The death of language?
I’m no polyglot, but I love languages. I’m fluent in English and Spanish. I’ve read Gabo’s and other authors’ works in Spanish, but I wouldn’t dare try to write a story in that language! I once knew enough German to get into trouble when eating at a restaurant in Berlin and trying to serve as a translator for an irate Arab father (who spoke perfect English) and a German waiter (who spoke none but was desperate to please a customer). I used to know a lot more French than Spanish (not anymore!) and could read Russian; I was sufficiently proficient in both French and Russian to pass two reading proficiency tests in both languages (the other choice was German, not Spanish).
Yes, I’m far from being a polyglot, but I’m a big fan of language, all languages, because they’re what makes us all human (no matter how good AI gets!) and helps us all to hear and read the great works human beings have created over the centuries. (While proud of my own meager contributions, they’re a drop in the bucket among all those famous speeches, tales, treatises, and so forth! And mine certainly can’t be labeled great. Entertaining? Maybe. Enlightening and educational? Sometimes. Fun for me to write? Always!)
Language can be abused, of course. Dictators, wannabe Hitlers or otherwise, can use it to spew thousands of lies on their way to absolute autocratic power. (The Washington Post apparently gave up the counting of our current president’s.) Conspiracy theorists and fanatical spewers of hate abuse language as well, often twisting the accepted meanings of words and phrases to further their own evil agendas.
Language is like nuclear physics, though: Both can be used to improve the human condition; both can also be used in terribly destructive ways. We see both uses of language among authors, some like me, toiling away without many readers to show for it, many others with more readers than they deserve because they create works that are insults to language and thus humanity.
Nowadays, “educated reader” is becoming more of an oxymoron. There’s very little educational value to be found in escapist literature like fantasies, romances, and erotica where we find the majority of today’s readers. There’s a lot more to be found in classic genres like mysteries, thrillers, and sci-fi (but not space opera!). While all such works depend on their authors’ mastery of language, the numbers of all readers are dwindling now in lock step with the increasing abuses of language.
What will become of humanity when good uses of language are degraded so much as to become the bastardization of language found in internet-speak? I don’t want to think about that too much…and I’m happy I won’t be around much more to see language in its final death throes. I’m not happy to think that younger human beings won’t realize that their lack of appreciation for language will make them less human.
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Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
