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The Unity of the Language Arts |
| Section: MODERN THOUGHT / THE LOVE OF LANGUAGE |
| Author: Maria Dibattista |
| Publication:
The World & I Online |
| Issue Date: 6/1/1995 |
| Size: 3,594 Words, 22,028 Characters |
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"In the beginning was the Word." Whether or not we believe with Saint John that the Word is the origin of all creation, there can be little doubt that the dawn of language marked the beginning of a uniquely human consciousness. Our relation to language is thus at once commonplace and miraculous. Whatever language we speak, we habitually speak unthinkingly, so accustomed are we to the ordinariness of having words at our command. Language is indeed such a universal attribute of our humanity, the rules governing its use so uniform, efficient, inerrant, and yet infinitely adaptable in expressing our thoughts and feelings, that many contemporary linguists are confident in speaking, as Steven Pinker does in his recent book, of the "language instinct." We may be engineering marvels with an opposable thumb and upright posture, but it is our ability to articulate and communicate our thoughts and ideas that makes us a species capable, as no other species is, of altering as well as adapting to external reality. We can even, if we are persuasive enough, change the hearts and minds of other people, through something as immaterial, yet real, as words.
But like all instincts, language is subject to its vicissitudes. There are periods when the arts of language are held in high esteem, others, such as our own, when a more laissez-faire attitude seems to prevail. This is odd, even foolhardy, given how much our life can be enriched or impoverished, advanced or imperiled depending on the quality and precision of our language. Wars, cease-fires, truces, and surrenders are literally enacted by verbal decrees; legislation must be spelled out in language; our relations with family, friends, coworkers, and fellow citizens fundamentally depend on the language with which we address each other. Even our relationship to ourselves is affected by language. As Freud was the first to emphasize, our dream life involves the nightly composition of ingenious texts in which our deepest wishes find expression, often through the clever manipulation of verbal forms. Dreams love puns, rhymes, and other forms of wordplay; they are particularly fond of constructing rebuses and inventing neologisms that co...
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...n thus make new adaptations, devise corrective measures, project a future for ourselves as no other species can. This is our biological birthright. But as Welty movingly reminds us, the word carries with it a spiritual heritage to be jealously guarded and preserved. If we make good and wise use of that legacy, we might learn anew the blessings of language that was there for us from the start.
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Publication Details
(The World & I Online) |
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The World & I Online is a
comprehensive academic resource that encompasses a broad range of
articles by scholars and experts in the areas of Global Studies,
Liberal Arts, Fine & Applied Arts, General Science, and Spanish.
Originally published monthly in print as The World & I, our site
includes the complete contents since 1986 and continues to publish
a new issue online each month. |
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