The Importance Of Language!!

“I know more than I can say”. This quote by Michael Polanyi can be interpreted as- language limits our expression of knowledge. We know and feel a lot of things which we cannot express in words. We understand a lot of things better when we experience it ourselves than when someone tells us about them, like a rollercoaster ride. You cannot explain the feeling in your stomach during the ride to someone. They need to ride to know it. But to communicate to someone that he should experience this ride called the ‘rollercoaster ride’ we need language. Thus the need for language arises from the need to communicate. Every group or tribe of humans that ever existed has had a spoken and written language of its own because all of them felt the need to find a common way of communication or passing information to each other. This is the basic role of language.

According to me language gives identity to what we see, feel and think about the world around us so that we can convey it to others. One thing is for sure that language plays an important role in different areas of knowledge such as Arts, Science, Mathematics, Politics and many others. But the question is- ‘is this importance of language the same in all the areas of knowledge?’ And is the importance of language in an area of knowledge dependent on the importance of communication in that area of knowledge? Well let us evaluate this with different examples.

Let us start with Science. As said by Nicholas Alchin, “Broadly speaking natural sciences are about finding out how the physical world works”. It is important to keep passing on information of all inventions made by the scientists through their experimentation and observations. Here language comes into play. Even though some might argue that science is about theory and practice, it starts with the study. Nomenclature is a major part of all the sciences. In chemistry nomenclature can be defined as the terminology of chemical compounds. It represents the basic "language of chemistry". For example the IUPAC system for naming organic compounds. Hence when students write their examinations or scientists write reports on their research they must use the proper scientific terminologies. Without these terms you cannot expect to be understood. Even if you know the theories in sciences you might not be able to express your knowledge of it without appropriate words. Thus language limits one’s expression of what they know in science.

Now let us consider Mathematics as an area of knowledge. In mathematics one calculates, counts, finds out ratios and proportions. But only looking at numbers or writing them down wouldn’t be of any purpose. If we just say 25% it is very ambiguous. It doesn’t make sense until it is used to quantify certain thing. For example 25% of water or 85% of marks in math. Statistics, even though is all about graphic and diagrammatic representation, unless supported with proper heading, labeling and a scale, the graphs and diagram mean nothing. The bell curve for example represents the standard deviation. That shows how the data given is clustered around the mean. To interpret the bell curve it is important to support it with appropriate data. In math to make a diagram meaningful language is necessary. Being an International Baccalaureate student I have to write math portfolios as a part of my internal assessment. I understand the importance of language in math more as I need to explain each step in words, while solving the problems. In these portfolios it is important to explain what logic or method you have applied to solve the particular problem and why have you applied it?

Though language is important in arts, I think its importance is very limited. Dance is an art form doesn’t require language, if it is to be learnt. We simply see someone dancing and we learn the steps by trying and imitating them. Professional dancers do have names for their steps for communication purposes within their group. In Baratnatayam (a classical dance form in India) “hasya” is a general term used for ‘expression of laughter’. But there are different types of laughter; laughter of joy, ridicule, scorn. It is upto the dancer to perform the laughter appropriate to the context, to convey the theme of the dance to the audience. Paintings are made from inspiration to inspire others. And to feel inspired by a painting, language is not necessary. It is only when we have to tell someone what we interpreted from a painting, that we have to use words. But a lot of times we find ourselves incapable of putting across these emotions.

History is defined as a series of events, in the recent past or far back. If we look at history as an area of knowledge, we can see that the quote, ‘History is written by the victors’ is quite true. It’s the way in which the history is presented to us, that determines our perceptions and emotions about the events that took place in the past. Here we see that language determines our perception of history. But on the other hand if we are presented with both sides of the history (the victors and the vanquished) we might reason out the facts for ourselves. In this way language does not limit our perception.

While studying business and management, we learnt Abraham Maslow’s model of hierarchy of needs.The above picture taken from:-http://sagerave.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/maslow.gif

It is a theory of non-financial motivation. It explains how our needs motivate us. At the base of the pyramid of ‘hierarchy of needs’; are the physiological needs, like food, clothing and shelter. If these are not satisfied then a person does not feel motivated at work. It is simple to define physiological need, at the base of the pyramid as they are general and common to everyone. But as we go higher in the pyramid, we see that the needs get harder and harder to define. The top most in the level is self actualization. It is a very subjective one. Self actualization will be different for different people and it is something that no one can explain in words. When Buddha attained enlightenment, what he experienced at that time cannot be put in words. His preaching’s taught people how to live righteously but not what he felt in his hour of enlightenment. He only, amongst million will know.

Based on the examples evaluated above, I can say that language is important in all the areas of knowledge but its importance is not the same in all of them. Language is of less importance in areas of knowledge such as arts and history, as compared to areas of knowledge such as sciences and politics and mathematics.

A NOTE to all readers:
This blog entry is a personal reflection and is completely based on my personal views and is open for debate. You all are welcome to comment on my views.