Language Blog

LANGUAGE BLOG

Part One

v For this assignment, I spent twenty minutes trying to converse with my twelve year old brother without speaking, writing or using ASL.  This was very, very difficult for many reasons. First, he was getting very frustrated with me because he could not understand what I was trying to say. Second, the conversation about a simple topic took infinitely longer than it would if we could verbally communicate.  What I noticed about his reaction to my inability to speak is that he had a very difficult time talking to me without my ability to respond.  One improvement that became apparent with this form of communication is that there is much greater eye contact; you cannot take your eyes off each other when attempting this form of communication otherwise the conversation ends, which may inadvertently increase the personal connection between people.

v My partner was definitely in control of the conversation.  I could only try to answer him, but I was unable to initiate portions of the conversation so he was the only party who could initiate and carry on the conversation.  I had to keep tapping him in order to get his attention when he looked away so that he knew I was trying to tell him something.  He definitely had the balance of power in the conversation. Admittedly, it was the longest 20 minutes of my life.

v The only culture that could communicate complex ideas within their population would be the culture that has mastered verbal communication.  There is only so much that you can communicate with bodily motions.  You can demonstrate how to do something or where to go without verbal communication, but trying to explain what, when, or why is virtually impossible without verbal communication. Therefore, a population that lacks verbal communication would be very limited in their knowledge and would be much more reliant upon one another because every instruction has to be physically demonstrated.  Cultures that can verbally communicate have the ability to be more mobile, educated, and autonomous.  A speaking culture would certainly believe that a culture that does not use symbolic language is very unintelligent, primitive, and inferior.  In the modern world, the only humans I can think of that do not speak are nuns and monks that take a vow of silence.  Unfortunately, these individuals do not represent an entire culture, but rather small religious sects within wider communities and cultures.  These individuals usually have the ability to communicate, yet they choose not to.

Part Two

v This segment of the experiment was significantly easier because the ability to communicate verbally allowed this conversation to be more relaxed and comfortable for both my partner and myself.  We both noticed, however, that there are multiple aspects that make this form of communication difficult.  First, talking without altering one’s tone is nearly impossible because it is a habitual human behavior.  Second, it is much more difficult than it seems it would be to speak without moving one’s eyebrows.  It requires complete concentration to speak without making bodily movements, eyebrow contortions, and tone fluctuations.  Neither party had difficulty understanding one another, but the conversation was altered by our inability to physically embellish our thoughts.  This second portion of the experiment was very educational and amusing because we realized how much humans take the ability to embellish speech for granted.

v I believe this experiment proves that at one time, humans relied almost exclusively on the ability to physically communicate.  Non-speech language allows humans to express excitement and emotion, which are vital components in complex communication.  With the use of non-speech language humans are able to more effectively express anger, happiness, sorrow, fear, and urgency.  Even without the utterance of a single word, a perceptive individual can read body language to comprehend how another person is feeling at any given time.

v The adaptive benefit of reading body language allows one to sense danger by gauging the reactions of other humans or animals.  This is an effective tool for hunting or escaping danger posed by nearby predators.  When competing for resources or mates, it is also helpful to read the body language of competitors to ascertain how willing they are to fight you for what they hope to gain.  You can also read body language to judge the passivity of other individuals, which allows you to know when or when not to act aggressively.

Some people are by nature very tense, while others are very shy; these kinds of people have difficulty relaxing around people they are not familiar or comfortable with.  If one were to judge this type of individual by body language alone, a false opinion of their personality and/or character would most likely be formed.  An excellent example of a situation in which people often give off unreliable body language is during interviews.  The desire to impress hiring professionals makes even the calmest individual anxious.  Times of stress and emergency situations also tend to reveal erratic temperaments and body language.