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Language and Life
On the Ball
Dr. Orville Boyd Jenkins
After I was grown, my father and stepmother gave me not only the little sister I had always wanted, but two of them! Once when I was visiting at home, I was throwing a large ball to my three-year old sister Julia while all the family were sitting around the living room.
I remember that someone made reference to something printed on the ball. Perhaps it was her name. I told her, "Look at the top of the ball, Julia." She looked at it and back at me, then back at the ball, which she began slowly turning over and over.
We could not figure out what was happening, then suddenly we all burst out laughing. She was looking for the top of the ball! But can something round have a top? Of course, when I am holding a ball, it seems logical to me that the top is the part opposite the ground. But it did not seem obvious to a three-year old.
Natural Meanings?
We often use language in strange ways. Within a certain group, we
learn to use words and phrases in a certain pattern. Members of the group
know what those usages mean. But these "natural" meanings may be alien
to a person from outside that group. A child has to learn the patterns
of thought behind the words used by those around him or her. There are assumptions
that we incorporate into our view of the world, of which we are not often
consciously aware.
Fix it Well
The varying ways native speakers of English use their language may
create misunderstandings or conflicts between people of different backgrounds.
I was watching "People's Court" on TV once. One of the litigants was a woman
from Tennessee, and of course the judge was a Californian. As the lady
was telling her story, the judge interrupted with a question. She impatiently
retorted, "Well, I'm fixin' to tell you!" The judge ungraciously answered,
"Well, while you are at it, fix it well, then!"
The Tennessean usage of "fixing" was new to the Californian, and he made fun of the lady, who was using the word the way literally millions of Americans use it. (I grew up where that colorful use of the word was considered appropriate!) Differences in word usage may detract from what is being communicated.
Slippery Cultural Forms
Now apply that same principle to totally separate languages representing
widely varying cultural worldviews. Language is as slippery as a ball
without a top. It may be hard to get it right side up! It is the responsibility
of the communicator to know the frame of reference of the one to whom
he/she wishes to communicate. Otherwise the form of your message may detract
from the content of the message.
Know Your Target
It is important to know the language of your "target" person, audience
or cultural group. You need to know the communication patterns of that
language, that ethnic group, that culture. You need to know the thought
patterns, and use them well. This cannot be done without awareness of the
culture, gained through experience in relationships with people in their
cultural setting.
This type of deep personal contact cannot be gained without experience in the language of the people. The language of a people not only offers insights into their psyche, into their inner world, but allows you and requires you to enter into the same inner-world experience with them, at least to some extent.
The language of the people (or a representative people, in the many multi-ethnic settings, such as in Africa, or the urban North American setting.) is crucial to true communication. In its most general terms, we might refer to this as identification. The communicator has to identify with the hearer on the hearer's own grounds.
In Context
To make sense, the communicator must fit into the hearer's context. Every
individual you address is a unique, particular person, in a particular language
group with a particular history. To some extent, the communicator must
take on the language and thought of a particular people to whom they wish
to communicate.
The Obligation to Make Sense
It is not up to the hearers to make the shift. The hearer is under no
obligation to listen or understand. If the communicator wants the hearers
to hear, it is the communicator's responsibility to make that worldview shift
-- to make sense in terms that "make sensee" to the context.
Thus it is the Communicator's job to be on the ball.
OBJ
Original version of this article published in Afri-Com, July 1988Orville Boyd Jenkins, Ed.D., Ph.D.
Copyright © Orville Boyd
Jenkins 1988, 1989, 2002
Permission granted for free download
and transmission for personal or educational use. Other rights reserved.
Email: orville@jenkins.nu | saxophone@bigfoot.com
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