I admit that this is a nonpolitical diary, but I have always been intrigued with language on some level. I am trying to learn new foreign languages. I want to speak obscure languages that only a few people in the world speak. I think that it would be cool to speak some obscure African language that no one else can understand.
More beneath the fold.
One of the tragedies in the world is that, as globalization starts to spread, languages are dying. Here in DC, at the Franciscan Monastery, you can find the "Hail Mary" and "Our Father" inscribed across the property in ancient and current languages. One ancient Gaelic language simply amounted to I's with slashes across them. I am curious as to how they made signs out of it. They also have that prayer in Ancient English, French, and other languages. It is interesting to see how English has evolved. Very ancient English sounds like nothing today's English.
I have heard that linguists have determined that Ethiopian is not related to any language in the world, as what taxi drivers from there have told me. They tell me that the language can't be connected to other languages, although it is considered a Semitic language.
I have heard that Sanskrit and Latin are related, but I don't know how. I wonder how they determined that. So I guess that the languages that descended from Sanskrit must be related. So French and some Indian languages must have distant relations? I am curious as to how they figured it out.
What I have also heard is tha Turkish and Korean and Japanese may be distantly related through the Altic family. I am curious as to how linguists trace language and how they determine similiarities. I do know that English and German are connected to each other.
I look at ancient Sumarian and Hieroglyphics. I wonder how people could make words and sounds out of pictures. I wonder how they learn how to pronounce it. It interests me that those early attempts at language could lead to spoken words.
Anyway, though, I've also wondereed if linguists have determined any relationships between the languages spoken by Indians in America and the Japanese and Chinese. I wonder if there is any emprical evidence to see if those languages are related.
Language interests me in some way. I am just curious as to how the science of linguists works. I know that this thread is random, but these are my thoughts about language.