Genes are like the story, and DNA is the language that the story is written in.
The one thing – apart from assumptions about German – that I have to challenge frequently is people assuming that lexicographers are fierce protectors of the language when in fact our job is not to put a lid on it.
Jesus is why women have traveled continents, spent decades learning a strange language so they could translate the Gospel, planting churches, caring for the sick, educating the illiterate, and marching for the oppressed.
People often say Beckett is difficult or bleak, but engaging with it is the most life-affirming, uplifting thing. It’s his use of language. The music of the words works on your subconscious. You end up deeply moved but don’t know why. That’s where the magic lies.
There are so many deaf kids out there being deprived of their own language.
Today, for a Jew who writes in the German language, it is totally impossible to make a living. In no group do I see as much misery, disappointment, desperation and hopelessness as in Jewish writers who write in German.
What gives it its human character is that the individual through language addresses himself in the role of the others in the group and thus becomes aware of them in his own conduct.
There’s a lot of things that go on when you’re on tour that cannot be controlled. I’m not even talking about myself, but of course there’s sexual activity and drugs, fighting and language; it is certainly not a place to raise a family.
The way I make art – the way a lot of people make art – is as an extension of language and communication, where references are incredibly important.
The language of chemistry simply does not mesh with that of biology. Chemistry is about substances and how they react, whereas biology appeals to concepts such as information and organisation. Informational narratives permeate biology.
The eyes have one language everywhere.
Mathematicians may flatter themselves that they possess new ideas which mere human language is as yet unable to express.
What a great poem teaches you – and it’s not intellectual at all – is the resonance in the language that’s heard there. This goes back to the very origins of poetry and to the very origins of language.
The main effect of the Internet on language has been to increase the expressive richness of language, providing the language with a new set of communicative dimensions that haven’t existed in the past.
Sport is a universal language, building more bridges between people than anything else I can think of.
Words hold tremendous power, and if we don’t reclaim our language and start seeing people instead of ‘militants,’ drone victims instead of ‘bug splats,’ or natural splendor instead of ‘green infrastructure,’ then the voiceless are destined to be silenced forever.
I’m open to reading almost anything – fiction, nonfiction – as long as I know from the first sentence or two that this is a voice I want to listen to for a good long while. It has much to do with imagery and language, a particular perspective, the assured knowledge of the particular universe the writer has created.
How emigration is actually lived – well, this depends on many factors: education, economic station, language, where one lands, and what support network is in place at the site of arrival.
True creativity often starts where language ends.
I would guess that the decision to create a small special purpose language or use an existing general purpose language is one of the toughest decisions that anyone facing the need for a new language must make.
When language is treated beautifully and interestingly, it can feel good for the body: It’s nourishing; it’s rejuvenating.
