In this flash essay, part of a collaborative, constrained writing exercise, I explore the geographical influences on how languages evolved and diversified.
In school -, geography was my favourite subject, and I always hated history, but in my 20s and 30s, I discovered history was fun, when presented right...
And thus began my deep dive into the whole "different languages, different dialects and their origin". Ffwd to now, am learning spoken Kannada, the way words are formed, how the regions influence the words, and how there are words that are so similar between Tamil and Kannada stumps me..
Had quite a few TIL moments in this piece...it was beautiful and so insightful. I wanna read more along this :-)
I remember learning something interesting a couple of years earlier & I tend to write about them on my Instagram account. More like vignettes!
Geography surely has a huge influence on language development. Eg: languages such as Hindi, Nepali or Bodo that follows the Devnagri script and languages such as Assamese, Bengali & Bishnupuria Manipuri that follow the eastern Nagri script essentially use ‘matras’ in words. The same thing is missing in languages that developed along coastlines.
Assamese developed on the bark of the ‘Sanchi tree’ or ‘Xanchi gos’ (in Assamese) which is nothing but the famous Agarwood tree found abundantly across NE India. Other Indian languages that developed on palm leaves have curved shaped letters, coz the dried palm leaves would essentially tear off if matras are drawn.
I learned something new, went "Ohhh" in a couple of places, and was hooked all through. It takes real skill to do justice to such an information-dense topic in only 500 words. ヽ(°〇°)ﾉ
Thanks so much, Jordan. It's good to connect. Here's to more writing about the past, and unlocking geography for more audiences (I saw a note from you to that effect).
Excellent piece. I've long been interested in the way that geography influences langauges, it's a fascinating area.
Thank you so much. It was such fun to write it too.
In school -, geography was my favourite subject, and I always hated history, but in my 20s and 30s, I discovered history was fun, when presented right...
And thus began my deep dive into the whole "different languages, different dialects and their origin". Ffwd to now, am learning spoken Kannada, the way words are formed, how the regions influence the words, and how there are words that are so similar between Tamil and Kannada stumps me..
Had quite a few TIL moments in this piece...it was beautiful and so insightful. I wanna read more along this :-)
I remember learning something interesting a couple of years earlier & I tend to write about them on my Instagram account. More like vignettes!
Geography surely has a huge influence on language development. Eg: languages such as Hindi, Nepali or Bodo that follows the Devnagri script and languages such as Assamese, Bengali & Bishnupuria Manipuri that follow the eastern Nagri script essentially use ‘matras’ in words. The same thing is missing in languages that developed along coastlines.
Assamese developed on the bark of the ‘Sanchi tree’ or ‘Xanchi gos’ (in Assamese) which is nothing but the famous Agarwood tree found abundantly across NE India. Other Indian languages that developed on palm leaves have curved shaped letters, coz the dried palm leaves would essentially tear off if matras are drawn.
That's so interesting, thanks so much for sharing. Perhaps, botany's influence on language, could be explored too :D
Totally! :)
Fascinating to learn how altitude and weather conditions influence language. Your writing makes complex ideas so accessible and enjoyable to explore.
Thanks Richa. The word limit was a good challenge, though I'm sure there are a few other geographical influences I missed.
Interesting and a thoughtful take on finding roots of a language. Found many TIL moments here. You've really looked at language from a unique lens.
Thank you so much. Geography holds so many insights, if only it were taught/conveyed better.
I learned something new, went "Ohhh" in a couple of places, and was hooked all through. It takes real skill to do justice to such an information-dense topic in only 500 words. ヽ(°〇°)ﾉ
I definitely went over 500 😅
Thanks though, glad it worked as a micro-dose.
Thanks so much, Jordan. It's good to connect. Here's to more writing about the past, and unlocking geography for more audiences (I saw a note from you to that effect).