Language can be a pain...

Greetings and salutations readers, this would mark my first blog post ever as I have never made or kept a blog until this one. On the 3rd week of Human Communications class we learned about Languages in Communication and the topic I'm gonna touch on in this post is Phonological Rules and how it can make communication among humans a real pain (especially in the English language). Phonological Rules are basically the rules that govern words with the same pronunciation and spelling but can have completely different meanings.

Take for example the word object. It can mean an item or a thing you're referring to, or it can mean to disagree or refuse a statement or argument. Every year there is a new meaning to a word that has been used for a long time such as the word apple. To many, an apple is that red (or green) fruit that we eat to keep the doctor away, or as the fruit that dropped on Isaac Newtons head which lead to him discovering gravity. Today apple could mean the Apple Macintosh computer operating system. The same applies for Windows. Next thing you know, there'll be Doors operating system and a new definition of the word door will be added in the dictionary.

As we go on in life, languages tend to become more and more confusing. I recently found an article that revealed 8 everyday words that have very racist meanings. That very article can be found here http://www.cracked.com/article_16967_8-racist-words-you-use-every-day.html. I was especially surprised with the true meaning of the phrase "Hip Hip Hooray" Who knew that people who were celebrating with that phrase was actually saying "Let's go kill some Jews".

Phonological rules are one of the main reasons that foreigners find learning english difficult. Words with dual or more meanings are confusing even to us english speakers. Just imagine how confusing it will be to foreigners who are learning english! The Woodchuck tongue twister alone (How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?) would leave foreigners baffled as to why the word "Chuck" is used so many times. So to end this post, language can be a pain, but it is essential in our daily lives. Phonological Rules may be confusing and could lead to some extremely awkward moments, but it could also lead to some very humorouse moments that you'll probably cherish for a long time.