Learning a language
A language can be learned in a principle-guided systematic way.
The main high-level principles are:
- an association of a sound with a mental representation (warning cries of animals).
- the meaning (and the intention to communicate) comes first
- the so-called “deep structure” (brain-level) comes before any shared system of sounds
- a human language is just a standardized (agreed upon) encoding for oral communication
- a writing system is the way to represent sounds (by associating sounds with symbols)
- a pronunciation is an agreed upon (shared) set of rules (comes prior to grammar for children)
- a grammar (a set of rules) is used to check whether a sentence is well-formed (grammatically correct)
- different social layers use the same language differently (to signal a higher social status)
The structure:
- our sensory perception is sequential
- thus everything is a sequence
- nested (in levels) sequential “structures”
- a sequence of sounds (a word)
- a sequence of words (a well-formed sentence)
- monosyllabic languages are “good-enough for everything” (as good as)
- a sequence of sentences (nesting)
- a sequence of higher-level “chunks” of text
The “rendering” (translation) of long abstract Sanskrit terms into essentially monosyllabic Tibetan.
The so-called “Classic Tibetan” (an artificial language) has been created, using the existing Sanskrit grammar.
This is complex phenomena explains all the underlying principles (universals).
Very basic linguistics
Structural properties:
- a layered “structure” (from morphemes all the way up to abstractions)
- the basic discrete units (“atoms”) at each layer
- how they can be combined and ordered (the rules and principles)
Universals:
- a hierarchy of distinct levels (a universal abstract structure)
- rule-governed at all levels
- systematic regularities, captured and expressed as rules
Pronunciation, word formation, grammatical construction.
Yes, it boils down in how to put together (combine) the “atoms” (sounds, words) and in what order.
The sub-field of classic linguistics study each layer in a hierarchy (aspect) individually.
The sounds which a human can produce are traditionally classified into vowels and consonants.
The early Indians created a “perfect” systematic mapping between sounds and corresponding symbols in the Sanskrit language.
The Devanagari script is an example of an advanced writing system (the writing system for the Tibetan language has been derived from it).
Devanagari introduced a sub-system of modifiers.
Reading to speed up
It takes for a child 3-4 years of a constant exposure, practice and schooling to master a native language (the mother-tongue).
The young brain does active pruning and strengthening of “synaptic connections” (learning happens at synaptic level, not of axons).
So, the hack is to actively use the visual subsystem to read and write right from the start (which is not how children learn).
The goal is to master the Devanagari script and thus approach the languages of the Indian subcontinent.
The difficulties
- Too many consonants
- Modifiers
- Combinations
In a common people’s spoken language it can easily be pronounced (and even written) ’b’ instead of ’p’, etc.