Journal #2

The process of forming words and speaking explained in the readings does demonstrate how we are physically able to communicate through language. We are all capable of forming the same (or similar) sounds but have been limited because of culture and area differences. In my experience of pronunciation of words in Farsi some words are all but possible. The produced sound is nothing like that of my language partner and instruction on where the sounds should be coming from and the correct movement of the mouth is the only way I have been abale to get it. I see in the readings that the parts of our speech system, especially the motor cortex, are comprised of abilities of hearing, seeing, interpreting, understanding, and reproducing words.

 

When a word is heard or seen it is processed by the auditory or occipital lobe respectively. That is were the process begins and as the assessed sounds reach the Wernicke's area they are comprehended and further sent through Broca's area so that responses can be formed. What I am most interested in is the motor cortex which controls all physical movement of the mouth to produce correct sounds and words in a language. The sound must come from pressure in a specific area of the throat just as the mouth must take on a specific shape for a letter to sound right. The motor cortex is what is trained most by culture because we learn to move our mouths in specific ways to produce specific sound which in a whole produce a unified sound of language.

 

Another very important aspect from the readings are the semantics of language. I initially saw there being a mix between a naturalist and conventionalist view, an intrinsic connection between the sound of a word and the thing it refers to as well as words to objects not being related. From reading the article, however, it seems more like it is all conventional because even onomatopoeic words change from culture to culture even though the same sounds are heard in the world. If it were naturalist then there should be no change in the words used if the whole relationship were internal. I believe that words were developed in relationship to the society and location of the society, like the natives of arctic areas would have many snow related words. Physically being able to speak and then the influence of society on language are the basis of how we develop languages.

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