A comic look at language!

The aim of language is not merely to convey an idea that needs to be expressed. Not always do we use words to intentionally communicate a thought in our minds, to someone else. "What??" you may ask. Well, in order to prove that the aim of language is not merely to state out thoughts and our feelings, let us consider a few instances when we use language mechanically.

Greetings like “good morning” or “ayubowan” in Sri Lanka. It is customary to say “Good morning” or “ayubowan” when we meet or greet a person. But do we really at that moment wish that person good life or a good morning with all our heart? No we don’t. Although we may say “good morning” we may be thinking about something else.

So we see that the aim of language used in saying “good morning” or “ayubowan” is not to state our thoughts. It is the same with the colloquial expression “how is life?” or “how are things with you”. We may ask a person how he/she is keeping but we may not really want to know. Thus we expect a simple answer like “okay” or “fine, thank you”. Even the utterance “thank you” is made more as a courtesy than as a means of expressing inner gratitude. Language is used out of courtesy.

When we meet a person who’s sweating in the sun, we sometimes stop to say “the sun is very hot today”. Do we really mean to tell him something that he already knows? No we don’t. We just mechanically say these things in order to establish social-public relations. Sometimes our thoughts are far away but we don’t want to seem rude so we just say “yes” or “I know”. Language is used to be diplomatic.

Exclamations we make when lifting something together or alone, expressions used by sportsmen and women – they only help to lessen the burden. Language is used to release energy. When we are in intense pain, we shout or scream. When we are angry, we raise our voices. We sometimes shout at people but then when we are calmer, we regret what has been said. We ask forgiveness for saying things we “didn’t mean”.

When friends get together, they fool each other. They tell each other jokes. One may tell another “you’re so proud that your head is up in the clouds” but a little while later he says “I was just joking”. This is because he was not in fact serious – he did not really mean that his friend is so proud that his head is up in the clouds. He was just using language to entertain his friend – to entertain himself by fooling his friend.

Little children recite nursery rhymes. Language is used to sing “Baa baa black sheep have you any wool?” But when the child sings “have you any wool?” the child does not mean to actually ask a sheep whether it has any wool. When children play “what’s the time Mr. Wolf?” do they actually talk to a wolf, do they actually want to know the time? No. For language is merely being used with the aim of having fun, being a part of the game.

The language used for songs too proves that the aim of language is not only to let our thoughts be known. We often sing songs when we are alone, when we are bored – yet we do not mean the words we sing. When rocking little children to sleep, we sing soft lullabies, though the child cannot hear. We sing to little babies, yet we know that they cannot understand.

We sometimes talk to animals while lovingly stroking and petting them. In our grief we sometimes talk to the dead person in the coffin. We ask “why did you have to die?” But we don’t mean what we say to the extent that we don’t expect out language to communicate with that person. Yet though we know that that person can’t hear us, we continue to talk to him as if he were alive.

At religious ceremonies, temples, devalayas, language is greatly used as chants and verses. Yet those who listen and take part in the ceremonies don’t really understand what is being said. Language is used with the aim of gaining psychological relief. When taking office, when a person is sworn in, when a person takes oaths etc, though language is being used, it is used more as a requirement than as a means for expressing oneself.

Thus we see that the aim of language is not merely to communicate our thoughts.

Language (and its usage) is a spiritual, mental, emotional and social tool that we use everyday, unknowingly almost mechanically but more as a necessity than to communicate our thoughts.