Re: CHAT: An introduction

Hello,

> SC> First of all, I don't think that it's always French that
> suffers from
> SC> dislikes.
>
> I agree.  I've heard many remarks about the unpleasantness of
> a language -
> either its sound or the difficulty of learning it - applied
> to virtually
> every language I know anything about. :)  Most recently, a
> correspondent
> in the Netherlands remarked that even after years of immersion and the
> achievement of near-native fluency, Dutch just sounds ugly to her ear.
> And her husband, a native Dutch speaker, agrees.
Not surprising.

'The basic pleasure in the phonetic elements of a language and in the
style of their patterns, and then in a higher dimension, pleasure in the
association of these word-forms with meanings, is of fundamental
importance. This pleasure is quite distinct from the practical knowledge
of a language, and not the same as an analytic understanding of its
structure. It is simpler, deeper-rooted, and yet more immediate than the
enjoyment of literature. Though it may be allied to some of the elements
in the appreciation of verse, it does not need any poets, other than the
nameless artists who composed the language. It can be strongly felt in
the simple contemplation of a vocabulary, or even in a string of names.

If I were to say ' Language is related to our total psycho-physical
make-up', I might seem to announce a truism in a priggish modern jargon.
I will at any rate say that language - and more so as expression than as
communication - is a natural product of our humanity. But it is
therefore also a product of our individuality. We each have our own
personal linguistic potential: we each have a _native language_. But
that is not the language that we speak, our cradle-tongue, the
first-learned. Linguistically we all wear ready-made clothes, and our
native language comes seldom to expression, save perhaps by pulling at
the ready-made till it sits a little easier. But though it may be
buried, it is never wholly extinguished, and contact with other
languages may stir it deeply.

My chief point here is to emphasize the difference between the
first-learned language, the language of custom, and an individual's
native language, his inherent linguistic predilections: not to deny that
he will share many of these with others of his community. He will share
them, no doubt, in proportion as he shares other elements in his
make-up'

JRRT, 'English and Welsh'

In fact, I have the same experience myself. I find Ukrainian infinitely
more pleasing to the ear than my native Russian.

> Of course, that could just be the universal
> predilection for husbands to agree with
> wives. ;-)
*artlanger grumble* It's all culturally defined, you know! ;-)

Pavel
--
Pavel Iosad               pavel_iosad@mail.ru

Is mall a mharcaicheas am fear a bheachdaicheas
                 --Scottish proverb

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