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    5-Language-Our-Thinking-Medium

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    35 views10 pages

    5 Language Our Thinking Medium

    Uploaded by

    Emmanuel Servants
    5-Language-Our-Thinking-Medium

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    of 10
    gq TF Language: Our Thinking Medium Poe tt of my engage are tis of my Ae Language con arcuate lke an eae of bark ikea dog. K can ut 9 the ledge boom i hepa can tng in sai the bor. ca Pd ch tally be cermoniited Tange sch a with use won ing as the a ng oF wing: language pl ‘Wittgenstein (quoted abowe) closed the gap between this guage: be said that though cannot exist witiou language, that, ‘or feclings; but unless we are 4 pastes or 8 hcl of expression, hence ve faced re the lan “hat ci cy to understand langue 30 nr man Foss in this ha totic the fortive damental, metaphors, the ct legacy of English ate word sch sep 4 + Lampung Oer Thinking Media definitions, connotations, and word onder; context dil clarity willbe high ‘gee; and finally, we wil ook at some pals o acid suchas vague ge sralatons, wordines,llogiainess, redundancies, and clichés, tn et Lane sage Calenges we wil apply some ofthese kde 0 9 fd He langage Sinitars hat are in our OWN mind so tat we can wine them int mE “tlectve inking LANGUAGE AND OUR MIND ‘The cerebral cones Uke 2 furrowed field wailing forthe seeds of language ‘Wat the help of Mf and PE scans, and researchers lke Antoni and Hasina Damasio, we are beginning to find wher in the furows he set arom ts sounds, verbs, nouns, and senlznoes This analogy sradles the debate abu ite langage lane (Hato, Chomsky) of leamed. Is both: Cleat the brn has language cspably from bith Infants spontaneous hub, mak ‘ng many sounds noc found in thes Language environment and thea a about 40 months they begin to match ther sound to their language envconment ta shor, the brains prepared to receive any language, but that large ant Be Teatnad ‘angus & the “sofware” thc allows our brs to think the way it does wou language the cerebral come ies lange unused A bran without lan ‘aug ike dat fed witot seed ora car whos gae—al potential aad no ‘evirmance,I'you know the sry of Helen Keller, you know that her brain ‘eas onan bu empty of language and tac she ated ke an animal. She was sl tind; but when the ak of ngage theigh the touch of gers fumed on her mind, she began learning nish tha led to Rucrcy hn seven lamewages Without linguage we too might ac ike snials Sur thinking 8 confined witha the language that is “running” in out bain. tanguage the interpre medium forthe isthe remerbering, Sowing creating, deciding, judging, and acing—and languaye also dram sally shapes those processes Wahour language our cerebral conc. able 1 concepualize the universe, would drape uslesly around cur lower bai ie clothes on a manne, ‘Tse Univeralizing Power of Language Par ofthe enomous power of tiuage is ts un realising nature. We have the woad fe in our ead and we, faa general way, oo what all ees are like, Atnough thei ips might Maunt buds blowome/concs/sed/ mts needlevleaves, we know that they all fave mots nile and branches. It single word tee, we contin al de ees a cath, Often we frm that univer sal concept from a single instance: if you saw only one golden tamsain Ca Auf, quick. tiny, cightinciiong monkey with golden tndexcent far) you Language: Our Thinking Medio « 73 would recognize the neat one, And even if hat next one was relma tamarin you would exslly recognize frm the single tamarin you would hve astractd universal quater of "amar" Pethaps soiic lajguages have fewer univers: accoding to Louis Ur ae, who spent several Years wit an Omagu tbe on the upper reaches of ‘he Amazon River, those atves alma always speak iming specs Such 25 "tha porter whose paw prt we saw bythe sver” Oma poents can ‘ot gontrize a waming to thelr children to “watch out for panes” bu again most war co "watch out forthe panther we hear growling bythe big rock” We do not know whether the Omaguas have any concepts forall xi fence, hut in our nnguage we have the word uniter We can Rguatvely bold the universe in our head! Thus we can ask those fundamentally probing, questions of ergs and ends, ‘The Serucruring Power of Language languages the Software of our mind we can expect to channel ou think ing does, but urpriaingly it can even channet our pecepons. Ths meas shat we se things citerenly because ofthe Lngwage incur head Ts ‘cept of linguistic rainy, oft called the Whort hypothesis afer Benji Lee Whort, was popular ia the 1950s, was atacked in the 1960s, and has sumed in 2 more suneralized form in the 1990s, Whor thought that Laas (Eskimos) would perceive soow difeealy because oftheir Voabulay, Since Eskimos have the stme rd, cones, and retinas that we have, do thet words for snow enable them 1 perceive diferenay? We asked a parle question of 4 dowahil skier and former eatin of si tam, who uses words lke bse, ln ail pos, amps, con, gna, sh Sea comes fm, pcked powder, hard packed, windpacked, cnt, glare ice, bie ie, bullet root and boilerplate. Does having these words i his head help him tore Santas the soo a to kt bee? Yes, and more safely too: “you are man ing fast and pop out of the trees you'd beter be able to recognize wind peckod or you cou get hurt and you obviously need 0 ads force, which ‘on deudy days appear dacolored or darker than the sueunding sum” tees tke a few otter examples A fist me cat owner who has never worked on cars opens the hood and sees a jungle of meal, wires and hoses ‘Wha: do aachanies, thal dhe word in their heads, see? An average peson licens to a 95-plce orchests and hears a blend of sounds. Whit doce sill musician hex? An inner ty resident enters the forest fo theft tne and sees “dark,” “big” “seuy.” Wha does the park naturalist see? Much of ‘their clifferences in nereption i the difereace la the experiences thal fe Sed in language ‘One last example asa Sarda mocing chore, 3 hoy had to das a maze ‘fledged baseboards and doo frames n is old hose In college he lens ‘hore legs were mci on the seven pars ofthe Greek column, Today he 74 + Language: Our Thinking Motome 90 Laer ses a ze but he ca see acs of hose ledges rom the sybolate ‘2 the bosom (othe comice ontop beau be hata word foreach pa ‘We see what we see panly because of te language that we lea, Mos taigne telis us that “the miad es (ea to ts on coreepions (p50) "hereore he sams us be very suspicions of whatever the min! sen opie oe ejects, Bacon el this distorting procesr "he dos ofthe mind." He cals cue arcu dos the idl ofthe cave” Eah inva "has a eave or den of hi ‘om, which retracts and dscolors Hight of mau” (p. 330, cachet use unique tn mind, body, educaton, and tabi (p. 337, and If we idolize something we ‘usualy disor ts imponanoe (p. 340). What kindof ri, ied wilt wat kn of language, do you have? Ty the Thiking Activity onthe next ge TANGUAGE AND SociETY languages sock nd is whic fo salah Hi ott god as tibet ins tat hve supe ana ton nse wun attae Our Eig gue el 4 chan osed soe aad a ae onihing amy of hacen, Which we tse Bao fk te Sti cotta tne 9s Georg Orelln famous ance, “Pon he gl Langevine oF Egan eee ne de Engl hngung Ais oxi tae eek ae cargo lngags wan gong of thos eae ‘Sua © corsboute Ors fonrcion between ae a ee ‘iting def worth Us pennant es sacs cred i be D7 te wal th enon esos nee tery colle days Sound ass Iki soles Dare nT cle tap’ mig be asec non bi pt fhe om pertain whch fad he one ae ling every han be by 38“ banbag Wate a Ae fomhia pater, shocost te cfentedty ies mmneree tae tei tas donc mate och et a eaten fe she iced the Wee concep, sl Tnah eee Sha oud tea" The ay ne hn tow ee ne See ‘ined the lngeae u oceere e Ise te tse “cohen om'ne Geek wk man ay wc) comin ects pon to Ue tae Staessen fay rns eo es ene ee a 8 plein oh, re we missed ha "The Cana Wok Greet en [sy stating opened he Ces te if anon Sideses ere tes ahen ey see see eee Ue he 19h the Gal Wn, ee pss he svi of dealt ast dt en doe nc ae he Language Our Thinking Meta «5 THINKING ACTIVITY 51 A Berle Sind Sketch 1m the char below lor yous hobbies o aves of interest and a few technical texms that you have which allow you sce ane ident some par. Thon sta few areas that you donot ike, ad axes which you ned > knw. ew ke "Terms Thar Sucre Fe wes be Not Like ‘areas Need toknow | 1 we heod Hucon and Montaigne, our lists of es and ales wil len usto sme of ou sronge: perceptual bases. We probably found the Tat Ust the hardest we didnt kno 4. how could we we I Gow? ‘Thusthe imponance ofthe lat st becomes clear we noed the ters, te language is our mind i we wish o know, to grow, to become sucess In school and work Gand, we mig ad, in Me) Beer language wil et rake us beter peopl, but wil offer us a beter chance to undecsand ‘more fo dink mee ectively, and give an eet weve from fe ‘nil metaphors consseved, but & was rejected because it was too harsh and lke £0 the Blowiy sword was softened Into the desen stm. In the “Yugoslavian war the Serbian were not ing but nerevashing the Ceacans la edine leasing” ase 1992 election a presieml candidate was called 39 0+ Lage Ow Thinking diam = “ignorams and emotional; unstable’ unl he dppf the race; the same people then clled hm courageous and wise” in deo this votes Woe ate only words unless values suppor them. chapter 1, Persuasive Tinka, ‘wil ales usto other dizerins in langage and aig Such dstonons were nt always a part of our Amescan culture Building fon Christan values and Roman law; the ideal American was foright and almost radly honest. We can hear honesty honored in the curl plirases such as “George Washingion never told a "he's a man of his word"; you have my word oni; “give you my WOR" Such honesty engenders ra and funhers communication. When language is used tole tip this fabvic of trust and becomes a weapen of war ‘THE METAPHORICAL POWER OF LANGUAGE “I myself am hel, where I go hel goes with m;” says Milton's Satan. We can {eel the power a that thoughi—s comes from die meaphor that joins the con cepts of mse" wth “ell” The metaphor functions at te hea. of angoage, {aw cam understand metapbors an lear to think wth tom, eel aint ‘richer van of language and thought. Inthe section we define meta la2 trad sense, we show how hiaguigi works mesphoriily, how i grew crcl, and bow rook metaphor conte fields of Keowledge the metaphor changes, the underwandig changes. Wine fea Mempbor? ‘A sundanl definition of the meuphor 1s simply: an implied comparison Deraen t80 things.” Metaphor comes fom two Greck words; meta means “with, afer, oe beyond and phorin means to ear” So's metaphor caries nner mcaning wi the original or cure the orginal meanings beyond imo a new mean This lending of old meanings provi the new th lnerary ents wil forgive us, we are going to use mtapbor ka the broadest ‘of comparison, whic includes sme (explicit comparson) as well as 2 analogy Cesened comparison) This great reach of the meap hoe may be shy Arse cll ic he Fundamental gure oF speech ands tse the te snark of erie Like the mesaphor. language merges ewo thing: sone eters oe sins) the reais the sunk spy. Tn this sene of Blending sounds and ely guage sel metaherie, Also ints deep roots langnge scoms to have ron metaphosaly or ntsnce, “1 an” quite posts cane from a carliee Indo-European form which meant “I breathe” This mezsphortcal growth ‘expands many common words, such as ru (nan pa billy re the show) Maaphocy ae inticitely, Integy connected wh the way Lnguage work, and we husealeady seen that langage is connected wo the way oe thi Language Our Thinking Mein = 77 _Messphorical Models Contra! Thiaking _Metuplios are the way we thin about ourslies and the wor. Al elds of Tknomledge have font metaphors, or modes, which begun the feds; when thove metaphors change, the eld changes. For instaace, We can Watch out ludentanding of the world change from the Polepaic loops around the fat, to dhe Copemican cles around the su, (© the Kepleae elipes, to the Newronian lines of fore, @ Einstein's metaphor of energy and mate, Rutherord/Boh’s solar system ofthe atom, to the curren model of quarks, “strange”, "chacmed,” and otherwise. As each new metaphe was ceated, the cote fed of kaowiedge shied into the new model, and our way of hing Shout the universe changed. “To understand the metaphoncal nature of those models, let us look at, he master meraphor, pertaps the greatest ia scienac or era history, Ee ar IF we drop the which is usa very large number, we have B=, ‘r “energy is mater.” Einsteins insight i basally mexaphoccl, “binging fo things rogetier,” bur he has gone further and brought them together limo an actual identty—imatter and energy are he samc, are Interchange able, E =m. in genetics, Watson and Crick saw the DNA solecule asa winding sale ase (he double heli) wilh four kads of epeating steps. Once they achieved ‘is basic metaphorical insighe in 1963, they nt the pa oe many yeas i the oument genome project cf mapping the genes. Te double helx model has omiaaed—almost contoted—all genetic thinking. We understand mich Shout the universe and about our bodes becuse ofthe meuphoral models that ae in place ‘These inetiphors also determine the way we think about outseles. For snstance, ia medicine, an herd (medica) i prescribed by an MD. Medicus ‘Doctor infeed by tls metaphor, some dostor willingly ive us medicine to comfort our divas (another metapho. To usdersand how this metaphor ‘controls ways of thinking, consider the diference of going to an intemist or Surgeon with the sme probien fe jo to 4 Decor Bf ltemal Mein for {heart problem we may be more likely t receive sess and cholesterol Fecucing drugs if we gow «Tear Surgeon (oo: metaphor of someone Who tors with their hands, war sore Litely to rece a bypass operon. As metaphor changes, di Utes change comespondgly- a “nurse; formerly Tprasfecding "wetsnime” econ 3 -physcan's assant” wilh mace ‘ties and the grester prestige assoc with phsican” As the metphors ‘ange, 20 does our unions othe universe "Stoo we could uald we merphoreal hoes For basal and business, for plilowphy and religion, fr sorting and foe loving” We understand, again, ‘Rect dhe mettre fs foo aniclites, homer, one key metaphor Is m ‘one for te brn. The bin and is operations have been Teaphorcllyrefemed toa fala en black tow ight bulb, memony fpoves memary bask, a machine, camer, a svtcboard, the maser organ, 2 15 + Langnay: Our Ting Mei Lrg a compuer and a logan. Curendy 4 sunning metaphor hes arken, {sa of comparing the brain wo 2 meaphioe! Since the bri pres meaphion, ends diferent less and images ino new fas, one way to understand the brain to say ie works like 2 mezaphor Aho we are pit thi ater Fciaphor ince srt the cently ofthe mstaphor io thik is prob lily rot yt the maser metaphor tha wil unlock te sete of te Ba We have just cen some enocmous claims made forthe mesaphor which sare pushed even further by Carlin Spurgeon wo sys thatthe metaphor hls within te the very secret of th vere. The bre fet hat gem ing sed or ling lentes are actly nother exesion fhe proses we ‘ct work inhuman ie and death sme art mat cry woh see ‘eign ine presence of rest mystery. which, could we ony se sand it oul expan Me and eth ink (pr) THE LIMITATIONS OF LANGUAGE ‘The structuring, univeralzing, and metaphorical power of language which enriches oar perceptions and undeistnding can also deaden our peepee, lend new data ing ol! stuctures, warp analogies, and dso our memorer To think accurately, we need to be aware ofthis linguistic twist on thinking ‘Wah ts universal tems, uch ase, angage Bnd ws rom sesing the el vidual characteristics of each te, Even i lingaage helps us to sce mone syst, such 38 map ee or sill more specially, ser maple the ‘words sal ind us within that rarowed defntion, Wh words in our ead we tink we know what al tees lok like (ral slvr taple tees), jet each ‘tee and each leaf upon is unique Similary, a new dats ener, we ty to fit them sto exiing pattems, sometimes dangerously: most of us are fami withthe road sign that wars works ofa seep hill head. The fst tne diver of «car saw a similar oad sign (of a uuck itd sideways) he perceived tt be the “ep hl sig tat te already knew. Noc slowing, he sped into ate screeching euve. Tha ign ‘ofa truck ttn over meant "dangerous curve ahead” and he lad wrongly ‘oxerpreted kRecause ofthe “language” in his head, he ha faded 1 notice the subse Giference. Sully, diving tough the etemal wheats of ‘anos, he aw an unknown checkere! pate isthe dstnce. Ashe ied to fit ino his urban puters, looked to him ike a4 ao junkyard as he “dove closer it tured ino 2 feed lot packed with cate: Once again his lan _Ruage panems had distorted hs perception, his ne tein cal ino cars Historically, the wreeg mcaphors hve also lined our understanding As Jong as people though thatthe eam was the cers a alfecons they eek ot undersand k. They were bound in pson by the wiong metaphor. Net ua Harvey noted Hod cicultion and Newcomen invented the Facauen pump ‘could they peopel name the sion ofthe heat wonved like « pump Langage On Thinking Medinm «79 ‘The pattems of language may even cause ws to remember inaccurately as ‘ye merge litleuscd dita ino more common pattems. For exauple, a boy ‘who grew up with oak tres and could once comectiy spell all the states recently speed “Oaltabora” ‘So the paradoncal nature of language both sts our mind fee an np ‘ns i language “lights up" our conex with unteral concep, metphirs, dnd structure abo partaly"imprsons our mind within the boundaties of Tanguage, Binding us tothe subdetes ofthe world around us ‘THB POWER OF ENGLISH language inpsons ou mind, English the rsn of choice. Out ch mul tesla ise legacy and the dominant roles England aed Ameria Have played in hiory have expanded Engh across the gle and wih the Voy. ger into deep apace Ost of ever thousand spoken ngage Engl as become the tow important nguage on ath, leaving st 50 Tach 4 prom ofthe mind bt legey of mre tan silo wot thik wh. The Language fx Our Mind Below i series of questions to belp you think about the current state of the language in your mind. Sice you have seen at your ran ny sods your language, this acy may begin an awareness that ‘wil ead you to srenthen and sharpen your ngage A. How fest ace yu? 3. Wat ind of woes ae in your mind? How many? You can begin © herds gun by kg ofthe type of Boos you hve ea and ‘hand of wos you ue when you tek ad wi How ey San Row tn ony ca yo ght Cn thre Ello ys tmany ict or fearon aaa trad Wh rl wo ou ew ad nr Do yon ed fat we the count segs of your gangs ben her wo Communic’ nt ares you wa to expand ne f. Wat your nephrin? Can yo pu es Soper nt pew conbinaton? ‘What your thinking ay? Take @ mone to fest how words and es Uoough your cueh—ta rank ode, bn ht colo, SE ‘nance in mages, wt fein ad ny ae oe you can ey How foci ae you th beg? 60 + Language Ow Thinking Medi - Word Meanings Athough this inhertance is ours, we have to eam it we are nok bom with English, we learn it And considering the primary importance of guage te ‘ur thinking © our human interaction, to our understating of ourselves st the word, to our ably wo ream and make choices that affect our Succes and happiness, we may wish to lam it ete, ‘What does any word meat? The answer lies somewhere between primi- Ave voodoo power in which the word becomes reality and the anarchy found in Alice's wonderland: “a word means exaly what | choose to make it mean Actually the word means what society chooses to make it mean, For insane, 8 young bor who was worrving about being kidnapped received a puppy fhe uansfemed his personal fears to his lingussic pattems and worried that his lle puppy would get “pupnapped.” I'setty accepted tha ter, it became common ike earfaching thea it would cate th linguege Both fupmaped and carjacking sprang into being ou of sasard English patterns. In onde © fensch our Lingeage to think more ffccvely, we wil took breiy atthe expansive patems of tems ad axes, at definitions t achieve cary and at ‘conneations 1 achieve sublet. Seman Afier ‘Words in the brain are lke money in the bak’ the more we hive the ‘ier weare, We need word to think wih, andthe wether our vocabulary, osetia, dhe cher our Uno and the quickest way to verbal wean ‘Gsough stems und affixes, For instance, if we Know the smn cog meses nit (Descartes fous cago emg stn), we can begin to gues at the meanings ofcogtate, cogeaton, and cogs. Iwould bea sine stp om tere to ald prefix and “precogiste Since lsts of stems and allies ae ‘wily availble elsewhere, we wil not preset them bere. We lope that he Jevbrsalng value of lenming the tems ant affiesf parent Defies An expanded word base shoul help us i picking the best wond—eleae thinking depends upon i Fruncis Bacon tess “ill and nt word can ‘bsuct the understanding and lead men away into numbedess empty com twoveies"(p. 337). Have you ever heard people energetically anguag alow. sdigferotuings, they thought they were arguing aa the same hing? Not agreeing on the topic and dhe definion creates communion problem sina to the proverbial lind men feeling afferent pas ofthe elephnae. Def iniions can fhe 69 powerful tht often the penon who defines the fie decides the debate. For example, if pomoprapy i defined unde the banner office speech. tht deftion probably wins the debe Sometimes wets of our language are imprecise a host of a Chicago tak show sid that a “pemnisive” and a “clerant society were te same ting guage: Ont Thshing Medio = 9h ‘hat do you thik sbot the dieences of those word? “Preventive Nu Mon isthe eof an rice ina esing medal foe Aihoagh we hae ‘hat means becte sme word wich eae pled, moma ne {Go ootcombinepreyent wilh ood aly ie non: Weald we Wars {ie ealed Preventive Leaming? Sometines the wrong word i ed becnse sound ltt the word stan sought Lets laugh wa 3 prolesor in asso who ld “bal Ne {stn fora gat In one exe one sed op by dato he ter by tien. Another example of near mi is om an eral in prestigious newspaper hamid congress “atthe lw Fes mene thw they mee to sy “ow the lw When me eng fo use a big word a ‘sy sing sneer scales malo cn be entaain ‘sorts hating the bet word dlc because cur ange a Sippy dish to selec from, for lnance, ou ton might be handled {tough the biting parent, ofce of ancl afar ura’ ofc, tremors, computer or hat pain busnew ofc. Or we ae cone ‘Sout movies whic ane muy, wlence and language Language Do we ‘hwo retuned movies wit ngage? es bec or Ene {nh language ssometines sloppy and vag, we Go ot have te soppy tour ining we have wie select ts nd sme othe re Gul we dont hive to se the dll ones, We can elect our mond and {ve the tues ety. ven if our defiation saceuraely speeding toward the target, the winds of connotation may blow our meaning awry. Most words are not confined int single Boundary bat. ke mixing the primary color, bring tulip

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