The miracle of words

By Kalakeerthi Dr. Edwin Ariyadasa

“Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break
Under the burden
Under the tension, slip, slide and perish,
Decay with imprecision
Will not stay in place
Will not stay still.”
T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)
British poet.

Words are miraculous. An average, articulate human individual may speak and write millions of words a month. At any given moment, men and women all over the world, invariably utter words in billions, in a vast range of languages.

When words are being used so profusely, how do they rate to be characterised as miracles? By common acceptance, a ‘miracle’ is an exceptional phenomenon. But when the ‘word’ is an instrument in diurnal utilisation by all – whether they are young and old – by what criterion can it be defined as ‘miraculous'?

Hesitation

To respond to that hesitation, we have to go back to the early stages of human evolution.

Modern man is given the prestigious appellation “Homo Sapiens” - the wise human.

He began walking the earth, about 50,000 years ago. By then, he had inherited the ‘word’ from his proto - human ancestors. When ancient man stood erect on his hind legs, his two fore – limbs were free. He used those fore-limbs (hands) to make crude tools of pebbles and sticks. Scientists are of the view, that, when this primitive “make” exerted the muscles of his forearms, simultaneously, his oral muscles too moved in unison with the workings of the hands.

In that effort, sounds escaped the lips of those “makers” described technically as “Homo habilis” (Man the Maker).

This was around 1.5 million years ago. Those uncouth, coarse and crude bits of sound, formed the origin of the modern word.

At first, this primitive speech would not have been any better than the grunts, bleats and squeaks of the animal kind.

But, today, as a matter of course, we use language to articulate complex philosophic thoughts. We compose intricate poetry. We bring out creative works of epic stature.

We indulge in learned discourses. Routinely we present eloquent orations. Language is used to teach and learn, communicating profound knowledge.

In daily conversations, people exchange intimate feelings, express deep thoughts, formulate views and opinions. Language is made use of at both individual and communal levels. Modern man is never at a loss for words.

Viewed in the light of evolutionary perspective and contemporary currency, isn't it perfectly proper to refer to words as “daily miracles”.

The age we live in, is the era in human history, during which language flourishes at a phenomenal speech. This is due to the breathtaking expansion of human knowledge along a multitude of avenues.

Explorations

Space explorations continue to enrich human vocabulary, contributing a stupendous quantum of neologisms. Computer technology is a source of unceasing word creations.

Cyberspace, internet and social media have brought into being a worldwide folk language.

The youthful generation, recognised popularly as the millennials, has generated a form of speech that possesses the potentiality to overwhelm even formal national languages.

All those factors, cumulatively add upto one inescapable conclusion. After the brilliantly articulate Greco-Roman culture, today's cosmopolitans, forming the ‘global family’, are the most versatile in the whole of human history.

This has bred a threatening aspect as well. Some national languages – especially those used by a limited group of people are likely to be overwhelmed by the sweep of the fast – spreading global speech, and vanish all together.

The warning is sounded by a research conducted by some linguists at the University of Manchester, in Britain.

Their probe reveals, that, of the 6,000 languages in use currently at global level, 50 percent (3,000) may be extinct by 2050 – that is about 35 years hence. Many of the languages so threatened, have a limited number of practitioners. Luckily for us, Sinhala does not seem to be included among these vanishing lingos. But totally contrary to this slightly gloomy aspect, everywhere in the word, language is booming in leaps and bounds.

Evolution

Some forms of language – evolution are both surprising and eminently amusing.

In their irresistible learning to communicate swiftly and effectively some moderns have gone back to the far-past of human articulation and have begun to resort to images.

The latest example of this urge, is represented by Emoji – a pictorial language - that tweeters, texters and emailers around the world , now use thousands of times every second.

This addiction is an invariable outcome of the communications – preoccupation of the generations of the Cyber Age.

While millennials favour, forms of communication of the emoji type, the conventional languages too are burgeoning at breathtaking speed.

Modern national languages, derive sustenance through inter-borrowing.

At times, the manner in which certain languages grow, tends to keep people endlessly amused.

According to an explanation I came upon, the word Kangaroo – which is applied to the Australian marsupial, has quite an interesting history to it. When Europeans arriving in Australia, discovered this strange species, they asked a native, what its name way. The native responded with “Kangaroo”. The visitors took that to be the animal's name and it got stuck.

But, in actuality what happened was, the native, asked what its name was, indicated his ignorance and said 'kangaroo’ – which in their dialect meant “I don't know.” Today we continue to speak of this animal as 'Kangaroo.’

“Sandwich” has a far simpler origin. It is named after the 4th Earl of Sandwich, who created this snack, for his convenience.

The term 'anaconda’ is the Anglicised version of the Sinhala Henakandaya, a snake of the boa family. Dictionaries refer to this etymology.

But, what amused me most, has to do with a Pacific Islander. In a distant Pacific Island, a British Engineer was in charge of a construction.

He needed a tool and asked his native helper to bring him a crow-bar. The native, in his simple ignorance brought a spanner. The Engineer said, “This is not a crow-bar. Fetch me a crow-bar.”

Next, the native produced a hammer. Exasperated, the Engineer called the native “Cow come here and took him to the tools store and showed him a crowbar.

From then on, in that Pacific Island, a crowbar came to be known as “cow-come-here.”

Languages flourish and also decay. The practitioners have to be alert to the fate a language is exposed to.