Language Lessons, Post 0

Arguably language is the thing that differentiates humans from animals. Without language and the ability it bestows, to convey complex ideas and processes, we would be nothing more than clever hunters.

Unfortunately, because of language's defining role in human nature, I think it often gets overlooked. It is difficult to define or even study something by using the thing itself. It is like trying to explain subdivisions without acknowledging cars and roads.

This dilemma can sometimes be seen when psychologists, anthropologists or biologists try to explain why some 30,000 years ago (a number which I have completely pulled out of my ass, I'll do the research and get a more accurate number soon) our brains suddenly grew by orders of magnitude. There are many theories as to why that happened, but I think the most likely reason is that larger brains imparted more complex language skills which resulted in better survival rates which allowed a higher rate of offspring which is how evolution works (at least partially...evolutionary theory will be another series).

But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, the purpose of this post is to introduce a series of posts on language. I find all of it, the study of linguistics, fascinating. But I'm not a linguist. So, while some posts will address the higher level discussions of the linguistic world, such as, did language make our brains bigger or what is the effect of language on the developing brain, most of the posts will be along more "trivial" lines, such as, do emoticons have an effect on our intelligence, and if so, why or musings on the origins of certain words or phrases (technically, etymology I guess).

To get started here are some links (which I have not actually explored yet but will in the near future):
Wikipedia is always a good place to start (although you do have to be careful, after all, anyone can add stuff to it), here is the Linguistics entry and here is the Etymology entry. Here is the Linguistic Society of America. Here is MIT's linguistics department site, home of Noam Chomsky, one of the greatest contributors to the study of linguistics...and a transcript of one of his lectures. And finally the linguistic tag from Technorati.