Random thought re: language

[Pirc Defense]

Ever know someone that speaks a language you know nothing of, and ask that person to say something in that language? Ever notice how they fumble around, try to avoid it, or say they can't think of anything to say? If they eventually do utter a few phrases, that's all you'll get out of them.

Why does this happen? It's because we humans use language to communicate, and when you're speaking to someone who can't understand you, no communication is happening. (I'm dismissing non-verbal clues here, because the speaker isn't really trying to communicate at all, so won't, for instance, be motioning towards some object.) The speaker may not be able to articulate why he doesn't feel like speaking in the foreign language, he just knows that he doesn't.

Anyway, this just occurred to me while driving yesterday and thought I'd share it. Any language experts dig what I'm saying, or am I just square?

[Cyrus]

Good post. Some thoughts on it:

-- It has been established that we are born with inherent ways of verbal communication 'embedded' in the 101st, ummm our brains. In other words, all languages follow the same basic structural rules, even if they appear to be wildly divergent. (viz, any Chomsky (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0262530074/qid=1056879047/sr=1-27/ref=sr_1_27/103-0088231-9927877?v=glance&s=books))

-- Notice how a person who wants to communicate something to another person, speaking in a completely alien language, will shout? Maybe it's because the other person not understanding registers as that other person not hearing well. Or maybe the person shouting wants to communicate the secondary, proto-meaning behind the words.

-- About that proto-language : mathematicians and competent engineers (of language, even) will tell you that it's impossible to recreate with any acceptable degree of accuracy the language of people living tens of thousands years ago ('the language of Adam and Eve'). This is due to the (seemingly) strange and multiple changes a language's development undertakes through the ages, changes whose origin is often impossible to trace. (viz, McWhorter's book (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/006052085X/qid=1056878079/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-0088231-9927877?v=glance&s=books))

-- A person that is asked to offer an exhibit of his 'alien' language ("Speak some French for us!") is made aware that the foreign language sample will register mostly sonically to the ears of the audience. Instead of saying the first thing that comes to mind, as he would if testing a microphone in that 'other' country, he hesitates.

..Well, voila.