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Study uncovers lost 'golden age' of languages

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Re: Study uncovers lost 'golden age' of languages

#11

Post by mdp2021 »

gregdaniels421 wrote: post #2

> political currents don’t have to move in one direction. It’s not inevitable that endangered languages become extinct. There really isn't any good incentive to learn a language with very few speakers, since unless you already know a speaker, you really can't practice the real language. People were a few years ago at least hoping llms could help preserve the languages, but more most of them, there just aren't enough…

> learn a language with very few speakers

Learn Sanskrit. You were writing in a descendant language just now. If you learnt the roots, you would understand the descendants better. And they are your tools, and knowing your tools is important.

Other more obscure languages? Well, as implied, languages are related... So studying the network clarifies the whole.

Re: Study uncovers lost 'golden age' of languages

#12

Post by whythismatters »

retrac wrote: post #8
smitty1e wrote: post #4

An interesting tangent to the language discussion is the Epic of Gilgamesh => https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/your-book-review-the-epic-o...

You know how people learn Ancient Greek to study Homer in the original language? Gilgamesh deserves that. I'm only a beginner but the refinement of the poetry is already obvious even as someone who doesn't know the language. Euphony was very important to the Mesopotamian poets. They liked rhythms and alliteration and assonance. And the late editions of Gilgamesh reflect about two thousand years of iterative improveme…

>The ş is like sh, š is regular s

That's not correct, in transcriptions of Akkadian š is pronounced sh (Heb. shin), ṣ (not ş) is pronounced ts (Heb. tsade), and there's also s, pronounced as regular s.

Re: Study uncovers lost 'golden age' of languages

#14

Post by mtalantikite »

mdp2021 wrote: post #11
gregdaniels421 wrote: post #2

> political currents don’t have to move in one direction. It’s not inevitable that endangered languages become extinct. There really isn't any good incentive to learn a language with very few speakers, since unless you already know a speaker, you really can't practice the real language. People were a few years ago at least hoping llms could help preserve the languages, but more most of them, there just aren't enough…

> learn a language with very few speakers Learn Sanskrit. You were writing in a descendant language just now. If you learnt the roots, you would understand the descendants better. And they are your tools, and knowing your tools is important. Other more obscure languages? Well, as implied, languages are related... So studying the network clarifies the whole.

I have the Assimil Sanskrit course sitting on my shelf that I’ve been meaning to spend time with. Would love to be able to read old sutras one of these days.

Re: Study uncovers lost 'golden age' of languages

#15

Post by wbl »

mdp2021 wrote: post #11
gregdaniels421 wrote: post #2

> political currents don’t have to move in one direction. It’s not inevitable that endangered languages become extinct. There really isn't any good incentive to learn a language with very few speakers, since unless you already know a speaker, you really can't practice the real language. People were a few years ago at least hoping llms could help preserve the languages, but more most of them, there just aren't enough…

> learn a language with very few speakers Learn Sanskrit. You were writing in a descendant language just now. If you learnt the roots, you would understand the descendants better. And they are your tools, and knowing your tools is important. Other more obscure languages? Well, as implied, languages are related... So studying the network clarifies the whole.

Sanskrit is not an ancestor of English. Sanskrit is a satem language English centum. Proto Indo Iranian diverged long ago.

Re: Study uncovers lost 'golden age' of languages

#16

Post by jrkfjdifc »

mdp2021 wrote: post #11
gregdaniels421 wrote: post #2

> political currents don’t have to move in one direction. It’s not inevitable that endangered languages become extinct. There really isn't any good incentive to learn a language with very few speakers, since unless you already know a speaker, you really can't practice the real language. People were a few years ago at least hoping llms could help preserve the languages, but more most of them, there just aren't enough…

> learn a language with very few speakers Learn Sanskrit. You were writing in a descendant language just now. If you learnt the roots, you would understand the descendants better. And they are your tools, and knowing your tools is important. Other more obscure languages? Well, as implied, languages are related... So studying the network clarifies the whole.

[flagged]

Re: Study uncovers lost 'golden age' of languages

#17

Post by mdp2021 »

wbl wrote: post #15
mdp2021 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> learn a language with very few speakers Learn Sanskrit. You were writing in a descendant language just now. If you learnt the roots, you would understand the descendants better. And they are your tools, and knowing your tools is important. Other more obscure languages? Well, as implied, languages are related... So studying the network clarifies the whole.

Sanskrit is not an ancestor of English. Sanskrit is a satem language English centum. Proto Indo Iranian diverged long ago.

> Sanskrit is not an ancestor of English

Sanskrit entered into Greek, Greek into Latin, Latin into English.

Edit: downvoter, express yourself clearly. I cannot see how the above sentence could be considered false, apart from gross interpretations of the chosen terms.

Again: you have a relation with "jñāna, gnō̃́sis, gnosco, knowledge"; then you have relations in other dimensions (jña, jñāti, gnṓmōn, gnṓmōn...): the awareness of those details enriches the awareness of the language. That is through the relation between Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, post-Latin - it is just there. What is contended is not clear.

Re: Study uncovers lost 'golden age' of languages

#19

Post by nkrisc »

mdp2021 wrote: post #17
wbl wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sanskrit is not an ancestor of English. Sanskrit is a satem language English centum. Proto Indo Iranian diverged long ago.

> Sanskrit is not an ancestor of English Sanskrit entered into Greek, Greek into Latin, Latin into English. Edit: downvoter, express yourself clearly. I cannot see how the above sentence could be considered false, apart from gross interpretations of the chosen terms. Again: you have a relation with "jñāna, gnō̃́sis, gnosco, knowledge"; then you have relations in other dimensions (jña, jñāti, gnṓmōn, gnṓmōn...): the…

That still does not make Sanskrit an ancestor language of English, though both English and Sanskrit do share a common ancestry several thousand years ago.

English has borrowed words from many languages, as all but the most isolated languages have.

Re: Study uncovers lost 'golden age' of languages

#20

Post by derektank »

aboardRat4 wrote: post #13

The golden age of languages is when there is only one language left, and everyone can understand everyone without cunning translators and hallucinating llms.

Unfortunately, even if we had a single language, I doubt we’d be free of misunderstandings. Jargon, double entendres, shibboleths and other barriers to understanding all still exist even when everyone is nominally speaking the same language
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