What is language?
It is defined as…
- the principal method of human communication, consisting of words used in a structured and conventional way and conveyed by speech, writing, or gesture. “a study of the way children learn language”
- a system of communication used by a particular country or community. “the book was translated into twenty-five languages”
A “system of communication” is how I remember it, for the Buzz-Concept Project. Whatever you read in the dictionary, however, the true -ultimate- nature of the concept of language is subject to much debate, deliberation and discourse. Overcomplication is a trap every linguist falls into. It’s convoluted business.
A language is a system in which cultivated sensory elements/units, i.e. sounds and/or words, are assigned meaning – and then combined, incorporated, arranged and assimilated into sophisticated structures, as defined by convention, to facilitate human communication. It would be incorrect to class the elements/units as symbols in light of the fact that symbols acquire meaning through the visual sense, and human language was originally only spoken. Nor would it be strictly fair to categorise them definitively as words, since they don’t really have words in Chinese; Chinese speakers instead just go by character/concept(ualisation). That said, these days, a language can make use of speech, writing, gesture, and even touch to convey meaning.
To come up with a sound answer to the question above you actually have to be ready to draw not only from linguistics, but also from literary, philosophical, and scientific schools of thought. Such is the fundamental nature of language: everyone makes use of it. But moreover, everyone is dependent on language. To hone your insight into the institution of language, you have to furthermore cultivate insight into the entire universes that its sophisticated usage has engendered. Literature is literally use of language at its most supreme, at its very pinnacle, no? Thereby you ought to be literary to be able to appreciate the sheer scope of the institution of language. You have to be philosophical about answering the question in order to look past the illusion of conventionality. Etc.
Language is most likely unique to our species, Homo sapiens. It may be that other closely related species such as Homo neanderthalensis did also make use of language, but this is somewhat unlikely. I think it is a defining characteristic of our species, one that we have readily taken advantage of to earn our stripes as the most ridiculously superior species on Earth…! There are many other animals who are capable of intentionally manipulating sound to communicate with each other, like cats and meowing, for example. Yet no other species has the cognitive ability to be able to manipulate the process of communication with such fruitful consequences.
Were we speaking contemporaneously when the species Homo sapiens originally emerged? I do not think so. I think we acquired language some time after, however soon or late. The institution of language was surely the result of a vision some leader or smartypants had.
…This was when the very first talent came into existence. What talent was it? Anyone?
It was mathematical talent…! Yes, it’s a talent, like aaany other! Technically 😉 Talented designers have visions for things to create; well, talented mathematicians have visions for hard truths to perceive. It was mathematical talent that enabled humans to actively seek and acquire intelligence. Which came first? #Intellect or #talent? Well, it was talent. We had mathematical talent, bequeathing visions for hard truths to perceive, before people started actively cultivating intellect. The ball was sent rolling when human beings learnt how to notice through this talent. Like I said, talented mathematicians have visions for hard truths to perceive, which facilitate cultivation of perceptivity and general aptitude. Once we learnt how to notice and perceive, we could make judgements, think critically and plan ahead, and from then on we were unstoppable! Mathematical talent is indeed the most fundamental talent just like numerical information is the most fundamental form of information.
We readily made use of mathematical talent, in fact, to develop the institution of language. We wanted to expand our interpersonal relationships, and duly started to experiment with sound combinations to hone our linguistic capabilities. Some people’s imaginations wandered off and they got carried away with the experimentation, necessitating the institution of the very first Buzz-Concept, survival, to keep everyone’s heads in the game… to remind everyone about what was really important. At first we needed to be reminded how to ensure our own survival, particularly how to survive the heat and secure nourishment, and do it all with finesse. Once this all became instinctive, in due course, we would be able to institute other languages that didn’t revolve entirely around survival.
It all started with just the one Buzz-Concept, survival.
The Buzz-Concept survival served us extremely well, by the way. Everything that the human race can ever achieve is only possible thanks to the fruitful cognitive processing of Proto-Global populations. This was facilitated by the Buzz-Concept survival, always keeping people’s heads in the game with stunning efficacy. Someone literally invented the institution of the Buzz-Concept in the form of the Buzz-Concept survival, and human language truly wouldn’t have developed like this without Buzz-Concepts!
The second Buzz-Concept was acquired when we started branching out into different preliminary ethnicities. It was instituted upon the formation of the very first separate ethnicity/race. To maintain cohesion, something more was needed to remind us all of why we should want to stick together. The second Buzz-Concept was… sexiness. (•) + (•) = 2. That was literally what the reasoning was. Which answers the question of which race it was to be carved out first! It was the Celts – strictly speaking: the “Origino-Celticks”. The potent genetic mutation that created the supreme race evidently came first. Originally they were joined by other individuals they deemed supreme and wondrous enough to be worthy, for good luck. And this was when human language acquired its Second Layer, the Aggregate Layer – the First Layer being the Fundamental Layer.
Other races would form preliminarily in due course, as different mutations occurred, and “pedigree” was cultivated. There was also a degree of conscious will involved in the formation of race, and our differences in appearance were not fully determined by pure genetic factors. The Buzz-Concept survival prevented people from ever becoming detached from our specific origins, allowing people to stay closely in touch with one’s biological functions insofar as it was of course possible. The second Buzz-Concept sexiness further heightened people’s capacity to control their own sexual appeal, down to the strength of facial muscles and the subliminal visions behind facial structure. A multitude of preliminary races would form as this all exploded. We scared ourselves with what we were capable of, and this made us swear to remain adhered within the Proto-Global mould. Practical differences regarding certain proclivities necessitated a certain degree of distinction and separation between the various preliminary races, but we still maintained commitment to live within one society. We developed different languages, but they were all related to each other as descendants of the Proto-Global/Original language. And before we knew it we had…
- Origino-Celtick: the Language of Sincerity
- Origino-Orientalesquey: the Language of Originality – the first Super-Tongue
- Origino-Semito-Africanite: the Language of Establishment
- Origino-Negroid: the Language of Congruence
- Origino-Nostratico: the Language of Serendipity – the first language of intellect
- Origino-Blockful: the Language of Brotherhood
- Origino-Turkique: the Language of Aspiration – the first language of culture
- Origino-Austronesianiii: the Language of Gregariousness
- Origino-Olivete: the Language of Likeability
Different races have been created as we began to head down evolutionary routes to becoming separate species. We are all currently Homo sapiens. Neanderthals were Homo neanderthalensis i.e. Homo navigatus. The Denisovans were “Homo denisova” i.e. Homo “intuitiblens”. White Europeans would become Homo “prepotens”. Black Africans Homo “amoris”. East Asians Homo “efficiens”. And that covers the three primary races still in existence.
All of the languages listed above had just two Buzz-Concepts. The primary Buzz-Concept in each was the concept they are listed alongside above, all of which were related intimately to the trappings of primitive human experience. The secondary Buzz-Concept was one of three: sexuality — unity — vibrancy, depending on which best complemented the all-important Fundamental Concept, as it definitively was then. The explosive fruitfulness of cognitive processing that once characterised human life had faded by then, and people found themselves developing authoritarian sensitivities. This was when single-mindedness became a thing.
The Origino-Orientalesqueys, ancestors of today’s Orientalesques (Mongoloids i.e. East Asians and Amerindians) developed a nomadic lifestyle, flitting between other groups, parasitically freeloading off them. Somewhat like gypsies. They came to be rejected by the others, who subjected them to ostracisation, humiliation, starvation, bullying and even violence. Political (the very first political opinions!) opinion was divided from group to group: some were indifferent to what they were seeing, others were disturbed, and then of course we had the antagonists themselves spearheaded by the Origino-Nostraticos i.e. the primary ancestors of today’s Europeans. Regardless, the Origino-Orientalesqueys were in dire straits. The cruelty against them was what allowed the phenomenon of psychological trauma to come to exist. The extreme traumatisation forced the suppressed Origino-Orientalesqueys to retreat inwards, to introspect, to cultivate enhanced senses, self-awareness, and rationality. This was when a bunch of things like rationality, abstraction and perspective concretely came to exist.
The Origino-Orientalesqueys, amid the traumatised haze, would invent a brand new type of human language. The Language of Sensitivity was the very first human language that wasn’t related to Proto-Global i.e. that wasn’t an Original Tongue. The Origino-Orientalesqueys used their enhanced rationality to get back in with the others, sharing their know-how, allowing the other groups to invent their own new types of language in due course. Although, note that doing so took a lot of prep and happened over the course of thousands of years. Visions had to be honed and cultivated, psyches streamlined etc. But that is what happened.
It was upon the invention of the Language of Sensitivity that the Third Layer of human language was added. It was added in a traumatised haze, explaining why it’s so straightforward, just revolving around ethnic, and now national, identity. It was instituted subversively, in retaliation to all the cruelty, to foster discordance within the human race rather than promote unity – dividing the groups up firmly between the races, once embraced. It was also the first layer to be actively forced on the human collective by a minority, via some sort of enhanced insight, in this case heightened rationality. It was not adopted through universal consensus, meaning that it cannot be assigned the term “Buzz-Concept”. Regardless, the Third Layer i.e. the Ppl’s Layer now lays core (inter-)cultural linguistic groundwork and foundations, helping all the different peoples of the world concretise their positions within the human race and put their positions into perspective. What a language’s “third layer concept” is thus depends solely on the cultural sphere the people who speak it belong to. The Third Layer is not to be appropriated in order to avoid offending people -Herein lies humanity’s greatest stumbling block
The Fourth Layer: the Fourth/Final/Base/Hinge Layer. So… what is the ~fundamental~ deal here? By no means is one to feel as though you are confined to the scope of your primary Buzz-Concept, i.e. the First/Fundamental Layer. And that’s really what the Fourth Layer is about: expanding options for variety’s own sake. The Fourth Layer covers what native speakers experience from their own language(s) on the most profound possible level, whereas the first three layers encompass more general human experience of life itself. So in a way it is the Fourth Layer which is the most profound. What native speakers experience from their own language(s) on this most profound level is largely dictated and standardised by the Fourth Layer, meaning that the best concepts for this layer are inherently versatile, to avoid restriction. The Fourth Layer is probably the hardest to pin down and analyse, because native speakers are mostly totally unconscious of it themselves. It generally gets left to the thinkers, the intellectuals, the specialists. It’s something only the most proficient native speakers and communicators are capable of tuning into and consciously engaging with. The Fourth Layer doubles up with the First Layer in laying the most fundamental intellectual and logical foundations for the linguistic sphere. Human activity itself revolves around the First Layer, emotionality around the Second Layer, ethnic identification around the Third Layer… well, culture hinges off the Fourth Layer. Languages with well-developed Fourth Layers exhibit their corresponding concepts very clearly in their superficial form: why is English spelling so pernickety? Because the Fourth Layer of English is sophistication/complexity/flexibility! Those vibes you get from your own native tongue that guide you about all these boundaries? That’s the Fourth Layer in action, FYI.
The Ancient Greeks thought they added the Fourth Layer. They thought they incorporated it as their intellectual pursuits started to kick off, to celebrate the fact that there are these things called cultures! But no, not quite – although it did all really kick off thanks to them! The fourth layer was actually incorporated by the Pre-Nostratics – to launch the institution of cultural superiority: learn more
The 4 layers of modern Greek / ελληνικά / elliniká:
- ευχαρίστηση / efcharístisi / pleasure
- μεγαλείο / megaleío / sublimity
- ελληνικότητα / ellinikótita / Greekness / Hellenica
- λογική / logikí / logic
Progress related to this dimension of the human experience has been concentrated within parts of the world where exposure to Greek civilisation has been most intimate. Some parts of the world have indeed been screwed over, on the flipside. Important part of world history right there !!
To celebrate the success of the Buzz-Concept Project, I decided to give people the possibility of adding a Fifth Layer... To try… It would be…
The Fifth Layer: the Historical Layer…
To help streamline historical trajectories! I mean, there are no new languages being formed, but in English it should be elaboration. I originally proposed flexibility with such success it got absorbed into the Fourth Layer tehe
The Buzz-Concept Project 