"Language is beginning to submit to that uniquely satisfying kind of understanding that we call science, but the news has been kept a secret." Thus writes Stephen Pinker in his book The Language Instinct. I have been in on the secret for a while, and share much of the enthusiasm and optimism behind the statement. A field of research that has been allowed to pursue beauty and aesthetic pleasure now offers insights as important as the dutiful analysis of chemistry or bodyparts.
As one of his examples, Pinker describes the first meeting between English goldrushers and native New Guineans, and how the New Guineans tested if the newcomers were human by smelling their excrement. The two peoples might look different, but what came from their insides were the same. This anecdote is used to argue that language is also a common trait, and thatdifferent languages independent of each other develop similar structures. The description of warriors' amazement at smelling poo is thus equaled to linguist's smelling the first traces of a Universal Grammar.
I laugh out loud when I am forced to answer the rethorical question hinted at: Why are we so amazed that languages are as equal as our physical abilities? Why did we expect some languages to be more primitive than others?
And, the most personal for me: Why am I so eager to think of language as a local social construct?
sometimes
the typewriter
thinks
for
me
and somethimes
i violently
i disagree
violent
ly
William Carlos Williams
the typewriter
thinks
for
me
and somethimes
i disagree
violent
ly
William Carlos Williams
Welcome!
This blog is all about me thinking out loud while working on my master's thesis. But you are all very welcome to read and comment - in English or Norwegian.
My thesis subject is language training as a practical experience, with focus on English as a second language for Norwegian children.
I came to know the English language through a theoretical perspective, through
the rules of grammar and the examples of the textbook. But learning language through use and exploration is closer to my heart,and in my thesis I want to explore the practical strategies available for language learning.
My thesis subject is language training as a practical experience, with focus on English as a second language for Norwegian children.
I came to know the English language through a theoretical perspective, through
the rules of grammar and the examples of the textbook. But learning language through use and exploration is closer to my heart,and in my thesis I want to explore the practical strategies available for language learning.
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2 comments:
Good to see that you are finding the Pinker book useful! I am not sure that I understand what you mean by "language as a local social construct?". Perhaps because I myself look upon language as a local social construct, and what else can it be?
Thank you, I really enjoy the book!
By local social construct I think of the very popular scientific tales of the language tree and the language cradle - the notion that language started in one local community and developed onto different languages in other local communities. I also think of the now abandoned idea that all language and all grammar have developed from the superior greek and latin, and the still strong conviction that some languages are too different to be understood cross culture (this last point is still taught at university level, for instance in Norwegian teaching of Finnish and Chinese).
Human language has been explained as a fluke, a biological coincidence that separate man from parrot. And it has been explained as a gift from gods, enabeling us to rule the other species.
Personally, I have preferred the fluke. But I can no longer believe that the same fluke of coincidence happened worldwide in separate and isolated cultures.
And still I find it hard to believe in a language instinct or an underlying universal grammar. Pinker's argument that this is no more incredible than the development of physical traits as blonde hair or five-fingered hands do not convince me.
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