language

today.... 

Sometimes you're better off dead
There's gun in your hand and it's pointing at your head
You think you're mad, too unstable
Kicking in chairs and knocking down tables

In a restaurant in a West End town
Call the police, there's a madman around
Running down underground to a dive bar
In a West End town...

lyrics to a Pet Shop Boys song...has nothing to do with today's post...but...I was totally immersed in linguistic thoughts when it came on the radio...

and I thought...I really wish I could just send my thoughts to this blog when I'm out driving...because- driving around is when I do my best linguistic thinking.  :)  

and now...I have to write them down....after the burst of thinking....when I was still buzzing around on caffeine...

now... I'm not so much buzzing 'round.   

But...it went something like this....probably a lot of rambling...but- a stream headed somewhere...

I think I was just marveling at the way in which we...find ways to communicate...

if you think about what little is needed to convey a message...we pretty much go through our day seeing signs and symbols- not needing to think twice about them...we get the message.

messages in colors (red,green,yellow)...communication in shapes on the road...silhouettes of objects we identify with and provide information...for instance...a bike....a person...a leaping deer with wings....

hilarious....

and it is amazing...that.....

When very far apart....humans find ways to communicate...shared knowledge and cooperative understanding....

like the whistled speech... communication carried over miles...by people...whistling.  

and people find a way...they just do.   

like...deaf children in Nicaragua in the 1980s, who spontaneously created their own language...where they were not connecting with teachers- or what the teachers were trying to teach- 

the kids...just....created language- that started as a pidgin- and later evolved into a more complex system. 

and the way that....

we can gesture with language....using intonation...emphasizing a direction...showing distinction in the deictic system between this thing here...there...or WAAAAAY over there....spacial gesturing using intonation....and I- of course- love all things intonation-y. 

it is amazing....

that with the communication tools and prescriptivism we are forced into, with shared understanding and knowledge....there can be such...misunderstandings...miscommunication....violation of Grice's maxims... I guess, even with the best systems....there can be people who just can't....really...communicate....

misplaced modifiers....and....all the things that happen....false starts...pragmatics...parsing issues....a number of things can go wrong...and the message is missed....

it happens...some people...just...aren't on the same channel...either... they just can't connect.  

but...yet....

for others...so much....so many words....not needed....and the message is beautifully clear...there is no distortion. When two people can sit in the same space....not needing words....yet...all that needs to be communicated....just is.  that is truly amazing...that the leap from thought to thought occurs without the confines of standard language...

language....whatever the modality...communication happens...

which makes me think of another post I want to write..about symbols...because I am thinking about getting a tattoo...and a whole lotta thought is going into that.  

peace...and love....<3  and linguistics....