Share your language
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If you can't make up your mind what to do about something, then in French you would say "je suis partagé": I'm torn or divided over it. You can't decide what to do about it. You can't make up your mind whether to be pleased or angry with something. But the verb "partager" means "to share". So how do we get from "share" to "torn"?
Etymology tells us that partager is from partage + -er, i.e., Displaced partir in the sense of "to share, to divide", e.g.,
Nous allons partager les bénéfices ― We are going to share the benefits
(source)
My attention was drawn (see below) to this subject by the following editorial in today's The Yomiuri Shimbun:
As Words Constantly Evolve, Let’s Share Them Across Generations
(9/30/23)
Well, this is a question of differential language change. If language is changing at different rates and in different ways among people of different ages, then eventually and inevitably there will be difficulty for them to understand each other.
As society becomes increasingly digitized, new words and phrases are being created. Language should be carefully used to ensure smooth communication across generations.
The Cultural Affairs Agency has released the results of its fiscal 2022 public opinion survey on the Japanese language, covering people age 16 and older nationwide. The latest survey asked about recent word usage, such as whether people use the word “hiku,” meaning “to draw back,” in the sense of “to feel something is strange and be taken aback.” [VHM: see under "Selected readings" below]
Seventy percent of the respondents said they use “hiku” this way while 29% said they do not, indicating that this usage is becoming more and more common in society. As for “oshi,” meaning “recommending something to others,” respondents were more or less evenly split on whether they use the word in the sense of “a person or thing that one likes and supports.”
Only 31% said they use the word “tsunda,” meaning “checkmate,” in the sense of “I’m screwed” and 32% said they are bothered by this usage. All of these words are used more frequently by the younger generation, and their use tend to decrease going up through the age groups.
…
It is also important to develop the habit of looking up words in a dictionary or encyclopedia when encountering unknown words.
Hear, hear! (not "here, here!") When it comes to dictionaries, I developed the GOOD HABIT of looking words (and their etymologies) up in then from the time I was a little boy.
The latest survey also revealed that 85% of respondents have at some point had trouble understanding alphabetical abbreviations such as AED (automated external defibrillator) and SNS (social networking service).
The use of such abbreviations has become widespread, especially for digital-related terms. They are short and therefore may be easy to use, but sometimes their meaning may not be widely understood. In such cases, it may be necessary to provide assistance such as by adding supplementary explanation.
Eighty percent of respondents to the survey said they are careful in their use of language. Harassment has become a social problem in workplaces and schools, and online postings sometimes cause emotional confrontations.
…
To develop a sense of language, it is important to enrich one’s vocabulary by reading books from a young age. Emotion is also nurtured through literary works. It is hoped that children will have more opportunities to experience the printed word at home and school and to deal deeply with the language.
…
It's interesting that the exact same topic came up on Quora recently:
Is it true that the Japanese language keeps changing so much over time that the old and the young generations could barely understand the texts, words and grammars of each other's generation?
There were many good replies, including ones that touched upon the great difference between male and female usage, not just differences among age groups.
It seems that someone, or the Quora site automatically, asked ChatGPT to respond, and here is its answer:
No, that is not true. While the Japanese language does evolve over time, the changes are generally not so drastic that the old and young generations would have difficulty understanding each other's texts, words, and grammar. There may be some differences in vocabulary and usage, but the basic structure and grammar of the language remain relatively consistent across different generations. Additionally, Japan has a strong tradition of preserving its cultural heritage, which includes its language. So, while the language may change, there are also efforts to preserve older forms of the language as well.
ChatGPT stands ready to tell you more, if you just ask it.
Selected readings
- "Hikikomori: social withdrawal in Japan" (9/17/16)
- "The latest in anti-social media" (4/25/06)
- "The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition" (11/14/12)
- "Etymologizing and fantasizing: economy and relish" (2/26/22)
[Thanks to June Teufel Dreyer]
David Marjanović said,
October 1, 2023 @ 5:03 am
German uses the same metaphor as French: teilen "share, divide"; Teil "part".
BTW, English has a cognate: deal – that the meanings were once related is visible in deal out when you compare it to German austeilen "hand out".
As expected, that's a non-answer. It goes in circles.
That's expected because Large Language Models don't understand anything. They don't know anything other than the probabilities of chunks of language (varying roughly from morphemes to fixed phrases) occurring in certain sequences. They put plausible-looking text together, that is all. In the strict philosophical sense, what they produce is bullshit.
LLMs are not Star Trek's computers that you can ask stuff and expect a reliable answer.
Philip Taylor said,
October 1, 2023 @ 5:17 am
Good to see LLMs being treated with the scepticism they most certainly deserve rather than being touted as “the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything”, David.
katarina said,
October 1, 2023 @ 9:09 am
In Mandarin 分 (fen) also means "divide, share", as in "divide (分) into four parts" and "share (分) the cake".
tsts said,
October 1, 2023 @ 7:21 pm
@David Marjanović said:
"German uses the same metaphor as French: teilen "share, divide"; Teil "part"."
In fact, German's now use "teilen" to refer to sharing something on social media. Which is a bit weird, as "teilen" usually has the expectation that something is being split or divided between two people. So if I "teil", say, a youtube video with you on social media, how comes both of use get the whole movie instead of only one half?
katarina said,
October 1, 2023 @ 10:27 pm
@tsts,
Yes, strange, a quirk of language.
Same in Mandarin. To share a video is to 分享 （fen xiang
"divide enjoy") the video, though the video is not divided.
Bloix said,
October 2, 2023 @ 9:46 am
English "share" and shear apparently derive from the same Germanic root as "shear." As far as I can tell, the "divide, section, apportion" meanings have glommed on to "share" – a share of stock of a corporation, a share of the profits, would you like to share a pizza? – while the "cutting" meaning has gone to "shear," with one exception: plowshare, which means the sharpened edge that cuts into the soil. But the requirement that the thing shared must literally be divided has fallen away – two people can share an office.
A further evolution is the sense of conveying information – I share a secret with you. Originally, I believe, there was not only a requirement of confidentiality, but also a sense of confession; but now it's been bleached so it simply means to tell, although perhaps with a hint (typically false) of exclusivity – a celebrity shares a story. But it can also mean a reciprocal transmission – at the meeting the scholars shared their research.
Lars said,
October 3, 2023 @ 5:06 am
@tsts: I typed "Share the news with us!" into GT and got "Teilen Sie die Neuigkeiten mit uns". Surely this construction is old?
Chris Button said,
October 4, 2023 @ 9:15 am
And then later down the line, linguists can hypothesize a relationship with the "biku" behind "bikkuri" as used to describe being startled. I'm assuming there is no relationship there?
chris said,
October 5, 2023 @ 7:22 am
So how do we get from "share" to "torn"?
This reminded me of English "split", which can refer to sharing something, but its literal meaning is to physically divide it.
Information can be shared without dividing it but many material things cannot. So it's not surprising that sharing and dividing would frequently be connected.