Siddarth Kamath Week 9: Power of the Language Tree
From the beginning of our history, humans have always needed to communicate in the form of a language; this includes the phrases and words that create the sense of complexity when speaking and describing a concept. As time passed, humans had to grasp control over the world of increased knowledge on the sciences, technology, and humanities, which required a more advanced grip on the skills in the language. The necessity of the hold of the language grew as people needed to translate the ideas from the past to the future, such as transitioning the idea of automobiles to the current-day airplane. The source of the explanations and the eventual growth of humanity is the foundation of languages: the roots.
The roots of a tree hold the tree up. In this analogy, the tree contains the main thesis or idea being presented such as the revolutionary idea. The roots are the sentences that support the thesis and can also tie back the ideas from the past to the topic at hand also known as the background. As an author, the roots have to be sturdy and therefore need to include description and specificity. The deeper the roots the more powerful the tree will become. The more the roots, the possibility of growing mass such as through the branches increases. In other words, the more evidence acknowledged and presented that relates to the thesis, the more availability for the author to add more points on the main claim. Many politicians have been very specific on using their strategy such as by creating an exaggerated scene about the past before mentioning the solutions from the current day done by their administration. So everytime you write a piece of work, remember to make the roots strong before introducing your innovative idea.
Source:
https://www.rootedinlanguage.com/blog/2019/2/20/the-language-tree
Reading your exploration of how language has evolved and can be effectively utilized with the analogy of roots was interesting. I agree that language develops in service of describing new concepts, inventions, and technologies. This leads to a constant change in phrasing, vocabulary, and stylistic norms, with authors using the most effective wording in their given time frame to resonate with the audience. However, I do not think words are created to create a sense of complexity, but rather a more illustrative or precise description. The analogy you shared in your blog is something that I would have never thought of, but I like how it demonstrates the importance of supporting evidence and context concerning the thesis. I believe that the thesis itself also plays an important role in determining its effectiveness among audiences, regardless of the supporting roots. To add to your analogy, the strength of the thesis alone could be represented by how straight up the tree is growing. For example, a fundamentally immoral claim that is supported by extensive statistics and analysis could be like a tree with large roots growing at an angle. Another suggestion I have would be to expand on what could be the roots. In the age of mass culture, the Internet, and commercials, many other techniques are used to enhance the thesis. For instance, simple, colorful images and videos are used to capture the audience’s attention in ways that sophisticated text cannot. Still, the analogy you provided is thought-provoking in the realm of writing.
ReplyDeleteHi Siddarth,
ReplyDeleteI thought that your analogy of comparing the ideology of language with the foundation of trees - roots - was intriguing. Before reading your blog, I never really thought of language as the basis of communication; I always thought that it was more of our thought process that connected us and allowed for better communication and understanding. However, after reading about your perspective on language, I was enlightened to also think of language as a necessity so that people could translate the ideas of the past so that they could be applied in the future. I agree with the concept of building really strong roots so that our innovative idea has room to grow and become even stronger. This ideology has been applicable and valid in English, especially this year. Whenever we write essays or even maybe blogs, a lot of us write a rough draft, essentially the roots of the main structure of the essay. Just as you state, the more sturdy and descriptive the roots of our works are, the easier it will be when we put it all together. I found the topic of your blog to be relevant in our present-day lives as AP English students where having a strong basis and strong structural roots in every piece of writing we do is crucial.