Word
Gems
What is a
man but the sum of his thoughts?
- Mortimer Adler's
- Syntopicon
Essays
Language:
Editor's
1-minute essay
The great idea of Language enjoys a special status as it relates to all of the
other ideas in a particular way: all ideas and thoughts of men and women are, of course,
expressed in speech and language.
Language brings to us a host of problems, debated over the centuries, too involved
to address in detail here:
- the development of historical and comparative studies of the various human
languages;
- the scientific formulation of what is common to all languages in origin, structure,
and change;
- the science of linguistics;
- the problem of ambiguity in language; in its worst form, language in service of
deception and propaganda.
Possibly,
- the most interesting, the most profound, question concerning
language is this: how do the sounds we make, the marks we inscribe on a
page -- how do these initially get their meaning to create language? And, once created,
how can they convey thoughts from one mind to another?
This may not sound like much of a problem to you -- but think about it!
I could say to you: "Please hand me that book."
You see the book. You're not too busy at the time. You pass it my way -- no
problemo. You knew what I meant, and you did it. No big deal.
And if all linguistic transactions were of this sort, you might have a point.
Satirist Jonathan Swift in his Gulliver's Travels speaks of a project being
considered by professors of language:
- "Since words are only names for things, it would be more
convenient for all men to carry about them such things as were necessary to express the
particular business they are to discourse on."
Yes, what if we all could just carry books around with us; then, whenever we
wanted to talk about books, all we'd have to do is just hold up one of those little
suckers for all to see, and we wouldn't even need to say a word. (It's easy to imagine
Swift guffawing about this.)
This could work -- sort of -- at least until someone wanted to talk about
galaxies, or ocean life, or, even worse, airy abstractions like freedom and equality.
However, getting back to books -- yes, holding up a book might do some
good, in some cases. But what if you wanted to talk about the Tibetan "Book"
of the Dead; or your need to "book" a flight; or your company that does
business by the "book." (If that company is Enron, maybe we could also talk
about cooking its "books.") Then, too, maybe you'd like to impress us by talking
about all "books" that achieved bestseller status in France last year. Or since
1925.
We've only just begun, but you see my point.
- How can one little word stretch that far to include so much?
Here we begin to address the problem of ambiguity in language. (If you don't want to
talk about "books," try this: it's said that the little word "run" has
over 100 meanings!)
But this problem, formidable as it is, says nothing about the more basic issue of
how "book" came to be in the first place -- that little noise we make,
those funny little markings on paper, all which we cavalierly issue whenever the
wild-hair notion pops into our heads regarding communicating this idea of
"book."
The ancients, Adler tells us, preach that the signs and symbols we call words
begin with a mental conception:
Aristotle:
- "All men may not have the same speech sounds, but the mental
experiences, which these directly symbolize, are the same for all."
John Locke:
- sounds formed should be the instrument whereby "the thoughts
of men's minds are conveyed from one to another."
Adler asserts that it is this mental conception of things, pictures in the mind
potentially common to all human beings, that makes possible the translation of words from
one language to another.
- The very term "communication," the root of which is
"unity," speaks of a union of minds sharing the same idea -- this is
language at its best.
But, to further illustrate the systemic problems of language, we must ask:
- "How can I know, as we discuss a certain subject or
object -- how can I know that the 'picture' that I have in my mind is the same
'picture' in your mind?"
This is a most serious and perplexing issue. Its precise solution, along with
answers concerning the origin of language, eludes us.
We do know -- we think we know -- that language begins with thought; but, the
exact method by which
- single words with multiple meanings, and single concepts
expressed by multiple words
are translated into signs and symbols of language, remains a mystery to
philosophers.
|