4 ms·

How is diversity of languages important or even good? Language only works when it's not diverse so people can understand each other.

Daishiman 1y ago
Language extends and limits thought. Languages can have remarkable differences in their expressiveness and that enriches the minds of those who speak them. It's not wonder that being a polyglot has supposed cognitive benefits.
- hollerith 1y ago
  There are some who hold those beliefs, but they give only extremely weak arguments. It's hard to imagine that the benefits of learning and thinking in one language rather than another outweigh the benefits of learning a language like English that gives a person access to a vast literature and vast economic and social opportunities. I am not distressed by the thought of an adult's deciding to learn Welsh as a hobby just as I'm not distressed by an adult's spending time on any hobby, but it is painful for me to image a child's being taught an obscure language like Welsh out of some almost-certainly-false belief that it will give him or her access to powerful modes of thought that are unavailable to speakers of other languages. It strikes me as almost mistreating the child to restrict his intellectual, social and economic opportunities in this way (unless the child can pick up second and third languages easily, which is not most children). I'm not saying that I understand how a language interacts with a developing child's brain well enough to say with confidence that Welsh cannot grant anyone the ability to think in ways that are not possible in other languages. I am open to having my mind changed. But nothing I've ever read over many conversations even begins to change my mind. It's all very simplistic argumentation, e.g., "Society teaches us that diversity is good; so clearly linguistic diversity must be good", e.g., "<<Sapir-Whorf hypothesis>> sure is an impressive term probably coined by super-smart professors, so it is probably true".
  - Daishiman 1y ago
    Are you a polyglot or is this sheer speculation?
    - hollerith 1y ago
      A person does not need to be a polyglot to notice that an assertion is repeated over and over again on the internet and is never accompanied by any halfway-decent explanation for why it might be true.
gerdesj 1y ago
If we all spoke the same language - say French (lingua Franca) - then we might all think the same way too and the (human) world would soon become beige. I'm not knocking French but English is often known as a lingua franca - a description of English, in Latin about the language of the Franks - or as we now describe it: French! I think diversity is always indicated as a positive force in all walks of life. It might not be the easiest path. I might have some issues with monotheism vs polytheism or even theism entirely as a counter arguement 8) Christianity has a Biblically documented myth about a Tower of Babel - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel. Well, that bit of Genesis has a slightly different axe to grind to mine.
- foxglacier 1y ago
  I've heard that before about thinking but can you give an example of how French speakers think differently from English speakers because of their language? Or any pair of languages for that matter? I would think that language usually follows culture and thinking, adapting to ways of expressing what people want to express rather than driving it.

Daishiman 1y ago

Language extends and limits thought. Languages can have remarkable differences in their expressiveness and that enriches the minds of those who speak them. It's not wonder that being a polyglot has supposed cognitive benefits.

hollerith 1y ago
There are some who hold those beliefs, but they give only extremely weak arguments. It's hard to imagine that the benefits of learning and thinking in one language rather than another outweigh the benefits of learning a language like English that gives a person access to a vast literature and vast economic and social opportunities. I am not distressed by the thought of an adult's deciding to learn Welsh as a hobby just as I'm not distressed by an adult's spending time on any hobby, but it is painful for me to image a child's being taught an obscure language like Welsh out of some almost-certainly-false belief that it will give him or her access to powerful modes of thought that are unavailable to speakers of other languages. It strikes me as almost mistreating the child to restrict his intellectual, social and economic opportunities in this way (unless the child can pick up second and third languages easily, which is not most children). I'm not saying that I understand how a language interacts with a developing child's brain well enough to say with confidence that Welsh cannot grant anyone the ability to think in ways that are not possible in other languages. I am open to having my mind changed. But nothing I've ever read over many conversations even begins to change my mind. It's all very simplistic argumentation, e.g., "Society teaches us that diversity is good; so clearly linguistic diversity must be good", e.g., "<<Sapir-Whorf hypothesis>> sure is an impressive term probably coined by super-smart professors, so it is probably true".
- Daishiman 1y ago
  Are you a polyglot or is this sheer speculation?
  - hollerith 1y ago
    A person does not need to be a polyglot to notice that an assertion is repeated over and over again on the internet and is never accompanied by any halfway-decent explanation for why it might be true.

gerdesj 1y ago

If we all spoke the same language - say French (lingua Franca) - then we might all think the same way too and the (human) world would soon become beige. I'm not knocking French but English is often known as a lingua franca - a description of English, in Latin about the language of the Franks - or as we now describe it: French! I think diversity is always indicated as a positive force in all walks of life. It might not be the easiest path. I might have some issues with monotheism vs polytheism or even theism entirely as a counter arguement 8) Christianity has a Biblically documented myth about a Tower of Babel - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel. Well, that bit of Genesis has a slightly different axe to grind to mine.

foxglacier 1y ago
I've heard that before about thinking but can you give an example of how French speakers think differently from English speakers because of their language? Or any pair of languages for that matter? I would think that language usually follows culture and thinking, adapting to ways of expressing what people want to express rather than driving it.