Reflect on the history of your target language. To what language family does it belong? What sounds, words, and structures exemplify periods of contact with other cultures? How do these considerations enhance your understanding of the target language and culture in terms of their associated historical origin, development, and contemporary realization? and pragmatic questions of usage? How do languages change over time? How do linguists track, predict, and extrapolate these changes?
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Bahasa Indonesia belongs to the Austronesian language family, more specifically in the Malayo-Polynesian family. It descended from Old Malay and sought to serve as a national lingua franca within colonial borders. It has a heavy Dutch influence due to hundreds of years of colonization, but this is disappearing more and more. There is notable Chinese and Arabic influence as well, the latter being attributed to the Muslim majority. English and Indonesian have many cognates, particularly in science vocabulary, as newer loan words often come from English.
There's a lot to be learned from the distancing from Dutch linguistic patterns, specifically in the realm of spelling. The
Van Ophuisjen Spelling was dropped in 1947 in order for the language to become less similar to Dutch. This gesture functioned as a symbol of liberation from colonization, despite the irony of the language still serving as a lingua franca within the Dutch defined borders.
The history of Bahasa Indonesia has been particularly interesting to me because of how young of a language it is. There are plentiful artifacts that I've encountered from as recently as the mid-20th century that I'm unable to comprehend because of the antiquated spelling. Another thing that has seemingly recently emerged is the abbreviation of reduplication in informal written language. I'll often see WhatsApp messages with sama sama written as sama2 or buku buku written as buku2.
It's evident that Bahasa Indonesia is going to continue to evolve, particularly in the realm of precise speech. This was the topic of one of the chapters in Language Policy in Superdiverse Indonesia-- some language policymakers are hoping that Bahasa Indonesia can become an Asian lingua franca, and thus predicting that the form of the language will need to change to fit the function.
Bahasa Indonesia is a very interesting and fascinating language to learn. thank you for sharing all these valuable and important things about this language. I truly find it very fascinating how fast languages an change, evolve, and adapt to the social norms. Your example with abbreviations in social media proves this point.
Experts are still relatively uncertain about where Korean originates from and is thereby considered a language isolate. However, there are speculations that Korean could belong to the Altaic language tree though that renders it controversial as linguists argue that Japanese and Uralic languages should also be included in the definition of Altaic. Due to invasions and migrations, the Korean language was influenced by Chinese and Japanese.
In 1943, King Sejong commissioned the creation of a more straightforward and legible writing system so that the common people could also be literate. As there is a science behind the phonetic script, I have found it is relatively easy to learn how to read and write the language. Hangul is composed of 14 consonants and 10 vowels depending on the shape of one’s mouth in the making of the sounds. Due to globalization, about 90% of loan words found in the Korean language are English ones. As a result, the Konglish dialect has been created as a blending of Korean and English. For example, 아이스크림 is the hangul spelling of “Ice cream” and sounds almost identical. Japanese and Korean are similar in syntax since they both follow the Subject-Object-Verb framework, do not require a subject for an independent clause to exist, and both incorporate honorifics into their language. Similarly with Chinese influence, Korean is composed of about 60% Chinese words. Sino-Korean is used in more formal/ literary settings, to count, and in the creation of names.
I have realized when approaching learning a target language, you have to also consider its influences to really understand how the language works and unpack the historical context of the culture. For instance, with Korean, it would be helpful to learn some hanja as it is the roots for many words and knowing English has such a strong presence due to globalization, alleviates the stress of being unable to communicate with a native speaker due to the introduction of so many English loan words. Languages change due to the head of state, globalization, invasions, imperialism, and the determination of creating a more efficient language that is more accessible. I think linguists investigate more as one of the previous reasons for change occurs and from which evidence of language change can be obtained either by being around natives in person or on social media.
To what language family does it belong? The French language belongs to the Romance language family,
which is a branch of the Indo-European language family.
What sounds, words, and structures exemplify periods of contact with other cultures? How do these considerations enhance your understanding of the target language and culture in terms of their associated historical origin, development, and contemporary realization? and pragmatic questions of usage?
French has been influenced by contact with other cultures throughout its history. Some sounds, words, and structures exemplifying these influences. Regarding the sound, French has incorporated sounds from Latin, Germanic languages, and Italian, leading to changes in pronunciation and phonetics. Taking into account the words french has borrowed extensively from Latin, especially during the Renaissance, and from English, Arabic, and Italian. Finally, regarding the structures, contact with Germanic languages influenced French syntax and word order, and contact with Arabic influenced the French lexicon, particularly in mathematics, astronomy, and architecture.
Understanding these borrowed sounds, words, and structures enhances your comprehension of French in various ways. The historical origin provides insights into the historical interactions and cultural exchanges between the French-speaking people and other communities. Studying these elements helps in tracing the linguistic evolution of French, showing how it has adapted over centuries due to contact with different cultures.
How do languages change over time? Languages change naturally over time due to several factors, including cultural, social, and technological influences. Changes can occur in pronunciation (phonology), word meanings (semantics), word forms (morphology), and grammatical structures (syntax).
How do linguists track, predict, and extrapolate these changes? Linguists analyze historical texts and documents to trace changes in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation over different periods. By comparing related languages or dialects, linguists can reconstruct ancestral forms and understand the changes that occurred over time. Studying regional dialects allows linguists to observe localized changes and predict how these changes might spread to larger language communities.
Disucssion post oct 15 .pdf
There are varying viewpoints as to which family the Korean language belong. Some say the Altaic family which originates from North Asia or the Jeju langauge family or its own "Koreanic" family." The Korean language is a mix of influences from various cultures, which is evident in its vocabulary, structure, and sounds. Sino-Korean vocabulary, borrowed from Classical Chinese, like "학교" (hakgyo), meaning school. Additionally, loanwords from English have made their way into the language, with words like "컴퓨터" (keompyuteo) for "computer." The Japanese colonial period introduced Japanese influence, seen in loanwords and grammar. There are also subtle traces of Mongolian influence. Korean culture, including Confucianism and Buddhism, has also left its mark on expressions and ways of addressing people. This linguistic tapestry reflects Korea's rich history of interaction with neighboring cultures while maintaining its unique identity.
Knowing the various backgrounds and influences has helped me gain a better understanding of modern Korean language. However since i don't have previous background in any of it's relative language, it doesn't do me much benefit since I don't have any previous knowledge to utilize in my current studies to understand the language further. However I do understand that it has had multiple influences similar to english which has also had many influences from other neighboring languages. Since Korea has been colonized and invaded, there is current evidence of the effects of its integration of past country's powers which is what has caused it to have so much history. Knowing the history of a culture within a country has helped linguists track the significant changes to the language. Significant historical events can help track when the language was altered and similar with current modern historical events predicting current changes.
Korean is considered a language isolate and there is no confirmed language family, but theories link Korean to the Altaic or Uralic families. Since there is no proven connected language family, many place Korean into its own “Koreanic family.” Many Korean words sound similar to Chinese words, for example, the Korean word for tea is pronounced “cha” [t͡ɕʰa̠] while in chinese it uses different characters, but still makes the “cha” [t͡ɕa̠] sound. Historically, Korea and China went through periods of conflict and cooperation. Notably, during the Goguryeo kingdom of Korea, alliances were formed against common threats. During the Silla kingdom of Korea, political alliances allowed for more cultural exchange between the two countries. The Korean language also has influences from Japanese vocabulary. For example, the word for promise in Korean in pronounced “yaksok” [jaₖsoₖ] while in Japanese it is “yakusoku” [ja̠kɯ̟̊ᵝso̞kɯ̟ᵝ]. Japan once annexed and occupied Korea during its colonial era which is where many language and vocabulary influences emerged.
These considerations enhance my learning experience by adding a historical context to the language that I am learning. This helps with understanding how and why the language was created. Knowing the influences that the language drew upon also helps to understand how the language has evolved and how it may continue to evolve in the future. In the case of Korea, its language started from “Hanja” which was composed of written Chinese characters. However, over time the nation created its own character system and got influences from surrounding languages for vocabulary to evolve into modern Korean language. Linguists track and predict these language evolutions by first finding their origins using DNA records or ancient written evidence and continue to track the language using archaeological, anthropological and genetic connections to regions and cultures. These findings are used to create language models that can be used to predict future evolutions.
Korean belongs to the Koreanic language family. This is a small family consisting of only Korean and the Jeju language. The Jeju language is a Korean dialect distinct enough to be considered its own language. Current Korean evolved from the Old Korean language spoken during the Silla dynasty (7th – 10th century).
Korea’s history has been closely tied to China and Japan, and as such all three countries have had a certain level of cultural and linguistic exchange. In the case of the Korean language, this is especially true of China. Old Korean descended from the Proto-Koreanic language, and proto-Koreans originated from the Manchurian region in China expanded into Korea in 300BCE.
Korean was originally only a spoken language, with the only writing system being ‘hanja,’ or Chinese characters. As such, Chinese characters are prevalent in Korean historical artifacts, such as old texts or Buddhist temples. Over time, with the introduction of ‘Hangeul’ by King Sejong the Great, Chinese has been phased out of daily use in Korea. This knowledge helps me understand the close relationship between Chinese and Korean, and why Hanja is so prevalent in ancient Korean sites.
Languages change inevitably with time as words, expressions, and even structure evolve. Eventually they can change into completely new languages.
Unlike most other languages of Europe - English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish, for example, which belong to the Indo-European language family, the language of Hungary does not. Hungarian is a member of the Finno-Ugric group of languages, which is part of the Uralic language family. In my previous discussion post, I did research on the history of the Hungarian language and came to the conclusion that Hungary is a relatively modern state that was developed after the various historical conquerors and invasions from the neighboring countries which resulted in the intensive mixture of language structures.
Its closest relative is Finnish, but similarities are pretty invisible on a superficial level and only obvious in how the language is structured. Also, the Hungarian language has a great amount of loanwords and similarities with some other languages such as Turkish, Latin, and German. From one of the linguistic articles on the specialty of Hungarian language, I learned the ways some of the languages influenced Magyar/Hungarian.
“Turkish: in part from before the Hungarian tribes arrived in the Carpathian basin, in part thanks to the Turkish invasion in medieval times,
Latin: which was the official language of Hungary up till 1844, and
German: due to Hungary's close ties with the Holy Roman Empire, and having the Habsburg family on and off the Hungarian throne from the 15th century up till after the First World War, when the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was abolished and the Habsburgs were dethroned.
Slavic: since most of Hungary’s neighbors speak Slavic languages, there are also plenty of Slavic loanwords in Hungarian. Most recently, the number of English loanwords skyrocketed with English becoming a lingua franca, a language spoken and understood all around the globe.”
It all sounds very complicated and confusing at first, but once you understand the basic language rules and structures, and learn the pronunciation, the process becomes much easier. One of the good things about Hungarian is that most of the time the pronunciation reflects writing and the other way around. There are various ways to say the sentence, you just have to keep your attention on the “focus word” and put it before the main verb. As I mentioned in one of my earlier discussion posts, Magyar is a very vocal language, therefore, a new learner should focus a lot on the pronunciation of vowels (short and back), their combinations, etc. During my sessions with the community partner, I am trying to focus not on the grammar itself, but on the sense of the actual language, usage of the language structures which are not written in the book, but the ones which are used by the native speakers. I think it helps me to develop the intuition within my target language, and explore some of the aspects which help me to actually speak the language.
Source: https://hungariancitizenship.eu/blog/what-makes-the-hungarian-language-so-special/