Language Blog

We take spoken language for granted.  Verbal communication isn’t 100 percent necessary to communicate basic needs or thoughts, but it is necessary to communicate complex ideas and emotions with someone else who only knows how to use a verbal form of communication.  I found this experiment to be difficult.  I was not able to change the course of the conversation and often there were long pauses because my friend didn’t know what else to talk about because he didn’t receive any cues or ideas from me.  Not because I didn’t want to add to the conversation, but it was very difficult using only hand signals.  A few times I was able to convey an answer to a question using hand signals like using a shrug to convey I didn’t know or even at one point I rubbed my thumb and two fingers together to convey a message of needing money.  Fifteen minutes is a long time to go without being able to verbally contribute to a conversation and I found myself bored towards the end.  My partner agreed that it was difficult to conduct a two-way conversation, so he altered his communications with me to asking questions instead of waiting for me to add something or verbally respond.  My friend said that it was weird, like he was talking to himself at times, but he did say that a few times when he asked a question, he understood what I was trying to say with my hand signals.

            My friend was in control of the conversation.  I was helpless in trying to communicate new ideas to alter the course of the conversation.  Looking at a conversation as a balance of power I would have to say that my friend had most of the power because he chose what to talk about and what questions to ask me, but I had a little power because he still had a need to include me and relied on my hand signals to answer his questions.  Perhaps the ratio of power would be 90:10; my friend having 90% of the power and I 10% of the power. 

            Spoken language is vital in communicating complex thoughts and ideas with someone else who only knows a verbal form of communication.  I specify someone who only knows verbal communication because there are people that are able to communicate complex thoughts and ideas using sign language or braille.  If my partner and I represented different cultures in our conversation where one of us understood verbal language and the other only understood signals, then neither one of us would have had an advantage because neither of us would have been able to effectively communicate our ideas to each other. However, with that said, a culture with spoken language would still have an advantage over one without because a culture that only used signals or signs would be limited to short distance, visual communication. Since my partner and I are from the same culture, and because I understand the spoken language he was speaking, he had the advantage in the conversation because I only know a limited number of cultural hand signals that we both understand.  However, I was not able to communicate complex thoughts or ideas not only because I only know a few hand signals, but also because even if I knew a large number of hand signals he wouldn’t have understood what I was trying to say.  Now, another hypothetical, if my partner and I were of different cultures and my culture only used grunts and a few hand signals to communicate, whereas my partner’s culture used spoken, symbolic language, then my partner’s culture would be at an advantage because his culture would be able to communicate complex thoughts and ideas that would benefit his people in numerous ways.  For example, communicating ways to survive, build shelter, find food, alert to enemies or other possible threats, etc.  A culture with hand signals and grunts would probably have basic hand signals to raise alarms and to indicate basic things like where food is, but they wouldn’t be well suited for technological advancement because they would be unable to work on complex projects as a team because they wouldn’t be able to communicate as effectively.

I feel that a culture that uses spoken language would feel superior to a culture that doesn’t use symbolic language. For example, humans feel superior to animals, even to Chimpanzees who have culture but not a symbolic language, because we use symbolic language and animals don’t.  Our ability to use symbolic language makes us feel that we are vastly more intelligent. If we were trying to speak to a culture that only used hand signals and grunts, and didn’t try to communicate complex thoughts or ideas using a system of symbols or symbolic language, we would feel that it was because they were stupid and we smart.  Language itself and how we use it is associated with intelligence, so it makes sense that we associate the use of symbolic language with intelligence.  The best modern example I can think of today, besides with chimpanzees, to express this attitude- though wrong- is with deaf people.  Deaf people are able to communicate complex thoughts and ideas using a symbolic language, even still, a lot of people overlook them or treat them with contempt because their primary form of communication is via sign language as opposed to a spoken language.  I witnessed this attitude numerous times as I used to work with special needs children.  Sometimes it’s not contempt; some people just feel uncomfortable because they’re sympathetic but don’t know how to approach people with disabilities and I understand that.  A lot of sympathetic people still don’t value a deaf person’s ideas or opinions equally as they would someone else’s.  Some deaf people speak spoken language, some very well, but many that do have odd inflections in their speech because they can’t hear how others speak, and those odd inflections give some people the idea that they are stupid.  I think that’s terrible, but it is an unfortunate truth in our society that people with disabilities are looked down upon as inferior.  Deaf people are not treated equally in our society… So even a culture of people that can convey complex thoughts and ideas via a symbolic language, because their language is not spoken, people whose primary language is spoken look down on them as inferior.    

Another attitude may be frustration.  For example, if someone travels to another country but doesn’t know the language, it would be difficult to get answers to questions or get help only using hand signals.  To the person they were accosting for information, they would appear to be lacking a symbolic language because they would be using hand signals to try to get the help they needed.  I imagine that this would be a frustrating situation for both parties as one struggled to communicate and the other struggled to interpret.  It’s the same with young children.  Sometimes a child will get frustrated because they can’t articulate what they want or need in a manner that adults understand, and sometimes, no matter how patient an adult is, they can get frustrated trying to interpret what the child is asking for. 

The use of nonverbals are important to spoken language because they convey unspoken meanings and sincerity to other parties in the conversation.  With that said, the experiment where I had to speak in a monotone voice and not use any hand signals or nonverbals was even more  difficult.  My partner expressed that although he didn’t have to carry the burden of conversation because I could speak, it was actually more difficult for him than the first experiment because he felt that the conversation was forced and ingenuine.  My lack of nonverbals and fluctuations in my voice caused him to feel as though I was disinterested because I contributed less interaction.  It was more difficult for me too.  I constantly felt my hands twitch and had to remember not to use them.  There were moments that I wanted to use sarcasm, but I couldn’t because I couldn’t change the tone in my voice to convey sarcasm or humor.  My partner didn’t have too much trouble understanding me because I was able to speak, but he wasn’t able to pick up on interest, nuance, humor, or sarcasm because I was not able to convey those things via a monotone voice and without nonverbals. 

This experiment made me realize that nonverbals are important because without them one lacks an element of sincerity which is necessary to gain trust and credibility when conversing with someone.  Nonverbals also add a lot of meaning and give insight into a person’s personality and intentions.  Being able to read nonverbals is an important ability.  I know that police officers and detectives are trained in reading nonverbals so that they can detect deception when interrogating a suspect, or when questioning a witness, but the average person doesn’t have that sort of training.  Naturally having the ability to read nonverbals is very important to keep yourself safe from con artists and deceptive people who would use you or try to hurt you in some way.  It’s also important to be able to read nonverbals to pick up on someone’s intentions towards you.  Some people may unwittingly communicate aggression or contempt when conversing with you, which would be good signals that they don’t respect you and have ill intentions towards you.  On a more positive side, reading nonverbals also can tell you when someone is genuinely interested in you or is honest and means you no harm.  Nonverbals can also tune you in to someone who may be sexually attracted to you which is important for reproduction.  There are some cues you don’t want to miss.  Nonverbals are important to maintain a sense of community with people because they help build trust and credibility, and community is essential to survival.  Humans and animals fair better when they are part of a group that looks out for one another.  Though humans don’t necessarily NEED to be a part of a group to survive today, it is still beneficial.  For example, women who walk around at night in groups in areas with a high prevalence of sexual assault are less likely to get assaulted. 

One obvious group of people that can’t read nonverbals would be blind people because they physically can’t see them- except for voice intonation, they can hear that.  As for difficulty with reading body language I googled it and apparently there is a disorder called Social-Emotional Agnosia and people who have it are unable to read facial expressions, read body language, or interpret voice intonation.  I had no idea such a  disorder existed.  I can only imagine how difficult it would be for someone who had that disorder because they wouldn’t be able to pick up on nuance, social cues of humor or sarcasm, and they wouldn’t be able to interpret if someone’s body language matched what they were saying.  I imagine that disorder would make it harder for them to make friends and also to reproduce because they would be more awkward and unable to pick up on social cues of sexual attraction. 

Body language seems to be the tell when what someone is saying is not true.  Body language is true even when the person’s stated words and intentions are not.  It seems to me that the only unreliable body language is when we misinterpret it.  I suppose it would be easy to misinterpret someone’s body language if they are anxious in social situations.  Also, someone from another culture may have different gestures that indicate different meanings in their culture so trying to apply your knowledge of body language to them would prove to be unreliable. There are some cues, though, that are universal, and a lot of people don’t even rely on a knowledge of cues, they can instinctually tell when something seems off with a person with what they are saying and their body language.  Also, someone who is a part of the KE family have a mutation of the FOXP2 gene that causes them to be unable to coordinate their facial movements with their speech and makes it difficult for them to pronounce words. Attempting to read their facial expressions while they speak would be an unreliable source of information.  We are human, however, and body language can easily be misinterpreted, especially if we are emotional or are in a high intensity situation.  Being able to trust others is important and being trustworthy is important, especially in a survival situation.  Those who are part of a community have a higher chance of obtaining resources and, as a result, a higher chance of survival in tough situations.