Difference between revisions of "Language"

Revision as of 13:12, March 9, 2011

A language is a complex systems of communication facillitated by a collection of symbols (called vocabulary or lexicon) and rules for connecting these symbols (called grammar). Language differs from call signs used by primates and other animals in that language can be used without prompting or a stimulus and is necessary for higher thinking. Call signs are regarded merely as forms of communication rather than abstract symbol use.

Origin

From the creation of Adam and Eve until 1056 years later in 2948 BC all humans spoke the same language that was put into their mouths by God. In 2948 BC humans built the Tower of Babel but God did not approve of this^[1] so he decided to "confound their speech" and "scattered them upon the face of the Earth, and confused their languages"(Genesis 11:5-8). That was the begining of the languages we know today.

Nineteenth-century linguists recognized that languages had evolved slowly, one by one, from a single languages spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. Today, linguists categorize languages into distinct "families" of recent origin,^[2] corresponding to the languages which came about after the destruction of the Tower of Babel.

Atheistic secular science rejects the Biblical truth and generally believes that language has evolutionary origins.^[3][4][5][6] The evolutionary worldview gaining prominence in the field of linguistics since the 1950s. If this hypothesis is correct, from the evolutionary perspective, then the original language (or languages) may have been spoken about 150,000 years ago, which of course is impossible since creation occurred about 6000 years ago.

Evolutionary linguists also allocate most languages to a small number of language "families", and some even propose a common origin in Proto-Nostratic although this remains disputed. A few of the largest and oldest language families include: Indo-European, Afro-Asiatic and Nigar Congo families (Campbell, 98).

Examples of Languages

• Akkadian
• Albanian
• American sign language
• Arabic
• Aramaic
• Babylonian
• Bulgarian
• Cantonese
• Dutch
• English
• Flemish
• French
• German
• Greek
• Hebrew
• Japanese
• Korean
• Latin
• Mandarin Chinese
• Mexican Spanish
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Sanskrit
• Spanish
• Sumerian
• Turkish
• Ugaritic
• Ukrainian
• Urdu
• Yiddish

References

1. ↑ http://creationwiki.org/Tower_of_Babel
2. ↑ http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004667.html#more Language Log.]
3. ↑ John McWhorter. The Power of Babel.
4. ↑ Steven Pinker. The Language Instinct.
5. ↑ Ronald Wardaugh. Investigating Language: Central Problems in Linguistics.
6. ↑ Frederick J. Newmeyer. Linguistic Theory in America.

See also

• Category:Languages for language families and languages
• Information
• Transmigration of Words in Religion: an essay