Home | Articles | Poetry | About The Author | Contact Us |
There is a interesting account in the Bible about Jephthah's conflict with the Ephramites, found in Judges 12:1-7, which involved separating the Gileadites from the Ephramites using a clever and simple method in speech because of the way some cultures can pronounce certain words while others have difficulty doing so. Perhaps it is time to review this account if you do not remember it well? The word here to distinguish just who is who was "shibboleth". The Ephramites could not say the "sh" syllable in shibboleth and instead said "sibboleth" which instantly gave them away, exposing them for who they truly are. There could be no hiding or deceiving the other culture because this test was foolproof and accurate each and every time. Meditating on this account, it would be interesting to know of any further incidents down through the ages where people have not been able to deceive others in times past due to the way we speak, as learning from these examples could prove beneficial for the times ahead because deception will abound and proliferate even moreso than today. There are so many accounts of great interest where different cultures have tried to trick or deceive other nations like we can read about in Joshua 9, but this time not with language. Studying all these ways God gives to us to learn from regarding the way deception is carried out is valuable for our ability to discern.
Linguistics and all things language has always been fascinating to me because we grew up in a multilingual home with both English and Lithuanian. Native people from this Baltic country do not say the name of their homeland as we say it; instead it is spelt as Lietuva and pronounced as lie-too-vah. When my maternal grandmother said the word Lithuania it was always noticeable that she said Litwainia as she could not pronounce the "th" sound. Sounded cute but it was different and stood out. It seems as though many nationalities have issues with certain vowels and consonants. The Chinese cannot pronounce the L R and V sounds accurately as in English speaking nations and are unable to roll their tongue as others do from Spain, for instance. You probably know that many people cannot roll their tongue when attempting to pronounce Spanish words such as "arriba". As a child I was taught that unless dominant DNA from one's parents existed then it would not be possible to say the double "r" words, as well as no chance of being able to position one's tongue to curl up each side in a roll position. Those that could curl their tongue like myself therefore had dominant DNA. These things were all kept in mind and filed away in my grey matter "upstairs" because they were of interest and still to this day, very much enjoy listening to different languages and how words are enunciated. While thinking about these things, I remember my eldest daughter around the age of 2-4 saying "ooies" as she could not yet wrap her tongue around the syllable "L" to say the word lolly or lollies. Not too long after this, and with supportive and helpful teaching while she developed her linguistic capabilities both cognitively and physically, it then happened that correct pronunciation occurred much to her delight and ours for it was an achievement.
Imagine creating all the languages as God did in Genesis 11:7. The brilliant mind of God can do anything and nothing is too hard for our Creator. It takes us many years to learn and master the English language, and some never achieve this. Our complex language has changed over time from Old English words of "Ye" and "Yore'' and "Thee" and "Thou" for example, and during my lifetime we have had many words changed from using double consonants to now writing a single one for words such as faithfull, fellowshipping, and so forth. Along with words, spelling and the way they appear has also changed and it seems as if using hyphens is not popular any more. Co-operation shows up as cooperation and I just cannot bring myself to bastardize our language in this way. It does not make any sense to me to write this word without the hyphen as it looks like coop for a chicken coop. If this was not bad enough it has come to my attention that words of only three syllables such as vacation are now being referred to, of all places, while the newsreaders deliver the news as vacay. Three little syllables apparently are too much work to say. Convo is now the new norm for the four syllables of conversation, desti is shortened from destination, and there are many others they have decided to change. This lazy form of speaking is just way too casual for my liking.
Language should not only be thoughtful, it should be considerate and coherent, not leaving us guessing what is being said or worse, confused. Here are a couple of slang words from the middle of last century — "bodgy" and "daggy" for which we hardly ever hear any more with foreigners and young people unsure of their meaning. To those of my vintage who know the meaning, it is fine to use them amongst ourselves, but one can easily use current, more familiar words as replacements while explaining and teaching others who may be left puzzled and scratching their heads. It only takes a little thought and consideration on our part to include all present so that everyone understands and nobody is left out. It is one thing for language to change over time but to me, cutting corners on words is unprofessional — let those concerned speak amongst their friends and family as they like but when delivering the news, whether spoken or in print form we need precise structure, formality, and a good example for the future English teachers and journalists. We must always be mindful while thinking of others in all matters as it is written in Philippians 2:3, and this definitely includes our speech.
Another deficit which is gaining momentum is the way many are dropping the "g" from any word such as fishing, fighting, learning, darling, so on and so forth. Why? It sounds like a very lazy way of speaking to those who always pronounce the "g", which is not silent. Then there is the double mistake of mucking up the word mountain. It has the letter "t" but some people have decided (or have they not noticed?) to remove it as well as the "n" to say it as "mou-in". Also the letter "d" seems to be noticeably absent from some across the big pond or ditch. Then, others say "whitch" or "which" instead of "with". Again, I ask why? This sounds silly to an Australian and it boggles the mind while one wonders how this could actually happen, for it is not a matter of the absence of schooling, so it must be a matter of choice, by choosing to emulate or copy others. Some of us pick up accents when living in another country, and to my surprise this happened to me even when briefly visiting for 2-3 weeks. What is that all about? As far as I know there was no conscious decision on my part to do so as the New Zealander accent is not one I admire. I could go on and on with many other words revealing that the differences are incredibly varied even just between the English speaking nations. As strange as this is, then there is the practice of saying a word such as "thing" to now be "think". Apparently this not only affects youngsters but mature age citizens. We have noticed this many, many times and are left quite astounded at how mature, educated people could confuse or exchange two different words with separate meanings over and over again. These words have completely different meanings and I can only deduce that this must be the vile work of the devil for confusion is its priority in a workshop of deliberate stupidity to make humans appear as the dumb and lazy speakers it desires, and even further from whom we are emulating. It is a very poor joke to play indeed and also it is extremely annoying.
We are the example to others out there in this world under the sway of the devil. We need to be very aware of what we say and how we speak to others. Clarity and accuracy is important in all conversations which should be the high standard we hold ourselves to. If we try to fit in with the world's version of lazy speech by joining in with the interference of the English language, then what is next? Saying euphemisms such as OMG, crikey, gee, or perhaps one might slide down the slippery slope to use swearing. It is a stretch and it may take some time to degenerate to this point but the point is if we do not follow God's instructions in how we exhibit Christ-like behaviour by being careful, thoughtful, and considerate in our words, then we are opening ourselves up to all sorts of problems by moving in the wrong direction. It all definitely begins in our minds with our thoughts flowing into speech so we better guard our minds, for the devil has its mission on lies, twisting what others say; the enemy is the greatest twister of what God says, and in the use of bad language. We should be very conscious of every word spoken to be like Christ, to say what we mean, and mean what we say in truth, letting our yes be yes, and our no, no as we can read from scripture in Matthew 5:37.
The book of James talks about our tongue and the use of it. Throughout the five chapters we can read valuable wisdom from God about how a Christian should speak. This is helpful in our communication with others. We will always have different accents to challenge us by listening carefully in order to understand what is being said. Some accents are easier to understand than others while we may have our favourites and mine is anything French. I could listen to the way they speak and pronounce verbal communication all day long in preference to anything else, and even when they are speaking English. Another accent I enjoy is that from various parts of Africa. Some sermons on YouTube and from the ucg.org members site were watched and listened to recently from men who spoke with thick or heavy accents. They said the word "Matthew" quite distinctively as "Matt-you" causing me to realise they were not able to say the "th" sound but then in the next sentence other words were pronounced with "th" as in that, there, and then. So it is more about the structure of sentences and grammatical rules in their language which crosses over into English differently from their culture. This is really fascinating to me.
What God has shown me is that we can all learn from others and learn well when it comes to Godly wisdom. Despite some speakers being favoured while others are a challenge to listen to, it is important to resist and overcome our human nature by ignoring our faulty human will so that we do not reject any speaker or speakers because we don't like the way they speak — too slow, too fast, hard to understand, maybe they make many mistakes and repeat words — but have you considered that God wants you to develop your listening skills for future use in helping others? After all, these men are speaking under divine inspiration from God so who are we to reject any of His teaching?! Each time I have resisted the urge to avoid listening to any sermon or sermonette, God has noticeably blessed me with His wisdom as the content was exactly what I needed to hear. So it was a test for me. Sadly, one member recently commented to me that if they do not like the way a certain individual speaks, then she just avoids their teaching by not listening to any further sermons. This is not a good situation to be in and is quite a dangerous thing spiritually. Hopefully she will learn one day that it is God's will we all need to follow by listening to our Helper, and allow God's Holy Spirit to lead rather than rely on our own faulty will (Proverbs 3:5-6). Over and over again God teaches us to do the right thing which is mostly what we do not want to do. Taking the easier option of what seems right will get us away from where we need to be — close to God. So let us think before we speak, speak all things in wisdom and love, and keep far away from confusing, poor speech, that should not be part of our vocabulary. We should leave the verbal gymnastics to those who are part of the world and be the good example God desires us to be by emulating Christ.