Saturday, 20 June 2015
Sunday, 7 June 2015
50 THINGS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW
50 THINGS EVERYONE
SHOULD KNOW
(or 50 Completely Useless
Facts!)
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| The word "queue"
is the only word in the English language that is still pronounced the
same way when the last four letters are removed.
Beetles taste like apples, wasps like pine nuts,
and worms like fried bacon. Of all the words in the English language, the word 'set' has the most definitions! What is called a "French kiss" in the English speaking world is known as an "English kiss" in France. "Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order. "Rhythm" is the longest English word without a vowel. In 1386, a pig in France was executed by public hanging for the murder of a child A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off! Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath There is a city called Rome on every continent. It's against the law to have a pet dog in Iceland! Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day! Horatio Nelson, one of England's most illustrious admirals was throughout his life, never able to find a cure for his sea-sickness. The skeleton of Jeremy Bentham is present at all important meetings of the University of London Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, everytime you breathe! The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump! One quarter of the bones in your body, are in your feet! Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different! The first known transfusion of blood was performed as early as 1667, when Jean-Baptiste, transfused two pints of blood from a sheep to a young man Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails! Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin! The present population of 5 billion plus people of the world is predicted to become 15 billion by 2080. Women blink nearly twice as much as men. Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian, and had only ONE testicle. |
Honey is the only food
that does not spoil. Honey found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs has
been tasted by archaeologists and found edible. Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th." Coca-Cola would be green if colouring weren’t added to it. On average a hedgehog's heart beats 300 times a minute. More people are killed each year from bees than from snakes. The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words. More people are allergic to cow's milk than any other food. Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand. The placement of a donkey's eyes in its' heads enables it to see all four feet at all times! The six official languages of the United Nations are: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish. Earth is the only planet not named after a god. It's against the law to burp, or sneeze in a church in Nebraska, USA. You're born with 300 bones, but by the time you become an adult, you only have 206. Some worms will eat themselves if they can't find any food! Dolphins sleep with one eye open! It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old! The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds Queen Elizabeth I regarded herself as a paragon of cleanliness. She declared that she bathed once every three months, whether she needed it or not Slugs have 4 noses. Owls are the only birds who can see the colour blue. A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years! A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue! The average person laughs 10 times a day! An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain --------------------------------------------------- One of these amazing, but useless facts is false. Do you know which one? | |
Shakespeare’s Development Of Early Modern English
Shakespeare’s Development Of Early Modern English:
Shakespeare is probably the most famous of all Englishmen. One of the things he is famous for is the effect he had on the development of the Early Modern English language. For example, without even realising it, our everyday speech is full of words and phrases invented by Shakespeare. He was able to do that because English was changing as people modernised it in their normal workaday speech. One of the ways the grammar was changing was that inflectional endings (suffixes that indicated the word’s grammatical functions in the way that many modern languages still have) had largely disappeared. Modern English was becoming wonderfully flexible and that was the background to the Renaissance explosion of the inventive language we see when we look at the poetry of the time. Shakespeare was a leading figure in that. Writers were able to invent new uses for words with great freedom. For example, Caesar is able to say: ‘The wild disguise has almost anticked us all.’ An antic is a fool, which is a noun. Shakespeare turns it into a verb ‘to make a fool of.’ English was being set free to go where writers wanted to take it in their poetry. Shakespeare takes it where he likes throughout his texts, transforming the English language, pointing to the way we use it today. (Modern English is still changing and developing, of course, and you are playing a vital role in that as you pick up and use new phrases, borrow foreign words, incorporate other dialects into your speech and so on.) There was a huge inflow of other European vocabulary into the English language as a result of Renaissance cross-pollination. That created new variations for English words. It allowed endless possibilities for Shakespeare. In Love’s Labours Lost he is able to exploit multiple meanings of one word to create a sentence like ‘Light, seeking light, doth light of light beguile.’ – ‘intellect,’ ‘wisdom,’ ‘eyesight’ and ‘daylight’. Generally speaking, the grammar of Early Modern English is identical to that of Modern English so there is little difficulty in that regard. There is one issue that seems to bother newcomers to Shakespeare, however. Teachers will often find students complaining: ‘All those thees and thous . It’s soooo old-fashioned and I can’t be bothered with it.’ Once again, this usage was in a state of transition and, as always, Shakespeare exploits that. In Modern English we use the word “you” as both the singular and the plural form. In Old English, thou was used for addressing one person; ye for more than one. You was around then, and while thou and ye were used as a subject of a clause, you was used as the object. By the time of Early Modern English, the distinction between subject and object uses of ye and you had virtually disappeared, and you became the norm in all grammatical functions and social situations. Ye had become old-fashioned and so, when we see it in the Authorised Bible (‘Oh ye of little faith’) we are seeing that, in spite of the fact that you may think you understand the language in the Bible better than you do Shakespeare, Shakespeare is more modern! By Shakespeare’s time in Early Modern English you was being used for both singular and plural, but in the singular it also had a role as an alternative to thou and thee . You was used by people of lower status to those above them (such as ordinary people to nobles, children to parents, servants to masters), and was also the formal way for the upper classes to talk to each other. By contrast, thou and thee were used by people of higher rank to those beneath them, and by the lower classes to each other; also, strangely enough, in addressing God, and in talking to witches, ghosts, and other supernatural beings. As a refection of the higher status of males in the male/female context a husband might address his wife as thou , and she might reply respectfully with you . The use of thou and you also had an emotional dimension. Thou commonly expressed special intimacy or affection; you , formality, politeness, and distance. That form is still used in French today in the use of vous and tu . Thou might also be used by an inferior to a superior, to express such feelings as anger and contempt or to be insulting and this is one of the areas where Shakespeare is able to get extra levels of meaning by showing disrespect by one character for another’s status. The use of thou to a person of equal rank could be used as an insult. Sir Toby Belch advises Sir Andrew Aguecheek on how to write a challenge to the Count’s youth, Viola: ‘if thou thou’st him somethrice, it shall not be amiss’ (Twelfth Night). (Read more on this topic on our guide to meanings of thee and thou.) Shakespeare was acutely aware of the way the Early Modern English language that he grew up with was changing and it is yet another way that he was able to create the levels of meaning that made him such an enduring writer. When students take the trouble to understand the use of the thees and thous they are able to appreciate the additional meaning rather than seeing them as a difficulty.
Shakespeare is probably the most famous of all Englishmen. One of the things he is famous for is the effect he had on the development of the Early Modern English language. For example, without even realising it, our everyday speech is full of words and phrases invented by Shakespeare. He was able to do that because English was changing as people modernised it in their normal workaday speech. One of the ways the grammar was changing was that inflectional endings (suffixes that indicated the word’s grammatical functions in the way that many modern languages still have) had largely disappeared. Modern English was becoming wonderfully flexible and that was the background to the Renaissance explosion of the inventive language we see when we look at the poetry of the time. Shakespeare was a leading figure in that. Writers were able to invent new uses for words with great freedom. For example, Caesar is able to say: ‘The wild disguise has almost anticked us all.’ An antic is a fool, which is a noun. Shakespeare turns it into a verb ‘to make a fool of.’ English was being set free to go where writers wanted to take it in their poetry. Shakespeare takes it where he likes throughout his texts, transforming the English language, pointing to the way we use it today. (Modern English is still changing and developing, of course, and you are playing a vital role in that as you pick up and use new phrases, borrow foreign words, incorporate other dialects into your speech and so on.) There was a huge inflow of other European vocabulary into the English language as a result of Renaissance cross-pollination. That created new variations for English words. It allowed endless possibilities for Shakespeare. In Love’s Labours Lost he is able to exploit multiple meanings of one word to create a sentence like ‘Light, seeking light, doth light of light beguile.’ – ‘intellect,’ ‘wisdom,’ ‘eyesight’ and ‘daylight’. Generally speaking, the grammar of Early Modern English is identical to that of Modern English so there is little difficulty in that regard. There is one issue that seems to bother newcomers to Shakespeare, however. Teachers will often find students complaining: ‘All those thees and thous . It’s soooo old-fashioned and I can’t be bothered with it.’ Once again, this usage was in a state of transition and, as always, Shakespeare exploits that. In Modern English we use the word “you” as both the singular and the plural form. In Old English, thou was used for addressing one person; ye for more than one. You was around then, and while thou and ye were used as a subject of a clause, you was used as the object. By the time of Early Modern English, the distinction between subject and object uses of ye and you had virtually disappeared, and you became the norm in all grammatical functions and social situations. Ye had become old-fashioned and so, when we see it in the Authorised Bible (‘Oh ye of little faith’) we are seeing that, in spite of the fact that you may think you understand the language in the Bible better than you do Shakespeare, Shakespeare is more modern! By Shakespeare’s time in Early Modern English you was being used for both singular and plural, but in the singular it also had a role as an alternative to thou and thee . You was used by people of lower status to those above them (such as ordinary people to nobles, children to parents, servants to masters), and was also the formal way for the upper classes to talk to each other. By contrast, thou and thee were used by people of higher rank to those beneath them, and by the lower classes to each other; also, strangely enough, in addressing God, and in talking to witches, ghosts, and other supernatural beings. As a refection of the higher status of males in the male/female context a husband might address his wife as thou , and she might reply respectfully with you . The use of thou and you also had an emotional dimension. Thou commonly expressed special intimacy or affection; you , formality, politeness, and distance. That form is still used in French today in the use of vous and tu . Thou might also be used by an inferior to a superior, to express such feelings as anger and contempt or to be insulting and this is one of the areas where Shakespeare is able to get extra levels of meaning by showing disrespect by one character for another’s status. The use of thou to a person of equal rank could be used as an insult. Sir Toby Belch advises Sir Andrew Aguecheek on how to write a challenge to the Count’s youth, Viola: ‘if thou thou’st him somethrice, it shall not be amiss’ (Twelfth Night). (Read more on this topic on our guide to meanings of thee and thou.) Shakespeare was acutely aware of the way the Early Modern English language that he grew up with was changing and it is yet another way that he was able to create the levels of meaning that made him such an enduring writer. When students take the trouble to understand the use of the thees and thous they are able to appreciate the additional meaning rather than seeing them as a difficulty.
Words Shakespeare Invented
Words Shakespeare Invented
The English language owes a great debt to Shakespeare. He invented over 1700 of our common words by changing nouns into verbs, changing verbs into adjectives, connecting words never before used together, adding prefixes and suffixes, and devising words wholly original. Below is a list of a few of the words Shakespeare coined, hyperlinked to the play and scene from which it comes. When the word appears in multiple plays, the link will take you to the play in which it first appears. For a more in-depth look at Shakespeare's coined words, please click here.LANGUAGE AND CULTURE – A PERSPECTIVE
LANGUAGE AND CULTURE – A PERSPECTIVE
Frederick Kang’Ethe Iraki
Introduction
The importance of language in our daily intercourse cannot be gainsaid. Chomsky’s arguments suggest that there is a language faculty in the human brain that enables a human child to learn any language in just about four years. Contrary views argue that there is no such faculty, since language derives from general purpose mechanisms of the brain. Recent experiments with brain imaging, especially Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI), reveal that both arguments are not entirely unfounded. Whatever the argument, both camps acknowledge the centrality of language in human cognitive development. With respect to communication, again two views emerge. One, promoted arduously by philosophers like John Locke and Bertrand Russell, espouse that language is essentially for communicating thoughts. The other view claims that language is part and parcel of thought, i.e. language plays a cognitive function, and is not a mere vehicle of thought. Interestingly, studies on animals demonstrate that animals can think too, and yet they have no language like ours.Similarly, studies in aphasia, especially among patients afflicted with William’s Syndrome, show that language can be grossly impaired leaving cognition intact. Consequently, the two extreme views need reconciliation. A moderate view expressed by Vygotsky and later Piaget posits that language is not a sine qua non to cognition, but it plays a vital role in developing the human mind. This is the position adopted in this discussion.
Culture is a product of the human mind and it is defined, propagated and sustained through language. The relation between language and culture is indisputably symbiotic.
Language serves as an expression of culture without being entirely synonymous with it. In most cases, a language forms a basis for ethnic, regional, national or international identity. The concept of nationhood finds resonance in the adoption of a national language around which the diverse ethnic communities can rally. In France, for instance, the forceful adoption of French as the national language significantly reduced the import and value of the ten-plus regional dialects. As a result, France could boast of a true national culture; nationhood had been secured thanks to a unifying language. The same could be said of the adoption of Kiswahili in Tanzania. In Kenya, the concept of nationhood remains elusive, probably due to the ambivalent status accorded to Kiswahili.
In this article, we discuss the interplay between language and culture and how these two constructs evolve with time. We also discuss the vital role of language in creating mental representations.
Language
Definition
A language can be defined as a system of signs (verbal or otherwise)
intended for communication. It is a system since its constituent
components relate to each other in an intricate and yet organized
fashion. Again, it is intended for communication, for it can be safely
assumed that we speak to pass on information to others. But
communication is not the only function of language. In fact, language
can be used for dreaming, internal monologue, soliloquy, poetry, etc.
For the sake of this discussion, we take the position that, essentially,
language plays a communicative role.
Culture
The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines culture as “customs, civilization and achievements of a particular time or people.” In general terms then, culture defines a people’s way of life. Indeed, it can be considered as the sum total of norms and values espoused and cherished by a particular people. If values are patterns of behavior, norms are standards of behavior.Language and culture
Language encodes the values and norms in a given society. As a culture changes, so does the language. For example, in Gîkûyû, certain words have become near obsolete in the wake of cultural mutations. The words kîrîîgû and mûirîîtu described an uncircumcised and a circumcised girl respectively. However, the near-disappearance of the rite among girls has meant the disappearance of the term kîrîîgû in Gîkûyû.1 The two opposites are no longer valid in society, therefore the language had to adjust. In comparison, the opposites kîhîî-mwanake (uncircumcised boy-circumcised boy) holds strong, for the rite is still valued for boys among the Gîkûyû. Historically, early Christians in colonial Kenya spearheaded the condemnation of female circumcision. The missionaries converted the Africans into the new faith, and the new converts reaffirmed and preached the stand of the church on the circumcision rite. The ramifications of the church’s influence in colonial Kenya need not detain us here. Suffice it to say that, although the rite persists in some communities, it has been dealt a deathblow by modernity. Indeed, some medical perspectives claim that the rite is pernicious and a danger in childbirth. In addition, women lobbyists have also indicated that the practice undermines a woman’s sexuality and therefore should be done away with.Clearly, mutation in people’s thinking, whether influenced by the new religion or by modern thinking, can render obsolete a cultural practice or value. Once rendered obsolete, language seals off the issue by dropping some terms related to the value. The Gîkûyû example illustrates how the term kîrîîgû or its diminutive karîîgû have almost disappeared from ordinary Gîkûyû language. The two words are no longer politically correct and are therefore avoided. Recently, a presenter on cultural issues was invited to give an exposition of Gîkûyû customs on a call-in programme by the Kameme FM radio station. When it came to describing an uncircumcised girl, he could not utter the term. In its stead, he employed the circumlocution “that word for describing an uncircumcised female.” Despite the frantic efforts by the callers requesting the term, the presenter steered clear of it and promised, on a light note, to give it in the next edition of the programme. In comparison, he had no qualms whatsoever in orally distinguishing a kîhîî from a mwanake.
From the linguistic malaise felt by the presenter with respect to the term kîrîîgû it can be surmised that the Gîkûyû language seems to censure the use of a term associated with a much-demonized cultural value, namely female circumcision. In other languages that do not have this rite, there are no two terms to discriminate between young female persons. For instance, in Dholuo and Luhya, the terms nyako and (o)mukhana suffice to describe a young female person. In a word, a cultural shift entails some linguistic adjustments, and words can disappear from a language altogether as a result of a change in culture.
Language/culture evolution
Cultural values, as we have seen, appear, then wax and wane. Languages are no exception. A language can appear, mostly from a contact with other languages, blossom, then wither and die altogether. The French language was born out of Popular Latin in the 9th century. It is chronicled in the Serments de Strasbourg (Strasbourg oaths) and in the Séquence de Sainte Eulalie (St. Eulalia’s poems). Why do languages die? We shall not attempt a detailed rejoinder here, but it can be argued that when a civilization disintegrates, so does its language since language is the medium that purveys the values of that civilization. The result of a collapse of a civilization is the death of a language. The Greek and Roman civilizations are a case in point. Classical Greek and Latin are today termed “dead” languages as opposed to modern Greek and Italian. etc. The argument is that for a language to be alive and vibrant, the culture of the people it represents has to be alive and vibrant as well. As the culture evolves through time and space, so does the language.Language change
Technically speaking, a language is made up of several parts of speech. These include grammatical words such as prepositions, articles, tenses, moods, plurals, etc; and lexical words entailing nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives. The latter category is also termed by pragmatists as constituting conceptual terms, i.e. they designate or denote objects in the world. Upon hearing a lexical item, one can associate it with a concept. Conversely, the former category of words does not create concepts, but rather indicate how we should relate the concepts between them. In other words, they give us instructions on how to manipulate concepts. Language change primarily concerns conceptual terms. As we learn new ideas or concepts, we require a word to describe them. We rarely meet new grammatical words, so change here is minimal, if any. Some illustrations are in order at this juncture.In religion, the Judeo-Christian world-view, introduced by Christianity and Islam, was factored in linguistically by African cultures. New or different spiritual forces compete for man’s soul in a seemingly Manichean theatre. In the latter picture things are black or white, evil or good. For instance, in Kiswahili, terms like shetani, mwokozi, malaika, mnabii, kanisa, musikiti, kafiri, mtakatifu and many others exist as a result of the contact with the novel religious concepts vis-Ã -vis those of the indigenous religions.
In politics, concepts like democracy, voting, capitalism, nationhood, citizens and many others impinge on language. African languages have had to adjust to accommodate these new concepts in the political domain. Words like demokrasia, kupiga kura, ubepari, raia or mwananchi have been coined to take into account new political realities or cultures.
In the domain of generating and harnessing economic wealth, new economic systems demand a change in the language. Words like Marxism, socialism, communism, and many others, had to be coined to describe new concepts and ideas. Upon contact with socialism, the Tanzanian President coined the term ujamaa.
The leaps in technology have driven the creative genius of language to propose new words to describe the new gizmos. These include jet, helicopter, computer, laptop, CD-Rom, anti-virus and many more.
New social arrangements can also demand of language to change. In France, for example, a couple can live together in an arrangement called concubinage. This is an arrangement which holds the middle between being married and being single. In some communities in Kenya, a woman can be married or kept. The latter description means she is a mistress. On a light note, some people refer to the condition as kufugwa, Kiswahili for “to keep an animal.”
These illustrations underline the idea that conceptual words keep growing and expanding as we live out our lives. These terms have the knack of creating mental representations of concepts in us.
Language and Mental Representations
Values and norms are etched in our minds thanks to language. Language affords expression to and helps in formulating values and norms. Language expresses what should or should not be done. Indeed, taboos are encoded in language. Our minds and our behaviors are greatly influenced by language. Whorf, a renowned anthropologist, explains in Linguistique et anthropologie2 that a petrol tank that is labeled EMPTY, although potentially explosive due to fumes, may not deter a smoker from lighting up a cigarette next to it. This is because the word EMPTY transmits the meaning that there is nothing inside.Our emotions too are expressed metaphorically in language. George Lakoff in Metaphors we live by3 notes that we talk of boiling rage, rising temper, letting off steam, as if these emotions were physically rising up in a tube. Through language, therefore, we create mental pictures of these emotions and react accordingly. We ask angry people to cool down as if they were a hot metallic entity.
The link between words and mental representations is therefore very close. In fact, when translating from one language into another, one has to be sure that the mental representation is retained in the translation. A word for word translation may violate the fidelity of the translation, since the mental representations evoked by the translation may differ from the original text. Good translations focus on creating the same effects in the translation as in the original. For instance, the term bread evokes a different mental image depending on whether the hearer is French or African. For the Frenchman bread has different shapes (flute, baguette) and accompanies every meal, from breakfast to supper. To an African, bread has one shape, it is sliced or whole, and it is taken with tea in the morning, or as a meal with a soft drink or milk. In other words, the two persons do not have the same mental representation of the term bread, hence the challenge in translation.
Taboo words are easier to enunciate in a foreign tongue than in one’s mother tongue. Due to cultural sanctions, a speaker feels the starkness of taboo words and insults when expressed in the mother tongue. Put in another way, the vulgarity of a term is somewhat diminished if it is expressed in a language other than one’s own. Insults and four-letter words are a case in point here. Translating them into one’s mother tongue does not have the same effect. Part of the reason for the “shock” in the mother tongue is that our language is a repository of our ethics, and these words are, strictly, no-go areas; they should not be uttered in public. Each language mirrors the values of its speakers, hence the censure.
Conclusion
Language and culture are intertwined like the two-sides of the same sheet of paper. They breathe, blossom, shrivel up and die due to many reasons. Both of them are sensitive and adapt to prevailing circumstances. Language gives full expression to people’s values and norms, and since values and norms are dynamic by nature, language has to be in tandem with cultural transformations. Technological, political, economic and social innovations require language to enrich its lexicon to capture the new realities. Indeed, our minds create mental representations of values thanks to language. The collapse of a value system may sound the death knell to the language in question. The death of a culture will almost certainly be followed by the demise of the language associated with that culture.2. B. L. Whorf. Linguistique et anthropologie. Paris: Denoel, 1969.
3. G. Lakoff. Metaphors we live by. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1980.
Importance of communication in relations
Communicating clearly in a relationship
Talk to each other. No matter how well you know and love each other, you cannot read your partner’s mind. We need to communicate clearly to avoid misunderstandings that may cause hurt, anger or confusion.
When you talk to your partner, try to:
- Think about what you want to say and what you are feeling when you say it
- Be clear about what you want to communicate
- Be clear about your message so that your partner hears it accurately and understands what you mean
- Talk about what you want and feel – use ‘I’ statements such as ‘I need’, ‘I want’ and ‘I feel’
- Share positive feelings with your partner, such as what you appreciate and admire about them, and how important they are to you.
Non-verbal communication
When we communicate, we can say a lot without speaking. Our body posture, tone of voice and the expressions on our face all convey a message. If our feelings don’t fit with our words, it is often the non-verbal communication that gets ‘heard’ and believed. Notice whether your body language reflects what you are saying.
Listening to communicate
Listening is a very important part of effective communication. A good listener can encourage their partner to talk openly and honestly. Tips for good listening include:
- Keep comfortable eye contact.
- Lean towards your partner and make gestures to show interest and concern.
- Have a fairly relaxed posture with your arms and legs uncrossed.
- Face your partner – don’t sit or stand sideways.
- Sit or stand on the same level to avoid looking up to or down on your partner.
- Avoid distracting gestures such as fidgeting with a pen, glancing at papers, or tapping your feet or fingers.
- Be aware that physical barriers, noise or interruptions will make good communication difficult.
- Show genuine attention and interest.
- Ask for feedback from your partner on your listening.
Improving communication in a relationship
Open and clear communication can be learnt. To improve the way you communicate, start by asking questions such as:
- What things cause conflict between you and your partner? Are they because you are not listening to each other?
- What things bring you happiness and feelings of connection?
- What things cause you disappointment and pain?
- What things don’t you talk about and what stops you talking about them?
- How would you like your communication with your partner to be different?
If possible, ask these questions with your partner and share your responses. Consider and try ways to communicate differently. See whether the results improve your communication. When you are more aware of how you communicate, you will be able to have more control over what happens between you. While it may not be easy at first, opening up new areas of communication can lead to a more fulfilling relationship.
Some things are difficult to communicate
Most of us find some experiences or topics difficult to talk about. It may be something that is painful or makes us feel uncomfortable. For example, some people find it difficult to express their emotions. It is often the things that cannot be talked about that hurt the most.
Seeking help for communication issues
If you can’t seem to improve the communication in your relationship, consider talking with a relationship counsellor. Counsellors are trained to recognise the patterns in a couple’s communication that are causing problems and to help change those patterns. You could also consider doing a course that is relevant to your relationship. It is better to act early and talk to someone about your concerns, rather than wait until things get worse.
Where to get help
- Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA) National Register (Family and Relationship Therapy) Tel. (03) 9486 3077
- Relationships Australia Victoria Tel. 1300 364 277
- Family Relationship Advice Line Tel. 1800 050 321 Monday to Friday, 8 am to 8 pm, Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm
- Australian Association of Relationship Counsellors (AARC) Inc. Tel. 1800 806 054
Things to remember
- Communication is important in relationships. We need to talk openly and be good listeners.
- Most people can learn how to communicate more effectively.
- Share positive feelings about your partner with them.
- It is better to act early if you are having difficulties, rather than waiting for the situation to get worse.
What Are the Benefits of Effective Communication in the Workplace?
What Are the Benefits of Effective Communication in the Workplace?
by Rose Johnson , Demand Media
Effective verbal and
nonverbal communication skills are valuable in the workplace. Some
companies spend a lot of money to train their employees on how to
effectively communicate. Good communication skills go beyond
conversations, but employees must know how to communicate well in
written reports and emails. Understanding the benefits of effective
communication helps companies place a focus on developing a workforce
that is able to communicate within the firm and with customers, vendors
and international business partners.
ach soft skills training courses.
Helps with Diversity
Effective workplace communication is important in companies with workplace diversity. Good communication skills help to reduce the barriers erected because of language and cultural differences. Companies that provide communication training to domestic and international employees reap the benefits of effective workplace communication. Companies can avoid cultural confusion and miscommunication by training international employers early in their careers and on a regular basis. Effective communication causes productivity to increase, errors to decrease and operations to run smoother.Global Business
With global business transactions continually increasing, the need for effective communication to meet global demands is also increasing. Managers and employees must know how to effectively communicate with the company's international counterparts. The difference in cultures requires managers to understand terms commonly used in America that another culture finds offensive. Companies that prepare workers to excel with verbal and nonverbal communications skills find it easier to enter into global marketplaces than companies that do not prepare its employees. Effective communication is important for businesses looking to expand beyond its domestic borders.
Related Reading: How to Plan a Meeting on Workplace Communication
Team Building
Effective communication in the workplace helps employees and managers form highly efficient teams. Employees are able to trust each other and management. Effective communication reduces unnecessary competition within departments and helps employees work together harmoniously. The result of a team that works together is high productivity, integrity and responsibility. Employees know their roles on the team and know they are valued. Managers are able to correct employees' mistakes without creating a hostile work environment. A manager who openly communicates with his subordinates can foster positive relationships that benefit the company as a whole.Employee Morale
An improvement in employee morale can result from effective communication. Although pay is a concern for many workers, it is not their only concern. Employees appreciate good communication coming from management. It produces a healthy work environment. When employees are satisfied with their jobs, they are able to efficiently perform their duties with a positive attitude. Failing to communicate effectively in a workplace leads to frustration and confusion among employees. However, managers can alleviate such problems by keeping the lines of communication open.10 Tips for Becoming an Effective Communicator
10 Tips for Becoming an Effective Communicator:
According to Dr. Annie Shibata, faculty member in Walden University’s BS in Communication program, one of the first steps is to be more self-aware so that you can better understand the situation and your role in the conversation. For self-reflection, Dr. Shibata suggests 10 questions to ponder in order to be a better communicator:
- What is my communication goal?
Consider short- and long-term goals as well as what action, information or commitment you want now and in the future. - Am I deliberate and conscious in how I communicate?
Be conscious of both your oral and written communication. When speaking, the total impact of a message is about 7% verbal (words only), 38% vocal (including tone of voice, inflection and other sounds) and 55% nonverbal. - Do I know who my audience is?
Be aware of cultural differences, potential disabilities or learning challenges that may exist within your audience. - Am I aware of my emotions when I communicate?
Think about your emotions and how appropriate they are for the situation to determine if you’re prepared. In situations such as asking for a raise from your supervisor, it’s important to be clear and unemotional and focus on communicating what you’ve been doing well. - What nonverbal message am I communicating?
Consider how you sit or stand, your facial expressions and how you’re dressed. Again, most of the messages we send other people when we are speaking are nonverbal. People form 60% to 80% of their initial opinion of a new person they’re meeting in fewer than four minutes, so your nonverbal messages count. - Am I an honest communicator?
Are you authentic in your communication? Do you state your needs and desires clearly? Do you communicate with integrity? The answer to all of these should be yes. - Am I listener focused?
Do you often use slang, idioms, acronyms, or technical jargon? Such language can exclude some or all of your audience. Be clear and concise in your communication and consider how the listener is following and comprehending your message. - How is my pace—do I talk too fast or too slow? Do I talk too much?
Consider the time it takes for the listener to absorb what you’ve said, and pause if needed. Remember, repetition is important when communicating key messages; people need to hear a message several times before they remember it. - Am I a good listener?
Bear in mind that communication is one part talking and one part listening. Listening requires being present in the conversation by clarifying what you’ve said when asked to, asking follow-up questions and not making assumptions. It also means not formulating an answer while the other party is speaking, which is a skill that requires practice. - Do I consciously consider my timing?
Timing is important in communication. When to ask for a raise, when to deliver good or bad news, or when to discuss a difficult issue—the success or failure of these communications can depend on timing. Think about the other party in the communication and consider his or her state of mind and ability to focus when you choose to communicate something important.
How Language Shapes Thought
Boroditsky is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and Editor in Chief of Frontiers in Cultural Psychology. She has received a NSF CAREER award, was named a Searle Scholar, and a McDonnell Scholar.
Do the languages we speak shape the way we
think? For example, how do we think about time? The word "time" is the
most frequent noun in the English language. Time is ubiquitous yet
ephemeral. It forms the very fabric of our experience, and yet it is
unperceivable: we cannot see, touch, or smell time. How do our minds
create this fundamental aspect of experience? Do patterns in language
and culture influence how we think about time?
Do languages merely express thoughts, or do the structures in languages (without our knowledge or consent) shape the very thoughts we wish to express? Can learning new ways to talk change how you think? Is there intrinsic value in human linguistic diversity? Join us as Stanford cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky re-invigorates this long standing debate with data from experiments done around the world, from China, to Indonesia, Israel, and Aboriginal Australia.
Do languages merely express thoughts, or do the structures in languages (without our knowledge or consent) shape the very thoughts we wish to express? Can learning new ways to talk change how you think? Is there intrinsic value in human linguistic diversity? Join us as Stanford cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky re-invigorates this long standing debate with data from experiments done around the world, from China, to Indonesia, Israel, and Aboriginal Australia.
Languages are Parallel Universes
"To have a second language is to have a second soul," said Charlemagne around 800 AD. "Each language has its own cognitive toolkit," said psychologist/linguist Lera Boroditsky in 2010 AD.Different languages handle verbs, distinctions, gender, time, space, metaphor, and agency differently, and those differences, her research shows, make people think and act differently.
Take a sentence such as "Sarah Palin read Chomsky's latest book." In Russian, the verb would have to indicate whether the whole book was read or not. In Turkish the verb would signify whether the speaker saw the event personally, or it was reported, or it was inferred. Russians have two words for blue, and when those words are present in their mind, they can distinguish finer gradations of the color than English speakers can.
Gender runs deep in some languages, affecting nouns (including number words and days of the week), adjective endings, pronouns and possessives, and verb endings. And that affects how people think about every named thing. In German the Sun is female and the Moon male; it's the reverse in Spanish. In French, "liberty" and "justice" are each female, and thus the Statue of Liberty is a female, and so is the blindfolded lady of justice in American courtrooms.
"'Time' is the most common noun in the English language," said Boroditsky. (Followed by "person," "year," "way," and "day.") Time is often expressed as travel in space: "We're coming up on Christmas." But some languages put the future in front of us, and others put it behind us. For Aborigines that Boroditsky studied in north Australia, time and sequence gets blended into their profound orientation to the cardinal directions. They don't use relative terms like "left" and "right," but absolute compass terms ("There's an ant on your southwest leg"), and they have extraordinary orientation skills.
When Boroditsky asked these aborigines to place a sequence of photos (a progressively eaten apple) in sequential order, they did not do it like English speakers (left to right) or Hebrew and Arabic speakers (right to left), they did it by the compass: from east to west. "These are not differences of degree," said Boroditsky, "but a parallel universe."
Different languages assign blame (agency) differently. English is uncommonly agentive, and so Dick Cheney had difficulty distancing himself from the fact that he shot his friend in a hunting accident: "Ultimately I'm the guy who pulled the trigger that fired the shot that hit Harry." In Spanish, accidents are expressed in terms such as "The vase broke" rather than "John broke the vase." Political distancing language such as "Mistakes were made" doesn't sound awkward in Spanish. Fate looms larger.
Thus, "learning new languages can change the way you think," said Boroditsky. Multilingual speakers have more mind.
oldest languages of the world.
7 Classical Oldest Language Of The World!
Language is a medium of communication come to form well back 1,00,000
years.The first spoken form of language hasn't still accounted and don't
exist in the world,since ancient language don't have written
script.Justifying first language of the earth merely impossible.Even
accounting first language is difficult,but we can find some of the
treasure language of the earth.Civilization developed along with this
classical language of the world.
Worlds is always fond of 7, the most powerful 7 classical language of the world.They are treasure of the world.Everyone as a duty to protect the treasure of world.Some of the early existed language even before theses classical language got extended form the world.
Language Family:Indo-European
Hebrew:
Language Family:Afro-Asiatic
Language Family:Indo-Iranian
Language Family:Sino-Tibetan
Language Family:Indo-Aryan
Language Family:Dravidian
Language more than just mode of communication,its a rich culture.So Everyone's duty to protect a language and mother tongue.Otherwise we will lose our rich culture and tradition which our fore fathers left for each and everyone.Some Of the dead languages which brought civilization to the world.1.Sumerian(Mesopotamian Civilization-5000BC)2.Akkadian(Mesopotamian Civilization-4500BC)3.Armenian(Jesus Christ Mother tongue)4.Egyptian(Egypt Civilization-3000BC)
Worlds is always fond of 7, the most powerful 7 classical language of the world.They are treasure of the world.Everyone as a duty to protect the treasure of world.Some of the early existed language even before theses classical language got extended form the world.
7 Classical Treasure Language of the World:
Greek:
Language Family:Indo-European
Writing System:Greek alphabet
Civilization:Greek Civilization.
Standard forms/Dialects: Demotic/14 dialects
Origin:Beyond 3000 BC(Believed to still more than 5000BC)
Native Speaker:>15.2 million
Today:Greek spread across Mediterranean sea coast,Restricted to Greece nation.
Specialty:Greek is the language of the scientific vocabulary and over 10,00,000 words are loaned to English language.
History:proto-greek has origin well over 2nd millennium BC,Since
Greek evolved along with Greek civilization its more orientated towards
culture and tradition.Greek accounts for some of valuable treasured
literacy like Odyssey,lliad,Aristotle philosophy & Plato,Greek New
testament etc
Personality:Aristotle,Plato etc.
Latin:
Language Family:Indo-European
Writing System:Latin alphabet
Civilization:Roman Civilization
Standard forms/Dialects:Latin
Origin:Around 1000 BC
Native Speaker:<1,00,000(Vatican City,Italy)
Today:Latin confined to christian community of the world(Vatican)considered as a death language.
Specialty:Latin is the language of scientific invention and most
of biological terms arrived from Latin.About 70% of the incunabula are
in Latin.
History:Latin language evolved around the roman empire.Latin one
of the factor behind spread of Christianity.Since Many scientific
finding took place in and around roman empire,So Latin place a vital
role in science forum.Latin is always confined within the lower half of
the Mediterranean sea.
Personality: Plautus,Caesar etc.
Hebrew:
Language Family:Afro-Asiatic
Writing System:Hebrew alphabets
Civilization:Post-Mesopotamian Civilization
Standard forms/Dialects:Hebrew
Origin:around 10th century BC
Native Speaker:Native Speaker extincted around 7 th century AD,<8 million(Modern Israel)
Today:Hebrew is restricted as language of Jewish people and popularly Spoken around Israel.
Specialty:Holy Language of Jewish and Hebrew's.Since Bible first
written in this language only.Most Jewish and christian History in
Hebrew language.
History:Hebrew saw many periods from monarchic Period to Arabic period.Old testament is fully written in Hebrew
Personality:Moses etc.
Persian:
Language Family:Indo-Iranian
Writing System:Persian Alphabet/Cyrillic Script
Civilization:Muslim Civilization
Standard forms/Dialects:9 dialects
Origin:5th century BC
Native Speaker:110 million
Today:Its spread across 12 countries in the world.Persian Language inscription can be seen across the Mughal Construction.
Specialty:Persian language inspired Many Indo-Aryan Language.Persian Is the mother language of Urdu.
History:Persian was first originated along the Iraq and
Iran.Persian Spread across the South Asia by Mughal Colonization.Persian
as significant presence in Muslim community.Persian and Arabic both
confined within Muslim Religion.
Personality:Mughal Empire Kings,Saaid etc.
Chinese:
Language Family:Sino-Tibetan
Writing System:Chinese characters, zhuyin fuhao, pinyin, Xiao'erjing
Civilization:Chinese Civilization
Standard forms/Dialects:Mandarin/16 Dialects
Origin:2nd millennium BC
Native Speaker:> 1.4 Billion
Today:Chinese is the largest spoken in the world.Chinese is spread across entire Asia.
Specialty:Chinese is the only language which as to read top to bottom.Chinese share largest culture share across the world.
History:Xia-Dynasty was official Empire which spread Chinese
across the globe.Chinese language is believed to more than 10,000 years
old.It has literature,Culture and tradition.Chinese Culture one of the
few culture existing in the world.
Personality:Yu,Shan etc.
Sanskrit:
Language Family:Indo-Aryan
Written System:No native script(Written in Devanagari)
Civilization:Hindu Culture(Since language confined to Hindu Brahmin)
Standard forms/Dialects:No Spoken Form(Dead Language)
Origin:3000 BC(Rig Veda)
Native Speaker:<5,000
Today:Sanskrit is a dead language.Still its used only for
Mantra's of Hindu workship and Indian Government Slogans.About Century
Back Sanskrit lost its Spoken Form.
Specialty:Sanskrit is the mother of all European Language.
History:Sanskrit Script early found in Rig Veda.Its Hindu Veda
believed to sacred.Sanskrit always been language of priest and
Bhramin,so Sanskrit came to extinct.Sanskrit is always not a language of
common man.
Personality:Valmiki,Kalidas etc.
Tamil:
Language Family:Dravidian
Written System:Tamil Script
Civilization:Indus-Valley Civilization
Standard forms/Dialects:7 Dialects
Origin:before 300 BC(Some Estimate over 2000BC )
Native Speakers:>77 million
Today:Tamil Spread across south Asia.It Enjoy Official status of more 4 countries.
Specialty:55% of the epigraphical Inscription found in India are
in Tamil.Tamil-Brahmi Script inscription are found in Egypt,Thailand,Sri
lanka,Which is about 2000 years old.Tamil is the only surviving
classical language of the world.
History:Tamil-Brahmi Script are first written form of Tamil.Tamil
Language had well defined written grammar even 2500 years
ago(Tholkkapium).So Many believe that Tamil also one of the Language
evolved during origin of Communication.Thirukurral One of the Greatest
Literature of the world.
Personality:Thiruvalluvar,Tholkkapiur,Bodhidharman etc.
Dead World Treasure Languages:
Language more than just mode of communication,its a rich culture.So Everyone's duty to protect a language and mother tongue.Otherwise we will lose our rich culture and tradition which our fore fathers left for each and everyone.Some Of the dead languages which brought civilization to the world.1.Sumerian(Mesopotamian Civilization-5000BC)2.Akkadian(Mesopotamian Civilization-4500BC)3.Armenian(Jesus Christ Mother tongue)4.Egyptian(Egypt Civilization-3000BC)
"Protect your language,To Preserve your Past For Historic Future"
Why We Speak So Many Languages?
Why Do We Speak So Many Different Languages?
Was
there ever one, universal language? Why do we speak so many different
languages - is it simply because over time, we decided to create new
languages, splitting off into different groups of people, or is there
another, more powerful reason? In the entry, we take a look at the
answer, straight from God's Word. Understand that I am not referring to
different accents, but to different languages. Also, we go into this
with foreknowledge that humanity all spoke one language in the
beginning. Now, let's get up to speed on a few things before we answer
the question. Realize this is from an Biblical Creationist Scientist
Apologist approach, and has been continually verified through logic,
facts, science, and documentation, as well as faith. (Picture Credit to: Answers in Genesis/The Creation Museum)
In the beginning, God created the universe. It took him six, literal days to create, and he made Adam and Eve on Day 6. (Genesis 1-2, Exodus 20:11, Mark 10:6) The question that critics always seem to pose is, "How is it possible for Adam to name all the animals as well as have a mate created for him on Day 6?" Good question.
Think of it this way. Adam and Eve were created with perfect bodies. This means they also had perfect minds. Does this mean they could use these minds in a negative way, such as believe a lie and succumbing to Lucifer, therefore eating of the Tree? Of course. Even the greatest scientists and philosophical thinkers can succumb to things that sound a certain way - i.e. Evolution. (See entry: Science in Brief: Scientific Facts of the Bible) On that note, take Solomon's word. "There is a way that appears to be right [Evolution], but in the end it leads to death." (Proverbs 14:12)
With that mindset, think of the fall of man. After the fall, after the birth of Cain, he went off and built the first city. His descendant, not too many years later, invented bronze. Musical instruments, simple machines, and other such things were invented. Now let's fast forward say... two thousand years. Egypt. Many people, to this day, are puzzled as to how the pyramids were built, using the technology of their time.
Many are puzzled as to how things like Stonehenge and other such things came about, since, according to Evolution, these people were "less intelligent" than us. Of special note... the Mayan Calendar - we all know that their calendar ends in 2012. Does that mean the world will end? No. But you know what we never hear? When their calendar began. They place the creation of the world around 4,000 BC - just as the Bible does, a Young Earth that's a little over 6,000 Years old. Now, I am not saying that 2012 will happen, because for it to occur, the Tribulation must first happen. (See entry: "The End Times (Part One)")
What I am saying is, Secular Scientists tend to overlook these things. Now, how could people with such little intelligence actually build such amazing things, such detailed calendars, such accurate astronomical contraptions? The answer? They had more intelligence. Now, a skeptic will immediately, off the bat, say, "Oh, but we have better technology, we've grown in knowledge!"
I'm not saying that is false. But think of it this way: Do we talk the same way Shakespeare did centuries ago? No. Can our brains seem to retain entire books without notes, or anything? Not usually. Why is that? Deterioration. I promise you, this all ties into why we speak different languages, bear with me. After Adam and Eve sinned, the first offspring's genetics were near-perfect, since Adam and Eve were created as such. That being said, this also means that their minds worked a LOT quicker - they were able to use 100% of their minds, and each generation since, because of sin, our minds have slowly deteriorated. Yes, it is true that we may have more knowledge and more advanced technology. But we certainly do not use all of our brainpower.
All of that said, because Adam's brain capacity was fast, he was able to name all the animals within less than 24 hours. The reason so many find that hard to believe is because in today's word, that would be impossible to do. That is true, we cannot do that within the span of a day. But Adam could, because his mind had not yet been in deterioration. After the Flood occurred, man tried to re-group together, the offspring of Noah and their descendants gathered in one place. You can find the following account in Genesis 11:1-9, but for the sake of the entry, I will provide the text here: (NIV)
"Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar [Babylonia] and settled there.They said to each other, 'Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly.' They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.'" *Note: Knowing to bake the bricks would require at least some intelligence.
"But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that they were building. The Lord said, 'If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will become impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other. So the Lord scattered them for there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel - because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth."*Note: When God refers to "us," many believe he is referring to the Trinity.
The Tower of Babel. In essence, all the people got together, we are told elsewhere led by a man named Nimrod the Hunter, (Genesis 10:10) who would become the ruler of the Babylonian Empire, and tried to build a tower so that they could be higher than God. Sounds familiar, does it not? Think of Lucifer (Satan). He tried to do the same thing. "I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne above the stars of God." (Isaiah 14:13a)
Satan tried to take over God's Throne. He, to this day, still believes that in the end, he will win. But it has been foreknown that God triumphs. (Genesis 3:15, Revelation 20) Men tried to make themselves higher than God. What do we know about Babel? Read the following by David Livingston, 2008:
"The religion-political systems that developed in early cities would later expand into empires. Babel was just the first. Fifty-four miles south of Baghdad, it was a huge city in its heyday, with walls 14 miles (23 km) long and 135 feet (41 m) thick. The famous Hanging Gardens were a part of the temple tower. Among many archaeological treasures discovered in the city were the clay tablets with the Enuma Elish Creation Epic, which some scholars mistakenly say inspired the biblical creation story. However, even a cursory reading of the Enuma Elish shows that it is a later corruption of the true account in Scripture.
The tower had a small temple on top
for the patron god. It would not be Jehovah, the Creator, but a god of
their own choosing. At Babylon the god was, no doubt, Marduk. The tower
on top was to reach up to heaven. Why? In defiance of Jehovah and to
establish their own power and might. As they said, “Let us make us a
name lest we be scattered.” Then they devised a religion-political
system that bound men in slavery."
So, "Why Do We Speak So Many Different Languages?" The answer, folks, is because man mimicked Satan, in essence. God "confused their language." Picture this: You are working on a large tower, everyone speaking your native language. All of a sudden, people start speaking Spanish, English, Chinese, Egyptian, Hebrew, the like. You wouldn't be able to continue, because all of a sudden, you're all speaking what sounds like gibberish!
In modern times, travel, knowledge, translators and cultural diffusion seem to have eliminated most of the language barriers. In short, the construction of the Tower of Babel is the reason why we have so many different languages. The number of the world's languages today is estimated to be 4,000-5,000. Many smaller languages are dying out, while English-speakers seem to be growing in number. One of the rarest spoken languages is Biblical: Aramaic, which is generally only spoken in two villages in Syria, though featured in some films, such as Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ.
Understand that I am by no means a linguist, but I can tell you that based on the Biblical Worldview, the tower is the reason we speak so many different languages. Yes, it is true that most of our modern languages come from a common language, for example, it is assumed that Dutch, English, and German are part of the Germanic Heritage, while others are different. But for a group of people to randomly create a language takes a lot of work, as you can ask anyone who has created a modern language, such as Esperanto.
Let us examine linguistics for a moment. The study of linguistics is called philology. Research shows that all languages trace back to a "mother tongue." Now, according to the Harvard Chinese-Japanese Library, written Chinese dates back to about 2500 BC, which is very close to the approximate time of the Flood. (Sometime between 2500's-2302 BC) Many believe the Flood to have occurred between 2349-2348 BC, with others believing it to be around 2302 BC, +/- 11 years. If the former is the date, this would place the birth of Peleg around 2247 BC. (Peleg was named so because he was born during the division of the nations)
The Chinese language is very interesting. Consider the following: the Chinese word for boat is depicted as eight mouths (eight people) inside of a container. There were eight people on the ark. The word for total is a uniting of eight people, who join hands over the Earth. Again, eight people: Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives. The Chinese word for empty is made up of two words: cave, and work. Cave is depicted as eight people under one roof. Some believe that when Noah and his family left the ark, they originally moved into a cave for shelter, eight people under one roof.
After this, Noah's family left the cave each day to work on emptying the ark and proceeded to share these experiences with future generations - eventually making its way into the Chinese language. The Chinese character for devil is formed from three other characters: man, garden, and private. (See Genesis 3:1-7) Also, the words rebellion and confusion link together the words for tongue and for walking. (See Genesis 11:4-9) The word for garden (or field) is a square. Inside the square are four straight lines which radiate outward in a crossroads/plus sign shape. Now, according to Genesis 2, a river in the Garden of Eden flowed out into four streams that also watered the entire garden.
Just as the biblical account states, the people began "spreading forth" out from a single source: from babel. Let us examine this. Historical evidence shows that around the time of the Dispersion at Babel, this is when the nations of the earth began "springing forth" from a single source. Based on the records of Chaldeans, the nation of Babylon - right next to the Tower of Babel, was founded in 2234, which may have been around 13 years after the Birth of Peleg. (If born in 2247 BC. If the date of 2302 is accurate, he should have been born around 2201.)
Another historical evidence we can examine is Egypt. Egypt was founded around the year 2188 BC, which is a little further south, around 60 years after the birth of Peleg. According to historian Eusebius, the nation of Greece was founded around 2089, which is yet farther west, around 160 years after the birth of Peleg. Notice how Babylon was founded first, close to the point of origin, followed by Egypt, which was a bit further away, proceeded by Greece, still further away, just as the biblical account shows.
But if this were so, we would find records, legends, tales of the Flood aside from Genesis, right? We do. There are over 500 flood myths and legends all over the world, just as we would expect to find if there really was a worldwide flood. Now, skeptics will claim the Bible is based on other myths or flood legends, and try to say that the Bible was made using old religions. Not so. We find flood myths and legends around the world because there really was a global flood, just as evidence shows. Take for example the fact that we find fossils in the Himalayas - and since the flood water covered the mountains, that is exactly what we would expect to find.
The Bible, being reliable, and true, is the true account of the Flood, however, many cultures have their own flood stories, many of which have similarities to the historical event. According the Bablyonian legend, pre-flood people were giants who had become impious (bad) and depraved, expect for one who revered the gods and was wise and prudent. His name was Noa, and had three sons: Sem, Japet, Chem, and their wives Tidea, Pandora, Noela, and Noegla. Noa had foreseen the destruction and began to build an ark. 78 years later, the oceans, rivers, and inland seas "burst forth" from below, followed by many days of violent rain.
The Babylonian legend continues that these waters overflowed the mountains, drowning the entire human race - save for Noa and his family who survived on the ship. This ship came to rest finally, on the top of a mountain. China also has a flood legend. There is a temple with pictures pertaining to this story. Fuhi, along with his wife and three daughters escaped the great flood, and he and his family were the only people who were left alive on the Earth. The picture shows the boat in raging waters with dolphins swimming around the ark and a dove - with an olive branch - in its beak, flying back towards the boat.
India's legend is also interesting. According to legend, long ago there lived a man named Manu, who was warned about a great flood that would come soon after and destroy everything on the Earth. Manu was instructed to build a large ship. The rains began rising until the entire earth was covered by water. According to Greece legends, a long time ago, humans became proud, this bothered the gods since the humans kept getting worse. The gods decided to destroy the humans. Before doing this, they warned a man and his wife, and placed them in a large wooden chest. The rains began and continued until the whole world was flooded. The chest came to rest upon a mountain. The man and his wife got out and say everything was flooded, so lived on provisions in the chest until the waters receded.
Hawaiian legend says that long after the death of the first man, the world had become a terrible place. In this world, only one good man was left, whose name was Nu-u. Nu-u made a great canoe with a house on it and filled it with animals. The waters came and killed everyone on the Earth, except for Nu-u and his family, who survived on the canoe. A flood legend was discovered from the Toltec Indians of ancient Mexico, which says that the world lasted 1716 years before it was destroyed by a great flood that covered even the highest mountains. The story tells of a man named Tapi who was a very pious (good) man.
Now, the creator told Tapi to build a boat so that he could live and escape the coming destruction. Tapi was told to take his wife and a pair of every animal alive. People thought Tapi was crazy. Then the rain came. After the flood, people began to multiply and build a very high tower, to provide a place in case the world was ever destroyed again. However, people began to speak different languages, and became confused. So different groups, speaking the same language, wandered to other regions of the world. Toletcs claim that they began as a family of seven friends and their wives who spoke the same language, and crossed great waters, lived in caves, and wandered for 104 years until they finally came upon southern Mexico. According to the story, this was 520 years after the great flood.
Of 120 tribes surveyed in North, Central, and South America, flood ;legends were found among all of them. There was a lot in common, including: A general wickedness among men and women, God finding that a flood was necessary, one family - with eight members - surviving, a giant boat or ship built, the family, along with animals and birds, going onto the boat, a flood killing everything on the Earth, the flood covering the Earth for a time, the boat landing in a high mountainous area, two or three birds being sent out, the people finally leaving the boat with the animals, the survivors worshiping God for sparing them, and a promise given never to flood the entire Earth.
Since there are so many legends, myths, accounts, records of a worldwide flood, some coming from Babylonian texts, others from cuneiform tablest of Mesopotamia, others from mythology and traditions of different nations, we find that no event has occurred either in ancient nor modern times about which we find more numerous records or better evidence than a worldwide flood. To ignore such evidence, including the geologic evidence - fossils of sea creatures found high above sea level due to waters having flooded the continents, rapid burial of animals and plants, rapid or no erosion between strata, sediment transported long distances, rapidly depositied layers of sediment spread across vast areas, along with many strate being laid down in rapid succession - is, quite plainly, foolish.
In the above entry, the Babylonian account of Noa and his sons Sem, Japet, and Chem, along with their wives, may be so close in its description of the flood (not with the gods, but with a global flood and the names of the individuals involved) because Noah was still alive when Babylon was formed, and Babylon was formed not long after the Flood and this may be part of the reason the account is so close to the truth. We find legends of floods and of the dispersion all across the world, nearly in every culture. Evolutionists and atheists may not like the concept because it does not necessarily agree with their worldview, but this evidence supports a worldwide flood and a dispersion of languages: just as the Bible shows.
Even the first century historian, Josephus, confirmed the biblical account, in The Antiquities of the Jews 1.4.3, "but he caused a tumult among them, by producing in them diverse languages: and causing that, through the multitude of those languages, they should not be able to understand one another. The place wherein they built the tower is now called Babylon; because of the confusion of the language which they readily understood before; for the Hebrews mean by the word Babel, Confusion."
I trust this entry has been insightful and helpful. Thank you for taking the time to read this entry of, "The Truth." If you have an comments, questions, or concerns, feel free to comment below, email vexx801@yahoo.com, or visit the facebook page. In the name of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, I wish you well. God Bless, and Take Care. Troy Hillman
In the beginning, God created the universe. It took him six, literal days to create, and he made Adam and Eve on Day 6. (Genesis 1-2, Exodus 20:11, Mark 10:6) The question that critics always seem to pose is, "How is it possible for Adam to name all the animals as well as have a mate created for him on Day 6?" Good question.
Think of it this way. Adam and Eve were created with perfect bodies. This means they also had perfect minds. Does this mean they could use these minds in a negative way, such as believe a lie and succumbing to Lucifer, therefore eating of the Tree? Of course. Even the greatest scientists and philosophical thinkers can succumb to things that sound a certain way - i.e. Evolution. (See entry: Science in Brief: Scientific Facts of the Bible) On that note, take Solomon's word. "There is a way that appears to be right [Evolution], but in the end it leads to death." (Proverbs 14:12)
With that mindset, think of the fall of man. After the fall, after the birth of Cain, he went off and built the first city. His descendant, not too many years later, invented bronze. Musical instruments, simple machines, and other such things were invented. Now let's fast forward say... two thousand years. Egypt. Many people, to this day, are puzzled as to how the pyramids were built, using the technology of their time.
Many are puzzled as to how things like Stonehenge and other such things came about, since, according to Evolution, these people were "less intelligent" than us. Of special note... the Mayan Calendar - we all know that their calendar ends in 2012. Does that mean the world will end? No. But you know what we never hear? When their calendar began. They place the creation of the world around 4,000 BC - just as the Bible does, a Young Earth that's a little over 6,000 Years old. Now, I am not saying that 2012 will happen, because for it to occur, the Tribulation must first happen. (See entry: "The End Times (Part One)")
What I am saying is, Secular Scientists tend to overlook these things. Now, how could people with such little intelligence actually build such amazing things, such detailed calendars, such accurate astronomical contraptions? The answer? They had more intelligence. Now, a skeptic will immediately, off the bat, say, "Oh, but we have better technology, we've grown in knowledge!"
I'm not saying that is false. But think of it this way: Do we talk the same way Shakespeare did centuries ago? No. Can our brains seem to retain entire books without notes, or anything? Not usually. Why is that? Deterioration. I promise you, this all ties into why we speak different languages, bear with me. After Adam and Eve sinned, the first offspring's genetics were near-perfect, since Adam and Eve were created as such. That being said, this also means that their minds worked a LOT quicker - they were able to use 100% of their minds, and each generation since, because of sin, our minds have slowly deteriorated. Yes, it is true that we may have more knowledge and more advanced technology. But we certainly do not use all of our brainpower.
All of that said, because Adam's brain capacity was fast, he was able to name all the animals within less than 24 hours. The reason so many find that hard to believe is because in today's word, that would be impossible to do. That is true, we cannot do that within the span of a day. But Adam could, because his mind had not yet been in deterioration. After the Flood occurred, man tried to re-group together, the offspring of Noah and their descendants gathered in one place. You can find the following account in Genesis 11:1-9, but for the sake of the entry, I will provide the text here: (NIV)
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| The Unfinished Tower of Babel |
"Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar [Babylonia] and settled there.They said to each other, 'Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly.' They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.'" *Note: Knowing to bake the bricks would require at least some intelligence.
"But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that they were building. The Lord said, 'If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will become impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other. So the Lord scattered them for there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel - because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth."*Note: When God refers to "us," many believe he is referring to the Trinity.
The Tower of Babel. In essence, all the people got together, we are told elsewhere led by a man named Nimrod the Hunter, (Genesis 10:10) who would become the ruler of the Babylonian Empire, and tried to build a tower so that they could be higher than God. Sounds familiar, does it not? Think of Lucifer (Satan). He tried to do the same thing. "I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne above the stars of God." (Isaiah 14:13a)
Satan tried to take over God's Throne. He, to this day, still believes that in the end, he will win. But it has been foreknown that God triumphs. (Genesis 3:15, Revelation 20) Men tried to make themselves higher than God. What do we know about Babel? Read the following by David Livingston, 2008:
"The religion-political systems that developed in early cities would later expand into empires. Babel was just the first. Fifty-four miles south of Baghdad, it was a huge city in its heyday, with walls 14 miles (23 km) long and 135 feet (41 m) thick. The famous Hanging Gardens were a part of the temple tower. Among many archaeological treasures discovered in the city were the clay tablets with the Enuma Elish Creation Epic, which some scholars mistakenly say inspired the biblical creation story. However, even a cursory reading of the Enuma Elish shows that it is a later corruption of the true account in Scripture.
So, "Why Do We Speak So Many Different Languages?" The answer, folks, is because man mimicked Satan, in essence. God "confused their language." Picture this: You are working on a large tower, everyone speaking your native language. All of a sudden, people start speaking Spanish, English, Chinese, Egyptian, Hebrew, the like. You wouldn't be able to continue, because all of a sudden, you're all speaking what sounds like gibberish!
In modern times, travel, knowledge, translators and cultural diffusion seem to have eliminated most of the language barriers. In short, the construction of the Tower of Babel is the reason why we have so many different languages. The number of the world's languages today is estimated to be 4,000-5,000. Many smaller languages are dying out, while English-speakers seem to be growing in number. One of the rarest spoken languages is Biblical: Aramaic, which is generally only spoken in two villages in Syria, though featured in some films, such as Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ.
Understand that I am by no means a linguist, but I can tell you that based on the Biblical Worldview, the tower is the reason we speak so many different languages. Yes, it is true that most of our modern languages come from a common language, for example, it is assumed that Dutch, English, and German are part of the Germanic Heritage, while others are different. But for a group of people to randomly create a language takes a lot of work, as you can ask anyone who has created a modern language, such as Esperanto.
Let us examine linguistics for a moment. The study of linguistics is called philology. Research shows that all languages trace back to a "mother tongue." Now, according to the Harvard Chinese-Japanese Library, written Chinese dates back to about 2500 BC, which is very close to the approximate time of the Flood. (Sometime between 2500's-2302 BC) Many believe the Flood to have occurred between 2349-2348 BC, with others believing it to be around 2302 BC, +/- 11 years. If the former is the date, this would place the birth of Peleg around 2247 BC. (Peleg was named so because he was born during the division of the nations)
The Chinese language is very interesting. Consider the following: the Chinese word for boat is depicted as eight mouths (eight people) inside of a container. There were eight people on the ark. The word for total is a uniting of eight people, who join hands over the Earth. Again, eight people: Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives. The Chinese word for empty is made up of two words: cave, and work. Cave is depicted as eight people under one roof. Some believe that when Noah and his family left the ark, they originally moved into a cave for shelter, eight people under one roof.
After this, Noah's family left the cave each day to work on emptying the ark and proceeded to share these experiences with future generations - eventually making its way into the Chinese language. The Chinese character for devil is formed from three other characters: man, garden, and private. (See Genesis 3:1-7) Also, the words rebellion and confusion link together the words for tongue and for walking. (See Genesis 11:4-9) The word for garden (or field) is a square. Inside the square are four straight lines which radiate outward in a crossroads/plus sign shape. Now, according to Genesis 2, a river in the Garden of Eden flowed out into four streams that also watered the entire garden.
Just as the biblical account states, the people began "spreading forth" out from a single source: from babel. Let us examine this. Historical evidence shows that around the time of the Dispersion at Babel, this is when the nations of the earth began "springing forth" from a single source. Based on the records of Chaldeans, the nation of Babylon - right next to the Tower of Babel, was founded in 2234, which may have been around 13 years after the Birth of Peleg. (If born in 2247 BC. If the date of 2302 is accurate, he should have been born around 2201.)
Another historical evidence we can examine is Egypt. Egypt was founded around the year 2188 BC, which is a little further south, around 60 years after the birth of Peleg. According to historian Eusebius, the nation of Greece was founded around 2089, which is yet farther west, around 160 years after the birth of Peleg. Notice how Babylon was founded first, close to the point of origin, followed by Egypt, which was a bit further away, proceeded by Greece, still further away, just as the biblical account shows.
But if this were so, we would find records, legends, tales of the Flood aside from Genesis, right? We do. There are over 500 flood myths and legends all over the world, just as we would expect to find if there really was a worldwide flood. Now, skeptics will claim the Bible is based on other myths or flood legends, and try to say that the Bible was made using old religions. Not so. We find flood myths and legends around the world because there really was a global flood, just as evidence shows. Take for example the fact that we find fossils in the Himalayas - and since the flood water covered the mountains, that is exactly what we would expect to find.
The Bible, being reliable, and true, is the true account of the Flood, however, many cultures have their own flood stories, many of which have similarities to the historical event. According the Bablyonian legend, pre-flood people were giants who had become impious (bad) and depraved, expect for one who revered the gods and was wise and prudent. His name was Noa, and had three sons: Sem, Japet, Chem, and their wives Tidea, Pandora, Noela, and Noegla. Noa had foreseen the destruction and began to build an ark. 78 years later, the oceans, rivers, and inland seas "burst forth" from below, followed by many days of violent rain.
The Babylonian legend continues that these waters overflowed the mountains, drowning the entire human race - save for Noa and his family who survived on the ship. This ship came to rest finally, on the top of a mountain. China also has a flood legend. There is a temple with pictures pertaining to this story. Fuhi, along with his wife and three daughters escaped the great flood, and he and his family were the only people who were left alive on the Earth. The picture shows the boat in raging waters with dolphins swimming around the ark and a dove - with an olive branch - in its beak, flying back towards the boat.
India's legend is also interesting. According to legend, long ago there lived a man named Manu, who was warned about a great flood that would come soon after and destroy everything on the Earth. Manu was instructed to build a large ship. The rains began rising until the entire earth was covered by water. According to Greece legends, a long time ago, humans became proud, this bothered the gods since the humans kept getting worse. The gods decided to destroy the humans. Before doing this, they warned a man and his wife, and placed them in a large wooden chest. The rains began and continued until the whole world was flooded. The chest came to rest upon a mountain. The man and his wife got out and say everything was flooded, so lived on provisions in the chest until the waters receded.
Hawaiian legend says that long after the death of the first man, the world had become a terrible place. In this world, only one good man was left, whose name was Nu-u. Nu-u made a great canoe with a house on it and filled it with animals. The waters came and killed everyone on the Earth, except for Nu-u and his family, who survived on the canoe. A flood legend was discovered from the Toltec Indians of ancient Mexico, which says that the world lasted 1716 years before it was destroyed by a great flood that covered even the highest mountains. The story tells of a man named Tapi who was a very pious (good) man.
Now, the creator told Tapi to build a boat so that he could live and escape the coming destruction. Tapi was told to take his wife and a pair of every animal alive. People thought Tapi was crazy. Then the rain came. After the flood, people began to multiply and build a very high tower, to provide a place in case the world was ever destroyed again. However, people began to speak different languages, and became confused. So different groups, speaking the same language, wandered to other regions of the world. Toletcs claim that they began as a family of seven friends and their wives who spoke the same language, and crossed great waters, lived in caves, and wandered for 104 years until they finally came upon southern Mexico. According to the story, this was 520 years after the great flood.
Of 120 tribes surveyed in North, Central, and South America, flood ;legends were found among all of them. There was a lot in common, including: A general wickedness among men and women, God finding that a flood was necessary, one family - with eight members - surviving, a giant boat or ship built, the family, along with animals and birds, going onto the boat, a flood killing everything on the Earth, the flood covering the Earth for a time, the boat landing in a high mountainous area, two or three birds being sent out, the people finally leaving the boat with the animals, the survivors worshiping God for sparing them, and a promise given never to flood the entire Earth.
Since there are so many legends, myths, accounts, records of a worldwide flood, some coming from Babylonian texts, others from cuneiform tablest of Mesopotamia, others from mythology and traditions of different nations, we find that no event has occurred either in ancient nor modern times about which we find more numerous records or better evidence than a worldwide flood. To ignore such evidence, including the geologic evidence - fossils of sea creatures found high above sea level due to waters having flooded the continents, rapid burial of animals and plants, rapid or no erosion between strata, sediment transported long distances, rapidly depositied layers of sediment spread across vast areas, along with many strate being laid down in rapid succession - is, quite plainly, foolish.
In the above entry, the Babylonian account of Noa and his sons Sem, Japet, and Chem, along with their wives, may be so close in its description of the flood (not with the gods, but with a global flood and the names of the individuals involved) because Noah was still alive when Babylon was formed, and Babylon was formed not long after the Flood and this may be part of the reason the account is so close to the truth. We find legends of floods and of the dispersion all across the world, nearly in every culture. Evolutionists and atheists may not like the concept because it does not necessarily agree with their worldview, but this evidence supports a worldwide flood and a dispersion of languages: just as the Bible shows.
Even the first century historian, Josephus, confirmed the biblical account, in The Antiquities of the Jews 1.4.3, "but he caused a tumult among them, by producing in them diverse languages: and causing that, through the multitude of those languages, they should not be able to understand one another. The place wherein they built the tower is now called Babylon; because of the confusion of the language which they readily understood before; for the Hebrews mean by the word Babel, Confusion."
I trust this entry has been insightful and helpful. Thank you for taking the time to read this entry of, "The Truth." If you have an comments, questions, or concerns, feel free to comment below, email vexx801@yahoo.com, or visit the facebook page. In the name of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, I wish you well. God Bless, and Take Care. Troy Hillman
The Origin of Language and Communication
The Origin of Language
and Communication
Abstract
By age four, most humans have developed an ability to communicate through oral language. By age six or seven, most humans can comprehend, as well as express, written thoughts. These unique abilities of communicating through a native language clearly separate humans from all animals. The obvious question then arises, where did we obtain this distinctive trait? Organic evolution has proven unable to elucidate the origin of language and communication. Knowing how beneficial this ability is to humans, one would wonder why this skill has not evolved in other species. Materialistic science is insufficient at explaining not only how speech came about, but also why we have so many different languages. Linguistic research, combined with neurological studies, has determined that human speech is highly dependent on a neuronal network located in specific sites within the brain. This intricate arrangement of neurons, and the anatomical components necessary for speech, cannot be reduced in such a way that one could produce a “transitional” form of communication. The following paper examines the true origin of speech and language, and the anatomical and physiological requirements. The evidence conclusively implies that humans were created with the unique ability to employ speech for communication.Introduction
n 1994, an article appeared in Time magazine
titled ‘How man began’. Within that article was the following bold
assertion: ‘No single, essential difference separates human beings from
other animals’.[1]
Yet, in what is obviously a contradiction to such a statement, all
evolutionists admit that communication via speech is uniquely human—so
much so that it often is used as the singular, and most important,
dividing line between humans and animals. In his book, Eve Spoke, evolutionist Philip Lieberman admitted:‘Speech is so essential to our concept of intelligence that its possession is virtually equated with being human. Animals who talk are human, because what sets us apart from other animals is the “gift” of speech’ [emphasis in original].[2]In The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Evolution, editors Jones, Martin, and Pilbeam conceded that ‘there are no non-human languages,’ and then went on to observe that ‘language is an adaptation unique to humans, and yet the nature of its uniqueness and its biological basis are notoriously difficult to define’ [emphasis added].[3] In his book, The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain, Terrance Deacon noted:
‘In this context, then, consider the case of human language. It is one of the most distinctive behavioral adaptations on the planet. Languages evolved in only one species, in only one way, without precedent, except in the most general sense. And the differences between languages and all other natural modes of communicating are vast.’[4]What events transpired that have allowed humans to speak, while animals remain silent? If we are to believe the evolutionary teaching currently taking place in colleges and universities around the world, speech evolved as a natural process over time. Yet no one is quite sure how, and there are no known animals that are in a transition phase from non-speaking to speaking. In fact, in the Atlas of Languages, this remarkable admission can be found: ‘No languageless community has ever been found’.[5] This represents no small problem for evolution.
In fact, the origin of speech and language (along with the development of sex and reproduction) remains one of the most significant hurdles in evolutionary theory, even in the twenty-first century. In an effort “make the problem go away,” some evolutionists have chosen not to even address the problem. Jean Aitchison noted:
‘In 1866, a ban on the topic was incorporated into the founding statutes of the Linguistic Society of Paris, perhaps the foremost academic linguistic institution of the time: ‘The Society does not accept papers on either the origin of language or the invention of a universal language.’[6]That is an amazing (albeit inadvertent) admission of defeat, especially coming from a group of such eminent scientists, researchers, and scholars. While remaining quiet worked well for a while, evolutionists now realize that they need a materialistic answer for this problem.
The truth of the matter is, however, that the origin of human languages can be discerned—but not via the theory of evolution. We invite your attention to the discussion that follows, which demonstrates conclusively that humans were created with the unique ability to employ speech for communication.
Evolutionary Theories on the Origin of Speech
Many animals are capable of using sounds to communicate. However, there is a colossal difference between the hoot of an owl or the grunt of a pig, and a human standing before an audience reciting Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken.’ This enormous chasm between humans and animals has led to a multiplicity of theories on exactly how man came upon this unequaled capability. Many researchers have focused on the capabilities of animals—sounds and gestures—in an effort to understand the physiological mechanism underlying communication. But there is a single, common theme that stands out amidst all the theories: ‘The world’s languages evolved spontaneously. They were not designed’ [emphasis added].[7]Design implies a Designer; thus, evolutionists have conjured up theories that consider language nothing more than a fortuitous chain of events. Most of these theories involve humans growing bigger brains, which then made it physiologically possible for people to develop speech and language. For instance, in the foreword of her book, The Seeds of Speech, Jean Aitchison hypothesized:
‘Physically, a deprived physical environment led to more meat-eating and, as a result, a bigger brain. The enlarged brain led to the premature birth of humans, and in consequence a protracted childhood, during which mothers cooed and crooned to their offspring. An upright stance altered the shape of the mouth and vocal tract, allowing a range of coherent sounds to be uttered.’[8]Thus, according to Aitchison, we can thank ‘a deprived physical environment’ for our ability to talk and communicate. Another evolutionist, John McCrone, put it this way:
‘It all started with an ape that learned to speak. Man’s hominid ancestors were doing well enough, even though the world had slipped into the cold grip of the ice ages. They had solved a few key problems that had held back the other branches of the ape family, such as how to find enough food to feed their rather oversized brains. Then man’s ancestors happened on the trick of language. Suddenly, a whole new mental landscape opened up. Man became self-aware and self-possessed.’[9]Question: How (and why) did that first ape learn to speak? It is easy to assert that ‘it all started with an ape that learned to speak’. But it is much more difficult to describe how this took place, especially in light of our failure to teach apes to speak today. In his book, From Hand to Mouth: The Origins of Language, Michael Corballis stated:
‘My own view is that language developed much more gradually, starting with the gestures of apes, then gathering momentum as the bipedal hominids evolved. The appearance of the larger-brained genus Homo some 2 million years ago may have signaled the emergence and later development of syntax, with vocalizations providing a mounting refrain. What may have distinguished Homo sapiens was the final switch from a mixture of gestural and vocal communication to an autonomous vocal language, embellished by gesture but not dependent on it.’[10]The truth however, is that evolutionists can only speculate as to the origin of language. Evolutionist Carl Zimmer summed it up well when he wrote:
‘No one knows the exact chronology of this evolution, because language leaves precious few traces on the human skeleton. The voice box is a flimsy piece of cartilage that rots away. It is suspended from a slender C-shaped bone called a hyoid, but the ravages of time usually destroy the hyoid too.’[11]Thus, theories are plentiful—while the evidence to support those theories remains mysteriously unavailable. Add to this the fact that humans acquire the ability to communicate (and even learn some of the basic rules of syntax) by the age of two, and you begin to see why Aitchison admitted:
‘Of course, holes still remain in our knowledge: in particular, at what stage did language leap from being something new which humans discovered to being something which every newborn human is scheduled to acquire? This is still a puzzle.’[12]A ‘puzzle’ indeed!
Adam—the First Human to Talk and Communicate
In a chapter he titled ‘What, When, and Where did Eve Speak to Adam and He to Her?,’ Philip Lieberman commented:‘In the five-million-year-long lineage that connects us to the common ancestors of apes and human beings, there have been many Adams and many Eves. In the beginning was the word, but the vocal communications of our most distant hominid ancestors five million years or so ago probably didn’t really differ from those of the ape-hominid ancestor.’[13]Using biblical terminology, Lieberman had written a year earlier: ‘For with speech came a capacity for thought that had never existed before, and that has transformed the world. In the beginning was the word’.[14]
When God created the first human beings—Adam and Eve—He created them in His own image (Genesis 1:26-27). This likeness unquestionably included the ability to engage in intelligible speech via human language. In fact, God spoke to them from the very beginning of their existence as humans (Genesis 1:28-30). Hence, they possessed the ability to understand verbal communication—and to speak themselves!
God gave very specific instructions to the man before the woman was even created (Genesis 2:15-17). Adam gave names to the animals before the creation of Eve (Genesis 2:19-20). Since both the man and the woman were created on the sixth day, the creation of the man preceded the creation of the woman by only hours. So, Adam had the ability to speak on the very day that he was brought into existence!
That same day, God put Adam to sleep and performed history’s first human surgery. He fashioned the female of the species from a portion of the male’s body. God then presented the woman to the man (no doubt in what we would refer to as the first marriage ceremony). Observe Adam’s response: ‘And Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man”’ (Genesis 2:23). Here is Adam—less than twenty-four hours old—articulating intelligible speech with a well-developed vocabulary and advanced powers of expression. Note also that Eve engaged in intelligent conversation with Satan (Genesis 3:1-5). An unbiased observer is forced to conclude that Adam and Eve were created with oral communication capability. Little wonder, then, that God said to Moses: ‘Who had made man’s mouth? ... Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say’ (Exodus 4:11-12).
The Tower of Babel—and Universal Language
Nobody knows exactly how many languages there are in the world, partly because of the difficulty of distinguishing between a language and a sub-language (or dialects within it). One authoritative source that has collected data from all over the world, The Ethnologue, listed the total number of languages as 6809[15].The Bible’s explanation of the origin of multiple human languages is provided in the Tower of Babel incident recorded in Genesis 11:1-9 (see Figure 1). Scripture simply and confidently asserts: ‘Now the whole earth had one language and one speech’ (11:1). When Noah and his family stepped off the ark, they spoke a single language that was passed on to their offspring. As the population increased, it apparently remained localized in a single geographical region. Consequently, little or no linguistic variation ensued. But when a generation defiantly rejected God’s instructions to scatter over the planet, God miraculously intervened and initiated the major language groupings of the human race. This action forced the population to proceed with God’s original intention to inhabit the Earth (cf. Isaiah 45:18) by clustering according to shared languages. Duursma correctly noted: ‘The Babel account suggests that several languages came into existence on that day. It is presented as a miraculous intervention by God’.[16]
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| Figure 1. Peter Breugel (1525-1569); oil painting (1563) of the Tower of Babel—the historical event during which God confused the human language. |
Explaining this ‘innate ability’, a ‘universal grammar’, and the ‘built-in language organ’ of humans has proven to be, well, impossible! Steven Pinker, the eminent psychologist also of MIT, candidly lamented this very fact in his best-selling book, How the Mind Works. In addressing the failure of ‘our species’ ’ scientists to solve these types of plaguing, perennial problems, he wrote:
‘The species’ best minds have flung themselves at the puzzles for millennia but have made no progress in solving them. Another is that they have a different character from even the most challenging problems of science. Problems such as how a child learns language or how a fertilized egg becomes an organism are horrendous in practice and may never be solved completely.’ [emphasis added].[18]However, the existing state of human language nevertheless suggests that the variety of dialects and sub-languages has developed from a relatively few (perhaps even less than twenty) languages. These original ‘proto-languages’—from which all others allegedly have developed—were distinct within themselves, with no previous ancestral language. Creationist Carl Wieland rightly remarked: ‘The evidence is wonderfully consistent with the notion that a small number of languages, separately created at Babel, has diversified into the huge variety of languages we have today’.[19]
The Brain’s Language Centers—Created by God
In contemplating how language arose, evolutionists frequently link the development of the brain to the appearance of languages. But when one considers that more than 6,000 languages exist, it is incomprehensible to suggest that the invention of language could be viewed as some sort of simple, clear-cut addition to human physiology made possible by an enlarged brain unique to Homo sapiens. Terrance Deacon commented on the intricacy of evolving a language when he wrote:‘For a language feature to have such an impact on brain evolution that all members of the species come to share it, it must remain invariable across even the most drastic language change possible’ [emphasis in original).[20]
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| Figure 2. Left hemisphere of human brain with language centers—Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area—highlighted. |
In 1876, Carl Wernicke discovered that language problems also could result from damage to another section of the brain. This area, later termed ‘Wernicke’s area’, is located in the posterior part of the temporal lobe (see Figure 2). Damage to Wernicke’s area results in a loss of the ability to understand language. Thus, patients can continue to speak, but the words are put together in such a way that they make no sense. Interestingly, in most people (approximately 97%) both Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area are found only in the left hemisphere, which explains the language deficits observed in patients with brain damage to the left side of the brain. Evolutionists freely acknowledge that:
‘The relationship between brain size and language is unclear. Possibly, increased social interaction combined with tactical deception gave the brain an initial impetus. Better nourishment due to meat-eating may also have played a part. Then brain size and language possibly increased together.’[21]But, the human brain is not simply larger. The connections are vastly different as well. As Deacon admitted: ‘Looking more closely, we will discover that a radical re-engineering of the whole brain has taken place, and on a scale that is unprecedented’.[22] In order to speak a word that has been read, information is obtained from the eyes and travels to the visual cortex. From the primary visual cortex, information is transmitted to the posterior speech area (which includes Wernicke’s area). From there, information travels to Broca’s area, and then to the primary motor cortex to provide the necessary muscle contractions to produce the sound. To speak a word that has been heard, we must invoke the primary auditory cortex, not the visual cortex. Deacon commented on this complex neuronal network—which does not occur in animals—when he wrote:
‘Many a treatise on grammatical theory has failed to provide an adequate accounting of the implicit knowledge that even a four-year-old appears to possess about her newly acquired language.’[23]
Anatomy of Speech
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| Figure 3. Posterior view of the larynx opening into the pharynx (‘tube within a tube’). |
‘Only man has the gift of speech, a characteristic otherwise only possessed by God. This separates us clearly from the animal kingdom ... In addition to the necessary “software” for speech, we have also been provided with the required “hardware”.’[24]Furthermore, the complete lack of any ‘transitional’ animal form (with the requisite speech hardware) in the fossil record poses a significant continuity problem for evolutionists. As Deacon noted:
‘This lack of precedent makes language a problem for biologists. Evolutionary explanations are about biological continuity, so a lack of continuity limits the use of the comparative method in several important ways. We can’t ask, “What ecological variable correlates with increasing language use in a sample species?” Nor can we investigate the ‘neurological correlates of increased language complexity.’ There is no range of species to include in our analysis.’>[25]
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| Figure 4. The complex design and multiple components necessary for speech argue strongly against an evolutionary origin. |
The physiological components necessary can be divided into: (1) supralaryngeal vocal tract; (2) larynx; and (3) subglottal system (see Figure 4). In 1848, Johannes Muller demonstrated that human speech involved the modulation of acoustic energy by the airway above the larynx (referred to as the supralaryngeal tract). Sound energy for speech is generated in the larynx at the vocal folds. The subglottal system—which consists of the lungs, trachea, and their associated muscles—provides the necessary power for speech production. The lungs produce the initial air pressure that is essential for the speech signal; the pharyngeal cavity, oral cavity, and nasal cavity shape the final output sound that is perceived as speech. This is the primary anatomy used in common speech, aside from those sounds produced by varying the air pressure in the pharynx or constricting parts of the oral cavity.
Birds of a Feather—or Naked Ape?
Imagine the conundrum in which evolutionists find themselves when it comes to speech and language. The animal that comes closest to producing anything that even vaguely resembles human speech is not another primate, but rather a bird. Deacon observed:‘In fact, most birds easily outshine any mammal in vocal skills, and though dogs, cats, horses, and monkeys are remarkably capable learners in many domains, vocalization is not one of them. Our remarkable vocal abilities are not part of a trend, but an exception.’[26]For instance, a famous African gray parrot in England named Toto can pronounce words so clearly that he sounds rather human. Like humans, birds can produce fluent, complex sounds. We both share a double-barreled, double-layered system involving tunes and dialects—a system controlled by the left side of our brains. And just like young children, juvenile birds experience a period termed ‘sub-song’ where they twitter in what resembles the babbling of a young child learning to speak. Yet Toto does not have a ‘language’ as humans understand it. Humans use language for many more purposes than birds use song. Consider, too, that it is mostly male birds that sing. Females remain songless unless they are injected with the male hormone testosterone.[27] Also consider that humans frequently communicate intimately between two or three people, while bird communication is a fairly long-distance affair.
One of the big ‘success’ stories in looking at the human-like qualities of non-human primates is a male bonobo chimpanzee known as Kanzi.[28] [29] Kanzi was born 28 October 1990, and began his long journey to learn to ‘speak’ as a result of the training provided for his mother, Matata, via a ‘talking’ keyboard. Matata never did master the keyboard, but Kanzi did. Through many years of intense training and close social contact with humans, this remarkable animal attained the language abilities of an average two-year-old human. By age ten, he had a vocabulary (via the keyboard) of some two hundred words. In fact, Kanzi was able to go beyond the mere parroting or ‘aping’ of humans; he actually could communicate his wants and needs, express feelings, and use tools. Inasmuch as Kanzi could accomplish such things, does this prove that chimps are merely hairy, child-like versions of humans?
Hardly. To use the words of the famous American news commentator, Paul Harvey, someone needs to tell ‘the rest of the story’. For example, in their 2002 volume, Up from Dragons, John Skoyles and Dorion Sagan discussed Kanzi at great length. Among other things, they wrote:
‘Kanzi shows that while chimps may have the potential to learn language, they require a “gifted” environment to do so. Kanzi was surrounded by intelligent apes with Ph.D.s [i.e., humans-BH/BT/DM] who spoke to him and gave him a stream of rich interactions. They gave Kanzi’s brain a world in which it could play at developing its ability to communicate ... Therefore, as much as in his brain, Kanzi’s skill lies in the environment that helped shape it’ [emphasis added].[30]Kanzi does not possess the anatomical equipment required for speech. In fact, aside from parrots mimicking ability, no other animals are anatomically equipped for speech. As Skoyles and Sagan went on to note: ‘Chimps lack the vocal abilities needed for making speech sounds—speech requires a skilled coordination between breathing and making movements with the larynx that chimps lack’.[31] Humans, however, do possess the anatomical equipment required for speech.
As Skoyles and Sagan candidly admitted, Kanzi’s skill was ‘in the environment that helped shape it’. That is precisely what Herb Terrace discovered with his own chimp, Nim Chimsky (sarcastically named after MIT scientist Noam Chomsky). Such an assessment always will be true of ‘talking animals’. But it is not always true of humans! Consider the following case in point.
As we mentioned earlier, the eminent linguist Noam Chomsky has championed the idea that humans are born with a built-in ‘universal grammar’—a series of biological switches for complex language that is set in place in the early years of childhood. This, he believes, is why children can grasp elaborate language rules, even at an early age—without adults to teach them. Chomsky noted:
‘The rate of vocabulary acquisition is so high at certain stages in life, and the precision and delicacy of the concepts acquired so remarkable, that it seems necessary to conclude that in some manner the conceptual system with which lexical items are connected is already in place.’[32]John W. Oller and John L. Omdahl went on to comment:
‘In other words, the conceptual system is not really constructed in the child’s mind as if out of nothing, but must be, in an important sense, known before the fact. The whole system must be in place before it can be employed to interpret experience’ [emp. in orig.].[33]Powerful support for Chomsky’s theory emerged from a decade-long study of 500 deaf children in Managua, Nicaragua, which was reported in the December 1995 issue of Scientific American.[34] These children started attending special schools in 1979, but none used or was taught a formal sign language. Within a few years the children began to develop their own basic ‘pidgin’ sign language. This quickly was modified by younger children entering school, with the current version taking on a complex and consistent grammar. If Chomsky is correct, where, then, did humans get their innate ability for language? Chomsky himself will not even hazard a guess. In his opinion, ‘very few people are concerned with the origin of language because most consider it a hopeless question’.[35] The development of language, he admits, is a ‘mystery’. The fundamental failing of naturalistic theories is that they are inadequate to explain the origins of something so complex and information-rich as human language, which itself is a gift of God and part of man’s having been created ‘in His image’.[36]
The fact is, no animal is capable of speaking in the manner in which people can speak. Speech is a peculiarly human trait. Steven Pinker, director of MIT’s Center of Cognitive Neuroscience, stated in The Language Instinct: The New Science of Language and Mind:
‘As you are reading these words, you are taking part in one of the wonders of the natural world. For you and I belong to a species with a remarkable ability: we can shape events in each other’s brains with remarkable precision. I am not referring to telepathy or mind control or the other obsessions of fringe science; even in the depictions of believers, these are blunt instruments compared to an ability that is uncontroversially present in every one of us. That ability is language. Simply by making noises with our mouths, we can reliably cause precise new combinations of ideas to arise in each other’s minds. The ability comes so naturally that we are apt to forget what a miracle it is ... [H]uman language is based on a very different design ... Even the seat of human language in the brain is special ... ’ [emphasis added].[37]Without detracting anything from primates like Kanzi and Washoe, fundamental differences between animals and humans nevertheless remain. Unlike human children, animals: (1) do not have a special region in the brain devoted to language; (2) possess a much smaller brain overall; and (3) lack the anatomy to speak the words they may think. In summary, humans have an innate, built-in, hard-wired ability to acquire and communicate complex language from the moment of their birth. Animals do not. Admittedly, animals do possess a measure of understanding. They can learn to respond to commands and signs, and in some instances even can be trained to use minimal portions of human sign language. As Oller and Omdahl pointed out: ‘One of the most remarkable missing elements in the pseudolinguistic behavior of the trained apes is that they don’t ask questions. They simply don’t seem to be able to understand what a question is.’[38] Thus, even though apes, dogs, and birds can be trained to do certain things and can convey ideas of danger, food, etc., they still cannot reason with others so as to have true mental communion. Why? The intelligence of animals is, quite bluntly, unlike that of humankind.
The issue is not ‘can animals think?’ but rather ‘can they think the way humans do?’ The answer, obviously, is a resounding ‘No!’ Although animal trainers and investigators since the seventeenth century have tried to teach chimpanzees to talk, no chimpanzee has ever managed it. A chimpanzee’s sound-producing anatomy is simply too different from that of humans. Chimpanzees might be able to produce a muffled approximation of human speech—if their brains could plan and execute the necessary articulate maneuvers. But to do this, they would have to have our brains, which they obviously do not.[39]
Complexity of Language—Uniquely Human
No known language in the whole of human history can be considered ‘primitive’ in any sense of the word. In her book, What is Linguistics? Suzette Elgin wrote:‘the most ancient languages for which we have written texts—Sanskrit for example—are often far more intricate and complicated in their grammatical forms than many other contemporary languages.’[40]
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| Figure 5. The most ancient languages for which we have written texts are often far more intricate and complicated in their grammatical forms than many contemporary languages. |
In a paper titled ‘Evolution of Universal Grammar’ that appeared in the January 2001 issue of Science, M.A. Nowak and his colleagues attempted to discount the gulf that separates human and animals.[42] This paper, which was a continuation of a 1999 paper titled ‘The Evolution of Language’,[43] used mathematical calculations in an effort to predict the evolution of grammar and the rules surrounding it. While Nowak and his team inferred that the evolution of universal grammar can occur via natural selection, they freely admitted that ‘the question concerning why only humans evolved language is hard to answer’ [emphasis added].[44] Hard to answer indeed! The mathematical models presented in these papers do not tell us anything about the origination of the multitude of languages used in the world today. If man truly did evolve from an ape-like ancestor, how did the phonologic [the branch of linguistics that deals with the sounds of speech and their production] component of our languages become so diverse and variegated? Nowak’s paper also did not clarify the origination of written languages, or describe how the language process was initiated in the first humans, considering we know today that parents teach languages to their offspring.
Also, consider that when language first appears on the scene, it already is fully developed and very complex. The late Harvard paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson described it this way:
‘Even the peoples with least complex cultures have highly sophisticated languages, with complex grammar and large vocabularies, capable of naming and discussing anything that occurs in the sphere occupied by their speakers. The oldest language that can be reconstructed is already modern, sophisticated, complete from an evolutionary point of view.’[45]Chomsky summed it up well when he stated:
‘Human language appears to be a unique phenomenon, without significant analogue in the animal world ... There is no reason to suppose that the ‘gaps’ are bridgeable. There is no more of a basis for assuming an evolutionary development from breathing to walking.’[46]
Conclusion
The fact of the matter is that language is quintessentially a human trait. All attempts to shed light on the evolution of human language have failed—due to the lack of knowledge regarding the origin of any language, and due to the lack of an animal that possesses any ‘transitional’ form of communication. This leaves evolutionists with a huge gulf to bridge between humans with their innate communication abilities, and the grunts, barks, or chatterings of animals. As noted:‘By the age of six, the average child has learned to use and understand about 13,000 words; by eighteen it will have a working vocabulary of 60,000 words. That means it has been learning an average of ten new words a day since its first birthday, the equivalent of a new word every 90 minutes of its waking life’ [emp. in orig.].[47]Deacon lamented:
‘So this is the real mystery. Even under these loosened criteria, there are no simple languages used among other species, though there are many other equally or more complicated modes of communication. Why not? And the problem is even more counterintuitive when we consider the almost insurmountable difficulties of teaching language to other species. This is surprising, because there are many clever species. Though researchers report that language-like communication has been taught to nonhuman species, even the best results are not above legitimate challenges, and the fact that it is difficult to prove whether or not some of these efforts have succeeded attests to the rather limited scope of the resulting behaviors, as well as to deep disagreements about what exactly constitutes language-like behavior.’[48]Another scholar who recognized this chasm between humans and animals commented:
‘The very fact ... that human animals are ready to engage in a great ‘garrulity’ over the merits and demerits of essentially unprovable hypotheses, is an exciting testimony to the gap between humans and other animals.’[49]Gap indeed! Humans are capable of communicating in human language because God created them with the ability to do so! The Bible still offers the only plausible explanation for the origin of human language when it records: ‘Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;” ... So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them’ (Genesis 1:26-27).
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