Why is the language debate unending, unrelenting, emotive and yet very meaningful?

 Why is the language debate unending, unrelenting, emotive and yet very meaningful?

I have many more points to make as I can read, write and speak in some 3 European languages and know how to read and understand two more European languages. Besides I did my entire schooling in my mother tongue Tamil. Sanskrit is a language I love and I got the university second mark in that and thanks to my sister I learned a bit of Hindi. She is a Hindi pandit. Thanks to Saint Tyagaraja’s kritis I can understand very chaste Telugu which unfortunately very few speak. 

Besides​,​ I have read and can quote from some 100 best books and authors on linguistics, not only those who have written  purely academic stuff  but more so very interesting books by  those who have made in depth observation and research on how languages are used and how they use, make, modify, motivate, maneuver , manipulate and do many more things to the mind and thinking process itself with the help of /hype of many wonderful expressions, intricate usages, sublime suggestions [as used in religious business] , sensuously enticing usages [ as used in business promotion advertisements], surreptitious intentions [as used in political brainwashing techniques] and many more subtle aspects of many languages.

As with any other subject languages too are, and preferably must be, analyzed from two extreme ends of the pendulums and all our debates, discussions and discernment swing between these two extreme points they are:-  

1] Very close to everyone’s heart purely subjective, passion filled [sometimes even with a tinge of fanatical affinity] with an ethnocentric and cultural affinity influenced and impacted by several generations of association and enhanced by ideological indoctrination promoted with a proportionately pleasant bunch of literature and philosophy, symbols imbued with extraordinarily valued and sometimes venerated substance because of the knowledge and perception of the significance of the concepts hidden beneath or manifested by those symbols a sort of magical lens that reveals what eludes the normal outside observer or a prism that unravels a kaleidoscopic splendor of patterns and colors etc. 

2] Very objective, prosaic analysis in terms of the inherent value of the subject [[here language] under scrutiny with reference to its utility, value for survival, significance to life of humanity especially the functional aspects of life etc. 

Both are right and wrong because both are relative and being an umpire here is as unpleasant or an uneasy task as being an adjudicator in an argument between a mother and wife.[ [if you view it subjectively] or between a mother-in –law and daughter in law [if you view it quasi subjectively] or between two women of different ages with different relationships to you [if you are very objective].

For example the syntax of a sentence describing the beauty and importance of eyes is very objective and precise to the point when it is used to advertise a product or lens or spectacles for the eyes but the very same description of the beauty and impact of the beauty of the eyes wanders into very poetic and romantic realms throwing all rules of grammar /syntax to the winds when describing a lover’s beautiful eyes.

So the language debates will always be reasonable, could be recreational, relevant [ for various reasons]  and reverberating with vigour.

As per the great linguistic scholar Steven Pinker in his wonderful book one of the trio logy ‘THE STUFF OF THOUGHT-LANGUAGE AS A WINDOW INTO THE HUMAN NATURE’ writes “language itself is not a single system but a contraption with many components…….syntax itself encompasses several mechanisms, which are tapped to different extents by different languages……one of the key phenomenon of syntax is the way that sentences are built around their verbs. The phenomenon goes by many technical names [including subcategorization, diathesis, predicate argument structure, valence, adicity [roots thus mark points of interface between the language faculty and the wider cognitive makeup of a person], arity [the number of arguments that a function can take] , case structure, and theta-role assignment], but I’ll refer to it using traditional term verb constructions.”

He also goes on to write , “For example, pour, fill and load are all ways of moving something somewhere, and they all have the same cast of characters: a mover, some contents that move, and a container that is the goal of the movement. Yet pour allows only the content -locative [pour water], fill allows only the container –locative [fill the glass], and load goes both ways [load the hay, load the wagon]”

A book by the linguist Beth Levin classifies three thousand  English verbs into about eighty-five classes they appear in; its subtitles is ‘A preliminary Investigation’

But due to want of time and space I am not going into the details and as suggested by many well meaning, experienced and erudite persons in this long drawn discussion on English versus Hindi debate I am more comfortable and convinced with English for various reasons which you may find in the links below.

  

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2014/06/language-its-limitless-limitation.html

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2012/09/language-very-interesting-article.html

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2014/07/languages-and-language-teachers.html

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2014/07/languagerituals-politics.html

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2012/09/sanskrit-why-it-is-great-language.html

One must also read David Crystal on language studies besides Vygotsky the much neglected great linguist whose only mistake was being born in Communist Russia during the cold war period

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2012/10/quotations-from-vygotsky-1962-1986-1978_514.html

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2014/01/my-sincere-lifelong-lovers-26-gems-who.html

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2014/01/romance-of-words-raped-and-killed-by.html

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2013/08/my-20-point-observations-on-languages.html

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2013/01/language-hegemony.html

Middle class and existential priorities

  "Poverty is never an excuse for achieving one's dreams".

While I agree with the message wholeheartedly, I think it's also indicative of the sick mentality to celebrate poverty.

We all must praise and empathize with  individuals who come up in their life and go on to scale great heights in different realms despite poverty and societal pressure driven hardships.

We as a nation, especially, the rich, upper middle class, governments of all parties, corporate CSR holders, NRIs all must feel ashamed at poverty levels ( in a country aspiring to become a super power) along with hyper conservative attitudes, a hoard of other irresponsible behaviors, our grand indifference all put together.

Not that disparities do not exist in other nations. Not that poverty is not used as very useful pawn by every religion, political system in addition to other pawns of race, caste, gender biases.

When disparities and discriminations are paraded either as virtues or objects of sympathy one must realize that behind the prolonged parading of such status lurks a sense of deprivations and insecurities which will turn into potential dynamites for revolts. 

Mere superficial lip sympathies, periodic patronizing doting of freebies and praise when people from such backgrounds achieve some success alone will not do. 

Collectively from 1950 the total number of MLAs and MP every time when they got elected if they have laid just 5 small roads properly , provided electricity to one small part of a  village we could have had 20,00,000 well laid roads and 4 lakh small villages with electricity. The basic necessities for life. This applies not only to politicians but all others in the list mentioned earlier. If only we had a real humanitarian attitude from all those, ours is perhaps the only country which could easily become a poverty free nation.

Social welfare comes about not through political ideology peddling, religious preaching, or a multitude of economic systems but through a sense of social responsibility beyond and besides those social engineering tools.

History has been witness to poverty swing between two populist extreme ideologies:- one socio-economic political dispensation capitalizing on sensationalized  victimhood peddling while other socio-economic political dispensation  using its capital to trade off pecuniary benefits for inhuman treatment, hard labor and stripping the poor of self respect. 

The least we can do is to abuse and to find fault with the community that has delayed the blossoming of such talents and subjected such talents to unnecessary hardships.

Let us not resort to over philosophize or to generalize or resort to comparisons of places worse than ours bla bla.

 

Celebration of Poverty is never a good thing. Celebration of  deracination from humane concerns is unethical.

Any proposal that is put forth to change the status of the wretched problem of misery which has existed much before the famous ' Oliver Twist' and continues to haunt societies will sound obviously idealistic.

However, on progress I am a rational optimist and believe in possibilitarianism. Changes do happen either incrementally, gradually, spontaneously through the interactions and involvement of many at various levels through some developments observed across several societies where there has been a growing population of the middle class-the vital bridge between the poor and the rich. This bridge will strengthen by paying attention to the nuances of real values at multiple levels, be it healthy political democracy, protection of humanitarian concerns, value of the native culture , promoting arts, sports, scientific outlook etc.

The rich may not bother about most things unless  their business and personal life are affected and the poor because of their dependence may not care for nuances and niceties as long as someone comes forward to help them come out of poverty. 

The responsibility and relevance  of the bridge between the two becomes vital in various aspects of a nation's economy, culture, collective socio-psychological behaviors etc.

As Lester Thurow says, "A healthy middle class is necessary to have a healthy political democracy. A society made up of rich and poor has no mediating group either politically or economically.”  

Again the same author writes, "Change requires individuals who recognise that new things can be done and who take the initiative to get them done ... The existing bureaucracies, public and private, will not take on the job of changing what is".

As existential priorities change, most identities of religion, region, race etc, may continue as they  wish but will hopefully take a back seat as they should.

Diplomacy , sense of humor, survival and living aspect of life

 In any group no one can ignore diplomacy.

Incidentally, diplomatic silence is a sign of maturity and not resorting to emotional rants bordering on personal hurt/attack ( age does not matter at all as everyone needs to be treated with respect- what advantages elders may have in experience youth may have in enhanced learning, greater exposure to new opportunities, sometimes even better understanding due to looking things from different, various or differing perspectives, emphasizing more on analyses, logic etc.).

It is naïve to expect endorsement of or seek appreciation of  any/every view of anyone by anyone else much less everyone else.

To criticize, to analyze, to evaluate and to interpret anything no one needs to perform in or to practice that field. 

There is no point in engaging in ego fest based  on any complexes in a group.

Everything must be taken in light spirit and with a sense of humor.

Parental concern and love can knock off all boundaries but good parents are those who are  extremely tolerant and have the wisdom to observe silently the eccentricities, excellences and exhibition of talents, troubles and tantrums all with extreme equanimity.

We need to acknowledge and to feel proud that the younger generation do think far far in depth, view and analyze anything from various perspectives, they are more PRACTICAL, ANALYTICAL & LOGICAL and may be less emotional or selectively emotional ( which again is justifiable). So, it is normal and expected of them to brush aside very casually anything they find has a huge load of irrelevant bias, excess emotional affinity, exaggerated opinions, hero worship etc. 

We learn more through observation. If we observe the younger generation in slightly educated upbringing and environment do not like to subscribe to many of the things that the older generation wants or expects them to do that most out of sheer respect decide to escape ( from the nation, the religious rituals, petty prejudiced - jaundiced views of life based on orthodoxy etc.) or resort to indifference if they cannot escape.

As life is too competitive and careers becoming tougher for the younger generation that they need to address primarily the SURVIVAL aspect of life before they can relish the LIVING  aspect of life.

We must become mature enough to acknowledge the views, comments of the younger generation without getting emotional and we need not agree with them.