Most Meaningful Takeaway

Salve Amicis!

The preceding statement written in the now, dead language of latin, I felt it apt to do so as it is a themed intro for themed post, in addition to the fact I have run out of ways to say "hello" in english.

Starting with the WOW word of the post, the word "impetus," delineates something that makes a process or activity happen, or happen more quickly. A word so snazzy, correct use of the word will lead to you becoming a social pariah, but a well educated one that could one day find themselves as apart of the upper echelon of society. An examples of this would be, "the use of the word 'impetus' gave new impetus to his social isolation." 

Now, the theme of this post, a derivative of David Malouf's short story, "The Only Speaker of his Tongue," was rife with beautiful, vivid imagery, that is cleverly employed in a way I have never seen before. Rather than the use of succinct imagery, with content making up a bulk of the writing. Malouf delves into extreme detail to create this image within the mind of the reader, that itself says a 1000 words, and sets a tacit tone that further supplement his actual writing. The most meaningful takeaway from the passage for me, was the bit in which Malouf writes:

He is, they tell me, the only surviving speaker of his tongue ... The language, one of hundreds dies with them. Only not quite. For all his lifetime this man has spoken it, if only to himself.

The fragment of the text particularly resonated with me, as it questioned an ideal of mine. I have always felt that the function of a language is communication, and should that function be unfulfilled, the regarding language is thereby extraneous. The death of a language's speakers, especially if it is an indigenous one, give an impetus to its transition from a living to a dead language. This speaker on the other hand, opposed to this apparent essentialism, continues to practice his language, refusing to marginalised to this modern majority or subaltern groups, deprived of their indigenous languages. This text allowed me to fully grasp and realise the identity people derive from their indigenous languages. An expat myself, who doesn't know his own language, I have never had an issue with hegemony but after reading this passage I have been enlightened, an epiphany if you will. But in all honesty, I now understand the importance of language to culture. However I still maintain the belief that it is an accessory of a culture and not an intrinsic part of it.