Language is not static. And so, I wish to be neither this thesis about language. My practice of silence and other means to acute observation to study how language connects us to the world indicates that language is as ever-changing as the world(s) it signifie(s), and that the way to its ephemeral truths is to encounter it subjectively. I can only listen so much, read so much, and live so much language to stumble across so many questions that lead me to possible discoveries. Language does not exist for an individual, but between individuals. Language is an ecological interaction. For these reasons it is time for the blog to go public. I have laid the grounds (?) and planted the questions, but now what this project needs more than anything is to grow into its own organism. And evolve.
And so. This is an invitation for fellow dwellers of language to participate in an examination of their residence in the world of words. Please feel free to stalk silence, or stay in speech, or embark in any language-related experiment of your own, whatever way is most revealing to you. Be as concrete or as theoretical as you wish to be, as long as what you wish to share may be a spark for another. Or not. Dead ends can be interesting too.
Feed the blog! I thank you!
In Germany, I am surrounded by foreign sound. My ears constantly take in indistinguishable noise and my brain is constantly attempting to translate. I pick up some words and then get lost in others. But there is some kind of magic that takes place every once in a while. Instead of hearing a word and thinking of the translation, more and more frequently I hear a word and out falls a response or a connection instead of an English definition. The schism of my thought and speech seems to be growing.
ReplyDeleteI remember this process from my time in Chile, how I could almost physically feel my brain reconfiguring itself as it encoded new patterns I absorbed from my Spanish language landscape. In the "schisms" or gaps of previously cemented concepts of reality based off of English language structures grew new continents of new ideas, not translated or transposed but completely unlike anything I had ever before stood on, been familiar with.
ReplyDeleteWhen you return, you will be able to measure your success by your failure at English. I remember it took me a good two months before I learned to speak coherently again. Often I would begin a sentence in English, and midway my mind was flooded with a string Spanish words, leaving me stalling with my tongue glued until my brain could sort out what language I was speaking, and therefore from what repertoire of ideas I could express myself. You may find joy or even sadness when you must constantly provide your speech with your own set of footnotes, explaining our language's lack of this or that useful German idiom, craving a companion who understands.
I wonder whether texting-based abbreviations actually are "shortcuts fortified in search of the quickest route to meaning." (LOL is an example given later in the entry and I am thinking over how the new texting phenomenon and its new set of abbreviations fits into the scheme of language changes as laid out above. Which of these categories does it fit, if any? What does it say about culture?) I mean, what happened to "ha" as a marker of "I think that's funny?" Is LOL somehow more efficient? (It is a letter longer.) Or is it in fact less efficient? (Do I actually have to be laughing out loud to use it? Then I would need different signs for funny in different ways...) Or does the change from "ha" to "LOL" reflect cultural currency?
ReplyDeleteGood point! I think "cultural currency" is an excellent way to put it.
ReplyDeleteI suppose LOL is not in fact shorter than "Ha" for the meaning "I think that's funny", but--if I am not reading too deeply into this--I do believe it sends across tonal meanings that perhaps couldn't be conveyed more efficiently. For instance, in the case of it being written on my paper by a professor, it also implies "I'm not as old as you may think I am" and reflects our shared occupancy of a cybersocial era and this moment of humor (whereas "Ha" could suggest "I'm laughing at you from afar").
It is interesting how technology and the language that morphs out of it can at once level generational gaps (if the older generations are to adopt it) and emphasize them.
Speaking (typing) of technology, it has been brought to my awareness that potential participants are having trouble posting comments. Being that the machine is still my master when I attempt to do such things as blog, never having done such before, I have no good knowledge at this time to share. Once I figure out I why this is so and find a way around it, I will post explicit instructions to make everybody's experience easier, and no one feel poor in the cultural currency of computer saviness. Until then, I have allowed for Anonymous comments, but I ask that unless revealing your identity will deter you from commenting altogether, you type your name at the end of the post. This is just a way for me to keep track of who's nibbling, and if possible thank you personally.