Language

We tend to think of language in a formal sense, e.g. one of the many languages of the world like English, Spanish, Mandarin etc, we think of the vocabulary, spelling and grammar as the definitions of language but the concept of language transcends there formal definitions.

As with programming languages you will find throughout the world that languages exist with varying degrees of popularity, active use, purpose and in some cases infallibility.  However across programming and spoken languages one behaviour remains constant, that for any given term to exist and be used you need only have a declaration and a definition.  In programming we state the type and the initial value but in spoken language we simply state the new word and its meaning.  Once the declaration and definition have been made we use the words as part of our vocabulary.

Travel the world far and wide or even just browse the internet and you will see from country to country, community to community there are local declarations and definitions, again in programming this exists through scope, and just as in programming you can end up with local terms that have the same name as globals but have different meaning.

This whole post was motivated by a short clip on the radio the other day in which the DJ spoke in an Australian accent and rattled of a number of slang terms which once he implied the meaning to you simply moved on understanding exactly what he was saying even though 10 minutes previous the conversation would have made no sense at all.

I have always seen language as something fluid but this reminded me and made me think how in some ways language is a living thing, maybe not literally - or maybe "literally" is the right word.