Language is the medium for the transmission of ideas: the vector for meme activity, perhaps. It also appears to be something which differentiates humans from other animals (although perhaps whale-song or even bird-call is more complex than suspected).

In “Human Traces”, Sebastian Faulk suggests (through his characters) that language developed with consciousness; the two are inextricable. Further, he suggests that our ability to abstract (reality is an abstraction) the world and hear the voices of leaders/kings/god are both part of (the main function of?) consciousness.

When we developed writing, he says, we found a way to express language that didn’t require us to hallucinate voices – and this is why so-called gods and spirits stopped talking to us. It’s a nice idea; it explains how religion could have evolved from a time of prophets and leaders to one of “faith” as a virtue.

I yearn to become a polyglot: to have at least a rudimentary ability in each of the languages listed below:

  • Français
  • Deutsche
  • Indic
  • Español
  • Putonghua (普通话)
  • Invented
    • Qenya
  • Tibetan (ལྷ་སའི་སྐད lha-sa’i skad)
  • Latin (at least some useful Latin phrases)
  • Japanese / Nihongo / 日本語
  • Arabic
  • Aramaic
  • Russian
  • …?
Last updated on Oct 21, 2020 Anthropology, Language