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Language Holds Society Together

Language Holds Society Together

What are your thoughts? Would be still as we are today using grunts, echoes, chirps, hand signicals and so forth?

Together Society Holds Language

Only a Language that can express symbolic, vague, or extisential concepts could ever give a society the complexity to create religion and science. These two hallmarks are essential to a "civilized" society.

Those that used grunts, echoes, chirps, hand signals that typified primitive cultures may have had languages that were adequate for their hunting/gathering or nomadic lifestyles, but I do not believe they could have expressed complex ideas that lead to the invention of modern day conveniences such as the computer or the automobile.

As important as language is to the evolved society, the ability to convey this language by writing is the catalyst that brings individuals together into a complex culture.

Primitive languages could never lead to such advancements if a written language was not a part of that culture.

Language Holds Society Together Health & Special Psychology

So can we ascertain that the more 'perfect' a language is the more 'perfect' society can be?

Together Society Holds Language

Typically yes, in my opinion,

But societies can also use language to destroy.

The more advanced a society becomes, the more ability it has to destroy itself and others. The use of Language can build a society to a certain point, but its ethics and morals are the glue that keeps that society together. Regardless of the sophistication of the societies' language, if there is not the binding force of Moral restraint and Ethical treatment of all of its citizens, that society will fail (a situation that has happened several times in the past to very great civilizations).

Together Society Holds Language

Well then we go back to the original statement: "Language Holds Society Together" - True or False?

Language Holds Society Together

If one believes that Societies that typically have one language, last longer then societies that have multiple diverse languages, then yes I believe that Languages hold societies together. I would conjecture that Language is one of the main factors that define a "society" and is the main tool used when gathering individuals into a group.

This is going by the assumption that a central primary Language facilitates cohesiveness, whereas many languages foster division (I.e. the tower of Babel philosophy) .

This is my perception of the issue, but it may be wrong.I would have to look into detail on the history of language affecting the rise or fall of different nations or societies to support or dispute this held belief.

Language Holds Society Together

dbackers... you are way too deep!

Not that I refute anything you said, I just think there must be an answer more simple.

Getting back to the original question, "Does Language hold societies together?"

heh.. this is within my forte.... Languages, dialects of languages, reasons for accents developing from their origins.

Americans are a wonderful example... Eastern twang from Southern drawl, Western poignancy from Northern hesitancy... and to the rest of the world... how can you tell the difference between an American and a Canadian?

These questions are not unique. People in Spain have a hard time understanding spanish speaking peoples in Central and South America.

And what about Australians vs New Zealanders? They sound much the same but for subtle differences.

South Africans can often be mistaken for English speaking Danes (I've met a lot of South Africans who say "hey" after each sentence, which makes me wonder on Canadian connections).

Whatever... I can only tell you what I know. I studied the New Zealand accent...
New Zealanders speak very quickly. It takes a trained ear to understand the english they pronounce. Kiwi's tend to abbreviate a lot, and when you mix that with South Pacific Island languages, you hear this wonderful montage of sentences that are short and to the point.

We call it Kiwish.

But there's more to this than phonetics... history plays a part, as does geographic locations, economics, and (believe it or not), climate.

Language Holds Society Together Psychology Special & Health

I would say yes that language holds a society together. We would not hang around people we could not communicate with. This is very evident in the larger cities where people of like language group together in various parts of the city.