Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Mycenaean language

2009-12-14T17:03:32Z

Drevyek: There is no concrete evidence for a universal Nostratic origin of language (the Bible is one source, yet not sufficient for any Linguist); The Mycenceans were disheaved by Dorians not Pelasgians

The '''Mycenaean language''' existed in the eastern [[Mediterranean]] region among the [[Bronze Age]] [[Mycenaeans]] (who called themselves Achaeans), an Indo-European people who arrived in [[Greece]] and the Aegean about 1700 BC. They formed a culture starting about 1650 BC. The civilization, and with it, its literacy, disappeared between 1100 and 1000 BC in the great disruptions caused by the movement of what are called the "Sea Peoples" throughout the area. The language has been lost and is no longer spoken; however, its writing, known as Linear B, was deciphered in 1953, and shows the language to have been a form of [[Greek]].

[[Category: Ancient Greece]]

Greek language

2009-12-14T16:58:29Z

Drevyek: minor cleaning up

'''Greek''' is an [[Indo-European language]], primarily spoken in [[Greece]] and [[Cyprus]]. It is one of the few continuously written languages since antiquity, though the modern form differs significantly from the classical dialect. It dates as a written language from 800 BC, and was the language of the poet [[Homer]]. It is written with the [[Greek alphabet]].

==Literary language==
Homeric Greek is an early literary language, a form of Attic-Ionic. Archaic Greek followed Homeric, and culminated in Classical Greek with [[Plato]], [[Aristotle]], and the plays of [[Euripides]], [[Aeschylus]], [[Sophocles]],and [[Aristophanes]].

The Greek spread by [[Alexander the Great]] was also literary. By the 1st century AD, it had evolved into Koine Greek ("common" Greek), which is comparable to [[Vulgar Latin]]. Koine Greek and Vulgar Latin had phonological changes and simplifications in grammar and syntax that differed from Classical Greek and Classical Latin. This was the Greek in use in [[Palestine]] at the time of [[Jesus]] and was the language of the [[New Testament]]. Greek was the common trade language of the [[Roman Empire]].

Some centuries before, the [[Jews]] of Alexandria rendered a version of the [[Old Testament]] into Greek, the [[Septuagint]] (LXX), ("the seventy" or "seventy-two" based on the number of translators). This version of the Old Testament differs from that used by most [[Protestants]], who use the [[Masoretic Hebrew]] text, but continues to be used by the [[Catholic Church]] (in [[Latin]]) and by the Greek [[Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] (untranslated).

==Grammar==

In the Attic Greek language, [[verb]]s are conjugated for three [[mood (grammar)|moods]] and three [[voice]]s; the three moods being the indicative, subjunctive and optative, and the three voices being the active, passive and middle. Greek syntax and linguistic structure is similar to Latin, with several words sharing links with one another (for example, the word "pater").{{fact}} Ancient Greek is notorious for having a large proportion of irregular verbs; the scholar L. A. Wilding has calculated that most verbs show some degree of inconsistency.{{fact}}

== See Also ==

*[[Mycenaean language]]

[[Category:Indo-European languages]]

Defense of Marriage Act

2009-12-14T16:40:02Z

Drevyek: /* State Marriage Laws */ removing bias

'''The Defense of Marriage Act''' (DOMA), 28 U.S.C. 1738c, was passed by a [[Republican Party|Republican]] [[Congress]] and signed into law by [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] President [[Bill Clinton]].<ref>The law passed by overwhelming supermajorities: 342-67 in the House, and 85-14 in the Senate.</ref> It defends traditional marriage by enabling each state to refuse to recognize another state's grant of same-sex marriages and clarifies that the U.S. federal government does not recognize same-sex marriages at all, even if recognized by one of the states.

This law has two powerful effects:

#No state is required to recognize a same-sex marriage performed in another state under the [[Full Faith and Credit Clause]] of the Constitution.
#The federal government must not recognize any same-sex marriages.

At the time, it was thought that the first effect was most important, and it appears first in the law. Over ten years later, the second effect has emerged as most important, and in early 2009 a lawsuit was filed in [[Massachusetts]] to force the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages performed there.

== State Marriage Laws ==

About 30 out of 50 states have constitutional provisions defining and limiting marriage as between a man and a woman.<ref>http://www.domawatch.com/stateissues/index.html</ref> The states lacking similar bills in their constitutions are the 13 northeastern states and territory (D.C.) beginning with [[West Virginia]] (but not including Virginia), plus North Carolina on the East Coast; in the Midwest the states of Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana, and in the West the states of Colorado, New Mexico and Washington. As of May 12, 2009, 5 of these states had judicially declared or legislatively enacted same-sex marriage laws: Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont and Maine. A referendum is possible in Maine in fall 2009 to overturn its legislation, if enough petition signatures are obtained to place it on the ballot. In New Hampshire, the legislature passed same-sex marriage but the Governor has not yet received it for signature or a veto.

Of the roughly 14 states that lack a constitutional traditional marriage provision, seven have "state DOMAs," which is state legislation defining marriage in the traditional way. States or territories that lack constitutional protection for marriage or a state DOMA include New Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Island, D.C., Colorado and New Mexico.

== Text and Codification of Law ==

The text of this law, which was passed in 1996 and signed into law by President [[Bill Clinton]], is simple:

:An Act To define and protect the institution of marriage.

::Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

::SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

:::This Act may be cited as the `Defense of Marriage Act'.

::SEC. 2. POWERS RESERVED TO THE STATES.

:::(a) IN GENERAL- Chapter 115 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding after section 1738B the following:

::::`Sec. 1738C. Certain acts, records, and proceedings and the effect thereof

:::::`No State, territory, or possession of the United States, or Indian tribe, shall be required to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State, territory, possession, or tribe respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other State, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim arising from such relationship.'.

:::(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT- The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 115 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 1738B the following new item:

::::`1738C. Certain acts, records, and proceedings and the effect thereof.'.

::SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE.

:::(a) IN GENERAL- Chapter 1 of title 1, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

::::`Sec. 7. Definition of `marriage' and `spouse'

:::::`In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word `marriage' means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word `spouse' refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.'.

:::(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT- The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 1 of title 1, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 6 the following new item:

::::`7. Definition of `marriage' and `spouse'.'.

This law was then codified in two different sections of Titles 1 and 28 of the [[United States Code]]:

:1 U.S.C. § 7. Definition of "marriage" and "spouse"

::In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word "marriage" means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word "spouse" refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.

:28 U.S.C. § 1738C. Certain acts, records, and proceedings and the effect thereof

::No State, territory, or possession of the United States, or Indian tribe, shall be required to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State, territory, possession, or tribe respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other State, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim arising from such relationship.
==Further reading==
* Strasser, Mark. "Ex Post Facto Laws, Bills of Attainder, and the Definition of Punishment: On DOMA, the Hawaii Amendment, and Federal Constitutional Constraints," 48 Syracuse L. Rev. 227 (1998) [http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/syrlr48&div=11&id=&page= outline]
== References ==

<references/>
[[category:Marriage]]
[[Category:Law]]

Linguistics

2009-12-14T05:23:58Z

Drevyek: writing the article in full; replacing a faulty and frankly uselfess article

{{sprotected2}}

{{linguistics}}
'''Linguistics''' is the [[science|scientific]]<ref>{{Cite book|title=Linguistics: An Introduction to Linguistic Theory |last=Fromkin |first=Victoria |authorlink=Victoria Fromkin |coauthors=[[Bruce Hayes]]; Susan Curtiss, [[Anna Szabolcsi]], Tim Stowell, Donca Steriade |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwell |year=2000 |isbn=0631197117 |page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Elements of General Linguistics |last=Martinet |first=André |authorlink=André Martinet |others=Tr. Elisabeth Palmer (Studies in General Linguistics, vol. i.) |location=London |publisher=Faber |year=1960 |page=15}}</ref> study of [[natural language]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=On Language and Linguistics |first=Michael A. K. |last=Halliday |authorlink=Michael Halliday |coauthors=Jonathan Webster |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |year=2006 |isbn=0826488242 |page=vii}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Linguistics and ethnology |journal=Southwestern Journal of Anthropology |volume=4 |pages=140–47 |year=1948 |last=Greenberg |first=Joseph |authorlink=Joseph Greenberg}}</ref> Linguistics encompasses a number of sub-fields. An important topical division is between the study of language structure ([[grammar]]) and the study of [[Meaning (linguistics)|meaning]] ([[semantics]] and [[pragmatics]]). Grammar encompasses [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] (the formation and composition of [[word]]s), [[syntax]] (the rules that determine how words combine into [[phrase]]s and [[Sentence (linguistics)|sentences]]) and [[phonology]] (the study of sound systems and abstract sound units). [[Phonetics]] is a related branch of linguistics concerned with the actual properties of speech sounds ([[Phone (phonetics)|phones]]), non-speech sounds, and how they are produced and [[speech perception|perceived]]. Other sub-disciplines of linguistics include the following: [[evolutionary linguistics]], which considers the origins of language; [[historical linguistics]], which explores language change; [[sociolinguistics]], which looks at the relation between linguistic variation and social structures; [[psycholinguistics]], which explores the representation and functioning of language in the mind; [[neurolinguistics]], which looks at the representation of language in the brain; [[language acquisition]], which considers how children acquire their first language and how children and adults acquire and learn their second and subsequent languages; and [[discourse analysis]], which is concerned with the structure of texts and conversations, and [[pragmatics]] with how meaning is transmitted based on a combination of linguistic competence, non-linguistic knowledge, and the context of the speech act.

Linguistics is narrowly defined as the scientific approach to the study of language, but language can, of course, be approached from a variety of directions, and a number of other intellectual disciplines are relevant to it and influence its study. [[Semiotics]], for example, is a related field concerned with the general study of signs and symbols both in language and outside of it. [[Literary theory|Literary theorists]] study the use of language in artistic [[literature]]. Linguistics additionally draws on work from such diverse fields as [[psychology]], [[speech-language pathology]], [[Informatics (academic field)|informatics]], [[computer science]], [[philosophy]], [[biology]], [[human anatomy]], [[neuroscience]], [[sociology]], [[anthropology]], and [[acoustics]].

Within the field, ''linguist'' is used to describe someone who either studies the field or uses linguistic methodologies to study groups of languages or particular languages. Outside the field, this term is commonly used to refer to people who speak many languages or have a great vocabulary.

==Names for the discipline==
Before the twentieth century, the term "[[philology]]", first attested in 1716,<ref name="etymonline philology">[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=philology Online Etymological Dictionary: philology]</ref> was commonly used to refer to the science of language, which was then predominantly historical in focus.<ref>{{Citation |last=McMahon |first=A. M. S. |year=1994 |title=Understanding Language Change |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=19 |isbn=0-521-44665-1}}</ref> Since [[Ferdinand de Saussure]]'s insistence on the importance of [[synchronic analysis (linguistics)|synchronic analysis]], however, this focus has shifted<ref>{{Citation |last=McMahon |first=A. M. S. |year=1994 |title=Understanding Language Change |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=9 |isbn=0-521-44665-1}}</ref> and the term "philology" is now generally used for the "study of a language's grammar, history and literary tradition," especially in the United States,<ref>A. Morpurgo Davies Hist. Linguistics (1998) 4 I. 22.</ref> where it was never as popular as it was elsewhere (in the sense of the "science of language").<ref name="etymonline philology"/>

Although the term "linguist" in the sense of "a student of language" dates from 1641,<ref name="etymonline linguist"/> the term "linguistics" is first attested in 1847.<ref name="etymonline linguist">[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=linguist Online Etymological Dictionary: linguist]</ref> It is now the usual academic term in English for the scientific study of language.

==Fundamental concerns and divisions==
Linguistics concerns itself with describing and explaining the nature of human language. Relevant to this are the questions of what is universal to language, how language can vary, and how human beings come to know languages. All humans (setting aside extremely pathological cases) achieve competence in whatever language is spoken (or signed, in the case of [[sign language|signed languages]]) around them when growing up, with apparently little need for explicit conscious instruction. While non-humans acquire their own communication systems, they do not acquire human language in this way (although many non-human animals can learn to respond to language, or can even be trained to use it to a degree).<ref>[http://www.santafe.edu/~johnson/articles.chimp.html "Animal Language Article"]</ref> Therefore, linguists assume, the ability to acquire and use language is an innate, biologically-based potential of modern human beings, similar to the ability to walk. There is no consensus, however, as to the extent of this innate potential, or its domain-specificity (the degree to which such innate abilities are specific to language), with some theorists claiming that there is a very large set of highly abstract and specific binary settings coded into the human brain, while others claim that the ability to learn language is a product of general human cognition. It is, however, generally agreed that there are no strong ''genetic'' differences underlying the differences between languages: an individual will acquire whatever language(s) he or she is exposed to as a child, regardless of parentage or ethnic origin.<ref>Nevertheless, recent research suggests that even weak genetic biases in speakers may, over a number of generations, influence the evolution of particular languages, leading to a non-random distribution of certain linguistic features across the world. ([http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0610848104v1 Dediu, D. & Ladd, D.R. (2007). Linguistic tone is related to the population frequency of the adaptive haplogroups of two brain size genes, ASPM and Microcephalin, PNAS 104:10944-10949]; summary available [http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/~s0340638/tonegenes/tonegenessummary.html here])</ref>

Linguistic structures are pairings of meaning and form; such pairings are known as [[Ferdinand de Saussure|Saussurean]] [[linguistic sign|signs]]. In this sense, form may consist of sound patterns, movements of the hands, written symbols, and so on. There are many sub-fields concerned with particular aspects of linguistic structure, ranging from those focused primarily on form to those focused primarily on meaning:
* '''[[Phonetics]]''', the study of the physical properties of speech (or signed) production and perception
* '''[[Phonology]]''', the study of sounds (or signs) as discrete, abstract elements in the speaker's mind that distinguish meaning
* '''[[Morphology (linguistics)|Morphology]]''', the study of internal structures of words and how they can be modified
* '''[[Syntax]]''', the study of how words combine to form grammatical [[sentence]]s
* '''[[Semantics]]''', the study of the meaning of words ([[lexical semantics]]) and fixed word combinations ([[phraseology]]), and how these combine to form the [[meaning]]s of sentences
* '''[[Pragmatics]]''', the study of how [[utterance]]s are used in [[speech acts|communicative acts]], and the role played by context and non-linguistic knowledge in the transmission of meaning
* '''[[Discourse analysis]]''', the analysis of language use in [[Text (literary theory)|texts]] (spoken, written, or signed)

Many linguists would agree that these divisions overlap considerably, and the independent significance of each of these areas is not universally acknowledged. Regardless of any particular linguist's position, each area has core concepts that foster significant scholarly inquiry and research.

Alongside these structurally-motivated domains of study are other fields of linguistics, distinguished by the kinds of non-linguistic factors that they consider:
* [[Applied linguistics]], the study of language-related issues applied in everyday life, notably language policies, planning, and education. ([[Constructed language]] fits under Applied linguistics.)
* [[Biolinguistics]], the study of natural as well as human-taught communication systems in animals, compared to human language.
* [[Clinical linguistics]], the application of linguistic theory to the field of [[Speech-Language Pathology]].
* [[Computational linguistics]], the study of computational implementations of linguistic structures.
* [[Developmental linguistics]], the study of the development of linguistic ability in individuals, particularly [[Language acquisition|the acquisition of language]] in childhood.
* [[Evolutionary linguistics]], the study of the origin and subsequent development of language by the human species.
* [[Historical linguistics]] or diachronic linguistics, the study of language change over time.
* [[Language geography]], the study of the geographical distribution of languages and linguistic features.
* [[Linguistic typology]], the study of the common properties of diverse unrelated languages, properties that may, given sufficient attestation, be assumed to be innate to human language capacity.
* [[Neurolinguistics]], the study of the structures in the human brain that underlie grammar and communication.
* [[Psycholinguistics]], the study of the cognitive processes and representations underlying language use.
* [[Sociolinguistics]], the study of variation in language and its relationship with social factors.
* [[Stylistics (linguistics)|Stylistics]], the study of linguistic factors that place a discourse in context.

The related discipline of [[semiotics]] investigates the relationship between signs and what they signify. From the perspective of semiotics, language can be seen as a sign or symbol, with the world as its representation.{{citation needed|date=June 2008}}

==Variation and universality==
Much modern linguistic research, particularly within the [[paradigm]] of [[generative grammar]], has concerned itself with trying to account for differences between languages of the world. This has worked on the assumption that if human linguistic ability is narrowly constrained by human biology, then all languages must share certain fundamental properties.

In [[generative grammar|generativist theory]], the collection of fundamental properties all languages share are referred to as [[universal grammar]] (UG). The specific characteristics of this universal grammar are a much debated topic. [[Linguistic typology|Typologists]] and non-generativist linguists usually refer simply to [[linguistic universal|language universals]], or ''universals of language''.

Similarities between languages can have a number of different origins. In the simplest case, universal properties may be due to universal aspects of human experience. For example, all humans experience water, and all human languages have a word for water. Other similarities may be due to common descent: the [[Latin language]] spoken by the [[Ancient Rome|Ancient Romans]] developed into Spanish in Spain and Italian in Italy; similarities between Spanish and Italian are thus in many cases due to both being descended from Latin. In other cases, [[Language contact|contact between languages]] — particularly where many speakers are bilingual — can lead to much borrowing of structures, as well as words. Similarity may also, of course, be due to coincidence. English ''much'' and Spanish {{lang|es|''mucho''}} are not descended from the same form or borrowed from one language to the other;<ref>''Much'' is from Middle English ''muchel'', which is from Proto-Germanic *''mekilaz''[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=much], while {{lang|es|''mucho''}} is from Latin {{lang|la|''multus''}}[http://www.diclib.com/cgi-bin/d1.cgi?l=es&base=moliner&page=showid&id=54702].</ref> nor is the similarity due to innate linguistic knowledge (see [[False cognate]]).

Arguments in favor of language universals have also come from documented cases of [[sign language]]s (such as [[Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language]]) developing in communities of congenitally deaf people, independently of spoken language. The properties of these sign languages conform generally to many of the properties of spoken languages. Other known and suspected sign language [[language isolate|isolates]] include [[Kata Kolok]], [[Nicaraguan Sign Language]], and [[Providence Island Sign Language]].

==Structures==
[[Image:Ferdinand de Saussure.jpg|thumb|[[Ferdinand de Saussure]]]]

It has been perceived that languages tend to be organized around [[grammatical categories]] such as noun and verb, [[nominative case|nominative]] and [[accusative case|accusative]], or present and past, though, importantly, not exclusively so. The grammar of a language is organized around such fundamental categories, though many languages express the relationships between words and syntax in other discrete ways (cf. some [[Bantu languages]] for noun/verb relations, [[ergative-absolutive]] systems for case relations, several [[Native American languages]] for tense/aspect relations).

In addition to making substantial use of discrete categories, language has the important property that it organizes elements into [[Recursion#Recursion in language|recursive]] structures; this allows, for example, a noun phrase to contain another noun phrase (as in "the chimpanzee's lips") or a clause to contain a clause (as in "I think that it's raining"). Though recursion in grammar was implicitly recognized much earlier (for example by [[Otto Jespersen|Jespersen]]), the importance of this aspect of language became more popular after the 1957 publication of [[Noam Chomsky]]'s book ''[[Syntactic Structures]]'',<ref>Chomsky, Noam. 1957. "Syntactic Structures". Mouton, The Hague</ref> which presented a formal grammar of a fragment of English. Prior to this, the most detailed descriptions of linguistic systems were of phonological or morphological systems.

Chomsky used a [[context-free grammar]] augmented with [[Transformational grammar#Transformations|transformations]]. Since then, following the trend of Chomskyan linguistics, context-free grammars have been written for substantial fragments of various languages (for example [[Generalised phrase structure grammar|GPSG]], for English). It has been demonstrated, however, that human languages (most notably Dutch and Swiss German) include cross-serial dependencies, which cannot be handled adequately by context-free grammars.<ref>Carl Vogel, Ulrike Hahn, Holly Branigan 1996, "Cross serial dependencies are not hard to process", Proceedings of the 16th conference on Computational linguistics - Volume 1</ref>

==Selected sub-fields==
===Historical linguistics===
{{Main|Historical Linguistics}}
Historical linguistics studies the history and evolution of languages through the [[comparative method]]. Often the aim of historical linguistics is to classify languages in [[language family|language families]] descending from a common ancestor. This evolves comparison of elements in different languages to detect possible [[cognate]]s in order to be able to reconstruct how different languages have [[language change|changed]] over time. This also involves the study of [[etymology]], the study of the history of single words. Historical linguistics is also called "diachronic linguistics" and is opposed to "synchronic linguistics" that study languages in a given moment in time without regarding its previous stages.In universities in the United States, the historic perspective is often out of fashion. Historical linguistics was among the first linguistic disciplines to emerge and was the most widely practiced form of linguistics in the late 19th century. The shift in focus to a synchronic perspective started with [[Ferdinand de Saussure|Saussure]] and became predominant in western linguistics with [[Noam Chomsky]]'s emphasis on the study of the synchronic and universal aspects of language.

===Semiotics===
{{Main|Semiotics}}
[[Semiotics]] is the study of sign processes (semiosis), or signification and communication, signs and symbols, both individually and grouped into sign systems, including the study of how meaning is constructed and understood. Semioticians often do not restrict themselves to linguistic communication when studying the use of signs but extend the meaning of "sign" to cover all kinds of cultural symbols. Nonetheless semiotic disciplines closely related to linguistics are [[literary studies]], [[discourse analysis]], [[text linguistics]], and [[philosophy of language]].

===Descriptive linguistics and language documentation===
{{Main|Descriptive linguistics}}
Since the inception of the discipline of linguistics linguists have been concerned with describing and documenting languages previously unknown to science. Starting with [[Franz Boas]] in the early 1900s descriptive linguistics became the main strand within American linguistics until the rise of formal structural linguistics in the mid 20th century. The rise of American descriptive linguistics was caused by the concern with describing the languages of indigenous peoples that were (and are) rapidly moving towards extinction. The ethnographic focus of the original Boasian type of descriptive linguistics occasioned the development of disciplines such as [[Sociolinguistics]], [[anthropological linguistics]], and [[linguistic anthropology]], disciplines that investigate the relations between language, culture and society.

The emphasis on linguistic description and documentation has since become more important outside of North America as well, as the documentation of rapidly dying indigenous languages has become a primary focus in many of the worlds' linguistics programs. Language description is a work intensive endeavour usually requiring years of field work for the linguist to learn a language sufficiently well to write a reference grammar of it. The further task of language documentation requires the linguist to collect a preferably large corpus of texts and recordings of sound and video in the language, and to arrange for its storage in accessible formats in open repositories where it may be of the best use for further research by other researchers.<ref>Himmelman, Nikolaus Language documentation: What is it and what is it good for? in P. Gippert, Jost, Nikolaus P Himmelmann & Ulrike Mosel. (2006) Essentials of Language documentation. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin & New York.</ref>

===Applied linguistics===
{{Main|Applied linguistics}}
Linguists are largely concerned with finding and [[descriptive linguistics|describing]] the generalities and varieties both within particular languages and among all language. [[Applied linguistics]] takes the result of those findings and "applies" them to other areas. The term "applied linguistics" is often used to refer to the use of linguistic research in language teaching only{{citation needed|date=August 2008}}, but results of linguistic research are used in many other areas as well, such as [[lexicography]] and [[translation]]. "Applied linguistics" has been argued to be something of a misnomer{{Who|date=August 2008}}, since applied linguists focus on making sense of and engineering solutions for real-world linguistic problems, not simply "applying" existing technical knowledge from linguistics; moreover, they commonly apply technical knowledge from multiple sources, such as sociology (e.g. conversation analysis) and anthropology.

Today, computers are widely used in many areas of applied linguistics. [[Speech synthesis]] and [[speech recognition]] use phonetic and phonemic knowledge to provide voice interfaces to computers. Applications of [[computational linguistics]] in [[machine translation]], [[computer-assisted translation]], and [[natural language processing]] are areas of applied linguistics which have come to the forefront. Their influence has had an effect on theories of syntax and semantics, as modeling syntactic and semantic theories on computers constraints.

Linguistic analysis is a subdiscipline of applied linguistics used by many governments to verify the claimed [[nationality]] of people seeking asylum who do not hold the necessary documentation to prove their claim.<ref name="Linguistic Analysis">{{cite journal | title=Applied Linguistics and Language Analysis in Asylum Seeker Cases | last=Eades | first=Diana | journal=Applied Linguistics | year=2005 | volume=26 | issue=4 | pages=503–526 | doi=10.1093/applin/ami021 | url=http://songchau.googlepages.com/503.pdf}}</ref> This often takes the form of an [[interview]] by personnel in an immigration department. Depending on the country, this interview is conducted in either the asylum seeker's [[native language]] through an [[interpreting|interpreter]], or in an international [[lingua franca]] like English.<ref name="Linguistic Analysis"/> Australia uses the former method, while Germany employs the latter; the Netherlands uses either method depending on the languages involved.<ref name="Linguistic Analysis"/> Tape recordings of the interview then undergo language analysis, which can be done by either private contractors or within a department of the government. In this analysis, linguistic features of the asylum seeker are used by analysts to make a determination about the speaker's nationality. The reported findings of the linguistic analysis can play a critical role in the government's decision on the refugee status of the asylum seeker.<ref name="Linguistic Analysis"/>

==Description and prescription==
''Main articles: [[Descriptive linguistics]], [[Linguistic prescription]]''

Linguistics is '''descriptive'''; linguists describe and explain features of language without making subjective judgments on whether a particular feature is "right" or "wrong". This is analogous to practice in other sciences: a [[zoologist]] studies the animal kingdom without making subjective judgments on whether a particular animal is better or worse than another.

'''Prescription''', on the other hand, is an attempt to promote particular linguistic usages over others, often favouring a particular dialect or "[[acrolect]]". This may have the aim of establishing a [[Standard language|linguistic standard]], which can aid communication over large geographical areas. It may also, however, be an attempt by speakers of one language or dialect to exert influence over speakers of other languages or dialects (see [[Linguistic imperialism]]). An extreme version of prescriptivism can be found among [[censorship|censors]], who attempt to eradicate words and structures which they consider to be destructive to society.

==Speech and writing==
Most contemporary linguists work under the assumption that [[spoken language|spoken]] (or signed) language is more fundamental than [[written language]]. This is because:
* Speech appears to be universal to all human beings capable of producing and hearing it, while there have been many [[culture]]s and speech communities that lack written communication;
* Speech evolved before human beings invented writing;
* People learn to speak and process spoken languages more easily and much earlier than [[writing]];

Linguists nonetheless agree that the study of written language can be worthwhile and valuable. For research that relies on [[corpus linguistics]] and [[computational linguistics]], written language is often much more convenient for processing large amounts of linguistic data. Large corpora of spoken language are difficult to create and hard to find, and are typically [[transcription (linguistics)|transcribed]] and written. Additionally, linguists have turned to text-based discourse occurring in various formats of [[computer-mediated communication]] as a viable site for linguistic inquiry.

The study of [[writing systems]] themselves is in any case considered a branch of linguistics.

==History==
{{Main|History of linguistics}}

Some of the earliest linguistic activities can be recalled from [[Iron Age India]] with the analysis of [[Sanskrit]]. The [[Pratishakhya]]s (from ca. the 8th century BC) constitute as it were a proto-linguistic ''ad hoc'' collection of observations about mutations to a given [[corpus linguistics|corpus]] particular to a given [[Shakha|Vedic school]]. Systematic study of these texts gives rise to the [[Vedanga]] discipline of [[Vyakarana]], the earliest surviving account of which is the work of {{IAST|[[Pānini]]}} (c. 520 – 460 BC), who, however, looks back on what are probably several generations of grammarians, whose opinions he occasionally refers to. {{IAST|Pānini}} formulates close to 4,000 rules which together form a compact [[generative grammar]] of Sanskrit. Inherent in his analytic approach are the concepts of the [[phoneme]], the [[morpheme]] and the [[root]]. Due to its focus on brevity, his grammar has a highly unintuitive structure, reminiscent of contemporary "machine language" (as opposed to "human readable" programming languages).

Indian linguistics maintained a high level for several centuries; [[Mahābhāṣya|Patanjali]] in the 2nd century BC still actively criticizes Panini. In the later centuries BC, however, Panini's grammar came to be seen as prescriptive, and commentators came to be fully dependent on it. [[Bhartrihari]] (c. 450 – 510) theorized the act of speech as being made up of four stages: first, conceptualization of an idea, second, its verbalization and sequencing (articulation) and third, delivery of speech into atmospheric air, the interpretation of speech by the listener, the interpreter.

[[Western culture|Western]] linguistics begins in [[Classical Antiquity]] with grammatical speculation such as [[Plato]]'s ''[[Cratylus]]''. The first important advancement of the [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]] was the creation of the [[alphabet]]. As a result of the introduction of writing, poetry such as the [[Homeric poems]] became written and several editions were created and commented, forming the basis of [[philology]] and [[critic]]. The [[sophists]] and [[Socrates]] introduced dialectics as a new text genre. [[Aristotle]] defined the logic of speech and the argument. Furthermore Aristotle works on [[rhetoric]] and [[poetics]] were of utmost importance for the understating of tragedy, poetry, public discussions etc. as text genres.

One of the greatest of the [[Greek language|Greek]] [[grammarian]]s was [[Apollonius Dyscolus]].<ref>[http://schmidhauser.us/apollonius/ Apollonius Dyscolus]</ref> Apollonius wrote more than thirty treatises on questions of syntax, semantics, morphology, prosody, orthography, dialectology, and more. In the 4th c., [[Aelius Donatus]] compiled the Latin grammar ''Ars Grammatica'' that was to be the defining school text through the Middle Ages.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/342418/linguistics/35072/Greek-and-Roman-antiquity linguistics : Greek and Roman antiquity -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia]</ref> In [[De vulgari eloquentia]] ("On the Eloquence of Vernacular"), [[Dante Alighieri]] expanded the scope of linguistic enquiry from the traditional languages of antiquity to include the language of the day.{{citation needed|date=November 2008}}

In the [[Middle East]], the [[Persian language|Persian]] linguist [[Sibawayh]] made a detailed and professional description of [[Arabic language|Arabic]] in 760, in his monumental work, ''Al-kitab fi al-nahw'' (الكتاب في النحو, ''The Book on Grammar''), bringing many linguistic aspects of language to light. In his book he distinguished [[phonetics]] from [[phonology]].{{citation needed|date=February 2007}}

[[William Jones (philologist)|Sir William Jones]] noted that [[Sanskrit]] shared many common features with classical [[Latin]] and [[Ancient Greek|Greek]], notably verb roots and grammatical structures, such as the [[case system]]. This led to the theory that all languages sprung from a common source and to the discovery of the [[Indo-European]] [[language family]]. He began the study of [[comparative linguistics]], which would uncover more language families and branches.

In 19th century Europe the study of linguistics was largely from the perspective of philology (or historical linguistics). Some early-19th-century linguists were [[Jakob Grimm]], who devised a principle of consonantal shifts in pronunciation – known as [[Grimm's Law]] – in 1822; [[Karl Verner]], who formulated [[Verner's Law]]; [[August Schleicher]], who created the "Stammbaumtheorie" ("family tree"); and [[Johannes Schmidt (linguist)|Johannes Schmidt]], who developed the "Wellentheorie" ("wave model") in 1872.

[[Ferdinand de Saussure]] was the founder of modern structural linguistics, with an emphasis on synchronic (i.e. non-historical) explanations for language form.

In North America, the structuralist tradition grew out of a combination of missionary linguistics (whose goal was to translate the bible) and Anthropology. While originally regarded as a sub-field of [[anthropology]] in the United States,<ref>The "four fields" in American anthropology are [[cultural anthropology]], [[physical anthropology]], [[archeology]] and linguistics.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Kemmer |first=Suzanne |year=2008 |title=Biographical sketch of Franz Boas |place=Houston |publisher=Rice University |url=http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Found/boasbio.html}}</ref> linguistics is now considered a separate scientific discipline in the US, Australia and much of Europe.

[[Edward Sapir]], a leader in American structural linguistics, was one of the first who explored the relations between language studies and anthropology. His methodology had strong influence on all his successors. [[Noam Chomsky]]'s formal model of language, [[transformational-generative grammar]], developed under the influence of his teacher [[Zellig Harris]], who was in turn strongly influenced by [[Leonard Bloomfield]], has been the dominant model since the 1960s.

The structural linguistics period was largely superseded in North America by generative grammar in the 1950s and 60s. This paradigm views language as a mental object, and emphasizes the role of the formal modeling of universal and language specific rules. [[Noam Chomsky]] remains an important but controversial linguistic figure. Generative grammar gave rise to such frameworks such as [[Transformational grammar]], [[Generative Semantics]], [[Relational Grammar]], [[Generalized Phrase-structure Grammar]], [[Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar]] (HPSG) and [[Lexical Functional Grammar]] (LFG). Other linguists working in [[Optimality Theory]] state generalizations in terms of violable constraints that interact with each other, and abandon the traditional rule-based formalism first pioneered by early work in generativist linguistics.

Functionalist linguists working in [[functional grammar]] and [[Cognitive Linguistics]] tend to stress the non-autonomy of linguistic knowledge and the non-universality of linguistic structures, thus differing significantly from the formal approaches.

==Schools of study==
There are a wide variety of approaches to linguistic study. These can be loosely divided (although not without controversy) into formalist and functionalist approaches. Formalist approaches stress the importance of linguistic forms, and seek explanations for the structure of language from within the linguistic system itself. For example, the fact that language shows [[recursion]] might be attributed to recursive rules. Functionalist linguists by contrast view the structure of language as being driven by its function. For example, the fact that languages often put topical information first in the sentence, may be due to a communicative need to pair old information with new information in discourse.

===Generative grammar===
{{Main|Generative grammar}}
During the last half of the twentieth century, following the work of [[Noam Chomsky]], linguistics was dominated by the [[Generative grammar|generativist school]]. While formulated by Chomsky in part as a way to explain how human beings [[language acquisition|acquire language]] and the biological constraints on this acquisition, in practice it has largely been concerned with giving formal accounts of specific phenomena in natural languages. Generative theory is [[Language module|modularist]] and formalist in character. Formal linguistics remains the dominant paradigm for studying linguistics,<ref>{{Citation |last=McMahon |first=A. M. S. |year=1994 |title=Understanding Language Change |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=32 |isbn=0-521-44665-1}}</ref> though Chomsky's writings have also gathered much [[Criticism of Noam Chomsky#Criticisms of linguistic writings|criticism]].

===Cognitive linguistics===
{{Main|Cognitive linguistics}}
In the 1970s and 1980s, a new school of thought known as cognitive linguistics emerged as a reaction to generativist theory. Led by theorists such as [[Ronald Langacker]] and [[George Lakoff]], linguists working within the realm of cognitive linguistics posit that language is an [[emergentism|emergent]] property of basic, general-purpose cognitive processes, though cognitive linguistics has also been the subject of much criticism.<ref>See Newmeyer 1998, ''Language Form and Language Function'' (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), and Culicover and Jackendoff 2005, ''Simpler Syntax'' (OUP)[http://books.google.com/books?id=guGeB0PVY8UC&dq=culicover+and+jackendoff+simpler+syntax&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=TAHgun3tyG&sig=O4UWZ-2xt-QupM-psbpmcevM6Nk&hl=en&ei=Mp4dSr6AEYu5_QbI1ryFDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1]</ref> In contrast to the generativist school of linguistics, cognitive linguistics is non-modularist and functionalist in character. Important developments in cognitive linguistics include [[cognitive grammar]], [[frame semantics]], and [[conceptual metaphor]], all of which are based on the idea that form-function correspondences based on representations derived from [[embodied cognition|embodied experience]] constitute the basic units of language.

==See also==
{{main|Outline of linguistics}}

* [[List of cognitive science topics|Cognitive science]]
* [[Speech-Language Pathology]]
* [[History of linguistics]]
* [[International Linguistics Olympiad]]
* [[List of departments of linguistics|Linguistics Departments at Universities]]
* [[List of summer schools of linguistics|Summer schools for linguistics]]
* [[List of linguists]]

'''Branches and fields'''

[[Anthropological linguistics]], [[Semiotics]], [[Philology]], [[Discourse]], [[Structuralism]], [[Post-structuralism]], [[Cognitive linguistics]], [[Cognitive science]], [[Comparative linguistics]], [[Sociolinguistics]], [[Variety (linguistics)|Varieties]], [[Developmental linguistics]], [[Discourse Analysis]], [[Descriptive linguistics]], [[Ecolinguistics]], [[Embodied cognition]], [[Endangered languages]].

[[History of linguistics]], [[Historical linguistics]], [[Intercultural competence]], [[Lexicography]]/[[Lexicology]], [[Linguistic typology]], [[Evolutionary linguistics]].

[[Articulatory phonology]], [[Biolinguistics]], [[Computational linguistics]], [[Biosemiotics]], [[Articulatory synthesis]], [[Machine translation]], [[Natural language processing]], [[Speaker recognition]] (authentication), [[Speech processing]], [[Speech recognition]], [[Speech synthesis]], [[Concept Mining]], [[Corpus linguistics]], [[Critical discourse analysis]], [[Cryptanalysis]], [[Decipherment]], [[Asemic writing]], Grammar Writing.

[[Forensic linguistics]], [[Global language system]], [[Glottometrics]], [[Integrational linguistics]], [[International Linguistic Olympiad]], [[Language acquisition]], [[Language attrition]], [[Language engineering]], [[Language geography]], [[Metacommunicative competence]], [[Microlinguistics]], [[Natural Language Processing]], [[Neurolinguistics]], [[Orthography]], [[Reading (activity)|Reading]], [[Second language acquisition]], [[Sociocultural linguistics]], [[Stratificational linguistics]], [[Text linguistics]], [[Writing system]]s, [[Xenolinguistics]].

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{sisterlinks|wikt=linguistics|v=School:Linguistics|commons=Category:Linguistics}}
* [http://linguistlist.org/ The Linguist List], a global online linguistics community with news and information updated daily
* [http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/index.htm Glossary of linguistic terms]
* [http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/ Language Log], a linguistics blog maintained by prominent linguists
* [http://www.glottopedia.org Glottopedia], MediaWiki-based encyclopedia of linguistics, under construction
* [http://www.lsadc.org/info/ling-fields.cfm Linguistic sub-fields] - according to the Linguistic Society of America
* Linguistics and language-related [[wiki]] articles on [http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Language Scholarpedia] and [http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Linguistics Citizendium]
* [http://www.unizar.es/departamentos/filologia_inglesa/garciala/bibliography.html "Linguistics" section] - A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism and Philology, ed. J. A. García Landa (University of Zaragoza, Spain)
* An Academic [http://www.lingforum.com/forum Linguistics] Forum
* {{dmoz|Science/Social_Sciences/Linguistics}}

{{philosophy of language}}
{{Social sciences-footer}}

[[Category:Linguistics| ]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Cognitive science]]
[[Category:Interdisciplinary fields]]
[[Category:Anthropology]]
[[Category:Social sciences]]
[[Category:Humanities]]

Tower of Babel

2009-12-14T05:19:34Z

Drevyek: Correcting a false etymology

[[Image:Brueghel-tower-of-babel.jpg|right|thumb|300px|''The Tower of Babel'' by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1563.]]
The '''Tower of Babel''' (Hebrew: מגדּל, ''mighdōl'') was the structure built by the descendents of the Flood survivors according to [[Genesis]] 11, “whose top may reach unto heaven”.

==Biblical account==
The Tower of Babel is first mentioned in the Book of Genesis as the first great rebellion by mankind after the Flood; instead of spreading across the earth, they settled together in the land of Shinar and built a city and a great tower out of baked bricks in order to make a name for themselves. <ref>http://creationwiki.org/Tower_of_Babel</ref>:
:''And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.''
:''And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.''
:''And they said one to another, Come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and bitumen had they for mortar.''
:''And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.''
:''And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.''
:''And the LORD said, Behold, the people are one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.''
:''Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.''
:''So the LORD scattered them abroad from there upon the face of all the earth: and they left off building the city.''
:''Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confuse the language of all the earth: and from there did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:1-9, King James Version)''

==The Meaning of “Babel”==
Babel, the name of the Tower, refers to the city Babylon. It is derived from the Akkadian ''Bâb-îlim'' (''-îlāni''), “gate of god” (or “of the gods”). This is also the [[etymology]] of the city in which it was supposedly built, Babylon. The popular rendition of the etymology of Babel, as found in the Bible, is "balal", meaning to confuse. This second etymology is a [[folk etymology]], and is based on a popular theme in Biblical literature to defame other competing religions to the emerging Jewish faith. The defamation is derived from the link that the Tower, which is in the same mode as the Babylonian [[ziggurats]], represents the [[Babylonian religion]]- characterized by their main God, [[Marduk]]- as being confusion, as opposed to religion.

==General Form of Babylonian Temple-Towers==
[[Image:ZigguratUrreconstr.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Fanciful reconstruction of the ziggurat at Ur, based on archaeological evidence around 1900.]]
There was a great difference, however, between the ''mighdōl'' or watchtower, and the great Tower at [[Babylon]]. The watchtower was simply a high structure, probably without any special shape or form, which depended upon the will of the architect and the nature of the ground upon which it was erected. The Tower of Babel or Babylon was a structure peculiar to Babylonia and [[Assyria]]. According to ancient accounts as well as judging from the ruins of the various remains extant in those countries, Babylonian temple towers were square or rectangular in shape; they were built upward in stages, and provided with a stairway along each side to the top. These structures were finished with a small temple at its peak for religious ceremonies.

These buildings were called by the Babylonians ''ziqqurātu'' (Modern English: "ziggurat"), apparently meaning “peak,” or the highest point of a mountain; this word being applied to the mountain-height upon which Ut-napishtim, the Babylonian Noah of the Gilgamesh saga, offered sacrifices on coming forth from the ark (or ship) when the waters of the great Flood had sufficiently subsided. It has also been conjectured that they were used as observatories when the Babylonians studied the starry heavens. This is probable, but as the ziggurats of no great height, it is possible that in the clear atmosphere of the Babylonian plains there was no real necessity to go above the surface of the earth when making their observations.

==Location==
[[Image:Fotobabiloniaa.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Archaeological reconstruction of the ziggurat ''Etemenanki'' at Babylon.]]
There has been much difference of opinion as to the geographical position of the Tower of Babel. Most writers upon the subject, following the tradition handed down by the Jews and Arabs, have identified it with the great Temple of Nebo in the city of [[Borsippa]], now called the ''Birs-Nimroud'' (explained as a corruption of ''Birj Nimroud'', “Tower of Nimrod”). Although an important religious structure to the Babylonians, it was never regarded by them as the actual tower. The great tower they referred to was located within Babylon and called ''Ê-temen-ana-ki'', “the Temple of the foundation of heaven and earth,” called by [[Nabopolassar]] and Nebuchadrezzar ''ziqqurat Bâbîli'', “the Tower of Babylon” - the world-renowned temple dedicated to Merodach and his consort Zēr-panîtum, Babylon's chief deities.

===Its Position at Babylon===
This structure was situated in the southern portion of the city, not far from the right bank of the Euphrates, and is now represented by a depression within which is the original rectangular core of unbaked brick. From its shape the Arabs have called this site Sahan, “the dish,” as the bricks of the structure (unlike other ziggurats which were built of dried mud-brick, Etemenanki was built of fired brick) were stripped in favor of other structures or to repair the banks of the Hindiyeh canal.

===Babylonian Description of the Tower===
Etemenanki consisted of six stages built upon a platform, and provided with a sanctuary at the top. A tablet seemingly giving a detailed description of this building was for a time in the hands of archaeologist George Smith in 1876; however he had not time to give a translation of the document or to publish the text, but his detailed account of it (''Athenaeum'', February 12, 1876) is exceedingly interesting.

First there was the outer court called the “grand court,” measuring, according to Smith's estimate, 1,156 ft. by 900 ft., and a smaller one, called “the court of Ishtar and Zagaga,” 1,056 ft. by 450 ft. Round the court were six gates admitting to the temples: (1) The grand gate; (2) The gate of the rising sun (east); (3) The great gate; (4) The gate of the colossi; (5) The gate of the canal; and (6) The gate of the tower-view.

====Platform====
After this came a space or platform apparently walled - a ''ki-gallu'' square in form, and measuring 3 ku each way. Its size is doubtful, as the value of the ku is unknown. The sides of this enclosure faced the cardinal points. In its walls were four gates, one on each side, and named from the points toward which they looked. Within this enclosure stood a large building measuring 10 ''gar'' (according to Smith, a ''gar'' is 20 feet; 10 ''gar'' = 200 ft.) each way. Unfortunately, the name of this structure was damaged, so that its nature and use are uncertain.

====Chapels and Shrines====
Round the base of the Tower were small temples or chapels dedicated to the various gods of the Babylonians. On the East were 16 shrines, the principal of them being dedicated to Nebo and Tašmêtu, his spouse; on the North were two temples dedicated to Êa. (Aê) and Nusku respectively; on the South was a single temple to the two great gods, Anu and Bel (Enlil?). It was on the West, however, that the principal buildings lay - a double house with a court between the wings 35 cubits (Smith: 58 ft.) wide. These two wings were not alike in dimensions, the structure on one side being 100 cubits by 20 (166 ft. by 34 ft.) and on the other 100 cubits by 65 (166 ft. by 108 ft.). In these western chambers stood the couch of the god, and the golden throne mentioned by [[Herodotus]], with other objects of great value. The couch was stated to have measured 9 cubits by 4 (15 ft. by 6 feet 8 inches).

====The First Stage====
In the center of these groups of buildings stood the great Tower in stages, called by the Babylonians “the Tower of Babel” (''ziqqurat Bâbîli''). The stages decreased from the lowest upward, but each was square in plan. The first or foundation-stage was 15 gar each way by 5 1/2 gar high (300 ft. by 110 ft. high), and seems to have been decorated with the usual double recesses which are a characteristic of Assyr-Bab architecture.

====The Remaining Stages====
The second stage was 13 gar square and 3 gar high (260 ft. by 60 ft.). A term was applied to it which Smith did not understand, but he notes that it probably had sloping sides. The stages from the 3rd to the 5th were all of equal height, namely, 1 gar (20 ft.), and were respectively 10 gar (200 ft.), 8 1/3 gar (170 ft.) and 7 gar (140 ft.) square. The dimensions of the 6th stage were omitted, but may be restored in accordance with the others, namely, 5 1/2 gar square (110 ft.) by 1 gar (20 ft.) high.

====The Chapel at the Top====
On this was raised the 7th stage or the upper temple or sanctuary of the god Bel-Merodach, 4 gar long, 3 1/2 gar broad and 2 1/2 gar high (80 ft., 60 ft., and 50 ft., respectively). Smith did not mention the statue of the god, but it was conjectured that the chapel did contain one. The total height of the tower from foundation to chapel was 15 gar (300 ft.), the same as the breadth of its base. It cannot be said that it was by any means a beautiful building, but there was probably some symbolism in its measurements, and in appearance it probably resembled (except the decoration) the temple tower of Calah as restored in the frontispiece to Layard's Monuments of [[Nineveh]], 1st series, in which a step-pyramid with a similarly highbasement stage is shown.

===Herodotus' Description===
The description of the tower as given by [[Herodotus]] agrees. He states that it was a temple square in form, two furlongs (1, 213 ft.) each way, in the midst of which was built a solid tower a furlong square (nearly 607 ft.). This, however, must have been the platform, which, with the six stages and the chapel on the top, would make up the total of eight stages of which Herodotus speaks. The ascent by which the top was reached he describes as running “outside round about all the towers” - wording which suggests, although not necessarily, that it was spiral in design - i.e. one had to walk round the structure 7 times to reach the top. Representations on Babylonian boundary-stones suggest that this view would be correct, though a symmetrical arrangement of inclined paths might have been constructed which would have greatly improved the design. At the middle of the ascent, Herodotus says, there was a stopping-place with seats to rest upon, which rather favors this idea. At the top of the last tower there was a large cell, and in the cell a large couch was laid, well covered; and by it a golden table. There was no image there, nor did any human being spend the night there, except only a woman of the natives of the place chosen by the god, “as say the Chaldeans who are the priests of this god.” These men told Herodotus that the god often came to the cell, and rested upon the couch, “but,” he adds, “I do not believe them.” After mentioning parallels to this at Egyptian Thebes and Patam in Lycia, he goes on to speak of another cell below (that referred to in G. Smith's tablet) wherein was a great image of Zeus (Bel-Merodach) sitting, with a footstool and a large table, all of gold, and weighing no less than 800 talents. Outside of this cell was an altar to the god, made of gold; and also another altar, whereon full-grown animals were sacrificed, the golden altar being for sucklings only. The Chaldeans also told him that there was, in the precincts of the building, a statue 12 cubits high, and of solid gold. Darius Hystaspis desired to take possession of this valuable object, but did not venture. His son Xerxes, however, was not so considerate of the feelings of the people and the priesthood, for he also killed the priest when he forbade him to meddle with it.

==The Builders of the Tower==
[[Image:Etemenanki.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Remains of Etemenanki today.]]
The Bible record does not state who the people were who journeyed in the East and built the city and the Tower. The indefinite “they” might be taken to mean whatever people were there at the time the record was written, and probably presupposes that the reader would certainly know. As the Tower of Babel bears, in the native inscriptions, a Sumero-Akkadian name, it may be supposed that the builders referred to belonged to that race.

===Traditions Concerning Its Destruction===
It is noteworthy that nothing is said in Genesis concerning the stopping of work on the tower, though they ceased to build the city. A Jewish tradition tells of the tower to have been split through to its foundation by fire which fell from heaven - suggested probably by the condition of the tower at “the second Babylon,” i.e. the ''Birs Nimroud''. Another tradition, recorded by [[Eusebius]] (Prep. Evang., ix; Chronicon, 13; Syncel. Chron., 44) makes it to have been blown down by the winds; “but when it approached the heavens, the winds assisted the gods, and overturned the work upon its contrivers: and the gods introduced a diversity of tongues among men, who, until that time, had all spoken the same language.”

==The Ultimate Destruction of the Tower==
That the building of the city would have been stopped when the confusion of tongues took place is natural - the departure of the greater part of the inhabitants made this inevitable. When the population increased again, the building of the city was continued, with the result that Babylon ultimately became the greatest city of then known world. The Tower remained on the site unfinished until the completion of the city; when its condition became ruinous several times, some energetic Babylonian king would restore it. Alexander the Great began clearing away the rubbish to rebuild the great temple of “bclus” (Bel-Merodach) connected with it and there is hardly any doubt that the Tower would have been restored likewise, but the untimely death of Alexander and the deficient mental caliber of his successors put an end to the work. The Tower therefore remained unrepaired - “The tower was exceedingly tall. The third part of it sank down into the ground, a second third was burned down, and the remaining third was standing until the time of the destruction of Babylon” (Rabbi Yēhānān, Sanhedhrīn, 109, 1).

==Other Non-Biblical references==

The Tower of Babel is mentioned in a number of other [[Apocrypha]]l and [[Pseudepigrapha|Pseudepigraphical]] texts, notably the [[Ethiopia]]n [[Book of Jubilees]], and also in [[Rabbinic literature]]. A similar tale appears in the [[Koran]], and a number of other cultures have similar stories<ref name="christiananswers">http://www.christiananswers.net/q-abr/confusionoflanguages.html</ref>.

== Linguistic evidence ==
Some Christian sources<ref name="christiananswers"/> cite 18th and 19th century observations from the field of comparative historical linguistics showing belief that all languages originated in a single language spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. Some modern linguists now trace a number of language families to languages believed to be reconstructed at the time of the earliest known human civilizations or possibly before.<ref name="mcwhorter">John McWhorter. The Power of Babel.</ref> The Tower of Babel would have predated all known human civilizations outside of the area around modern Iraq. Linguists today are aware it is difficult to reconstruct the mother language for which there is no direct evidence apart from working with daughter tongues that have come down over time.<ref name="mcwhorter"/><ref>[http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003036.html Language Log.]</ref>.

To support the Biblical account, the [[Creation Museum]] in Kentucky reports the following:
<blockquote>The Bible claims that God created a number of human languages at the Tower of Babel "according to their families". Nineteenth-century linguists argued that languages evolved slowly, one by one. Today, linguists recognize languages fall into distinct "families" of recent origin.<ref name="langlog2">[http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004667.html#more Language Log.]</ref></blockquote>

Since the 1950s in the field of linguistics based upon an evolutionary worldview, there has been a belief that human language has a partially biological origin <ref name="mcwhorter"/><ref>Steven Pinker. The Language Instinct.</ref><ref>Ronald Wardaugh. Investigating Language: Central Problems in Linguistics.</ref><ref>Frederick J. Newmeyer. Linguistic Theory in America.</ref>. If this hypothesis is correct, from the evolutionary perspective, then the original language (or languages) may have been spoken about 150,000 years ago.

''Text based in part on the 1913 International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, a work in the public domain.''

== References ==

<references/>

== External Links ==
*[http://www.christiananswers.net/q-abr/confusionoflanguages.html Is there any reference to the confusion of languages at Babel in early Mesopotamian literature?]
*[http://www.christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-a021.html Is there archaeological evidence of the Tower of Babel?]
*[http://www.christiancourier.com/archives/babel.htm The Tower of Babel – Legend or History?]
*[http://www.towerofbabel.info The Encyclopedia of Babel]

[[Category:Biblical Places]]

Abortion and the Bible

2009-12-10T13:03:20Z

Drevyek: correctng incorrect bible passages

[[Abortion]], the intentional termination of a pregnancy, is opposed by virtually all [[conservatives]] and devout [[Christians]]. There are numerous references in the Bible to an unborn child in the womb as a unique person.<ref>See, e.g., [[Feminist Bible]].</ref>

Direct references to the life of the unborn child include Genesis 25:22; Psalm 51:5, 119:73 and 139:13-16; Jeremiah 1:5; Job 10:8-12 and 31:13-15; Hosea 12:4; Matthew 1:18-20; Luke 1:39-44; John 1:14. Indirect references include Rom. 9:11; Gal. 1:15. Jesus even violated customary rules of the Sabbath in order to perform [[pro-life]] work on that day.<ref>See, e.g., [[Luke 1-8 (Translated)|Luke 6:9]]</ref> Here are additional examples of specific pro-life references in the Bible:

*Genesis 25:21-22 ("... and Rebekah his [Isaac's] wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her ....")

*Job 10:8, 11 ("Your hands shaped me and made me." ... Did you not ... clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews?")

*Psalms 139:13-16 ("For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.")

*Jeremiah 1:5: ("Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.")

== Other Passages ==

Ending a pregnancy ''accidentally and prematurely'' is mentioned in Exodus 21:22-23. Some pro-abortion advocates claim that a fine for this type of termination of pregnancy someone justifies abortion, because the penalty of a fine (here unlimited in amount) is presumably lighter than the penalty for the murder of another human being (as in Exodus 21:12). Here is Exodus 21:22 ([[NASB]]):

:If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman's husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, ....

Pro-life Christians point out that premature live birth does not mean death of the child. The [[King James Version]] (which preceded the abortion debate) translates the verse more clearly to contemplate live birth: "If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow ...." It has been pointed out that the "further injury" or "mischief" actually refers to any injury to the child. Note also that the proscribed punishment is for ''accidentally'' causing a miscarriage; deliberately performing an abortion would be even more abhorrent to God.<ref>[http://www.abortion-and-bible.com/ C. Ratt, A Christian View of Abortion]</ref>

Numbers 5, where the Lord appears to give a curse that causes abortions in unfaithful wives. According to this passage, the Lord instructed Moses that a husband who suspected his wife of sleeping with another man could take her to the priest for a test that would either confirm or deny his suspicions. The test involved his wife drinking a cup of "bitter water," which consisted of holy water mixed with the dust of the tabernacle floor. If the woman were innocent, then no harm would come to her by drinking it. But if she were guilty, then she would be cursed with "bitter suffering;" namely, "she will have barrenness and a miscarrying womb."

In the King James Version, verse 27 is translated as "her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot." What this means, unfortunately, is open to interpretation. However, newer translations of the Bible, which are based on improved scholarship, give less ambiguous translations. The New International Version gives "her abdomen will swell and her thigh waste away," but adds in the footnotes that an alternate translation is "she will have barrenness and a miscarrying womb." The [[liberal]] New Revised Standard Version gives "her womb shall discharge, her uterus drop ...," which seems to be an attempt by liberal translators to imply abortion.

In Genesis 38, Judah mistakes Tamar as a prostitute, and orders her to be burned to death, despite the fact she is three months pregnant. The execution order was later lifted because Judah learned Tamar's true identity.

==Denominational stances on abortion==

The [[Catholic]] Church has always opposed all abortion.<ref>[http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=351 The Pew Forum: Religious Groups’ Official Positions on Abortion]</ref>

Evangelical churches are virtually unanimous in opposing all abortion.

As of 2006, the [[liberal]] General Assembly of the [[Presbyterian]] Church (USA) is officially [[pro-choice]], though maintains "grave moral concern" in regard to [[late-term abortion]].<ref>[http://www.pcusa.org/101/101-abortion.htm Presbyterian 101: A General Guide to Facts About PCUSA]</ref>

==External links==

*[http://www.epm.org/artman2/publish/prolife_the_bible_and_abortion/Abortion_in_the_Bible_and_Church_History.shtml Analysis of Bible references concerning abortion]
*[http://www.pcusa.org/101/101-abortion.htm A comprehensive list of denominational stances on abortion]
*[http://wdeaver.wordpress.com/2009/11/30/from-womb-to-the-grave-a-biblical-perspective-on-abortion/ From Womb to the Grave: A Biblical Perspective on Abortion by Weylan Deaver]

==References==

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[[Category: Bible]]
[[Category: Religion]]
[[Category: Abortion]]