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Living language (lemmy.world)
submitted 11 months ago by to c/memes@lemmy.world
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[–] 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Written word is a facsimile of a facsimile of what we're actually communicating. We go from nebulous thoughts, concepts not bound by language, to sounds that roughly convey those concepts, and then to squiggly lines that roughly convey those sounds, and then back up the chain in the other person. Really, it's a miracle we understand each other at all.

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  • [–] 5 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    I would say this is not universal. For some, the written word is the native "tongue", conveying the actual, intended meaning. The written word allows the speaker the opportunity to evaluate and revise their language to match their intent, and the listener the opportunity to re-evaluate previously transmitted thoughts.

    The oral variant is dependent on the real-time aptitude of the speaker to articulate their thoughts and message, and for the listener to extract that meaning from the same. For those of us handicapped in these traits, the spoken word is the poor facsimile for actual (written) communication.

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  • [–] 3 points 11 months ago

    There are those constraints around written/spoken word, for sure. I'm more referring to how close it is to the "raw" thought.

    We evolved the ability to think. In order to allow our thoughts to reach others, we developed spoken word. In order to allow those spoken words to be passed through time, we developed written word. Each refers back to the previous "layer" of communication.

    Even someone who has a speech impediment, for instance, is still using the same written language as someone else in the same culture. And that written language was developed specifically to try and evoke the words someone in the culture speaks.

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