Role of Vocabularies in Shaping Social and Professional Life - Essay Example

Role of vocabularies in shaping Social and Professional life Vocabulary is the root of all conversations that human beings engage in. In the of communication, humans either give knowledge or receive knowledge through communication.1. When referring to communication, we do so, so as to gain knowledge from other people with different views from us, and with the use of vocabularies we are able to construct proper channels of communication to identify with each other. By definition, vocabularies are lists or collections of words arranged in alphabetical order and explained. Vocabulary is defined as all words that a person is conversant with. Combining the two vocabularies can simply be defined as a list of words or a collection of words arranged in alphabetical order which one has knowledge of. Putting this issue of vocabularies into perspective, it definitely proves it difficult or close to impossible to actually understand or acquire knowledge from a person who cannot construct vocabularies. One is able to better his or her communication skills by getting better on vocabulary knowledge. It is recommended that one achieves good command and familiarity of words to be capable to use the right words and terms in the right places. The more words one contains in his or her vocabularies, the increased options they have in using them at any point of a conversation. Through the day to day practice of speech, it is possible that individuals learn how to use words with utmost contact. It is also vital that individuals be acquainted with the precise meaning, usage, spelling, pronunciation, and other particulars of words one uses, or else their exercise may bring out the opposite result of what one wished to put across, and make individuals seem less logical and knowledgeable. On a negative point of view, vocabulary can hinder one from indulging into communication or a talk, since one is not familiarized to the vocabularies being used. This also applies when it comes to written vocabularies because it becomes very difficult for one to comprehend written vocabularies1. In response, this fact may alter the features of the essay, for the vocabularies we do not know cannot profile what we can be familiar with. Language shapes ones perceptive of reality leading to individuals having the capability to spot and think only what language wants us to see and reflect on.3This theory has the two strands of linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity. Linguistic determinism argues, that language creates thought to hundred percent, whereas linguistic relativity indicates that language shapes ones thought processes of one’s knowledge. The first is widely rejected. The counter argument is that it is a two way course of action, for example, language creates thought but that thought can also create language. In other scenarios, the knowledge may lead the vocabulary, which would imply that what we can understand and acquire is not constantly restricted by ones vocabulary2. For instance, in the area of comprehension of the mathematics, it has been argued that kids tend to comprehend the theory of straightforward quantities, like 10 and15, by learning with illustrations like ‘10sticks’ or ‘15 pencils’. In addition, reflect on the Arrhenius variable in chemistry, a section of science. Before Svante Arrhenius could generate the symbol, A, for the Arrhenius constant, which is also referred to as the frequency factor, he had had to encompass knowledge of the principal concepts of the constant, like the Arrhenius equation and temperature. If it was a failure, Arrhenius would have been delighted. Thus, in the expert’s viewpoint, though this fact – the idea of numbers ten and fifteen and the rate of reaction – may not be new information to the world; it is to the learner, thus demonstrating that new vocabularies can be shaped in response to the knowledge we have. The ability to communicate effectively can also shape an individual’s corporate life as well as personal life 3. It enables one generate a good affinity with people, and makes it possible for one to take part in essential roles in situations. Personal interactions can be divided into four categories, observations, thoughts, feelings, and needs. However, vocabularies do not completely shape the four categories named above, take feelings for instance, feelings in most cases are known not to be expressed in words but, this does not imply that when one experiences certain feelings and do not express it in words, it becomes invisible or insignificant. In the perspective of feelings and emotions, being short of knowledge and vocabularies in determining what we can know is not applicable and cannot be completely relied upon because when people stop working to put across a certain feeling or emotion is not necessarily because they lack knowledge. In the world of business whether, a small business or an enterprise the vocabulary of numbers does not completely shape the phase of trading. For instance, take into account what a majority of people in the Western culture believe as a necessary skill in math and life? We usually associate this skill with vocabularies of numbers with the argument that acquiring the vocabulary of numbers is the same as knowing how to count. However3, in the verbal communication of the Piraha community, a south American community vocabulary for numbers does not subsist; they employ “hói”, “hói”, and “baágiso” to state quantities denoting “around one”, “some” and “many” respectively. Though statistics are not available, this does not mean, that they are not acquainted with the concepts linked with numbers, like the skill to count or the concept of a specific ‘amount’. When villagers of the Piraha were given some number of spools of threads and were required to present to the researcher the equivalent number of balloons by lining up the balloon next to the spools one at a time, they were able to finish the task appropriately. At the end of the task, the villagers show cased and proved their capability to figure out the concepts of amount’ and ‘counting’. Therefore, this illustrates that in some cases, knowledge cannot be restricted by vocabulary for the grounds that not all perceptive can be expressed through the use of speech or vocabulary4 . When taking children and vocabularies into consideration, they are the easiest of all people to acquire and learn vocabularies. Does this affect how they live with their peers? It does to a great extent. All children enter school with meaningful differences in vocabulary knowledge, but with the help of themselves and teachers, the vocabulary count is increased at a faster rate. Researchers show that a child who spends ten minutes outside school studying on a daily basis have substantially higher rates of vocabulary growth between the second and fifth grade than children who do less or no reading at all. Children who join the school with some degree of vocabulary knowledge develop quicker over time as compared to their peers who have loaded vocabulary knowledge. This greatly affects a child social life in that it dictates the content he or she will be acquiring depending on his knowledge on vocabularies. A child with rich vocabulary knowledge can know as much as he hears, regardless of his age, and the position he is in and this as a result, affects the development of the child. However, while vocabularies do not present and illustrate the real picture of the facts and reality, the nonexistence of vocabulary does not automatically suggest the nonexistence of knowledge, as the claim indicates. Believing the likelihood that vocabulary restricts all that we can learn how is it possible for people to gain knowledge of diverse languages, languages which they have no vocabulary structure at all? Thus, though there is truth in the statement, the learner must be familiar with the limitations of the statement and the fact that knowledge can be acquired exclusive of the words or symbols we previously had. All the same, vocabularies play a major role when it comes to ones knowledge or intelligence5 . Vocabularies do change the way we think, the way we convey our feelings, the way one communicate with other people, influences the culture or modes of life we embrace, and create relationships in our lives, that is what shapes our lives in the point of view of what we are conversant with and what we acquire in life. Minus vocabularies all these proves to be unattainable. This directs to the conclusion that as much there is evidence to differ with the topic of the essay it is clear that the vocabulary we have had done more than communicate one’s knowledge; it shapes what we can know. Bibliography FRANK, M. FEDORENKO, E.AND GIBSON, E. ( 2008). “Number as a cognitive technology: Evidence from Piraha language and cognition.” Cognition 108. (2008): 819 – 824. LAUFER, B. (2009). Second language vocabulary acquisition from language input and form focused activities.London: John Benjamins Publishing Company. NATION, I.S.P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. QIAN, D. D. (2001). Assessing the roles of depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension. The Canadian Modern Language Journal, 5,262-365. READ, J. (2000). Measuring the vocabulary knowledge of second language learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Read More