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Evolution of language forms forms of language and the effects of translations on message transfer.
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Topic: Evolution of language forms forms of language and the effects of translations on message transfer.
Language is the ability of human beings to acquire and use complex mechanisms of communication. For example when a child is crying, the mother gets to know that something is wrong with the child either it needs to be fed or it needs to sleep or it simply just wants the mother’s attention. From the example above we get to see that language begins from when we are born. As we grow up we get to understand other forms and systems in which we can communicate. In the research paper we are going to define what language is and describe the various forms of language and how they have evolved over the years. Body language and the use of gestures as a form of language is different among different societies and communities, through the discussion will get to know the disparity of body language based on various communities (Chomskey, 225). Finally will get to know what the effects of translating languages are; main focus being on information alteration.
There are various forms of languages spoken language being the vastest form of language used across the world. There are over 6000 dialects across the globe with each community having its own. The most common forms of language are, spoken, sign languages, body language or use of gestures and graphical. Spoken language is described as the use of learnt words to convey information and this is what most of the times human beings use as they communicate. Sign language is the use of signs formed by the hands to communicate and is mostly used among the dumb and deaf people. Use of body language is defined as the use of visible body movements to convey a particular message, for example, rubbing your hands together to show that you are feeling cold. The properties of human language are recursive, it can be used again and again without losing its value; human language is also productive, the purpose of language is to convey information. Hence ability to share information and acting upon message conveyed, language is characterized to be productive. Language was formed ad evolved since the era of the early hominids who developed ways of conveying what they saw or created in their mind; they used signs to communicate as also seen in apes, scientifically studied how apes communicate through signs and voice utterances was the same way early human beings communicated. As man grew more intelligent and as the brain capacity increased so did the complexity of language (Chomskey, 228). Human beings acquire language through social interaction with other people from an early age. One learns to speak at the early age of three and as one grows up the more complex and deeper the language becomes. Language has direct connection to culture of an individual; hence another property of language that can be added is the fact that it is identifiable within specific cultures.
What is the purpose of language? There are three basic functions of language, to inform, to express and to direct. Informative function of language is defined as the use of language to gain and share information among people. The expressive function of language is the use of language to report about one’s feelings through speaking or body language; mostly expressed through crying, laughter singing or even writing. The function of language as a directive is described as the use of language to cause or prevent an action; it is mostly found in commands and requests.
Spoken language as defined earlier is defined as the combination of learnt words, combining the words to form a sensible sentence and conveying them through the mouth. Speech language depends on the human ability to produce sound. Sound production involves the use of organs such as the lungs, voice box and the upper vocal tract. Through the combination of consonant sounds and vowels, people are able to produce words which when combined produce a sentence. The origin of speech is not truly known as scientists are unable to clearly show where the development of words came from. Early primates that later evolved to be homo sapiens used mostly gestures to express themselves; but as they evolved through the years, their brain capacity increased and since most of mans actions are as a result of stimuli, autonomously man tried to produce sounds to represent the gestures. Speech was mostly developed during the migration of early man to different continents as they needed sophisticated forms of communication as they travelled and hunted together. Over the years what man invented as the ability to vocalize gestures gradually developed and became more complex and different as people moved to different regions and settled to form different communities. Through speech one can be identified as a member of a particular society so it is used as an identifier of an individual’s ethnicity. The need to socialize and interact was the main driving motive for the development of speech. Spoken language in the world today has led to the emergence of close to 7000 types of dialect. Some of the advantages of spoken language are that it is an easy and fast form of communication. The disadvantage of spoken language is that due to disparity in types of language dialects communication can be difficult (Fasold, 37). In the current world now however people are learning different languages so as to be diverse hence enabling interaction even between people of different communities.
Sign language is a form of language that uses use of visual body movements and also the use of drawn images to convey information. Sign language can be described to have also evolved from gestures. Signs must be perceived to have a relation to the meaning of a sound, an image or gestures. Sign language is based on the social and historical aspect rather than on the natural instinct; meaning sign language is developed through what is perceived by the human mind and through repeated use over time leads to the development of signs. Sign language is used by specific groups in the society, military people use it during military operations, the dumb and deaf who cannot speak or hear use sign language to communicate. Sign language is also used to convey messages visually, for example, the road signs found besides roads are also a type of sign language used to direct and caution drivers and pedestrians. Signs are also used to advertise through the posters placed in notices. Most people may confuse sign language and body language, sign language is formal and is mostly learnt while body language is inborn and is as a response to received stimuli.
Written form of language involves the use of symbolic drawings on paper or any other material so as to convey information. Writing is among the many components of graphical method of information presentation. Writing is an old form of language that began when early man used to scrap letters on the wall of caves and later evolved to people writing on dirt and scrolls to store information (Powell, 308). Writing evolved from the far East due to the need to convey political information far into the kingdom. Most forms of written language includes use of alphabets but in some cultures such as the Japanese and Asian communities use different symbols; numbers are also another form of written language that represents sums and arithmetic calculations. Written language can be classified as non verbal form of communication and is essential in the storage of information (Powell, 320). Through the years written language has evolved from using stones and drawing on the dirt to use of computers. Writing is used in the presentation of data and in the storage of data. The disadvantage of writing is that it takes time and is tedious especially when dealing with large volumes of information or complex information. Its use globally is almost equal to that of spoken language with the minority illiterate group in the society being the only ones that cannot use this form of language. Writing is seen in different forms, reports, songs, poems, statistical analysis, and also in essays. To some extent other graphical representations such as graphs and paintings can be considered as part of written language since graphs also send out information, while paintings are considered to be a way artists express themselves.
Body language is the most powerful form of expression in all forms of language, though it is not formal and not globally standardized it is only known to a specific country. This brings out the difference between body language and sign language (Kuhnke, 57). Body language is also considered to be a non verbal form of communication. It is difficult to determine the various diverse forms of body language since different cultures have different forms of body language. But several body languages are common to all and are naturally manifested by the body as a form to response to stimuli. A previous example was rubbing the palm of your hands together to generate heat in case one is feeling cold. Other forms of body language are turning away or blocking ones airway to indicate that the scent present is not appealing to you. Various body parts are used to express feelings or views about something; psychologist have been able to study the facial expressions and body postures and have been able to relate them to what the individual is experiencing. Body language has been part of human beings since the beginning of life, this is proved by the fact that response to stimuli is part of our lives when a child is born they cry if they are uncomfortable or they need something. No major evolution has taken place when it comes to body language but over the years and due to the different paths people took, new forms have been developed and different communities have different meanings for the same body languages. Handshakes, eye contact, greetings, personal space, the way you dress, how you carry yourself are all forms of body language and the main function of body language is to express you (Kuhnke, 56).
As described earlier on body language and use of gestures is quite difficult to compare between the different communities across the globe since different cultures have different meanings to the various types of body language. What may be a polite statement to one person could be an insult to another person. The other difficult in the comparison of body language among people is the fact that a form of expression could have a totally different meaning to what one thought, for example, to many people a smile can be defined as an expression of satisfaction, joy and sarcasm. Similar body languages have diverse meanings depending on the setting, perceived intentions or the received stimuli. A child’s cry could mean several things, hunger, need for attention, or discomfort. Despite similar body languages another form of disparity in gestures is that among different cultures there are different meanings of various gestures. An example would be, the gesture whereby on points to the head and swirls the finger clockwise, in North America this expresses that the person they are referring to is unintelligent or crazy. In Japan however the same gesture means the complete opposite, that the person is intelligent. In addition to that, by reversing the direction of the finger to anti-clockwise, to a person in Tokyo this means that the person being referred should change his behaviour (Kuhnke, 66). Another form of gesture that has different meanings is a handshake, in some countries a handshake just involves extending the hand and the other person extends and clasps yours, this is common in Northern Europe, but in countries such as southern Europe, South America, and central America a handshake is longer and warmer, in Arabian countries they shake hands, hug and kiss each other’s cheeks. In turkey, a firm handshake is considered rude and aggressive. Eye contact is another body language that is attributed to disparity among different cultures, in United States of America, intense eye contact is considered to be essential in grabbing and maintain the attention of the audience. In the Middle East, among people of the same sex, intense eye contact shows respect for one another but in for opposite genders it is considered very inappropriate. In some communities a woman should not directly look at the man while conveying any kind of information (Kuhnke, 67). Great contrast reveals itself between Westerners and Chinese what could be one thing to an American could be totally different to a Chinese; a smile for example, when one misses a step and trips or pours food on themselves, a smile to that person according to Americans is considered rude as they see it as joy that it has happened, but on the other hand to a Chinese the smile is perceived to be a form of consolation as if to say, it happens and can happen to anyone. In the Chinese community staring at something because it has caught your attention is considered to be okay but in American community glaring at something or someone, this is considered rude among Americans. As we see different communities have different ways of viewing body language and gestures and also similar body languages may have different meaning based on the person expressing it.
Translation is defined as the description of the meaning of a word from one language to another without altering the meaning of the word or phrase. Translation began after writing was invented; an example of translation is whereby the bible has been produced in different languages but generally the meaning is the same. But despite the conditions of the definition of translation, loss of certain information is viewed in language translation. Several elements are required in translation, the source language, the medium if translation and the receiver of the information. The source of information is the point at which the message originates, several factors are required so as to properly and effectively convey a message as the source, and one must be audible enough and must be fluent in the language so as to prevent omitting of words by receiver of the information. If the source of the message is not audible or pronounces the words badly the receiver of the message may miss some of the words (Vollmer, 23). The medium of information transfer refers to the path through which the information is passed through, the media of transfer should be effective and should be efficient enough to propagate easy flow of information. Several factors affect the medium of information transfer especially the environment in which it is placed. Factors such as noise and breaking of transmission signals leads to the loss of information, while on its way to the receiver. Noise leads to distraction hence loss of concentration and too much noise leads to obstruction of the message to the receiver. Breaking of transmission signals leads to impulsive break in flow of the message. The last major component is the receiver of the message. This is the point if destination of the message, the receiver of message should have quality listening skill as the major characteristic. Through verbal translation of language, loss of information is usually experienced if the source, media of communication and the receiver of the message are inaudible, poor signal or presence of distraction and poor interpretation by the receiver. During translation of written language, the translator may omit some words while typing the content or may interpret the information wrongly if they do not have a clear understanding of the source language. Wrong interpretation due to lack of understanding or due to lack of knowledge that body language and gestures are different may lead to the wrong translation of gestures. Loss of information due to poor translation has a great impact in the meaning of the context read by a reader. Through loss of information or even the omission of a word may change the whole meaning of sentence (Vollmer, 22). Lack of proper knowledge on both languages is how information is greatly lost through translation, other factors such as cultural differences and understanding of various languages lead to the loss of information or the altering of the meaning of something during translation.
Language is an element basic to both human and animal life and it has been a part of us since the beginning of time. It is necessary so as to enable communication and interaction of human beings and animals. Through the ages the various forms of languages have been evolved and new languages such as computer languages and brail have been developed. Different cultures have different languages and they have different meaning, translation requires accuracy so as to prevent in the best way possible any loss of information.
References:
Chomsky, Noam. Knowledge of language: its nature, origin, and use. New York: Praeger, 1986. Print.
Fasold, Ralph W.. Variation in the form and use of language: a sociolinguistics reader. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1983. Print.
Powell, Barry B.. Writing: theory and history of the technology of civilization. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.
Vollmer, Kurt. Translating literatures, translating cultures: new vistas and approaches in literary studies. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998. Print.
Kuhnke, Elizabeth. Body language for dummies. 2nd ed. Chichester, [England: Wiley, 2012. Print.
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