“Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Facts
- Emerson was a 19th century essayist, poet, and philosopher. Eventually, he was coined an American Transcendentalist, a group that believed that “each individual could transcend, or move beyond, the physical world of the senses into deeper spiritual experience through free will and intuition”
- His father was a clergy man like many of his male descendants before him. He resigned in 1831 when his wife passed from tuberculosis as he was experiencing a loss in faith.
- He was friends with Henry David Thoreau, an American naturalist and fellow philosopher.
Why I chose it
I was drawn to this quote because it is a unique definition different to those we are used to hearing. I found it interesting that language is being compared to a city. Emerson defines language in the social context rather than literally, which I feel is more honest to the reality of language.
Denotation
By establishing that everyone brings a “stone” to this building, Emerson makes the point that everyone from every nation and place on this earth contributes to the complexity of language. When language is equated to a metaphorical building, it makes language tangible and drives the idea of how us humans continue to construct and add to its diversity; it is an ever evolving structure. Arguably, when it’s ordinary people who are the symbolic architects of this building, it gives power to the mainstream public. This enforces that a collection of diverse people and cultures establish the constraints of language, not linguistics or dictionaries.
Personal Connection
Personally this quote gives me hope because it validates all languages of the world. During my time volunteering for a non-profit catered to helping latinx immigrant communities, I learned that one of their missions was to acknowledge and revive indigenous languages. A large portion of hispanics emigrate to the US fluent in another language aside from Spanish. However, hispanic immigrants in the US are faced with enough adversity that speaking their native tongue just becomes another challenge. As a result, these indigenous languages becomes endangered. Emerson’s quote reinforces that there is no “correct” or “proper” language and inspires motivation to fight for these languages because everyone is entitled to bring a stone to the building language is a city to.
I agree with you when you said that there is no “correct” or “proper” language in this world. Every language is equally important and no matter what language we speak, we all contribute to communication. We should embrace and appreciate our ability to communicate and not deprive anyone of this ability.
Very pleasing organization set up. I also enjoyed reading and love that your personal connection to the phrase and how you volunteered. I completely agree to your statements and liked how you phrased them. Great writing!
I really like this one! You can see that you really put time and effort into everything, the organization, reasoning, analysis, facts, and personal connection. Great work!