English Language inadequate

Interesting thought this.

Could it be possible that the English language is inadequate to deal with the secrets of mankind and that is why we can't explain everything?

Maybe it is part of the agenda to make the world speak English to keep us from discovering the truth's.

Why is Latin hardly taught anymore, yet still used in numerous seals, crests etc? It is onlt taught at the 'Ivy League' colleges.

Is there a connection?

Hmmmm, interesting idea. It may be very well true. Anyone else with any ideas?

A language is only as inadequate as the concepts of the users of the language. If we have gaps in conceiving, we will have voids in the language, but as we fill in those gaps, language is created for the knowledge gained. One could go find a Webster from 1940 and compare to the current and see that the English language has grown proportionate to the knowledge gained.

Any language can be sufficient. Latin is no longer taught as required because Latin is no longer spoken as a living language. Anyone can take Latin if they so choose to read ancient Latin manuscripts.

I may be wrong(and biased)but english is the most expressive language ever.No language has a greater flexibility.
Is it inadequate when discussing the secrets of mankind?
Probably.
Yet that does not damn the English language.
It only shows the inadequacy of our ability to express oureselves.

I go with John, on this one. English is known for its "loan words" that is, words from other l;anguages that are included into common english speach.

So if a concept is too difficult to espress in english there is often a term used instead ie: doppelganger, Zeit, angst, authority, etc. All foreign words.

Otherwise you can create your own "inserts to english" such as "bootie" "phat" to express a new concept.

(BTW any teenager out there know what phat actually means? I don't)

The English language is not inadequate, as it has developed over millenia, and will continue to do so. part of language is the ability to express ourselves, to say that the language is inadequate is to say that the western way of life and culture is also inadequate.

It is an interesting thought, but I dont think it explains why some secrets have not been revealed. Words are just labels, are you suggesting there are mysteries that have simply not been labeled yet, therefore still a "mystery". That is how I interpreted your question, am I close?

PHAT - Pretty hot and tempting. (I forget what movie that's from)

Originally posted by Netchicken
I go with John, on this one. English is known for its "loan words" that is, words from other l;anguages that are included into common english speach.

So if a concept is too difficult to espress in english there is often a term used instead ie: doppelganger, Zeit, angst, authority, etc. All foreign words.

Otherwise you can create your own "inserts to english" such as "bootie" "phat" to express a new concept.

(BTW any teenager out there know what phat actually means? I don't)

Maybe you should practice on your English.

English is the most expansive language.
It's main roots are in Latin,German(saxon),and french.Yet it has always adopted words.Words such as bungallo,shampoo,and pijamas are all Hindi.It has always been willing to invent new words for new concepts.

So if there is a shortfall between language and our ability to express ourselves it is not the fault of our languange,only the limit of our ability to express ourselvce within the medium of language

All languages have specialties, fields where they tend to be more expressive, as shown by preeminent orientations of their respective civilisations. It is, in my opinion, no coincidence that the overwhelming majority of philosophers and poets are German and French for example. Also, the social and political sciences originate from the franco-german zone, while economics originate from britain. Even today, we witness the anglo-saxon language zone being governed by business and military rationality while France and Germany value truth and justice. The different languages and civilizations complement each other, and must learn from each other. Only the process of unification of contradictions , or learning from differences can create new culture and wisdom.

So, if someone wanted to hamper human developement, he would try to enforce segregation : segregation of nations, of races, of social classes, of languages, of religions, of political thought, etc...





[Edited on 4-8-2003 by Mokuhadzushi]

Interesting, I was just thinking today about how perspective of the world and science has changed through the ages with Language.

And I was mostly pondering, about how will future generations view the world, long after English is replaced by some other language...

interesting idea- that language could restrict our knowledge. We may not have the words to express certain things.

yeah speaking of that...what if there was another color in the visible spectrum...what would it be called and what would it be...it's too hard to think about

I'm not sure that I regard English as the best language for communicating anything, it is a complete bastardisation of other languages mutated every day by vernacular usage and 'dumbing down' to the point that the people today using abbreviations and SMS-speak in their postings would be horrified in 10 years time by what prevails in an environment like this one.

There are better languages and worse languages. John b, I am reading that what you mean by 'most expansive' is 'most common on Earth'.

There are many concepts that are not adequately expressed by English, but they will be.

For example, I need the word that describes how an intelligent, sane individual feels when confronted by an English-speaking 'leader of the free world' injecting himself into social criticism of the business culture of another nation, with this expression by retarded son George W Bush... "The problem with the French is they don't have a word for entrepreneur".

Now, the one word I am looking for needs to incorporate bemusement, shame, laughter and resignation that there is no helping this idiot.

"I'm Bushed" connotes some of that, but is unsuitable in that it also carries the association that I am too tired to do anything about removing this corrupt, useless idiot; that level of complacency is not present in the concept to be articulated.

[Edited on 4-8-2003 by MaskedAvatar]

Mock

I have seen the color you are talking about.

It is called xanthippe.

English is a very rich and diverse language but it is by no means the most. It is a Germanic language by genre, but if you look at the way words are constructed (especially scientific ones), then you can see that we take a lot of our language from Greek and Ancient Greek. E.g. anything ending in ..phobia ...ology, and many others stem from Greek.

Ancient Greek is also the most diverse because it has the most combinations and permutations of any language. So much so that the best programmers at Apple and Microsoft are now being asked to learn Ancient Greek to pursue their quest for Artificial Intelligence. They were programming in binary and have only managed to achieve about 30-35% of human intelligence (about the mental age of 5) now they have discovered that Ancient Greek works better in the programming matrices allowing the computer more range for self thought.

Not that I�m criticising the English language, which in the right hands can be very colourful, vivacious and amusing language.

Originally posted by Lilith
interesting idea- that language could restrict our knowledge. We may not have the words to express certain things.

That's what I was trying to say!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by Mock
yeah speaking of that...what if there was another color in the visible spectrum...what would it be called and what would it be...it's too hard to think about

You see,my theory works!

This proves that although we know things can exist, we cannot put them into words, therefore I should have really said, no recognised language is adequate rather than just the English one.

Now I'm proving to myself that my theory works, urrrrrgh, help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

but alas, it cannot be communicated in this medium which only uses words and symbols....

Masked...xanthippe? what is that?