Language Assignment
Part 1 :
This was quite challenging because the idea was to have a conversation for this part of the assignment. Conversation is quite difficult to generate when two people general consensus for which mechanisms to use, or which sounds to generate. In this case, we were restricted to non verbal forms of communication such as hand signs, body language, and non verbal vocalization (no sign language). When I began, it was quite obvious that complex thoughts couldn't be conveyed within the 15 minute time interval, so I had to stick to basic pointing and hand gestures. My little brother spoke a little slower and also pointed. It was unclear if this was a subconscious action but it was quite interesting to see nonetheless. He was conscious of this assignment as I had told him I was going to try and conversation with him without language.
The control of the conversation switched around like a game of charades. At first it was me asking him what he wanted to eat. I used my hands to mimic me holding a fork and a bowl combined with the motion of bringing food to my mouth made the topic about food. This combined with me pointing to him indicated I was talking to him. At the end I shrugged with my hands in the air by my sides to indicate it was a question. My little brother had power in the conversation and for the most part he initiated topics. Since he could ask me questions and respond with ease his ability to guide and change the conversation was considerably more effective than mine.
My little brother's culture would have a significant advantage in communicating complex ideas. He would have the ability to talk about poetry and math/science with ease. My culture on the other hand would be restricted for the very reason mentioned previously. My culture would have no general consensus on which mechanisms or sounds to use. It's almost like a guessing game that needs to be played. With the culture that has language, each word means something and sentences can be formed that have specific purposes. The speaking culture would most likely not want to interact with a culture that has no language. Since the culture with no language would be inefficient and behind in development. This situation is what happens when someone who speaks a certain language enters a new country. For example, as an English traveler enters a village in China with no English speakers around he would have to resort to using non verbal forms of communication. Signs and phrases like 我很高兴认识你 would be alien.
In conclusion, without a general consensus for which mechanisms to use or which sounds to generate, one cannot efficiently communicate ideas or instructions. This shows how instrumental spoken language is compared to non verbal communication.With the consensus being met, one can convey complex ideas with ease and express emotions in an instant.
Part 2:
With the doorway of spoken communication being opened to me I was anticipating easy conversations. The first struggle was keeping a straight face throughout the 15 minute duration. This may have been incredibly difficult for some people as hand gesture while talking might be second nature. The non raising of eye brows limited my emotional conviction given in my expression and sentences. This gave the sentences are very machine like purpose. It was difficult to get ideas across but for a different reason than part 1. My partner was able to understand everything I was saying but I had to speak slower than usual to make sure I wasn't breaking the rules. My partner did find that this was easier than Part 1 of the assignment since the words still have their specific meanings even without emotional conviction. This did highlight however, the importance of eyebrow lifting to convey emotion since after the 15 minutes that was the first thing we talked about.
Our use of signs is subtle in everyday conversations but it adds a very human component into conversations. I realized that the very idea of conversing with someone had the biological purpose of conveying information, so the ability to distinguish emotional state through facial features is very important. So this non speech technique along with hand signs are two essential components to conversing with another human being. When people "read" a person's body and facial features they are able to tell the emotional state of someone. This may have been useful for earlier humans for when they were in tribes. Detecting intention may have been a crucial factor in saving ones own life or the life of their tribe/village members.
As mentioned in my previous paragraph, the adaptive benefit is to detect the intentions of another human being. People may have used this ability to distinguish those who lied and those who intended harm for the goal of obtaining resources from someone else. This ability is also useful for finding a suitable partner to reproduce with. A women may wanted a man who stands confidently and may seem like a protector in some way since this may have increased her likelihood to survive.
There are people who have difficulty reading body language and they are somewhat identifiable. Reading body language is something most humans can do well so when people converse and one isn't picking up body language it may be easy to notice. Also people that are blind can't pick up body language during conversations unless they touch the other person to see what they're doing. It may be beneficial to not read someone's body language when the other person knows he must change his body language to hide some sort of lie (it was hard to think of a situation).
This was quite challenging because the idea was to have a conversation for this part of the assignment. Conversation is quite difficult to generate when two people general consensus for which mechanisms to use, or which sounds to generate. In this case, we were restricted to non verbal forms of communication such as hand signs, body language, and non verbal vocalization (no sign language). When I began, it was quite obvious that complex thoughts couldn't be conveyed within the 15 minute time interval, so I had to stick to basic pointing and hand gestures. My little brother spoke a little slower and also pointed. It was unclear if this was a subconscious action but it was quite interesting to see nonetheless. He was conscious of this assignment as I had told him I was going to try and conversation with him without language.
The control of the conversation switched around like a game of charades. At first it was me asking him what he wanted to eat. I used my hands to mimic me holding a fork and a bowl combined with the motion of bringing food to my mouth made the topic about food. This combined with me pointing to him indicated I was talking to him. At the end I shrugged with my hands in the air by my sides to indicate it was a question. My little brother had power in the conversation and for the most part he initiated topics. Since he could ask me questions and respond with ease his ability to guide and change the conversation was considerably more effective than mine.
My little brother's culture would have a significant advantage in communicating complex ideas. He would have the ability to talk about poetry and math/science with ease. My culture on the other hand would be restricted for the very reason mentioned previously. My culture would have no general consensus on which mechanisms or sounds to use. It's almost like a guessing game that needs to be played. With the culture that has language, each word means something and sentences can be formed that have specific purposes. The speaking culture would most likely not want to interact with a culture that has no language. Since the culture with no language would be inefficient and behind in development. This situation is what happens when someone who speaks a certain language enters a new country. For example, as an English traveler enters a village in China with no English speakers around he would have to resort to using non verbal forms of communication. Signs and phrases like 我很高兴认识你 would be alien.
In conclusion, without a general consensus for which mechanisms to use or which sounds to generate, one cannot efficiently communicate ideas or instructions. This shows how instrumental spoken language is compared to non verbal communication.With the consensus being met, one can convey complex ideas with ease and express emotions in an instant.
Part 2:
With the doorway of spoken communication being opened to me I was anticipating easy conversations. The first struggle was keeping a straight face throughout the 15 minute duration. This may have been incredibly difficult for some people as hand gesture while talking might be second nature. The non raising of eye brows limited my emotional conviction given in my expression and sentences. This gave the sentences are very machine like purpose. It was difficult to get ideas across but for a different reason than part 1. My partner was able to understand everything I was saying but I had to speak slower than usual to make sure I wasn't breaking the rules. My partner did find that this was easier than Part 1 of the assignment since the words still have their specific meanings even without emotional conviction. This did highlight however, the importance of eyebrow lifting to convey emotion since after the 15 minutes that was the first thing we talked about.
Our use of signs is subtle in everyday conversations but it adds a very human component into conversations. I realized that the very idea of conversing with someone had the biological purpose of conveying information, so the ability to distinguish emotional state through facial features is very important. So this non speech technique along with hand signs are two essential components to conversing with another human being. When people "read" a person's body and facial features they are able to tell the emotional state of someone. This may have been useful for earlier humans for when they were in tribes. Detecting intention may have been a crucial factor in saving ones own life or the life of their tribe/village members.
As mentioned in my previous paragraph, the adaptive benefit is to detect the intentions of another human being. People may have used this ability to distinguish those who lied and those who intended harm for the goal of obtaining resources from someone else. This ability is also useful for finding a suitable partner to reproduce with. A women may wanted a man who stands confidently and may seem like a protector in some way since this may have increased her likelihood to survive.
There are people who have difficulty reading body language and they are somewhat identifiable. Reading body language is something most humans can do well so when people converse and one isn't picking up body language it may be easy to notice. Also people that are blind can't pick up body language during conversations unless they touch the other person to see what they're doing. It may be beneficial to not read someone's body language when the other person knows he must change his body language to hide some sort of lie (it was hard to think of a situation).
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI really liked what you wrote, especially the part about non verbal communication being limited, especially when it came to things like poetry, science, etc. There are SO many topics that are so important and so educational, but I feel we take the ability to talk about them for granted. This assignment really makes one see how important communication is on all levels, vocally, body language, etc. It all ties in together and helps us get our message across, without language I feel one is very limited on what they can say and learn. I also like what you said about reading body language, it is something we almost all do very well, and it benefits the entire conversation. You had a lot of wonderful information.
Thank you
Jodi
Part 1: I would have liked a bit more expansion in your opening section. Did you initiate topics? Ask questions? Or was that entirely up to your brother? What did your brother think of the experiment?
ReplyDeleteWith regard to control, think about what would have happened if you had tried to conduct this experiment with a perfect stranger off the street. How long would it have lasted before the stranger gave up and walked away? Your friend stuck around because he is invested in you as a friend. A stranger would not have that incentive. So did you really have control over the conversation... or did your friend LET you have the control? In which case, was it your control to begin with?
I agree with your conclusions in the next section as well as your real-life example. Well done.
Part 2: Good discussion from your experience, but usually the most interesting part of this experiment is the response of the partner. Some have actually gotten angry and stormed out. It would have offered more information for both you and your reader if your partner's response had been expanded upon.
I don't disagree with your conclusions regarding the information we receive from body language, but this goes beyond emotion. You are only considering the situation where body language matches and supports the information you receive from spoken language. What does it tell you when the body language doesn't match the spoken language? Humans tend to use body language as a type of lie detector. If spoken words don't match with the body language, we are more inclined to believe the body language and doubt the words. Think about how being able to detect liars might help an individual's ability to survive and reproduce (which applies to the next section).
"People may have used this ability to distinguish those who lied and those who intended harm for the goal of obtaining resources from someone else."
There you go. Yes, this would be invaluable information to advance your chances of surviving and reproducing.
Like all human traits, there is normal variation in expression, and the ability to read body language is no different. Yes, those who are blind would be an example, but don't forget they can also hear vocal intonation (which qualifies as body language). Those in the autism spectrum are another example.
Actually, it is very difficult to lie with body language. If you need to detect a lie, I wouldn't give up reading body language to do it. But is there any situation you can think of where body language might actually mislead you, not because the person is lying but because you don't know how to read the body language? Do all cultures use the same system of body language? They all use different systems of spoken/written language, so why would we assume their body language isn't different? If you travel to another country, can you trust the information you get from their body language?