ALPHABET SOUP

How we read is what we read. That we read at all is a consequence of having something to read. From the moment we open eyes or become conscious we have the ability  to interpret signs, to reach an understanding of what is before us, in front of us, what we can see and possibly reach out and touch in the immediate present. I do not confine reading to the reading of text. The necessity to read and interpret is crucial to survival and our lives are taken up with survival.

 

Recently in Waterlife, the magazine of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, an article on how to identify tracks and signs was published. This takes us back to probably one of the first things a newly evolved homo sapiens would have been taught to read some 300,000 or so years ago. That, together with images painted or carved on walls of dwellings, and observations of weather and climate conditions, would have been the first ‘texts’ of required reading. 

 

As to what we now call writing, that did not happen until some 5500 years ago. Of course, it did not just happen, and it came about in more than one place on the planet to accommodate the various languages that had emerged around the world. As interaction between individuals became more complex, trade and relations require some form of record keeping, and indeed the first known writings concern accounts (numbers and stocktaking). This would have required the creation of symbols to represent the word for cow, chicken or pig. Again, necessity was the mother of invention.

 

The facility to read and organise out thoughts is developed in the brain. Stuff is poured into us the moment we emerge from the womb and probably a couple of months before that. We learn a language or several languages over time, but it is our so called mother tongue that defines us for the rest of our lives. Our thoughts, dreams, impromptu expletives and reactions are expressed in that language. We are what we speak and we speak what we read. The brain organises and records it all. We can consciously recall, or retrieve from our stored memory banks, events that have occurred. Sometimes some exterior stimulus will prompt a memory to surface to the forefront of our thoughts. Included in this retrieval are the emotions that coloured the incident at the time it occurred. The language expressing those emotions and recalling the associated events is the same. So, we become, and are, what we speak.

 

According to a Wikipedia entry there are some 40 languages spoken by at least 45 million people around the world, from English  at 1.456 billion people (380 million as a first language and 1.077 billion as a second language) to Yoruba at 46 million (44 million as a first language and 2 million as a second language).

The CIA have done some research and have produced the following chart of most spoken language as a percentage of world population:

We have, however, come a long way from tracking signs. Communication is now universal and certain languages have dominated the landscape at various times in history. At present, it is the English language that is becoming the lingua franca of our time. Communication for commercial airlines and airports requires English. Many countries participating in the Eurovision song contests, produce music with English lyrics. The tourist industry thrives on the ability to speak English. Many placards and posters held up at demonstrations throughout the world will be in the English language. In addition, the proliferation of mobile technology and the world wide web have changed the landscape seemingly beyond control.

 

As to writing, things are a bit more problematic. There are a number of alphabets, but not as many as there are languages. There are some 15 alphabets or scripts that are in current use, as per this chart:

The various symbols and letters of alphabets are sound keys that represent the sound of syllables of words. It is interesting that the Latin alphabet can be used to convey the sounds of a variety of languages. The Cyrillic and Greek notations have much the same sounds as their Latin equivalent. It is also interesting that the same notation or script can be used for Slavic, Germanic and Latin based languages.

 

The Wikipedia entry defines an alphabet as “a standardised set of written graphemes (called letters) representing phonemes, units of sounds that distinguish words, of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this was; in a syllabary, each character represents a syllable, and logographic systems use characters to represent words, morphemes, or other semantic units.” 

That does not however change the fact that we are what we speak, although it has made us realise just how similar we all are as human beings. Our basic requirements are entirely the same: human rights including secure shelter, health, safe and secure employment, education and free speech. The eradication of prejudice and bigotry of any kind would be a help.

 

Looking at it from another perspective, our brains are little understood, but extremely advanced and sophisticated data processors. The brain never stops functioning and is constantly siphoning or drawing in information, whether we are awake or asleep, and no matter what our level of intelligence. All our senses, touch, smell, sound, taste and vision are in constant operation so long as we are alive. We all have the facility to retrieve the information we are gathering so long as we can breathe. How we choose to use that information is what makes us all different. What keeps us alive, what gives us the energy to keep functioning is the same for every creature on earth. In that respect we are all the same. The eradication of prejudice and bigotry of any kind would be a help.

 

So let us not talk falsely now.