what are the significance and perspective of agrarian society
Answers
Answer: what are the significance and perspective of agrarian society ???
ans:- In traditional agrarian societies, where most of the population is largely rural, relatively stable and has direct spoken contact primarily with speakers from their own or neighboring communities, the transitions between one linguistic zone and the next are typically gradual rather than abrupt. In terms of spatial variation, this means that isoglosses separating varieties are more apt to be spread out than to bundle tightly, and speakers of neighboring geolects are likely to perceive each other's varieties as either the same language spoken somewhat differently, or closely related varieties of the same language, rather than as completely different dialects or languages. Since differences separating adjacent varieties are typically cumulative, the further one travels from any one given speech community, the less direct contact there is between it and more distant communities, the greater the degree of linguistic difference (both real and perceived) is likely to be. When we compare the speech variety from an initial starting point with a more distantly related variety many removes away, there will usually be a greater number of empirical differences in linguistic features between them. Just as importantly, speakers are more likely to view the two widely separated varieties as distinct dialects of one language or even as different languages. In all agrarian societies with permanent settlements, new uses of fire and new attitudes toward fire developed. During the long first stage of human fire use, the main concern always was to keep the communal fire burning. From now on, however, the main concern became almost the opposite: to keep the fires that were lit for numerous purposes from spreading and from running out of control.
The uses of fire became increasingly more varied. Specialized pyrotechnic crafts emerged, such as blacksmiths and potters. Among the growing urban populations, fire was regarded with greater anxiety, for several reasons: with the proliferation of fires, the risks of conflagrations increased, and with the accumulation of property, people had more to loose.
Of course, it was fire as a natural force with its self-generating destructiveness that was feared. But more and more, this natural force manifested itself almost exclusively in the guise of anthropogenic fire. With all the fires burning in a city, one moment of carelessness might cause a conflagration. People had to rely on other people's caution. They had to oppress attempts at deliberate fire setting. And they had to reckon with the very worst danger: the organized form of murder and arson known as war.
A common problem in all advanced agrarian societies was the prevention of uncontrolled fire in cities. This problem may have been less urgent where the major construction material was stone or brick; but throughout the agrarian era we find major cities in which most houses were built from timber. Rome, Constantinople, Moscow, London, and Delhi as well as the capitals of China, Korea and Japan all suffered conflagrations; all of them faced problems of fire prevention.
Today we may tend to conceive of problems of fire prevention primarily in terms of technology: of building materials and technical equipment. However, the problems were (and still are) at least as much civilizational, or social. The crucial issue was human behavior, care, consideration. According to a well-known story, a temple in ancient Greece burned down because the servant was careless; similar events must have occurred all over the world. Everywhere it was the human factor that counted most of all.