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PHILOSOPHICAL MUSINGS

PHILOSOPHICAL MUSINGS- Pondering on the notions of language can easily result in chasing ideas in circular arguments. It is imperative to be aware that those who may claim expertise on this topic are not immune to holding contrary ideas. More than ever this is a subject where context needs to be clear and definition minimally abivalent.

Language- Communication or Creation?

Look carefully at the paragraph below. Easily mistaken for Latin terminology, it has no meaning whatsoever.

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Put some of the words into Google Translate and it will detect Latin and translate many of the words, but taken as a whole it is refered to as placeholder text or dummy text. The worlds great codebreakers would make nothing of it because it has not been constructed with a desire to encode information.

So, language needs to have a purpose. That purpose is to convey or manipulate information.

This you may think is stating the obvious, but the significance of stating the obvious should not be understated.

The obvious is by definition clear and self evident, isn't it? The dictionary says so. I like dictionaries, but I do find much to disagree with within their pages. The Obvious is so often un-noticed, ignored, ill-considered and remarkably lacking in obviousness. It is often contrary and contradictory.

We all understand at least two languages, our native spoken language and the rudiments of the language we call mathematics. Even though we may have mastered little more than the basics of arithmetic it is fundamental to our daily lives.

There is very little obvious about Language.

Should I accept that it is true that I only understand two languages, my native tongue and the rudiments of arithmetic? Or do I consider my meagre knowledge of a few words in five or six other languages, eins, zwei. drei, un, deux, trois, ichi, ni, san, een, twee, drie... are these words, the numbers 1, 2, 3, in German, French, Japanese and Dutch enough to claim familiarity with multiple languages? Or have I simply incorporated these few examples into the English language I understand? Is there actually only one spoken language available to human beings, the diversity coming from our limited knowledge of the vast number of alternative words for expressing the same meaning?