In this blog, I will examine how humans develop their abilities to impact their cultural surroundings. A vital contributing factor to this cultural impact is 'language'. For a moment let us consider this weighty word.
"Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about"
Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897 - 1941)
As I connect the dots between the information I receive through classroom discussions, readings, and my own experiences, I am reminded of teaching English as a Second Language to international learners of all ages. For the most part, my students have been quite keen to gain as much knowledge as possible, to improve their ability to communicate in an english environment. Therefore, an effective method to guide them is introducing several new words when a new term is acquired (act, acting, acted, actor, actress, action, act-out, react, reacted, reaction, etc.). What I find extremely interesting is that although we share this uniquely human ability to speak through language, we have expanded this inherent capability into different languages. This seems like it could be detrimental to the simplicity in which we communicate with each other. More separations (ie: language diversity) lead to less collaboration. On the other hand, the non-human species undeniably have their own ways to communicate with the use of their own vocalization. I wonder if there is one dog language or several different dog languages? One method of communication that animals share, human and non-human alike, is body language. As discussed in class recently, when visiting a new country where one doesn't speak the local vernacular, gestures and charades play an important role in communication.
In instances of humans showing inability with language skills, new ways to communicate develop. These could be brail for the blind, closed captions for the deaf, or the written word for the mute. Because of the nature of our environment, humans naturally want to interact with society. As we develop, we learn from meeting our needs through our surroundings. At first we learn gestures and their intention. We learn letters which are symbols used to create words. Then we learn the symbolic meaning behind these words. It has been suggested that we enter the human race three times: first, when we are conceived; second, when we are born; and third, when we reach 9-12 months and gain the ability to understand others' intentions. I'd suggest a potential fourth emergence into humanity – the case of feral children.
When I first learned about feral children, I immediately thought that this would present an excellent opportunity to examine a human in a non-human environment. After doing some research, I discovered that there are only a handful of well-documented cases. National Geographic's Feral Children, an excellent video (about 50 minutes in five parts), refers to children separated from society and found living in the wild for an extended period of time. Each wild child adapted to their non-human environment. In order to communicate, they imitated the behaviours and sounds of their surroundings. In a very real sense, they lost their humanity. However, once re-integrated into cultural society, they each learned how to be human again – potentially the fourth emergence.
In closing, let's consider human culture without language. Take a moment to think about the idea of learning through storytelling without words. A picture is worth a thousand words. How well are we able to interpret images as stories without our capacity to communicate? To expand on a known conundrum, which came first the image or the word? What of the ability to tell a story without a single word, nothing spoken, nothing written; complete with well-developed characters, a through-line, and even a message to impart. There is no doubt that we can communicate with pictures. Case in point, The Artist, a silent movie nominated for ten 2012 Academy Awards. As you view the following link: What were you raised by wolves?, ask yourself why you are able to appreciate the story – is it because of your extensive vocabulary? Is this ability to tell a story without words made possible through years of inheriting our cultural history through language, or could this story be told without the existence of words, words, words?
References
References
- A picture is worth a thousand words. (1921). In Wikipedia.
- Brosgol, V. (2010). What were you raised by wolves? Retrieved January 26, 2012, from verabee.com
- Christenson, H. & Matthews, V. (Writers). (2007). Feral Children. [Video File]. National Geographic.
- Hazanavicius, M. (2011). The Artist [Motion Picture]. France & Belgium: La Petite Reine.
- Tomasello, M. (1999). The cultural origins of human cognition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
- Whorf, B. L. (1964). Language, thought, and reality. Cambridge: MIT Press.
- Words, words, words. (1987). In Wikipedia.
The layout you used had great visual impact and made the blog easy to read. Your blog contains appropriate quotes, photos and research that promote learning. I felt these were well organized additions that helped to address the points of interest you tackled in your second blog.
ReplyDeleteThe title, Words Words Words, was relevant and helped me relate my thoughts and ideas about language to the new terms and concepts we are learning. The realistic linguistic applications you mentioned, for example, common disabilities, language diversity, images, and building on new terminology, all relate to Tomsesello’s theories. I also agreed with your arguments that basic skills and simple goals we engage in have huge impacts on our global cultural learning and evolutionary process. Your blog literally helped “connected the dots”, employing our class discussions, readings, and blogs with language and learning.