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Mar 7, 2021
"This is the land's manifestation, not a language (describing his native tongue)" --A shepherd in the Thar desert, India
Speaking River, Speaking Rain
"Are languages then just a collection of words, syntax, and semantics? I'd like to sometimes see them as seeds and sometimes as fields - alive as the minds, tongues, throats, bodies and air they pass through; germinating, growing roots, bearing fruit, evolving like beings. But also holding space, expanding out like a unique land of perception. A non-physical geography hosting human and non-human drama. A living medium, a speech-scape." In this evocative piece, writer and teacher M. Yuvan layers anecdotes that shine a small, bright light on India's linguistic diversity and weaves in similar stories from around the world. What does it mean for the future of the human species to keep the richness of our multiple languages alive? How does language tether the soul to the wisdom of the Earth?
BE THE CHANGE
Do you speak more than one language? If yes, could you connect more deeply to the layered texture and sensations of words that contain the same meaning, but across languages? If no, could you learn a new language and possibly, a different world-view?
