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From: hbokure@aol.com
Date: Wed Feb 03 2010 - 08:31:09 EST
There is an interesting article in today's Hadas Eritrea dealing with the nature of Tigrigna language as a medium of communication. The author seems to air his views in response to some commentators who depicted the shortcoming of this lingua franca in expressing ones feelings in a soft and sensible manner. It implies as if Tigrigna is a crude language lacking a sophisticated or modulated communication. But language is more than words and sentences! The delivery of messages can be influenced by intonations, facial expressions and unspoken attitudes as well. This is a broad subject, and must be treated in scholarly overtone. However, any language has its own character and merit shaped by the experiences of its native speakers and historical development. To some scholars Semitic languages such as Arabic and Tigirgna are the languages of emotion, while Hellenistic and Anglo Saxons languages such as English are the languages of science, and philosophy. No wonder how Charles the Vth viewed the languages as the following expression denotes:-
I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and, German to my horse.
Haile