Uriah?

     To pick things up with our Oral Knowledge unit and also focusing on the topics my group has been given, I'm going to start of with a knowledge test...of sorts.

     We are going back to the early Bible times on this one...hypothetically speaking, lets say you were a descendent of Heth, which would make you part of the second tribe of the Caananite nations. You live in a place called Anatolia (see map for general region) which is basically the present day Lebanon and your culture was eventually dissolved into a variety of others as your empire crumbled and your language is now obsolete. 

     If you could tell me what the name of your civilization is or i guess what it was, then well....you deserve an A i suppose!

Read more to find out if you were right...

     You are a HITTITE! As a side note there is still a lot of studies going on as to whether they can disprove or prove this connection, but for now it does stand, Hittites came from the Caananite nations.

So I will be doing research on Mesopotamia with a focus on the Hittites, I'm sure like many others, I feel like I lots to learn!

     Have you ever wondered how a language or culture could become obsolete or non existent? I definitely have on a variety of occasions and it was always something really hard for me to understand or comprehend. Especially if it was a culture of any significant size or had any power. However, I think because of experiences i've had over the last 2 and a half years I have caught a small minuscule glimpse of what that might be like and how it would happen over time. I'll explain that later on though.

     The Hittite language was called Nesili. It is the oldest indo-european language that has been discovered.This was unknown for a long time though because the only evidence of this was found on a few clay tablets that were discovered in the 19th century.

A fragment of a Hittite tablet found with
the language called "Nesili" inscribed on it.

     Dr. Peterson's language seed post helped me to understand what a function was as far as it pertains to language, which then allowed me to identify one in the Hittite language.

There is a function of this language that I want to point out and it comes from an excerpt from the text "The Epic of Gilgamesh" which was a story told throughout ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia of the which the Hittites were included in. So have a go at this and see if you can see the oral function...

"Humbaba’s mouth is fire; his roar the floodwater;

his breath is death. Enlil made him guardian

of the Cedar Forest, to frighten off the mortal

who would venture there. But who would venture

there? Humbaba’s mouth is fire; his roar

is the floodwater; he breathes and there is death.

He hears the slightest sound somewhere in the Forest.

Enlil made him terrifying guardian,

Whose mouth is fire, whose roar the floodwater. "

   —Tablet II

     I understand that this might be difficult to pick out, but it is the function of Repetition to drive a point home or  powerfully portray what is happening. The words "Mouth is fire; his roar the floodwater;" appears three times in this short piece.

     Now I'll just touch quickly on my earlier question about how I feel I can relate to a language that has become obsolete. I'll try and keep it brief and understandable.

A hispanic family from my mission

I served my mission and was called to serve Spanish speaking. As I learned spanish I was engrossed in the culture and the language. I believe that being around it constantly was definitely a catalysts for learning the language. During my mission, repeatedly I told myself, never will I let my spanish diminish or anything of that nature. Easier said than done....

The oral knowledge that I had of the Spanish language and my ability to preserve it has been extremely difficult, mainly because my opportunities to use it are sparse and i'm not engrossed in it as I was earlier. 

     This is similar to what happen with the Hittites. They once were a strong civilization that flourished but as their empire began to crumble and they were overtaken by neighbouring civilizations, outside influences became stronger and concentration of their own language was eventually not enough to support itself. Once again, very similar to how I feel about my own spanish knowledge now that there are other oral influences in my life.