What to Learn About Language
The Three Motives for Language Change
1. Economy
2. Expressiveness
3. Analogy
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Languages vary drastically not only in words, but in overall structure
Three Examples:
Direction
Vowels
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Writing Systems and Directions of the World
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Grammatical Gender
Alphabet Song in Different Languages
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The Bulk of Words in Human Languages Were Originally Metaphors
Even in the most commonplace discourse, it is hardly possible to venture a few steps without treading on dozens of metaphors. – Guy Deutscher
In literary studies, metaphors which have lost their evocative power and literal meanings are dismissed as 'dead metaphors'.
Metaphors are so common because they are the chief mechanism through which we can describe and grasp abstraction.
- meta-phora - Greek: carry across
- meta-phor - Latin: transfer
Metaphors are so common because they are the chief mechanism through which we can describe and grasp abstraction.
- The earliest human words were concrete terms.
- Ex. Thrilled
- thyrlian - Old English: pierce
- the current sense of the word thrill started as a metaphor with shock value equivalent to today's 'killing' or 'smashing'
Ex. Food:
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Ex. Direction:
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There is an established link in our minds between the two domains which unites it all into broader conceptual metaphors:
Ideas are food. More is up, less is down.
Ideas are food. More is up, less is down.
Standing on the Shoulders of Clichés - NY Times Article by Guy Deutscher