Linguistics

So, I must admit that I was pretty excited to come back and blog today! I like the idea of going somewhere and filling blank space. Currently, I am waiting for my Linguistics class to start. Linguistics: [ling-gwis-tiks] (n.) the science of language, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and historical linguistics. I find this definition somewhat hilarious because, unless you know linguistic vocabulary, this definition wouldn't help in the slightest. Essentially, linguistics is the study of language, how it's created, and how it's used. Last lecture we watched the an interesting movie called "The Linguistics." (surprising, no?) It was fascinating! The main idea was these two linguists by profession traveled the world in search of endangered languages. A fact: on average, every two weeks a language dies. I would have never believed it to be so frequent! The two linguists traveled to Siberia, India, and Bolivia and studied three dying languages that were once used in that region. Using a series of gestures, they asked speakers of the language to say what body parts, colors, and numbers were in their language. With thorough note taking and vocal recording, they successfully documented some valuable information about each language. Throughout the video, many reasons for a language becoming endangered were mentioned. A simple, yet highly practiced way of losing a language is the use of boarding schools. They combine children from a vast expanse of land to one location and the children end up using one language at the school instead of their own dialect. Now, I must mention my opinions on the subject. Although it is sad to be losing once used languages of the world, I think it important to look at the bigger picture. This particular school they showed was in India. It cannot be stressed enough how important an education is in this day and age especially for children in third-world countries. If they are unskilled and cannot provide for themselves, they are in danger of being sold into slavery for a source of income. So, in the complete view of things, boarding schools are extremely important in preserving a child's future in safety. I love languages. I think the study of language is almost as fun as biology. However, when it comes down to it, I think that keeping children out of slavery is more important than preserving their village's dialect. Anyway, there's some food for thought. I think it's very important to think this matters through and remind ourselves of what's most important.