limited just to English, as other languages can borrow terms as well. Samples include the Japanese use of suupaa or suupaamaaketto­ for ‘supermarket’ or the French use of terms like le stress, le weekend or le whisky. This also works with a special kind of borrowing known as loan-translation or calque (/kælk/). In this case, the borrowing language assimilates a direct translation of the elements of a word. Examples include the French term grate-ciel (scrape-sky) or the German term Wolkenkratzen (cloud scraper) contributing to the English formation of the word skyscraper.

            While the concerns over the preservation of the languages are legitimate, we should also recognize the significance the development of new dialects like Chinglish or Spanglish has. The ability to develop a complex method of communication is unique among human beings, a feat only matched by the number of differing types of communication that have been developed and are still being used. Over time, these methods have changed in order to adapt to the changes in culture or to suit the needs of the people. Although it may seem that the formation of these languages is counterproductive, in reality, they may be the precursor to what we find ourselves saying in the future.

New Words for a New World: "Truthiness is of the upmost importance"

       The word I chose to write about is the term ‘truthiness’. The general definition of this word is a term used to describe things that a person claims to know intuitively or “from the gut” with no regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination or facts. The types of word formation I believe are at use here are coinage (the invention of a new term) and derivation (the process of forming new words by adding affixes). It is also possible that the process known as analogy applies here; it is close in spelling (and approximate meaning) to the words ‘trustiness’ and ‘truthfulness’. Some of the research I did leads me to believe that neologism plays into this word as well; apparently, the Oxford English Dictionary has a definition for the term ‘truthy’ that dates back to the 1800s, defining it as characterized by truth and with the derivation ‘truthiness’.

       I’ll be honest in saying that I just randomly chose a random word to write about; in thinking about the assignment, it was the first word that popped into my head. The origin of this word, to some people, is often attributed to Stephen Colbert, host of the very popular TV show “The Colbert Report”. In response to the aforementioned Oxford Dictionary definition, which was highlighted in an Associated Press story, Colbert stated that you “don’t look up truthiness in a book, you look it up in your gut”. (Full Disclosure: I do happen to watch the show, so personal views stated here are likely not impartial)

My Language Story

       I’m afraid my language story is not a very interesting one. Despite my background, the only language that I’m fluent in is English; I happen to be half Chinese and half Puerto Rican. When I was younger, I did know a few words and phases of both Spanish and Chinese, but I’ve long since forgotten them. At home, everyone in my family mainly speaks English; my mother speaks both English and Spanish fluently, as well as knowing a little bit of French and Italian. I did have Spanish classes in Junior High and High school, but none of the lessons really stuck. My first Spanish teacher taught the class very well; she was aware of how hard I tried even though I wasn’t very good at it and I did learn a few things. But the teachers I had after her were pretty awful. My second Spanish teacher was completely incomprehensible; I barely understood anything she said in English (she had a strange accent/inflection) and was completely lost when she spoke “Spanish”. It didn’t sound like any form of Spanish I was familiar with; to be honest, it sometimes sounded like she was speaking gibberish. It wasn’t just me who thought this, my classmates thought the same thing as well. The best we could do was to just do the work on our own from the textbook. This was after I was put in this class after mistakenly being placed in a French class (I knew that it wasn’t the right class, but I chose not to say anything about it). The few French classes I attended were very interesting and I probably did better in those classes then in any Spanish class I attended (this is just my opinion). Since I (somehow) managed to get a certain amount of credits and passed a critical exam, I didn’t have to take anymore language classes after my freshman year of High school.

        When I find myself in certain situations, like being around certain family members or in places where English is not well spoken or well known, I do tend to get a little lost. Not being able to understand what is being said around me does make me feel a little out of place. This is particularly true when I’m around my father’s family; my grandmother, grandfather and uncle speak fluent Chinese, as well as my father (although I’m not 100% sure, I believe they specifically speak Mandarin). Since I grew up with my mother, I am familiar with a few Spanish words and phrases, but not enough to hold a lengthy conversation. None of this means that I’m not interested in learning another language; I would very much like to know at least one other language other than English. It’s just that, for some reason, I never have been very good at learning another language. Ideally, I would like to learn Spanish and Chinese, if only to finally understand some of what is being said around me and, also, to stop being harassed by certain members of my family who tend to (unintentionally) be critical and admonish me for not knowing.