えろいんぴつ…

＞ 論理的な思考と分析的な思考の違い / 誤謬の構造と文化的背景 /

相手の主張を正確に読み取ること、聞き取ることは、それに続く一連の言語活動―批評、会話など―の前提となる。

それを英語でとなると、英語の素養に加え、言語の明晰さ、背景知識についてそれぞれ理解を深めることになる。

ここでは、実際の言語活動に即し、素材の英文について、主張とそれを支える事例を区別しながら内容を正確に読み取り、その要旨を英語で簡潔にまとめてみる。

Language is nothing but a set of human habits the purpose of which is to give expression to thoughts and feelings, and especially to impart them to others. As with other habits it is not to be expected that they should be perfectly consistent. No one can speak exactly as everybody else or speak in the same way under all circumstances and at all moments, hence a good deal of vacillation here and there. The divergencies would certainly be greater if it were not for the fact that the chief purpose of language is to make himself understood by other members of the same community; this presupposes and brings about a more or less complete agreement on all essential points.

The closer and more intimate the social life of a community is, the greater will be the concordance in speech between its members. In old times, when communication between various parts of the country was not easy and when the population was, on the whole, very stationary, a great many local dialects arose which differed very considerably from one another; the divergencies naturally became greater among the uneducated than among the educated and richer classes, as the latter moved more about and had more intercourse with people from other parts of the country. In recent times the enormously increased facilities of communication have to a great extent counteracted the tendency towards the splitting up of the language into dialects — class dialects and local dialects.

Otto Jespersen : Essentials of English Grammar

注釈：

l        a set of human habits the purpose of which is ...

関係代名詞 which の先行詞は、a set of human habits 。意味は以下を参照。

a set of human habits for giving expression to thoughts and feelings

l        As with other ... that they should be ...

接続詞 that 以下の they は、思考や感情を表すのに用いられる一連の人間の癖。 that 節内の should を shall にすると文脈から不自然。

l        No one can speak ... and at all moments,

意味は以下を参照。

No two ways of speaking are exactly alike.

l        The divergencies would ... if it were not ... the same community;

意味は以下を参照。

The divergencies would certainly be greater if language had not been used primarily as a communication tool;

l        this presupposes and brings ... on all essential points

意味は以下を参照。

The reason language is used primarily as a communication tool is that the use of language never fails to bring about as complete agreement on all essential points as it is expected to do.

l        In old times ... a great many dialects arose which differed ...

関係代名詞 which の先行詞は、 a great many dialects 。

l        the divergencies naturally became ... as the latter moved more about ...

意味は以下を参照。

the divergencies naturally became ... as the latter more often moved about ...

l        In recent times ... the splitting up of thelanguage into ...

定冠詞が付いている the language の意味は以下を参照。

the language used as a communication tool

要約：

Language, the reliable medium, can bear an almost infinite variety. Recently developed communications facilities are effective countermeasures against the old tendency towards the splitting up of the language into dialects along with a reduction in the use of it as a communication tool.

素材には方言についての記述がある。方言といえば、私の場合、地元の新潟弁ということになるが、訳あって、私は新潟弁に疎く、上手くない。

生まれも育ちも新潟で、両親をはじめ親族のほとんどが県人だったが、とにかく、そのことが原因のひとつか、地元の高校を卒業するまで私は周囲からどこか胡散臭い人間だと思われていた節がある。

新潟弁では色鉛筆のことを「えろいんぴつ」と発音する。これが私は苦手だ。やってみると、なんともぎこちなく、しょーしで（恥ずかしくて）…ちょっと切ない。