Thoughts and Questions on Language

Concept: Is human language innate or learned?
Packet: B "Language"
Pages: 80-81
My thoughts: I believe that language is innate in humans, and that there is an inherent ability in humans to communicate with words/sound. However, that doesn't mean that I don't think society and culture affect language, as they certainly do. It's just that society forms the language that is already there; it shapes it but does not create it.

Two "good TOK questions" for this concept:
1.) What causes society to have such a large influence on language?
2.) Is it possible to understand abstract ideas of others properly without verbal language?

Save the Ainu Language!

1. The Ainu language is a language of Japan, specifically the Kuril Islands and Hokkaidu, that is nearly extinct. The word Ainu means human in the language.

2. The Ainu have unknown origins but once they came into contact with Japanese people they experienced racism and various conflicts, leading to the banning of their language and near slavery in the Japanese fishing industry. Many Ainu today like to identify as Utari instead.
http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Ainu

3.
                                                      
This is an image of 5 Ainu gathered around reciting a "Yukar", or tale of a hero. I feel this supports the saving of the Ainu language as the Ainu valued oral literature and within the language reside many stories to be told.
http://www.ainu-museum.or.jp/en/study/eng13.html
4.
                                                           
This is an image of an old Ainu man. It is reflective of the Ainu culture as all men had long beards like him and he is wearing traditional clothes. I feel that this photo just carries within it the feeling of how old and important the traditions were to the Ainu.
http://www.ainu-museum.or.jp/en/study/eng01.html