SHAPING LANGUAGE

THE VERDE WORD

There are over 6,000 different languages in the world and many more dialects.  So within these languages and dialects, how we communicate within and outside our varied cultures is important. 

All languages, their words, expressions and accents are very interesting.  Stop and listen, really listen.  By really listening to people speaking French, Russian, Italian, German, Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, Swahili, English or whatever language, you will hear that they all have their own very unique ‘sound’.

Languages all sound beautiful in their different ways.  We may not understand what is being said, but it all sounds absolutely beautiful and the beauty is in the sounds, the flow and the music of the words.

What is even more interesting is that a great number of languages are similar in their construction.  Writing and speech in all languages use an alphabet and the construction of words and sentences can be similar to English but written in various forms.  Cyrillic lettering originated between 900 and 1000 CE (Common Era) in Slavic countries such as Russia, the Ukraine, Serbia and, Bulgaria. 

An example of Cyrillic letters may be seen on the Encyclopaedia Britannica website at:  http://media-3.web.britannica.com/eb-media/20/72220-035-64D68566.jpg

Cuneiform lettering originated between 3000 and 4000 BCE (Before Common Era) in the Middle East.  And at the earlier stage it was a combination of letters and pictures.

Figure 1 from the West Semitic Research at the University of Southern California Archaeological Research Collection*, depicts a cuneiform and picture tablet that is a business document with a personal/business seal in the centre. 

Figure 1.

Cuneiform tablet from the Middle East.

*Photograph by Kai Quinlan.

Further information is located at: http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/wsrp/educational_site/ancient_texts/Cuneiform.shtml

As you know, the alphabet and style of writing today has a long history and an interesting path.  Today’s alphabet used in English and non-English language speaking countries is not too distant from the alphabet developed over many centuries.

Below, in Table 1, the alphabetical list of letters and the corresponding letters in Chinese and French are paralleled to show the similarities in writing and sound.

                                                    Chinese                 French

A	诶	ēi	ɑ
B	比	bǐ	bé
C	西	xī	cé
D	迪	dí	dé
E	伊	yī	e
F	艾弗	ài fú	effe
G	吉	jí	gé
H	艾尺	ài chǐ	aash
I	艾	Ài	i
J	杰	jié	ji
K	开	kāi	ka
L	艾勒	ài lè	elle
M	艾马	ài mǎ	emme
N	艾娜	ài nà	enne
O	哦	ó	o
P	屁	pì	pé
Q	吉吾	jí wú	qu
R	艾儿	ài ér	erre
S	艾丝	ài sī	esse
T	提	Tí	té
U	伊吾	yī wú	u
V	维	wéi	vé
W	豆贝尔维	dòu bèi ěr wéi	double vé
X	艾克斯	yī kè sī	ixe
Y	吾艾	wú ài	i grec
Z	贼德	zéi dé	zède

Table 1.

The picture writing in the column second from the left are called logograms.  In China the style is called Hanzi and in Japan it is called Kanji.

If you experiment with the above alphabet table in Chinese and French, you will find that those sounds are not so different.  Additionally, it demonstrates how we sound-shape the letters that create the sound of the language.

Within the use of language, there is also the way we shape the language itself.  That is, the words we use and how we use vowels and consonants.  We also use accents, tone, volume, colour, flow and the different emotions when we speak.  Following, the sound and flow of our words and sentences help to make language more colourful. 

The shaping of our words and sentences when we speak can make a difference to how our individual and personal character, background and education is understood regardless what language or dialect is being used.

Verbal language is a necessary skill to enable effective communication. However, there are a few obvious considerations

when speaking to others of different nationalities.  Some of those considerations are speaking the same language as your listener and naturally using accents.  What we say, how we say it and the words we choose to use are all important in order to ensure the correct message is clearly understood.

The alphabetical letters we use to form words help accent the sound of the word. The words we use to form sentences help our sentences flow.

When a word is spoken, I can hear the letters in that word determining whether the word sounds soft or hard.  For example, when angry at someone, words with the letters, ‘k’,’ t’ and combinations such as ‘sh’ and sometimes ‘ck’ can sound harsh.

To better explain, let’s examine the English language alphabet.

The letters being:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y and Z.

These letters have different sounds and degrees of firmness of sound when said aloud.

Within the English alphabet there are only five vowels:  A, E, I, O, U.

They too have different sounds and degrees of firmness of sound when said aloud.

The consonants below are listed according to their firmness of sound.  That is, they are in order from gentleness to the hardness of sound.  The gentle sounding letters are at the top and the hard sounding letters are at the bottom.  This is the same for the vowels.

  

     CONSONANTS                                         VOWELS

                                         

1st	H	Gentle Sound
2nd	F
3rd	V
4th	R
5th	L
6th	P
7th	M
8th	N
9th	W
10th	D
11th	B
12th	Y
13th	G
14th	Q
15th	J
16th	C
17th	S
18th	T
19th	K
20th	Z
21st	X	Hard Sound

1st	I	Gentle Sound
2nd	E
3rd	A
4th	O
5th	U	Hard Sound

So, if we take the top 10 consonants and the top two vowels ‘i’ and ‘e’ the words we can make sound gentle, beautiful and soft.

For example: river, hive, plier, prime, view, relive, flier, mine.

At the other end of the scale and we take the bottom 11 consonants and the two vowels ‘o’ and ‘u’.  Sitting in the middle is the vowel ‘a’.

These words have a harder sound.

For example:  zot, jut, kick, tick, jag, bog, tack, xray.

I acknowledge that many words may sound either hard or soft and this depends on other letters within words and voicing.

Voicing is using the vocal chords for speech and the opposite is voiceless or being unvoiced.  Being voiceless does not mean the voice is silent rather, it is using the throat to make sounds.

Experiment, say the letter ‘zzzzzzz’ out loud while holding your throat.  The vibration you feel is your vocal chords ‘voicing’.  On the other hand, if you say the letter ‘sssssss’ out loud while holding your throat, you will not feel any vibration. This lack of vibration is called ‘voiceless’ or ‘unvoiced’.

An example of the Inuit style of throat singing (unvoiced) may be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnGM0BlA95I 

In a practical sense, to sound angry, voicing or voiceless letters may be used as well as those that can be spit out venomously as the tongue hits the teeth, or your lips purse forward.  For example, if you say ‘what!’ you will hear the ‘t’ accent at the end.  If you say ‘bitch’ the lips purse, the ‘b’ has a strong accent and the ‘itch’ has force.

To my ears, words always sound like the emotion or feeling and a picture it generates. For example, love, heart, rain, puppy, pillow, plumage, sunshine.  Then there is bitch, witch, bomb, river, rock, crash.  Interestingly, these words were picked out of my head at random and they clearly show a mental picture of the softness and hardness of sounds. 

We don’t have to plan our words as we speak according to our thoughts and feelings and our speech almost flows without being thought directed.

There are occasions when we alter our speech patterns according to our environment.  Such as when we speak with people who have a hearing, or language problem, we tend to speak more slowly and clearly.  At a formal event we may speak more formally than we would at a football match.

The way I view the construction of languages, letters of the alphabet and the way they sound I see they all impact on the effectiveness of our communication skills.  Think while you are speaking, slow down, enjoy the vowels rolling around and the crispness of consonants and enjoy what you hear. If you enjoy it, others will as well. Language is beautiful.

Conclusion

This Verde Word and the journey of Shaping Language was a short overview on a number of topics that are extensive, lengthy and interesting. I hope you have gained some insight to ways you can use speech differently as well as whetting your mind to find out more.

Shaping Language shows that as humans come from many different cultures, societies and backgrounds, we are all linked by languages that are closer than we realise.  Thus, although at times we may find communication and language difficult, we all speak with a similar voice, the voice of humanity.

Verde

*Photo by Kai Quinlan, Cuneiform 2000-2012 West Semitic Research Project, University of Southern California Archaeological Research Collection.