This chapter bounces from topic to topic. From how the word "do" meaning
nothing, but being applied as an action that holds no concrete meaning,
to the usage in -ing and how it turns a noun into a verb.It goes on to
talk about who the originaters of language are and gives most credit to
the Celtics. It also goes on to talk about what language did what in
terms of how writing was scriptured and how celtified English only came
into history by accident.
On page 15 he makes a simple note in stating, " this leaves us with a
simple fact about what happens when language comes together, they mix"
(15) this reminds me of how we in common english mix and match our
words.We coin, borrow, and turn nouns into verbs by using conversion
which he also spoke about. Throughout time we have taken words that
connected them to food (sushi, pretzel, croissant) and made it common to
say things like hoover, xerox and google to describe actions. Its
interesting to see these ideas come alive in a seperate work, and he
seems to be very passionate about his feelings about all of it.
One thing that I couldnt understand was why the author seemed to have
such a love hate relationship with the word do.More hate actually. He
was going on and on about it with such conviction, yet he was able to
show the word wasnt solely limited to English. He talks about how the
ing constitutes for the act of doing but attaches it to a noun and that
goes back to the previous paragragh. Still the tone which he uses to
discuss this is one that gives a genuine distaste for it.Perhaps this
isnt a concept that can be explained in readings, but more a tone that
the author set in how he explains language This chapter expressed how some languages don't pick up words from
others, but some language grammar is influenced by earlier forms of
language from different places. He then introduces the vikings. He talks
about the shift in personal and impersonal gender, how last names
change in terms of added endings.He goes back to the Celts and the word
do. He relates ideals in language to African languages and talks about
the level of difficulty with the clicks.(121) It reminds me about when
we learned about how we use our mouths to make certain sounds like in
the video in our second power point. What I'm still not grasping is what
his objective is in this book. Its not an easy read at all and I just don't understand what exactly what were supposed to grasp. Its just a
bunch of random history mixed with his opinions about everything and
some examples to back him up.
