Tone Analysis: Brother

My brother was a very interesting person to analyze. He switches very often from complicated language to simple language, no matter the setting. For example, he may talk with very complicated language and more simple language during the same event.

Tone Analysis: Mother

I've noticed that my mother does not often use very long and complex words. My father uses them in business situations rather than family situations; my mother does not have a formal business, however, and so she mostly communicates on a family level.

She will often use the same words and phrases as my father does when talking among the family, rarely ever straying over three syllable territory. However, other analyses on her method of speaking may prove more interesting than this one.

Tone Analysis: Father

Earlier, I noticed a common pattern of speaking from my father. When addressing anyone in the family, he usually uses short, simple words. For example, the words used often address a point simply and quickly, rarely edging over the one or two syllable mark. Common sentences he uses are, "We need to get this done as soon as possible." or, "When will you be ready?" However, when addressing someone from his business, whether or not they are a subordinate or a superior, he speaks in a very professional manner, using more complex words to reinforce his position within the company. While I haven't been able to memorize those certain words he uses, he uses plenty of terminology about the inner workings of business and how cars work, since he works for Toyota as a fleet manager.

I wonder, though, is it a coincidence or not that he uses short words when dealing with his family and longer words when dealing with his business? Does he do it on purpose? I suppose I'll find out the answer when I delve deeper into his words and conversations.

Why You Should Give a Sh*t About Words That Offend - Analysis

Melissa Mohr has very interesting information on the subject of swearing. I did a little research on swearing during my etymology unit, but this information is much more thorough than the kind I discovered.

Swear words were very different long ago. Using the word 'Christ' and 'God' in conjunction with body parts offended people because they thought that Jesus and God's body parts would be painfully removed when people spoke those words.

These days, words that used to be exactly what they meant, such as the words for poop and sexual intercourse were described by their swear-version these days. Basically, words that used to be normal, everyday words became offensive over the course of one generation of our language. This is very interesting because these words used to be household words, but were replaced by French variants over the course of a generation of English. How our language will evolve in the coming hundred or thousand years may be very similar to this, making some of our words swear-worthy.

Language: What Do We Know, and Where Did it Come From?

One thing that I have been thinking about recently is the origin of language as a whole. Humans have the innate ability to quickly learn languages at young ages, but how did language evolve? Why did language evolve rather than complex grunts and growls? Today, I hope to use my current knowledge on the subject to  propose a theory of my own.

Humans have a very large brain to body ratio. Many animals have larger brains, but that brain needs to focus on keeping a larger body alive. Our brain to body ratio is perfect, because there is enough of the brain sustaining life functions, but a large part of the cerebrum is focused on intelligence. Obviously, this part of the brain is what makes the human race so intelligent compared to other earth species. However, a small part of the brain called the Broca's area is used for language comprehension and production, although some parts overlap.

This article has provided new information on the fact that language appeared much earlier than previously recognized. Ultraconserved words, which are words that appear very often and sound similar in many languages not necessarily from the same family, appeared around 15,000 years ago in an area of hunter-gatherers in Asia. For example, man, mother, to hear, what, and not are predictable enough, but it also has some words that are more surprising, but also make sense when thought about, such as ashes, to flow, and worm.

Based on this information, I think that the earliest language came around when very early humans attempted to describe things for the first time. Humans may have needed to adequately explain something rather than just know it exists. Other animals in the wild can see a river and understand that it is moving, but humans developed the ability to put a certain phrase to it. It is very interesting to understand how the brain comprehends language, and how the language function possibly evolved in humans.

Here is a list of ultraconserved words identified by linguists.