Opening a discussion on Diversity. You can hear and read the word diversity now everywhere you go. Is this just my imagination or is there any evidence for this? Using Google's addictive Ngram viewer you can now look at the frequency of usage of any word or phrase in publications, mainly books. So words like cloning only appear after 1960, rising sharply in the 1970s and '80s. Pick a word or phrase, and you can begin to see trends in language usage in seconds. A great tool for discussing language and lingusitics (and popular culture) with students. Back to diversity. Diversity is defined in the Oxford English dictionary as "a range of different things" having its origin in the Latin verb divertere, to turn aside (think of diversion or to divert one's attention.) Between 1800 and 1970 (the period covered by Google Ngram), the use of diversity remained the same, rising sharply since then. So this supports my impression [as a scientist it is "hard-wired" into me to support any proposals with evidence]. While words like diverse have a formal meaning, they have become adopted culturally. For example the word awesome is a popular adjective to describe something impressive, replacing excellent, among young people. It has probably come into more frequent use in recent years, largely via Hollywood/US TV. The phrase "direction of travel", which used to refer to the way the train was going, is now widely used to describe the "business trajectory" of an organisation. The English language is a melting pot of words and phrases that have become assimilated over many years. In fact it is an incredibly diverse language.
If I am right and the English language is diverse, how has this happened? If we come right up to date and we analyse the make up of our genomes (the specific sequences of the genes that make us who and what we are), then we can gain an insight into the geographical location of the people who have made British citizens what they are today (often referred to as the "demographic"). A marvelous study was recently described in the journal Nature and you can read about it here. In summary, the genes we have today can be compared with those from the Vikings, the Romans etc and it is clear from this, that most white British people share 30% of their genes with modern day Germans. It is also the case that the diversity of the population across the country, is itself diverse. Small, isolated rural communities show much less diversity in ethnicity than an historic port like Liverpool.
If we now look under the hood, as the Americans say, at the genetic differences between UK individuals in cities like Liverpool or the rural villages and towns in the North of England, the picture that emerges is more complex. It is not uncommon for individuals who are recognisably white and British, to have acquired significant amounts of their chromosomal DNA from Indian, African and European Gene Pools. Even though we are an island, we are the products of global genetic exchange, over many centuries. A map of the most common second languages of New York, makes a similar point (see above): you don't need to read the labels to appreciate that each colour represents a different ethnicity ranging from Chines (light orange), through Russian (green) to Arabic (in red). I want to make the point in this series of posts that diversity is a good thing! Before I do, I want to raise your awareness of diversity not only in the appearance of the human race, but of many other aspects of Life on Earth.
I shall be developing the topic of diversity, which I hope will provide the impetus for breaking down the barriers between subjects in school and promoting inter-subject dialogue. This short introduction will be followed over the coming weeks, by discussions of diversity in Science, Language, Art, Music etc. I hope you find it interesting. ANd any contributions would be most welcome!
No comments:
Post a Comment