Legacy in Every Syllable: The Ancient Languages Fueling Progress

This article which  feature on the enduring legacy of humanity's ancient languages in “Whispers of Time: The 10 Oldest Languages of the World", provides insight into the intriguing histories and cultural importance of languages that have existed over thousands of years, including Ancient Egyptian, Sanskrit, Greek, Chinese, Aramaic, Hebrew, Farsi, Tamil, Korean, and Italian.  

 

The article also acknowledges that some languages remain integrated into daily, everyday life while others are considered only as parts of a religious, ceremonial, or literary tradition. Nevertheless, they continue to remain part of modern society, offering a glimpse into the distant past. Figureheads of these languages, in the forms of hieroglyphics of Ancient Egyptian, poetic verse of Tamil, and texts of Greek philosophy, are symbols of the saga of civilization.  

 

While examining the continuation and adaptation of these languages over decades and centuries, the article features experts and specialists, in linguistics at the least, to help gauge how the functions of culture, education, and identity can correspond with the relationships had with languages now and in their own past. Further, the article includes the voices of speakers and scholars of these languages to show how a living heritage exists alive and revived today.  

 

Overall, the Deccan Chronicle article, "Whispers of Time", is found to be a "round trip" of a time travel journey into the holding block of the history of human communication - that is, a glimpse into the sophistication of shared expressions and documentation in the endeavor of language, human experience, the people of the present and people of a different time still shaping communication.  

 

Source: Deccan Chronicle