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"My"
Indrid Cold
Posts: 16,688 Skive's The Limit
I'm fluent in two languages and know a few words in several more, and one thing they all have in common is something that, when I think about the meaning of some sentences, seems illogical and strange.
Compare these two sentences:
"This is my book."
"This is my brother."
Almost the same, but vastly different meanings. The first one means "This is a book that belongs to me", the second means "This person and I are related by brotherhood". You couldn't say "This object and I are related by bookiness", nor "This is a brother that belongs to me".
How did two meanings that are so different end up using the same words, in so many languages?
Could the use of such thing have an impact on our subconscious? As in, "This is my son/daughter, in other words he/she belongs to me"?
Compare these two sentences:
"This is my book."
"This is my brother."
Almost the same, but vastly different meanings. The first one means "This is a book that belongs to me", the second means "This person and I are related by brotherhood". You couldn't say "This object and I are related by bookiness", nor "This is a brother that belongs to me".
How did two meanings that are so different end up using the same words, in so many languages?
Could the use of such thing have an impact on our subconscious? As in, "This is my son/daughter, in other words he/she belongs to me"?
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Comments
Similar to the number 0, (it took us thousands of years of counting before we figured that there was such thing as zero) there is quite a leap in language I think to start conceptualising 'me'.
I don't think the "my" (also "your", "his" etc) issue is related to conceptualising "me", to be honest. Having a concept of "me" makes sense, giving two different meanings to the same syntax doesn't really.
That's a lovely way of putting it!
However it happened... What do you think about the possibility that it might work on a subconscious level to make us think of others as owned? They say that language is at the root of human intelligence. I'm not sure I agree with that, but still.
Oh myyy, I still remember my log-in details...
Then it makes sense that a new idea would require a new word.
On the other hand, maybe I have it backwards. When the first word for "my" appeared, perhaps it did always mean possession, and, in those times, some or all family members did use to be thought of as possessions.
They're not now (except for people who should be dropped down a dark well and left to drown or eat each other and then starve) but, since that's how languages began, we still use the same construct.