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The Importance Of Language. - Page 2

I can think about nothing consciously, but subconsciously, there are always words running through your mind.

I'm in an art class, and before every assignment, we are first asked to write about what we plan to do, because it helps to formulate the final image, and I find it very useful.

Language Importance The

Essentially, any language is a medium used to convey thoughts. Although I am no neurophysiologist, perhaps there are communication channels set up in our brain that use language to convey thoughts from area to another.
Helen Keller was both deaf and blind, so she had no way to hear vocalizations or to see hand gestures. Still, her sense of touch enabled her to develop the ability to use sign language.
I wonder if people who are born blind still visualize things in their mind? If thoughts, words, and images are so centered around each other, it would seem that the sense of touch would naturally transpose into the mind's eye, even if that shape had never been seen.

I very much enjoy language, especially communicating with someone in another language for the first time. If I did not have language, I don't know where I would be.
Language seems to be tied into every part of our being. While I'm writing this, I don't have to think about typing - I just think of the words I want to type, and my fingers know what keys to hit.
Even music could be considered a language. When I'm playing a piece of music, I don't have to consciously think about where to put each finger - I just see the note, my left finger goes to the correct fret, and my right finger player the correct string.

Its simply amazing how our mind works.

The Importance Of Language. UFO & Writing Art Education Sciences

I agree about music being a language. Just like every other language, it is extremely difficult to learn music in a late age if you haven't yet played, and impossible if you have never heard music.

In fact, there has been a research on this, finding there is a part in the brain responsible for learning languages, allowing us to learn the accent and sentence structure without much thought and analysis. That part is sealed very early on if you do not speak or hear someone else speak by then. If you speak a lot, or if you know many languages fluently, it will seal later in your development, but eventually it will seal, allowing you to learn no more languages in the fast and instinctive way of children.

Page 2 Language Importance The

Language is something that fascinates me, not so much learning a foreign language (Pretty useless at that) but comprehending the meaning and origin of words.

In English we have more shades of meaning than - as I understand it - any other language due to the language being an admixture of Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and Norse - with Latin and the odd bit of Celtic thrown in too.

This means you can find many synonyms in English which allows us the ability to express shades of meaning (For no two synonyms are rarely the same in meaning).

So we have many words that give a slightly different sense: For example a river, stream, brook, burn, rill, et. Al. All referring to a body of flowing water but having taken upon them certain meanings (As to size and nature etc.) over time.

In Old Norse I am ill, but in Old English I am sick. Over time those words have been used to differentiate and create more nuances and meanings. We would not say we were ill of something if it was getting on our nerves!

Words, in addition to given meanings, also have dialectic meanings, and literal meanings of course. I prefer literal meanings myself although words are so misused today (One of the ways in which we lose our freedom is through the debasement of our language, and that is happening all around us) that to use literal meanings can leave one open to being misunderstood but if one relies on social meanings one is open to the confusion of the dialectic.

So, getting to the thread, yes language does convey thought (Not perfectly of course) but it conveys history and culture and many shades of meaning too. The human voice in song I have noticed can "Speak" more powerfully to the spirit of man than even music. Words too, when spoken, can be a powerful force - both written and spoken (I think they serve different purposes in these two formats, but that's another discussion).

Here's something I got sent a few days ago. I think it is appropriate and has a lesson in it!

Language Importance The

I enjoy poetry, both reading and writing, more than prose because so much of the meaning is found in the context rather than the word itself. Reading through Song of Solomon, it is easy to find many things that, in translation, lose their meaning, but are still understandable because of the context (like comparing your bride's hair to a herd of goats).

I agree. As Calvin (of the comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes, created by Bill Watterson) put it, "Language can be a complete impediment to understanding". Our language has changed so much over the last century, its almost mind-boggling. Sure, some of it has been evolution with the need to describe new technologies, but much of it is just plain gibberish. Cool used to be a word to describe something that was lacking in warmth - now it is used to express satisfaction in something. One of the words that really disappoints me is awesome - instead of being reserved for the truly amazing phenomena, it is applied without restraint to all aspects of life.

Dialects and accents are a funny thing. In the place where I grew up, the people who live there call themselves "yoopers" (pronounced as you - perz) and have developed a complete vocabulary of words that only they understand. "Side by each" means that two or more things are next to each other.
Regionally in the US, a device to carry objects in will be called a "bag" in some places, a "sack" in others. In other places, a "bag" refers to a homeless lady.

In a related topic, have you heard of any discussion of Esperanto? It is a created, international auxiliary language designed to be easy to learn, easy to understand, and easy to speak by anybody in the world. It certainly does not have the flair and character that natural languages possess, but I think it will continue to develop with time.

The Importance Of Language.

Dubhadra, there is already a thread about that phenomena.

See here?

The Importance Language. - Page 2

I had a friend a few years ago in college who had perfect pitch. We would hum a note an say, "Peter, is that a C?" He would say, "No. C is red."

Our language, visualization, and auditory functions are very closely related. For some, that relationship has become so strong that one sense produces a sympathetic response in another sense. Language is like that for me. I can read a new word - say, zeugma, and that combination of letters produces not only an auditory speech response, but an instant picture - not of the meaning of the word, but a 'color,' if you will, or an impression, based on the letters combined in that form. It is an involuntary response.

The Importance Language. Sciences Education Art Writing & UFO - Page 2

Sorry - I was not aware it had been posted already.

Yep, of course I've heard of Esperanto. Don't really like it for the reasons you've mentioned. It's a little bit like the metric system - it is not part of my history or culture. Alien, artificial.

Language has changed a lot lately and sadly much of it has not be a natural change but one designed and forced by certain influences in the world. Confucius said that (Paraphrasing) when words lose their meaning, people will soon lose their liberties.

Language is a vital part of who we are, our identity.

Dubhdara.