On Language

What is language? Language is the locally agreed upon set of complex sounds that represent objects, or symbols, and ideas in the form of words.* Words, then, are the representations of those agreed upon sounds in the local dialect(s) that reflect those particular objects, or symbols, and ideas. They are the representations of all of our communication, both verbal and written. These words are made of even smaller and simpler sounds. In most languages, those sounds are made up by letters. Each population has its own set of sounds to represent all of the things that they need to convey to one another in order to have a functioning society.

For example, in English we recognize the word “apple” and can concretely and definitively say what that “apple” is and what makes up the entirety of its apple-ness.** However, can you recognize “яблоко”? What about, “ تفاحة ”? Can you define “яблоко” in all of its яблоко-ness? Possibly you can, but perhaps not. Language is local, and sometimes extremely so. A person standing in Seoul will probably not recognize any of those words and may not even recognize them as words at all. Words only have as much meaning as you, as an individual, ascribe to them and it will certainly change from person to person.

However much meaning we, as individuals, like to try to put into what we say or what is said to us, and as many subtleties we may try to use, or inferences we try to make, in our daily communication, the fact remains that what you have to say is, and will always be, more concrete and more meaningful to yourself than anyone else. The more complex an idea expressed, the more different variations of meanings your listener can interpret and the higher probability of misinterpretation, even when two people are communicating in the same language/ dialect. Or, to paraphrase an idea of Umberto Eco’s, since there is no interpretive authority on which language is based, the interpretation is based on a combination of initiative on the part of the listener and contextual pressures, meaning deciding which meaning the communicator had in mind from a very finite number of interpretations based on the specific context of the communication.***

This is the reason that ‘parents just don’t understand’ and ‘men are from Mars and women are from Venus.’+ Except it is not just along generational or gender lines. Even people who have known each other their entire lives are incapable of correctly interpreting everything their counterpart says. So before the next time you get mad at your friend, your significant other, or are offended by some off-hand remark, just remember that whatever it was that got you all riled up could very well be a misunderstanding or misinterpretation. Remember that your interpretation is not the only interpretation and that you can be, and probably are, wrong.


Endnotes
*I am choosing to use the words object and symbol interchangeably here.
**Yes, I make up words.
*** Eco, Umberto, The Limits of Interpretation, (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1990), 20-21.
+ Granted, there are certain physiological differences in the latter case that make for simpler and often more comical misunderstandings.