Language

Part 1: No Symbolic Language

I found this part of the experiment very difficult. The fact that I could not use any form of normal language, which is what I use everyday of my life, to communicate with someone made it very challenging. Since I was not use to communicating in this manner, the person I communicated with had trouble understanding some of the words that I was relaying. My partners impressions throughout the conversation were very demonstrative. My partner altered the way they communicated after seeing how difficult it was for me to communicate what I was trying to relay to them. My partner's hand and facial expressions became very demonstrative, as if they were trying to expel the information I had trouble communicating to them. They made a lot of face, hand, and speaking gestures that were different then normal in an effort to try to further understand the information I tried to communicate. I think the culture that has the ability to speak has an advantage in communicating complex ideas because they are used to speaking this way ordinarily, which allows them to express all their ideas at their full capacity. The speaking culture might view the culture that does not use symbolic language as being of lesser intelligence. They might see them as being underdeveloped because they do not use the same language type as the speaking culture. This can be seen as a form of ethnocentrism towards the culture using non symbolic language. Some individuals in our culture that have difficulty communicating spoken language are the deaf community and newborn kids. Interacting with the deaf community can be very difficult because they cannot hear what you are saying to them. Even though they can pick up lip movements, the deaf rely heavily on facial expressions, gestures, and sign language. To speak with them, one must have a sign language translator or use many gestures to communicate efficiently. In the case of newborn kids, they have not learned how to speak. Most parents have trouble communicating to newborns because they cannot speak directly to them about the issue present.

Part 2: Spoken Language

It was very difficult to last 15 minutes using only speech for communication. I had to continually think about the task in order to complete the 15 minutes, which made it very difficult to communicate effectively. Since I use all types of language and communication everyday throughout my life, it was difficult to change up my normal way of communicating. It was difficult to speak without using any inflections or modifiers in my voice to add emphasis. My partner could understand for the most part was I was saying, it was much easier for them to understand then the first part. My partner said I became very monotonous while communicating, which made it difficult to follow along with the conversation. Also, my partner was using gestures and body movements which made it harder to speak without using those certain movements. Our non-speech language in our culture is very important to allow us to communicate effectively. The hand signals, vocal intonations, and body movements add emphasis to the spoken language to add clarity and subject to the communication process. This makes it easier to understand the content of communication. There are people who have difficulty reading body language. These people include the blind, senior citizens, and young children. The adaptive benefit to reading body language allows others to pickup subtle cues that help understand what another person is trying to communicate. Also, understanding body language allows a person to bond with other humans. I think there might be an advantage to not being able to read body language in an environment where one would not gain any extra knowledge about what the communicator is trying to say. It would be a useless adaption to acquire a trait of being able to read body language.

Part 3: Written Language

I think part one would have been way easier if I had been able to use written language. I feel that written language has the same power as spoken language if the person you are communicating to can read. The written language would provide as a substitute for spoken language. The only thing that would make it more difficult to understand then speaking is the amount of time it would take to write and read the dialect. This could create an unnatural amount of time between people who give and receive communication. Written language allows a culture to set policies and rules for given parts of a culture. For example, the laws we write down using written language are set in stone so our country can run smoothly. Written communication is more explicit and precise then spoken language. This can help to create a universal means of communication, easily able to be understood. Written language has had a giant impact on the spread of ideas around the world. Written language has allowed new ideas to spread to places where spoken language would not be understood. The written language can be interpreted in many different countries to help spread positive ideas. On the other hand, written language can also bring about negative impact on globalization of ideas. For example, the spread of written ideas of unjust rules to countries that act wrongfully in the way they treat humans makes written language uneffective towards positive impact.