We are surrounded by hundreds of 'tribes,' each speaking their own distinct slanguage of colourful words, jokes and phrases that together form an idiosyncratic phrasebook, years in the making.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the diversity of languages and dialects within communities, highlighting how unique expressions form over time.
Susie Dent's quote reflects on the rich tapestry of languages and expressions that exist within various communities, likening them to 'tribes' that develop their own distinct ways of communicating. This observation reveals how language evolves and is shaped by culture, humor, and shared experiences, creating a unique 'phrasebook' that captures the essence of those communities.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about the importance of preserving local dialects and languages.
Language is not an abstract construction of the learned, or of dictionary makers, but is something arising out of the work, needs, ties, joys, affections, tastes, of long generations of humanity, and has its bases broad and low, close to the ground
French is the most beautiful,β he said, βand Italian is the most poetic, and Russian the most powerful, German the most solid. But more business is done in English than in any other.
The language itself, whether you speak it or not, whether you love it or hate it, is like some bewitchment or seduction from the past, drifting across the country down the centuries, subtly affecting the nations sensibilities even when its meaning is forgotten.
Look at almost any passage, and you'll find that a paragraph has five or six metaphors in it. It's not that the speaker is trying to be poetic, it's just that that's the way language works.
My language! heavens!I am the best of them that speak this speech. Were I but where 'tis spoken.
No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality.
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