Structure and Possibility of Languages

When discussing the structure of a language and what makes language possible we must look to the past. From Cuneiform to the written alphabet both brought us different forms of communication but more so brought us to how we understand and use language today. Goody and Watt believe that the written alphabet brought us to a deeper form of thought. Remarking about how people were able to start noticing inconsistencies in stories and beliefs that they had previously never been able to see written down. Only being passed generation to generation orally. They cite this as an example of deeper thought and investigations within a society. Mieroop however suggests that it was cuneiforms diverse and bilingual qualities that had the advantage saying “literate creativity can thrive within linguistic heterogeneity” (Meiroop 14)

I think to fully understand language and its capabilities as we know now, you have to take a mix of these two arguments. I do think the amalgamation of different cultures and how they shaped the structure of language eventually led to a more cohesive way of communication. Providing a foundation and leading us to think more critically and share our knowledge on a much larger scale than ever achieved previously, through the development of the alphabet. I think the two have to work together for us to truly understand the scope of possibilities that can be achieved through language. In terms of computer language I think this same argument can be applied. Coding languages have both visual and plain text elements. Not every language is always going to have an intuitive written format, but as you learn you’ll begin to understand each component and piece them together. Many languages were built off one another, similiar to cuneiform, different languages will combine to make another. They might not always be easy to learn, but all coding languages will give us the tools to create new projects and view things in a different light than somebody else.

For more information about this topic I would recommend the TCU library database which is where I did my research.