In my mind's eye, I imagine a caveman. I can see him standing at the edge of a cliff with a group of his clan. On the opposite side of the chasm, atop the adjacent cliff, there is a tree that is ripe with delicious fruit. I imagine this is very exciting for the cavemen, as they probably hadn't eaten in a while. I can see the caveman point at the distant tree, grunting oafishly to signal to his clansmen that he is interested in what he sees. Then I think about how "ugh! ugh!" eventually became "Hey you guys! I'm famished and that fruit looks DELISH!"
Now... it's easy to see how certain words came into being... food, water, ground, sky... all of these things are objects we can identify... images in our mind that we relay through language; but what about the more abstract words? Words that don't represent an object, but an idea... these are the most fascinating to me.
"If"... what is "if"? It's not an object, person, or place... so what is it? It's a sound that represents a condition.
Were someone to present this sentence to you, "I was wondering IF you could help me move this sofa", and asked you to define "if"... what would you say? What if they asked to to define the word "can" in the sentence "I hope the plumber CAN fix the toilet in time for the party!" You just thought about it didn't you?
You simply cannot "define" these words in the literal sense... you can only convey the idea behind them. Now think about all the words we use without a second thought.. how many of them represent just an idea?
Think of the word "because" and what it means. In English, 'because' covers a lot of ground and has a few different meanings. For example:
a. I went to the store because I am hungry.
In this sentence "because" implies you went to the store under the condition/control of hunger
b. I'm learning to speak Spanish because I want to visit Spain.
In this sentence "because" implies you're learning Spanish for the purpose of visiting Spain.
c. He's in trouble because he broke my window.
In this example, "because" implies cause and effect
So now we've established "because" can signify cause and effect, purpose, or condition/control. Now consider how, during natural conversation, your brain identifies the situation surrounding the word. Before the next word in the sentence is uttered, your brain identifies the appropriate translation of 'because' and puts the word into context for the flow of thought being transferred to you... and you don't even realize it. It's almost as though language is a living thing that happens to us, as opposed to something we acquire throughout life.
We become so intimately connected to our native languages that it becomes as natural as breathing... it happens without conscious thought.
With this in mind I can't help but wonder... are our respective languages formed around or societies, or are our societies formed around our respective languages? Does a nation with a language that is specific have a better business chance than a nation with a more vague language? Who can say... but it's worth thinking about... but that's just my opinion.
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