A light hearted introduction
Some questions
• Is it reasonable to argue for the preservation of established forms of language, for example, as concerns grammar, spelling, syntax, meaning or use?
• Is one language common to the whole world a defensible project?
• What is the role of language in creating and reinforcing social distinctions, such as class, ethnicity and gender?
• What is the role of language in sustaining relationships of authority? Do people speak the same way to inferiors and superiors in a hierarchy? Does the professional authority speak in the same way as the person seeking opinion or advice? Can control of written language create or reinforce power?
• What may have been meant by the comment “How strangely do we diminish a thing as soon as we try to express it in words” (Maurice Maeterlinck)
• If people speak more than one language, is what they know different in each language? Does each language provide a different framework for reality?
• Is it possible to think without language? How does language facilitate, extend, direct or limit thinking?
(Questions sourced from here)
Resources
Guardian article about US military speak
"Knowing how you know" 