Language:
A Unique Relationship

My road to understanding language has been a long and arduous journey down different paths. I have always defined language as a means of expressing one’s self. Language can be delivered in a variety of forms such as written, spoken, physical, and so on. However, no matter which form it is expressed the reasoning behind it is all the same. Someone or something is trying to convey a message. From the most remote villages in South America to the most populated cities in Europe we all have one thing in common, and that is language. It is a concept that is strong enough to stir emotions that can change our lives, our culture, and sometimes even our whole civilization. There is no doubt; language is the most powerful concept Human’s have ever created. However, as vast and intricate language can be, I believe it can sometimes be flawed.
One of my favorite poets of all time has been Pablo Neruda. I have read quite a number of his poems, and no matter how many times I read them, they never lose their power. But therein lies the problem, it is when I read his words in Spanish that I feel the passion and fire in his poetry. Even when professionals translate his books, there is something missing in the poetry. It’s as if the not only the words, but the passion in them has been “lost in the translation”. I realize that language is ever changing and adaptable, but then why is it still, that these words cannot be expressed in any language but Spanish? Is it the simply because the sounds are friendlier to the ear in this language? Is there is no exact translation for some of the concepts used? This is one of the main reasons why my relationship to language is sometimes frustrating. However, my relationship to language is not always surrounded with such friction. It is almost always a positive tool.
If it wasn’t for language I would not have been able to communicate with my loved ones while I was deployed overseas. I would have been incapable of writing letters to my family, communicating over the phone with friends; I wouldn’t even have been able to communicate with the Iraqi police I was training. Although, language and I can “bud heads” sometimes, I very much appreciate it.
A question that I would be inclined to explore deeper is “Whether or not it is the combination of words, or words themselves that give language its substance?” In other words, does the power behind language come from the words themselves, or does the power simply lie in the combination of words used? These questions would therefore lead to my theory of “All metaphors cannot be translated into any language and still have the same meaning?” I would test this theory by finding metaphors from all over the world such as “It’s raining cats and dogs” and translating them into several languages. I would use this to find out if the different people knew what I meant. If the theory holds to be true, it would explain why the words of Pablo Neruda in Spanish are so powerful, but when translated, it’s as if something is missing. Thus, my relationship to language is vast and complicated, but also quite unique and one I will probably never fully understand.

Chapter 5 Summary

Chapter 5
The sound patterns of language

Chapter five in Yule’s text ventures into the world of spoken language and the importance of it in our everyday life. He takes us on a journey through the subconscious and shows us the intricacies of the language we use on a daily basis. Yule begins this trip by explaining phonology and how the sounds we make are “meaningfully distinct”. He explains that speech is more than just the vocal cords physically vibrating to create resonance, there is an important mental aspect of it as well. He then delves into the types of sounds we use such as phonemes and allophones. He goes into depth discussing the sound of letters such as the phoneme [t] and all the different pronunciations it has (allophones). The text then sails past items such as phonotactics, syllables, assimilation, and elision’s. Respectively these all discuss the arrangement of sounds, how they are arranged, and how these sounds flow into one another in certain words. The journey then ends with us having gained more knowledge about the sounds of language and the “patterns and regularities that lie beneath it”.
I found it quite interesting all of the details that go into the language we use on a day to day basis as well as the patterns we unknowingly follow in our speech constantly (p.49). The paragraph on elisions reminded me of my elementary school teacher. She was quite fond of speech and annunciation, in and outside of the classroom. One day she overheard me saying “I wanted a sandwich” (I pronounced it sanwich). Needless to say I had to recite the word “sandwich” 100 times that day with the proper annunciation. My only question would be “Do the rules we use in English carry over to other languages regarding elisions?" Meaning, if another language uses elisions, do the words sometime take on different meanings?

My Name

Pronouncing Names, Places,
And things

My name is Kris Tziazas and according to the International Phonetic Alphabet my name should be pronounced [k r i s] [ tʃ- æ -z i s]. It is a voiceless, palatal, affricate that I believe is both unique and difficult. All my life I have heard my name pronounced in a variety of ways, but no one has ever pronounced it correctly on the first try. I believe the reason it is so difficult to pronounce my name is because the English language does not really have a set pronunciation for the letters Tz. People are often surprised to learn that it is said as a “Check” sound (tʃ), rather than the “Zoo” sound (z) they so often think it is. Even though I have a difficult last name, I find the names of others even more difficult than my own.
I have been practicing the martial art of Muay Thai for a few years now and I often spar with people who are native to Thailand. Since the first day I have never been able to pronounce any their names correctly. From Tppiwan to Padunsgpri, I have mispronounced them all. I believe my problem is that I’m so accustomed to using certain sounds in my speech that any foreign sound is difficult for me to replicate. Based on what I’ve learned in phonetics, I believe that if I took the time to spell their name phonetically as well as learn which part of the throat they use when the speak, I will have more success in the pronunciation of their names. I realize that there are unique and difficulty names all over the world, but with a little time and practice one can learn to say any one of them quite properly.

Bill Bryon's "Pronunciation"

Pronunciation

Chapter Six in Bill Bryson’s “The Mother Tongue” discusses the variety of words in the English language and how pronunciations have changed over time. The chapter goes into great detail about the surprising lack of correlation between letters and the words they comprise. (i.e. “chough is pronounced chuff and butter is budder) However, the fault of pronunciations does not lie on the words themselves, but on the people who speak them as well. Bryson states that “Language… is more fashion than science and pronunciation tends to wander around like hemlines”. Therefore, the most popular way to speak becomes the standard for the language at the time and the official spelling of words then change to follow suit. The excerpt unfolded some information I found quite fascinating about the English language such as the change of words over time and the reasons why. Whether it was because of a disdain for the French, or simply common error, the words in our language now were completely different some years ago. “Sojur is now Soldier, Zebra was pronounced Zebber, and pavement was payment”. This information simply proves that words are merely arbitrary and we can change them whenever we wish.
On pg.88, Bryson points out the differences in pronunciation even in different cities of the United States. I remember taking a trip down to Missouri to visit some friends a few years ago. I recall how different the pronunciations of certain words were from the ones I was so acclimated to. Like on p.88, water was wooder, New York was New Yaaark, Mexico was Mex-e-co, and the list could go on forever. I suppose everywhere one travels pronunciation changes just as much as the people do. Therefore, a question I would propose is “If we are all taught to pronounce words a certain way in the United States as a standard of American English. What has caused the standard to fluctuate from city to city or even town to town?”

My Relationship to Language

Language:
A Unique Relationship

My road to understanding language has been a long and arduous journey down different paths. I have always defined language as a means of expressing one’s self. Language can be delivered in a variety of forms such as written, spoken, physical, and so on. However, no matter which form it is expressed the reasoning behind it is all the same. Someone or something is trying to convey a message. From the most remote villages in South America to the most populated cities in Europe we all have one thing in common, and that is language. It is a concept that is strong enough to stir emotions that can change our lives, our culture, and sometimes even our whole civilization. There is no doubt; language is the most powerful concept Human’s have ever created. However, as vast and intricate language can be, I believe it can sometimes be flawed.
One of my favorite poets of all time has been Pablo Neruda. I have read quite a number of his poems, and no matter how many times I read them, they never lose their power. But therein lies the problem, it is when I read his words in Spanish that I feel the passion and fire in his poetry. Even when professionals translate his books, there is something missing in the poetry. It’s as if the not only the words, but the passion in them has been “lost in the translation”. I realize that language is ever changing and adaptable, but then why is it still, that these words cannot be expressed in any language but Spanish? Is it the simply because the sounds are friendlier to the ear in this language? Is there is no exact translation for some of the concepts used? This is one of the main reasons why my relationship to language is sometimes frustrating. However, my relationship to language is not always surrounded with such friction. It is almost always a positive tool.
If it wasn’t for language I would not have been able to communicate with my loved ones while I was deployed overseas. I would have been incapable of writing letters to my family, communicating over the phone with friends; I wouldn’t even have been able to communicate with the Iraqi police I was training. Although, language and I can “bud heads” sometimes, I very much appreciate it.
A question that I would be inclined to explore deeper is “Whether or not it is the combination of words, or words themselves that give language its substance?” In other words, does the power behind language come from the words themselves, or does the power simply lie in the combination of words used? These questions would therefore lead to my theory of “All metaphors cannot be translated into any language and still have the same meaning?” I would test this theory by finding metaphors from all over the world such as “It’s raining cats and dogs” and translating them into several languages. I would use this to find out if the different people knew what I meant. If the theory holds to be true, it would explain why the words of Pablo Neruda in Spanish are so powerful, but when translated, it’s as if something is missing. Thus, my relationship to language is vast and complicated, but also quite unique and one I will probably never fully understand.