The meaning of language

[Mindwheeel]

Utgangspunktet mitt her på diskusjon.no er min personlige forståelse av språket som brukes og de personlige erfaringene jeg forbinder med ordene vi bruker. Dette styrer min forståelse av disse ordene.

 

Ordene jeg bruker såvel som tolkningene av alle ordene jeg leser, baserer seg på hvilke personlige erfaringer jeg har i minnet - assosiert med disse ordene - og min egen tolkning av alle disse erfaringene

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Eksempel: Ordet "Bil" henger sammen med helheten av erfaringer jeg har knyttet til situasjoner der ordet "bil" har blitt brukt. I disse situasjonene har det ofte vært noen firhjulede kjøretøy på gang, som jeg forbinder med dette ordet, og der de andre følelsene og tankene knyttet til det er mine egne alene.

 

Meningen jeg tillegger ordene tar utgangspunkt i hvilke sanseinntrykk og etterfølgende fysiske og psykologiske reaksjoner på disse sanseinntrykkene jeg har hatt opp gjennom livet til nå. Min nåværende språkforståelse baserer seg på helheten av hvordan disse ordene er blitt brukt i de og de situasjonene opp gjennom livet, og hvordan alt dette har blitt tolket.

 

Hvordan resultatene av disse minnene fra tidligere erfaringer interagerer med den generelle situasjonen i mitt "kropp-sinn-system" akkurat nå når jeg leser disse ordene igjen (i nye kombinasjoner og sekvenser), kan sies å være "råmaterialet" for hvordan jeg tolker det som skrives i akkurat denne tråden.

 

Nå var planen å dele et fragment av noen artikler jeg jobber med om språket, hvordan vi bruker det i praksis og hva det potensiellt kan bety for oss. Denne er skrevet på engelsk, men jeg kan sikkert ta det på norsk også. Jeg sitter med et generelt helhetsinntrykk: en mer praktisk og nøyaktig forståelse av språket virker helt avgjørende for alle som ønsker å dele og interagere språklig både online og i andre kontekster.

 

Målet med dette er en noe klarere forståelse av hva språket faktisk er, hvordan det fungerer og hvilke interessante muligheter som kan ligge latent i alt dette.

 

 

 

The meaning of language

 

 

 

Language becomes meaningful in real life situations where language is being used. The meaning is always determined by the experiences of the human beings using the language. It is determined by their purposes and motivations, by their general physical, emotional and mental state, by the memories each of them connects to various words, and by the general situation where the given communication happens. All language meaning is the result of the interplay between such factors, and is never independent of such factors. Language is a real human activity, with real manifest effects.

 

 

Language is action

 

 

Language is always action, can never be anything other than action and has no relevance for anyone outside of action.

 

Language manifests as a patterned sequencing of human postures. There are postures of the physical body, with some state of affairs in thought and feeling corresponding to the posture.

 

 

Language can be viewed as a movement of certain kind of forces, influences or energy which is taking place between humans. It can also be seen as a specific choice for each person communicating, in a situation where other choices alternatively could be made instead, and where each choice has real consequences for others and their relationships.

 

Language has physical effects every single time it is used. When words are spoken, the mouth and tongue is moving. The rest of the organism is a part of this movement and influenced by it. The tongue and mouth is occupied with one particular movement and can not simultaniously move otherwise. When words are heard, real physical vibrations hit and enter the ear, skin and body after travelling through the air. When you read these words now, patterns of visual impressions are entering your sensory apparatus.

 

 

These various impressions lead to physical and psychological effects, effects as real as you seeing this now, as real as you are thinking whatever you now are thinking and as real as you are feeling what you now are feeling.

 

When I use some words instead of others, or in one context instead of another, or in one way instead of another:

 

Real human action as physical as the act of running. Having consequences in time, space and relationship.

 

 

If I say something stupid I may have to suffer consequences.

 

 

The meaning of language is always in its use

 

 

 

The meaning of language is always in its use one way or another. No meaning will ever be independent or unconnected with the particular way the usage happens.

 

If not in use (for example words written in a book by a dead man, stored in a basement and read by nobody), it concerns no one. It could be seen as a latent potential, a possibility for use later, but apart from such a possibility it is irrelevant. It is irrelevant for humans if it has no presence in human life, irrelevant in every way outside of its real or possible use. If I think of words I could use later, this is also a kind of use, or at least related to a kind of use. It is a part of my consciousness at that moment in time.

 

It is action if even a seconds thought of any human being is given to it.

 

If you sit quietly and think with words in your mind about what to do later, this also is action. It is a choice. It is a general sequencing of internal events in human system. Something which leads to real effects.

 

Language is intrinsically a part of practical, physical everyday life and never independent of this life. It is a part of the physical world, a part of social relationships and a part of the content of human consciousness at any time it is being used.

 

 

What is the cause of words being percieved as meaningful?

 

 

The meaning of language is determined by the subjective experience each individual connects to the word at the moment the word is in use. The total process of human experience from infanthood and on, forms some kind of impression of what different words means.

 

 

The process always begins with impressions through the sensory apparatus - immediately interpreted according to a great spectrum of factors: genetic disposition, the total context where the impressions are recieved, memories of previous experiences connected with the given words, emotional and physical state and so on...

 

 

Later on the memory of these experiences (some more than others) form how the person understands any given word, expression or concept, in a more long term timeline, and how you understand language at this moment.

 

 

Causes of misunderstanding: unknown differences in experience connected to words

 

 

Since personal experiences determines the meaning of all words, and since personal experience is different for different people, the same words must always carry a somewhat different meaning for different individuals.

 

Because of the necessary connection between subjective experience and verbal meaning, the meaning of language is always, without exception, relative. The meaning of every single concept in human language is relative. It is always relatively vague and understood relatively different by different humans.

 

 

The large amount of misinterpretations which occur in communication between people all through the ages as well as today is an indication of the importance of the information asymmetry between one persons experience and the experience of others.

 

This information asymmetry: The experience person A connects with the word x, and which person B does NOT connect with the same word x (or even know about), leads person A to understand this word differently from person B.

 

 

Why language IS (relatively) meaningful: shared experiences

 

 

 

There are also similarities in their experiences and this is why language works. In the similarities between personal experiences of different people, lies the meaning of words in the intersubjective sense. Because people share common experiences, they have the possibility of meaningful language based on these commonalities.

 

What different people share in connection to words, makes it possible to know what the other person is talking about. In many situations the general communication context makes it clear that the person refers to thing A and nothing else, and it is also clear what the person wants to achieve with what he says.

 

 

Take for example the sentence: “Give me that glass of water”. Even though we both understand “glass” and “water” somewhat differently (maybe I love glass furniture while you hate it, and maybe you love swimming in water and relate differently to water in general than I do), this is totally irrelevant if the general situation makes it clear to both of us what you mean with what you say.

 

 

These differences do not matter if the purpose of your words simply is to initiate the movement of my hands in order to bring you the glass of water, and if this is clear to me also. The language works just fine in such a context, and the relative differences do not create any problems.

 

 

The similarities in our previous experience connected with the words + our shared experience of the communication context where these words are used = what makes language effective and meaningful.

 

 

Now: what do you wish to achieve with the next communication act you carry out?

Endret 15. desember 2012 av Hamolinadir