Of dead, living and climbing languages

Posted by B4 on May 22, 2003 at 15:02:25:

Hi Junet,
"... final yr thesis"
Ah, this rings a bell.
But never mind.
Since you comment on language, let me waffle a bit on it here, not that I'm a liguist, language expert, or something but just that I feel languages are interesting as a tool of communication.
What is a dead language?
A dead langauge is one that is fossilized and doesn't grow. Two examples are Latin and Greek.

Words of a dead language don't change in meaning.
Because they don't change in meaning, they are good for giving living objects scientific names such as in botanical names to weeds, shrubs and trees.
Lada hitam (black pepper), for example, is called piper nigrum.
(Ceritanya, bila ternampak pokok dan daun lada semua ke-hijau-an,
bertanyalah kawan, "Di mana saya dapat tengok lada hitam?")
Non-living objects can also be scientifically named using the dead language.
E.g. waya elektrika (electrical wire),
Akuta Sarsa (acute SARS)?
But what is acute if not severe or vice versa?
Jest aside, very soon Bau-Jagoi language may take its place among the dead languages if we do absolutely nothing about its growth and development.
A language is inextricably part of a culture.
It is a way of entrapping and communicating or sharing an experience of the reality around us. Much of Bidayuh audile (sound) reality which is heard and encoded in Biatah dialect has been compiled and published in "Bidayuh-English" dictionary (a visual reality) by the late Datu William Nais.

The reality as apprehended by Saleko or Serian/Bukar/Sadong, as is Bau-Jagoi, has yet to get compiled into such format. In fact, such compilation is of immense importance particularly to a living and growing language. It signifies a victory in successful attachment of a meaning to an event (process) and object (basically a process also) as all are subject to constant change in the evolution of things. It is important as a reference point in case of any difference or shift in meaning as the language lives on.
What is a living language?
To put it crudely, it is a borrowing language.
Borrowing sans returning or paying back sampai BANKRUPT
Oh yes? But English is living language.
It has borrowed from Greek, Latin, French and a host of other languages from all over the world particularly its former colonies "where the sun never set" including Malaysia, I suppose. Words such as amuck (amok) for beserk and camp pong (kampong) for village sound familiar in our part of the world but would sound exotic in Essex, Sussex or Middlesex parts of England.

Which now reminds me of my secondary school day attempt at translation of the Kampong Stenggang slang "Sobuoh". It was only much later that I decided that its English equivalent is "Damned you!" That was only after I came to realise that it came from the Bau Jagoi word "abuoh" meaning to stay unmarried, grow old and lonely and to die a loner without leaving any offspring.

Sobuoh! I notice that the online Bau Jagoi language compilation has yet to enter "abuoh" or "sobuoh" in its list of words. But not to worry, though, for it also takes time for certain words to climb the language ladder. Which brings me to climbing languages.
What is a climbing language?
Climbing languages are a class of languages or a language standard which lives within the environment of each and every language.

To illustrate, think of Asoi of Bau giving his address to the great Irish author James Joyce:
Asoi anak Sakiag,
care of
St Stephen Primary School,
99, Jln Temenggong Salau anak Sumbang,
93350, Bau,
Kuching Division,
Sarawak,
East Malaysia,
Malaysia,
Southeast Asia (ASEAN)
Asia,
Planet Earth,
The Universe.
Within a language, words similarly fall onto various steps. These are assigned to one or more of the steps along the ladder. Thus we find that a language can be personal, informal, intimate and very specific. Or it can be impersonal, formal/official, detached and generally all-encompassing.

Until we e-breeetonggg !!! of course where non-conventionalism would appear to be the norm as facilitated by the new digital tech which provides people with cyberspace to move about with an expanded sense of freedom which has never been experienced before. And on that note I end here my story of languages, dead, living and climbing.