From the very first sound (birth-cry) to the very last one (death-cry, sigh, scream, chant) and all those in between, including the pauses, the silences, looks and gestures we convey meaning and purpose, to those around us and if no one, then ourselves. These first expressions perceived, received and if recognized as conveying meaning form the basis for communication. And the collection of these expressions we label language.
Language then becomes a process of attempts at communicating and learning which expressions carry the meaning we wish to express. Expressions with meaning we can label words, and language becomes a collection of words with defined meaning. {Since I’m not a linguist, or philogist, this is the poet/layman’s version}. Language by its very nature is a process, contantly being revised, formed, altered and sometimes dying.

It is the role of the child (in my own estimation) to experiment with sounds, whether they may have meaning, and make up new ones that somehow another child understands.
It is the role of the adult (family and society) to teach which sound/words have meaning, what that meaning is, and how it is acceptably used. And sometimes in this give and take the adult learns a new word from the child, and the word is incorporated into the language. But it isn’t that simple, some times adults must make up new words for new things, and sometimes children simply make up their own secret language that they keep to themselves (or their friends, real or imaginary).

On a planet 3rd from the Sun, 6 billion humans (give or take) speaking in some 2000 languages (give or take) manage to communicate on a daily basis what they need to, have to or wish to communicate. All based on some 200 basic sounds (give or take) that have been accepted as root sounds, although we are capable of making many more. And those languages, according to the experts, have many patterns in common including, similar words (with similar meanings), similar word arrangement structures and even similar graphical representations of sounds/words (written word). These common traits have led the experts to propose that languages may be grouped into several language families (10 – 20). And of course, as with all things human, there are exceptions, or rather unique cases of languages that seem unrelated to any other, and several languages that were deliberately created (like Esperanto & such) from several languages that could be understood by persons speaking different languages, and of course artificial languages for the use of communicating (one–way, so far) with computers.

This precious need to communicate forms the basis of all human relations, and perhaps for the purists amongst us, it seems kind of messy, how all these languages came about: through the change over time, the mix and interplay of languages and the people that spoke them, the imposition of languages, the “corruption’ or “evolution” (depending on the point of view), the codification or standardization of the means of communication.

And the process doesn’t stop. Nor does it proceed in a vacuum. This process affects and is affected by all the other human endeavors that co-exist within the creature that must communicate. The natural wanderings of human kind in the exploration of our environment, the forced migrations of peoples due to changes in climate, or natural disasters or even changes of a political or economic nature bring about an everchanging interplay where people of different origins, cultures, languages meet.

[Before we get lost in this background exposition, let us clarify that it is not our intent to dissect ad infinitum all the factors involved in the evolution of language, but to provide some basic ideas that will help us explore how a new “language” may come about and how that relates to the purpose and mission of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, at least from my perpective, which will always be open to your comments and ideas, including criticisms, just email nuyorican@mindspring subj: Our Nuyorican Thing]

And to keep it short, here’s the homework. (What!?)

1. email to us (see above) the phrase: I Love You in a language other than the one you speak everyday, if you need to use some other alphabet please provide equivalent sound/letter to our alphabet and a rough pronunciation guide.

And to wrap up.

Yo Te Amo I Love You
Je t’aime Ich Liebe Dich

Four languages, 1st column are in the same language family, 2nd column are in another language family. In whatever language you say, it conveys the same sentiment, and perhaps because in this part of the planet we celebrate a day to Love, I ask you to say it, not just to your Love, say it to a neighbor, or a stranger or to your parents or your children. If you’re shy say it in another language and pretend you are practicing. But Say It. I will end this part quoting the inmortal Nuyorican Poet, Dr. Willie (Pietri) to his Nuyorican Love in the best Spanglish he could:

“Yo Te Amoro”