Absorb a Word, Get an Idea Free!

“The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for.”
- Ludwig Wittgenstein

If what Wittgenstein said is true (and it sure sounds right), then by extension, a language that absorbs words into itself readily is indirectly absorbing the ideas that are associated with those words. On the other hand, a language that refuses to absorb words from other languages and instead coins new words loses the context and associations that were part of the source language.

To see the point, imagine whether English speakers would have got the same ideas (philosophy?) that comes with words like karma and nirvana if they had insisted on coining new words for them, instead of taking them as-is.

So the speakers/custodians who “safeguard” their language by not letting it get “corrupted” by foreign words end up losing the idea-set that comes with the original words. It’s like cutting one’s nose to spite one’s face! Maybe the French should wake up and take note.

Of course, the tendency to use only native words can make for good humour as in the movie, Chupke Chupke, where Dharamendra used the phrase, Sahasra Chakra Louh Path Gaamini, when talking to his staunchly Hindi loving brother-in-law. The brother-in-law, like most of us, didn’t have a clue what that meant. (It meant a train!)

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 7, 2011 at 1:23 PM

    True! I liked the caption, it says it all very effectively!

    ReplyDelete

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