Question

why it is important to be sensitive to historical languages​

Answer 1

Language like reason is one of the most important ways of knowing to mankind. Human beings have benefited greatly through language by means of communicating and understanding each other as we read history. ... Some might say History is the study of the past. The role of language in history is fairly abundant.

Answer 2

Answer:

Explanation:

Studying Historical Linguistics faces the same issues and questions which are raised for other subjects, too: Why is focussing on the past important?

 

One of the most common answers is that from the past we can understand more the present. This is generally true for Linguistics, too. Only by drawing on how a language has changed over time, one can understand why this language has particular grammatical structures or phonological rules. However, this is not the only reasons why Historical Linguistics is interesting.

 

This subject allows one to compare different methodologies which have been used in the past and to evaluate which one provides us with more information and is the most efficient. Historical Linguistics also allows one to explore languages which do not exist anymore, such as Gothic, Old English, Latin, Sanskrit and so on. With no doubt, it is very fascinating to try to reconstruct how there languages might have sounded like, how they would have been written and used. Moreover, studying Historical Linguistics allows one to inevitably learn more about the culture, customs, religion, literature of the language studied in question and to gain a diachronic perspective of such aspects. Languages have indeed been greatly influenced by the culture of their speakers.

 

Finally, the fact that the subject of Historical Linguistics exists is a sign that Linguistics is gradually becoming a very important subject, which is worthy of attention. As Robins affirms (1967: v), "the current interest shown by linguists in the past developments and the earlier history of their subject is in itself a sign of the maturity of linguistics as an academic discipline, quite apart from any practical applications of linguistic science".