Wednesday 3 March 2010

Grasping the links between language and objects - part 3

When considering the links we make while grasping language , a question that arises is; what is the outcome of words that don’t produce images? Well, we certainly can form such outcomes, since in language generally we can say that 'bonjour' means 'hello', and 'hello' is a greeting. At the end of this thought process we terminate at an image which has been made indirectly from the first word. We have gone through a thought process that begins whenever we think of the word 'bonjour'. We then think "that means 'hello'.", and then link that word 'hello' with the image of a greeting. This, we do till it starts to stick in our minds, some words being easy to make the indirect link with. Others not so. Where as the first method of natural language produced direct parallel words to accompany the image or idea, now we are caught up in a more complicated situation in which we have to think of two words of which we form a link between to gain the image for both words.
With a lapse of memory such as does occur in conversation, the link may be quickly broken so that we are trying to recall what the word was that meant 'hello', and that brought to mind the image of a greeting?
Yet, where we wish to get to in any language is the place we have managed to with our native tongue. That is this direct correspondence between the word and the image which we have already spoken about. We want to get to a point where the middle man is no longer any part of the procedure. Why then do we include this man in the first place?! Is he needed? Well perhaps with some things the answer initially must be yes. But we want to lose him as quickly as possible. What we would rather be the case, is to use this middle man(our mother tongue) to explain the meaning of a certain image, and as soon as that image is made clear, we must then dispose of it and use the new word to conjure up that image. And not if we can help it, the word that means that image. This appears more important when it comes to verbs.
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Tuesday 2 March 2010

Grasping the links between language and objects - part 2

Here is the second part of my thoughts about how Grasping language works:

Now since words conjure images they can work to create the exact idea when used correctly and understandably that is desired. That’s what successful Novels manage to do. From our general conceptions that we have created about the world and which correspond to words the writer of such novels modifies the reader’s image by first setting the foundations such as that ’there exists a person’ and then moulds this, makes it clearer what is said, perhaps this person is a man and he is a little chubby, also he has goofy teeth and wears glasses, and he stands with a slouch. The list can go on indefinitely to the most minute detail and yet we still manage to link it all together with an effortless ease. That is we can make a synthesis of sensible words and produce automatically an image to a clearness of the reader and writers wishes.
This to is the case when the Novelist writes about actions(verbs). When we see a person or thing changing position we immediately can say that that object is moving. Again the novelist can explain this through words which our mind automatically transcribes as an image or idea. And once more the vividness of the image it’s distinctness is produced by further explaining what the motion is like. The novelist might for instance say that the object moved quickly and if the object is a creature, he might say that its motion was of running. Still we have no trouble imagining such scenarios so long as they are described clearly and with words that we understand.

next part of Grasping language coming soon!

Grasping the links between language and objects - part 1

Here is the first of a list of articles which discuss how we develop language. That is how we can manage to actually grasp language.

When we talk about things such as places or people this thought often, if not always conjures up an image of the object. If it be a person, the image is maybe one of quite a distinct level. Thia is true especially when it is someone we know well, or a recently visited place. But with grasping of language as with all things we like to generalize these images. When we think of a man, we see no man in particular, but a being which contains the most widespread features of a man in his exact proportions. Or with a building, we gain a fairly general view of its geometric shape, along with perhaps windows or other linked ideas.
The point I’m trying to make is that all of us have images or memories, which we edit to our preferences so as to correspond to some representation in the outer world. And having these ideas we have allowed them to become linked with sounds, namely words (or language). So intertwined are words and ideas, that given one word alone, the other is automatically produced. For instance look at any object about where your sitting and as soon as you see the object, it’s name comes to mind straight away. Or given a word such as ‘Dog’ or ‘Horse’, immediately an idea or image is created along with that word. So to conclude; on a simple level words can create ideas or images the mind. And likewise ideas or images create words.
Both words and ideas then seem to work parallel to each other one helping the other along.

Article about grasping language continues in next post.