Could our language of words evolve into a completely new form?

[zion]

Constructed languages don't automatically fail.

Constructed languages don't automatically fail. Modern Turkish was constructed anew out of Ottoman Turkish, which was very greatly different and used a different alphabet, by the Young Turks. Bahasa Indonesian was constructed to provide a lingua franca for Indonesia on a basis of Malay.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I think i might be able to better express myself if i was fluent in signing. It looks like you can be more expressive by the positioning of words in the air and the way you dance the signs together. Maybe voice can be equally expressive, but if you are fluent in both you can express yourself more.

For example if two hearing people were fluent in signing, if they signed at the same time as speaking then i think they would be communicating more.

Our brains have special areas for language. We're designed with language in mind for our way of communicating. Other stuff could work, but we're geared for speech.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Ah I see. But in theory, two people in the future could communicate through a highly compatible sign language and spoken language at the same time, and therefore be more expressive? The interaction between the two forms of lanuage could add another level of depth and feeling to what was being said.

I think we already do that, with body language etc.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I find it interesting, for instance, that Japanese almost never use the word "I", which is one of the most frequently used words in English.

Roughly speaking, 'watashi' means 'I', and gets used just like we use it. Watashi wa, I am. Watashi no, my, mine. I think, if I remember correctly.

 

[maya]

Medieval english is almost incomprehensible to me even though when written down I can make some sense of it. The stresses and emphasis points, the flow of the patter, is almost alien.

IIRC that's because old english was closer to old norse (nordic) language(?), while the later french influence on english did away with the norse roots and changed the language completely- of course there were other inflcuences too, but i'm not an expert...
(Funny that english should end up so elegantly flexible, while modern french remains so long-windedly impractical and old-fashioned...)
English is *the* prime example of a 'rational' language, IMO.

 

[max_freakout]

Nonsense. Whilst we might attach a whole plethora of alternate cultural/social and personal significances to words and syntactic patterns (and for that matter, modes of expression such as sign language) there must be more shared meaning than non-shared meaning for communication to take place at all.

i disagree, we only convince ourselves that we speak the same language as other people, but in reality, spoken words are a hopelessly empty vessel for the kinds of things we intend to mean by them when we talk about more abstract subjects.

Each individualis in their own private universe of language/meaning

 

[max_freakout]

Roughly speaking, 'watashi' means 'I', and gets used just like we use it. Watashi wa, I am. Watashi no, my, mine. I think, if I remember correctly.

watashi-wa nihon jin desu

 

[max_freakout]

Like a computer? Or a new flavour of whale?
snark

maybe AI, or the next stage in biological evolution after humans

 

[bluestreak]

Yes, theoretically our language could evolve further, body language could become more important etc etc. It depends on how the human being evolves.

 

[Fruitloop]

Nano-machines could potentially rewire your brain to do all sorts of things, or add capabilities that are completely extraneous to it.

That said, it is hard to involve a kind of communication that didn't involve some level or written-ness, as all of the ones that we have come up with so far do.

 

[max_freakout]

there is a theory that the whole function of evolution is to create a perfect language

 

[Fruitloop]

Hmm, I don't think evolution has a function beyond the short-term goal of survival and replication in a given environment.

Godel incompleteness pretty much rules out a perfect language as well, as far as I can see.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

watashi-wa nihon jin desu

So desu?