Re: linguistic abuse (was "Loop approach")

[ysh <liminal@st.rim.or.jp>]

Ah, I must jump in, as Japanese is my native language.

Responding to some quotes, somewhat out of context --

>The other thing to factor in with the net is how many people contribute 
>for
>whom english is a second language. I think the world is a poorer place due
>to the tyranny of english on the net

I recall a dinner-talk snippet somewhere in Europe, where a person 
mentioned:  by defining English as the default language, the net has done 
Europe a lot of good in proving that French is *not* the 'international' 
language as some people believe.  Naturally, this person didn't come from 
a 
French-speaking nation...  :-)

>>This is because language really has little to do with reality--words are
>>just sounds that we have come to associate with real-life objects. 

"Words" don't necessarily originate in sounds.

In Japan we have a situation where we have two character sets, one 
phonetic 
and one non-phonetic.  The non-phonetic characters genererally embody 
meaning and not necessary a fixed pronounciation.  ...Why?  The characters 
were imported from China.  I must know hundreds of words that I can 
understand on paper, but cannot pronounce.

* * *

Returning to even earlier in the thread, the inadequacy of words to 
express 
emotions/thoughts/whatever has been a big theme for many a novelist or 
poet 
too, not the sole domain of non-linguistic arts.  I believe it was 
Kundera, 
perhaps Rhys or even Tim O'Brien, who mentioned that the art of the novel 
was to capture a state for which there is no word.

An additional thought, vaguely related to looping:  words defining 
emotions 
often define the emotions with which we can identify.  Ditto for 
objects... 
 in Japanese, I've heard that there are fifty-something variations of the 
word "tuna".  The quest for precise identification brought birth to those 
words, which in turn educates the masses of the finer variations of the "
tuna" theme.

Thus, the dynamic nature of languages is most likely a result of the 
inadequacy of language to express the uniqueness of every subject, be it 
material or abstract.  What a quest:  I find it a positive thing!

Or, taking the other extreme, maybe I should throw the idea that "words 
are 
stereotypes."  How's that for the ultimate in political correctness?  The 
logical conclusion to that thought would be for me to keep my mouth 
shut... 
 

Well, on that note...  ;-)

- - - - -
Yoshi Matsumoto
liminal@st.rim.or.jp