How the Study of Language Can Change Society - Research Paper Example

Language in Theory and Practice: How the Study of Language Can Change Society Introduction Everyday, each and every person the world over who lives in the company of other people communicates in one way or another with those whom he comes in contact with. The words may be spoken, written or signed, but they are conveyed in a way that is meaningful to those to whom they are conveyed. Words are so commonplace that we take them for granted; we are unaware that the way we communicate to others affects our lives in countless subtle ways, and if we only knew how, we could use the way we communicate, our language, to make a great change in society. The following is a simulated newspaper advisory column that answers questions written in by readers of a hypothetical broadsheet newspaper. The column is entitled: “Letters to Aunt Amy” Situation 1: Structured Language Dear Aunt Amy, Hi! I am a regular reader of your column, and I am amazed at the way you give sound advice and back it up with informative nuggets of wisdom. I am a first-time mom, and my little son is just starting to vocalize. When I coo and babble at him, he likes it so much and it makes him smile and gurgle with a baby-sort-of-laughter; however, my mom says that I should stop it and not get him used to baby talk or he will either be spoiled or he won’t learn to talk properly when he grows up. I have been told to talk to him like a grown-up, something I find unnatural. What should I do? Furthermore, we are a bilingual family, as my husband is of Japanese nationality. Should I speak to my son with only one language so he won’t get confused (another advice of my mom’s)? Sincerely, Perplexed Mom Dear Perplexed Mom, For generations, mothers (and fathers, for that mother) have cooed, babbled, cackled and crooned to their children. I am not an expert at child psychology, but it is instinctive that this is the way our children get to associate our voices and faces with warmth and affection, and that deep sort of bond that sustains us throughout our lives. Your child obviously enjoys it, so go ahead, knock yourself out. As to your child growing up not knowing how to speak properly, I would not worry about that. A famous intellectual and linguist, Noam Chomsky, devoted a great deal of study to the structuralist theory of language, or the “science of language,” so to speak, and theorized that the ability to convey meaning through language is actually hard-wired into our brains. Chomsky built on the idea that language is a system which follows a structure, an idea first brought to light by Saussure and on which he further developed. Chomsky wrote that there is such a thing as Universal Grammar, or UG, that is a body of principles of grammar that is shared by all languages. It describes our collective innate ability to understand grammar and acquire language. All human beings have this incorporated into their biology, and environment notwithstanding, the young child will have the ability of developing his knowledge of proper grammar and language usage. As for teaching your children more than one language, many child education experts agree that exposing little children to several languages is a great advantage; and the earlier he is introduced to a multilingual environment, the better the results will be. Consider the following exchange between a child and his parents: “Dad is at the sink washing dishes when he feels a tug on his pants. ‘Daddy? Can I have some biscuits?’ ‘I don’t know, Alex. Go ask your mum, I think she brought home something special for dessert tonight.’ Running over to the dining room, Alex catches his mum clearing the last of the dinner plates off the table. ‘Mami ... papi dice que puedo comer una galleta porque me acabé toda la cena’, she sputters. ‘Mijo, pero compré fresas para el postre. Mañana puedes comer una galleta.’ ‘Pero mami no me gustan las fresas’, Alex says, “Quiero una galleta ... por favor...’ ” (sourced from Talaris Research Institute, 2009). Anybody, even those without any formal training in linguistics, would understand what is taking place in Alex’s mind – that without much effort he switches from one language to another with flawless grammar in either language. Apparently, the human mind at an early age is capable of assimilating the language structure of several languages without confusing one for the other. With a greater degree of exposure and more opportunity to practice it, a child will sooner be able to learn more than one language at the same time. It is possible that in discouraging your son’s exposure to your husband’s native language, your mother may subconsciously be acting according to the tenets of what academics call “critical linguistics.” In this theory, language is seen as a crucial element in structuring society. Language conveys not only meaning but attributes and ideologies. It may be likely that, although she is not conscious of it, your mother may be concerned in shaping your child’s future towards a certain direction, a particular niche in the social structure which his linguistic capabilities may prepare him for. It also may be her desire that you, rather than your husband, would have a greater influence over the child because he will be able to communicate more with your than your husband and thus identify with your more closely than with him. There are other advantages to allowing children to learn more than one language. For instance, children who learn to read in one language find it easier to learn to read in another language as well. Also, research has determined that bilingualism help children develop certain attention skills sooner. They develop “selective attention,” or the ability to focus on important details while ignoring other information that tend to distract, a skill that comes from learning to filter out world from one language while communicating in another (Talaris Research Institute, 2009). Aside, of course, there is the advantage of being able to live more fruitfully in the multilingual, global community which he will be a part of in his adulthood. I hope this helps. Very truly yours, Aunt Amy Situation 2: Feminism in Language Dear Aunt Amy, I am an 18-year-old student enrolled in a journalism course in the nearby community college. Three months ago, I was staying up a bit late at the college library trying to get some work done. Just as I had finished my work, a professor I had come to know a week earlier offered to walk me home. Feeling that he was trustworthy because of his respectable stature in the community, I agreed. However, as we conversed along the way, he told me that he had taken a “special liking” to me and felt that we should “cultivate a fruitful relationship.” I was stunned, because while he did not say anything or do anything that was openly wrong, nor did he touch me, still I felt threatened by his tone of voice and the look in his eye. I did not report the incident. I knew he is married and has children, and that he is a well-known and friendly professor on campus, so I was afraid nobody would believe me. I did transfer classes so I would not have to see him. Still, after three weeks, I feel so vulnerable that I think of quitting the course. All this man said to me were the words “special liking” and “cultivate a fruitful relationship.” By themselves, they do not seem wrong. So am I just over-reacting, but am I justified in feeling threatened? Please help me! Harassed Dear Harassed, You don’t need to taste fish to know when it’s rotten, because you could smell it a mile away. In this case, the stink rises to high heavens. If you were to analyze the words “cultivate a fruitful relationship” you’d get the feeling that the guy was talking about a piece of farmland, and you would not be far from the truth. The linguist George Lakoff, developed his theory of cognitive models that was anchored on the significance of metaphors. He stated that “Cognitive models derive their fundamental meaningfulness directly from their ability to match up with preconceptual structure…Where there is no preconceptual structure to our experience, we import such structure via metaphor” (Lakoff, 1987). Clearly, the professor who propositioned you saw in you a metaphor for a piece of land that may be “cultivated” and made “fruitful.” Again, the intention is only implied, until one goes back into history to find out the subconscious implications of that statement. Traditionally, ours is a patriarchal society, where men dominated and women were subservient. At one time in the history of Greek civilization, women were considered objects, the property of their fathers prior to marriage, and of their husbands after marriage. She could not own property nor have legal rights of her own, or pursue her own livelihood. According to the E-Museum of the Minnesota State University: “…Athenian women were only a small step above slaves by the 5th century BC. From birth a girl was not expected to learn how to read or write, noe was she expected to earn an education. On reading and writing, Menander wrote: ‘Teaching a woman to read and write? What a terrible thing to do! Like feeding a vile snake on more poison’ ” (MSU, 2009). Against this brief historical background, and keeping in mind that culturally our language handed down through the centuries embodies the collective experiences of our civilization, it is clear that the words your professor uttered clearly shows his intent to possess you, to make you his own. I think that you had, by virtue also of contextual symbolism and linguistic metaphors, subjectively picked up this message and, therefore, felt threatened. Our modern language has made literary tools of metaphors, but in this case the metaphors went deeper than thus drawing similarities among things with neutral meanings. In this case, the language was slanted towards conveying the superiority of men and the inferiority of women. As the selection from the MSU website above states, women were not taught to read and write, and thus men were the scribes and historians. According to Spender (1980), it was because men wielded the power that they have fashioned the use of language to the myth of male superiority. For instance, in ancient Rome, the seat of Western civilization, the word “sons” included all women, even daughters (Grubbs, 2002, p. 17). The tradition of using the male gender to represent universality is still being followed today. Spender has developed the feminist theory of language as an instrument utilized by men to enforce their power over women. Her theory states that language is slanted to favourably portray the position of the male gender over that of the female, and often to the detriment or disadvantage of the female. Faupel (2001) gives several powerful examples of this. For instance, she cites reports by the Chicago Tribune of a kidnapping of an 11-year-old girl by her male high school principal, age 27 years. The report said that the child was “on the run with the school principal,” referred to “their vehicle,” and described the kidnapper and his victim jointly as “the pair” and “their whereabouts,” that “they were continuing to travel south.” According to Faupel, all of this language implies that the girl, a child, had given her consent to her abduction and thus wilfully undertook all those acts, co-owned the vehicle and formed a pair with the man, which obviously her minority makes impossible. Another example given by Faupel are the typical reports on rape. For instance, the Associated Press in June 5, 2001, stated that “adolescents have the highest rate of rape.” By the wordings chosen, rape was described as a condition adolescents posses (“have”) rather than a violence done to them. Also, the language was chosen to conceal the overwhelming fact that 91% of all victims of rape and sexual assault are women, making it appear that men are equally victims of rape. And finally, the statement avoids assigning responsibility to men for the rapes, although 99% of the offenders were male (Faupel, 2001, p. 3). Many times also, the rape is described as the offender “having sex” with the victim, completely ignoring the fact that rape is not a sexual act so much as it is an act of violence against the person of the victim. Another thing, even though male victims do rarely occur in rape cases, they are rarely described in terms of their sexual attractiveness, whereas female victims almost always are, implying, without stating, that the women’s attractiveness provided motivation for the male offender to perform the rape. Feminism in language is not confined to English, and certainly is not limited to the Western cultures. Sotunsa Mobolanle Ebunoluwa, of the Department of Languages and Literary Studies in Babcock University, Ogun State, embarked on the search for a female-gender theory that is suited to the special experiences that apply to black women globally. Ebunoluwa mentions that there is already a variant of feminism, popularly known as womanism, that describes the African-American female gender discourse. What is the purpose behind all of this discussion? It is to show you, Harassed, that there is basis for you to feel threatened, and therefore to protect your rights. I suggest that you report the incident to the college authorities, and if they fail to act on it, to file a sexual harassment report at the “Women’s Desk” or its equivalent at the local police station. Also, do not forget to seek counselling with the college’s guidance counsellor or a professional therapist. And count yourself as one of the lucky ones who early on detected the warning signs, and acted on it. Be comforted in the thought that with your courageous actions, this will never happen to anybody in your community college again. Yours truly, Aunt Amy Synthesis/Conclusion The creative work that was presented here deals in general with some aspects of society that I feel require change. In the first situation, a multiracial couple is being interfered with by a conservative grandparent concerning the raising of their children. The problem concerns first, the more open manner in which parents related to their children, unlike the strict methods in the former times; and second, the matter of open acceptance of another culture through language. I feel that language is central in communication, and where bonds among people are to be created, there must be a free use of language, not only verbal, but even in action, physical closeness, and attitude. Chomsky’s theory of structuralism in language is vital here, because essentially it states that people across cultures are the same, they are united by a Universal Grammar, and thus the centripetal effect of language that bring people together. This is nicely exhibited by children being able to learn two or more languages fluently at a young age, proving that the brain may have the capability of perceiving a Universal Grammar. The second situation, on the other hand, deals with the implications of language spoken to a young woman by a man with dishonourable intentions. Many times, especially where the law is concerned, the factual words are given their plain meaning and this exculpates or removes blame from the would-be offender. However, the meanings which language associates words and images with could help alert a young, unsuspecting woman to danger, and thus protect herself. In this instance, the use of metaphors become extremely important, because it conveys signs that are not objectively evident but are deep-seated in our culture and are very important all the same. Beside this, it has been written about many times, and I believe to good effect, that language in the past has been used as a tool to discriminate against women, and in general against minorities. This cannot be taken away overnight, but at least the realization of it is the first step to creating change. In this brief work, the theories on structuralism, critical linguistics, cognitive theory and metaphors, and feminism were used, I hope, to effectively show the vital role of language in improving our lives. As the world grows smaller, a single language that unites us will become increasingly important; but at the same time, the wonderful variety of our cultures and languages is also reason to celebrate and preserve their uniqueness. I hope that the world of the future, like the child in this essay, would be one where people will understand each other in several languages, and in the course of it all, will come to realize that all people are the same everywhere, and that we are all brothers and sisters living in a single home we call Earth. [wordcount=2,803] Bibliography Chomsky, N 1995 The Minimalist Program. Massachusetts Institute of Technology pp. 168-169 Clark, N 2003 Great thinkers of our time – Noam Chomsky. New Statesman, 14 July. Accessed 27 December 2009 from http://www.newstatesman.com/200307140016 Dowling, R 2009 Geographies of identity: landscapes of class. Progress in Human Geography, Dec 2009, Vol. 33 Issue 6, p833-839 Ebunoluwa, S M 2009 Feminism: The Quest for an African Variant. The Journal of Pan African Studies, vol. 3, issue 1, Sept 2009, pp. 227-234. Faupel, S 2001 Concern for Language Justified. ICASA. 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