Is language declining?

Language has always been important to communicate, but it serves a deeper purpose. It allows us to make sense of the world by categorising things.

“Language is declining” - we hear people (especially academics) complaining about this all the time. Some quotes:

The vocabularies of the majority of high-school pupils are amazingly small. I always try to use simple English, and yet I have talked to classes when quite a minority of the pupils did not comprehend more than half of what I said

From every college in the country goes up the cry, “Our freshmen can’t spell, can’t punctuate.” Every high school is in disrepair because its pupils are so ignorant of the merest rudiments

If we think language is deteriorating, we should remember this isn’t new. These quotes were actually published more than a hundred years ago (M. W. Smith, 1889 and C. H. Ward, 19171).

This time is different, right? With TV and social media we’ve moved to a visual form of communication, where the little language that’s used is highly simplified. Every generation has thought that language is declining, so are we falling into an exceptionalism trap?

Depth of language

Languages don’t decline, they just change. In any case, maintaining rich language is important. The depth of our language determines the depth at which we can interact with the world. When we look at something (e.g. a great piece of art) and if we don’t have the vocabulary to describe what we’re seeing, then we can’t experience it at the deepest level2.

Using complicated language

There’s a bit of a problem: if we start using complicated language when speaking and writing, people won’t understand what we mean. Using the ‘right’ word is sometimes counterproductive. How do we resolve the tension between nurturing depth of language and making sure we’re understood?

We often mask our understanding of a topic by using complicated terminology. It sounds right and we hear the experts use these phrases, so we convince ourselves that it’s the right thing to do. People who truly understand a topic usually don’t do this if it’s avoidable. They think in complicated terminology, but they’re able to communicate simply. Richard Feynman is a really good example.

I think the solution is to be able to experience the world at the deepest level in your own mind, but at the same time describe that in the simplest language when communicating.

Resolving the tension

The tension isn’t really resolved. If everyone is communicating in relatively simple language, how do we then build up a wide and deep vocabulary to experience? The solution is to read, and in particular, to read good literature3.

Reading does more than just picking up some new vocabulary. It satisfies a hunger. It takes you to places you could never go before. Adapting Hamza Yusuf’s words, we need to read the great books that can edify our souls and enrich our impoverished states4.

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  1. Princeton
  2. I’d recommend this Renovatio podcast on “The Decline of Language and the Rise of Nothing”
  3. Reading technical books can also be enriching, but it’s usually limited to one domain
  4. The Liberal Arts in an Illiberal Age