1

المرجع الالكتروني للمعلوماتية

Grammar

Tenses

Present

Present Simple

Present Continuous

Present Perfect

Present Perfect Continuous

Past

Past Continuous

Past Perfect

Past Perfect Continuous

Past Simple

Future

Future Simple

Future Continuous

Future Perfect

Future Perfect Continuous

Passive and Active

Parts Of Speech

Nouns

Countable and uncountable nouns

Verbal nouns

Singular and Plural nouns

Proper nouns

Nouns gender

Nouns definition

Concrete nouns

Abstract nouns

Common nouns

Collective nouns

Definition Of Nouns

Verbs

Stative and dynamic verbs

Finite and nonfinite verbs

To be verbs

Transitive and intransitive verbs

Auxiliary verbs

Modal verbs

Regular and irregular verbs

Action verbs

Adverbs

Relative adverbs

Interrogative adverbs

Adverbs of time

Adverbs of place

Adverbs of reason

Adverbs of quantity

Adverbs of manner

Adverbs of frequency

Adverbs of affirmation

Adjectives

Quantitative adjective

Proper adjective

Possessive adjective

Numeral adjective

Interrogative adjective

Distributive adjective

Descriptive adjective

Demonstrative adjective

Pronouns

Subject pronoun

Relative pronoun

Reflexive pronoun

Reciprocal pronoun

Possessive pronoun

Personal pronoun

Interrogative pronoun

Indefinite pronoun

Emphatic pronoun

Distributive pronoun

Demonstrative pronoun

Pre Position

Preposition by function

Time preposition

Reason preposition

Possession preposition

Place preposition

Phrases preposition

Origin preposition

Measure preposition

Direction preposition

Contrast preposition

Agent preposition

Preposition by construction

Simple preposition

Phrase preposition

Double preposition

Compound preposition

Conjunctions

Subordinating conjunction

Correlative conjunction

Coordinating conjunction

Conjunctive adverbs

Interjections

Express calling interjection

Grammar Rules

Preference

Requests and offers

wishes

Be used to

Some and any

Could have done

Describing people

Giving advices

Possession

Comparative and superlative

Giving Reason

Making Suggestions

Apologizing

Forming questions

Since and for

Directions

Obligation

Adverbials

invitation

Articles

Imaginary condition

Zero conditional

First conditional

Second conditional

Third conditional

Reported speech

Linguistics

Phonetics

Phonology

Semantics

Pragmatics

Linguistics fields

Syntax

Morphology

Semantics

pragmatics

History

Writing

Grammar

Phonetics and Phonology

Reading Comprehension

Elementary

Intermediate

Advanced

English Language : Linguistics : Phonetics :

‘Advanced’, ‘beautiful’ and ‘primitive’ languages

المؤلف:  David Hornsby

المصدر:  Linguistics A complete introduction

الجزء والصفحة:  12-1

2023-12-09

745

‘Advanced’, ‘beautiful’ and ‘primitive’ languages

Just as some accents are evaluated more highly than others, many people believe that some languages are ‘better’ or ‘more beautiful’ than others. Many a French president has commented on the supposed ‘clarity’ and ‘precision’ of French, as if clear thinking could not be expressed equally well in another language. Others cite, for example, the richness of Shakespeare’s poetry as evidence for the supposed superiority or inherent beauty of English. Matched guise tests again refute claims that any one language is more beautiful than any other: when played to hearers unfamiliar with European languages, no consensus emerges regarding the aesthetic superiority of any one language as opposed to another. More generally, arguments for the superiority of a given language tend to confuse the rhetorical or linguistic dexterity of some individuals with the qualities of the language itself. The obvious problem here is that speakers do not possess these skills in equal measure, as can be seen in the following examples:

A language – any language – is as precise an instrument as its native speakers need it to be for the expression of complex ideas or feelings, and will be used more effectively by some speakers than by others. Don’t blame the language if the thinking it expresses is muddled.

 

Another common belief is that there are ‘primitive’ languages, just as there are ‘primitive’ societies. Here again, a widely held perception has no basis in linguistic fact. Indeed, if our criterion were grammatical complexity, it might be easier to make the opposite case, namely that languages spoken in isolated, ‘primitive’ societies are often more complex than those used in technologically advanced societies which have been subject to high levels of contact.

 

This is not, of course, to say that languages will be equally rich in all areas of their lexicon, or vocabulary. We would not expect a language such as Pirahã, spoken by a remote Amazonian tribe of about 250 people, to be as rich in information technology vocabulary as, for example, English: for now at least, Pirahã speakers have little need for such terms and consequently have not developed them to a high degree. But this does not mean that so-called ‘primitive’ languages spoken in less developed societies are unable to acquire new resources when they do need them: in fact they do so with remarkable ease, often by borrowing from other languages. A case in point is English following the Norman Conquest, which borrowed heavily from Norman French: estimates have suggested that around 30–40 per cent of modern English vocabulary is ultimately of French origin. It’s certainly true that English, French, Russian and Spanish are more widely spoken, and more prestigious, than Pirahã, Inuit or Guugu Yimidhirr, but again this reflects socio-political realities rather than any superiority in linguistic terms. To a linguist, all languages (and dialects) are equal.

EN

تصفح الموقع بالشكل العمودي