Hi,
These are phrases and thoughts froom class. Comments and clarifications are welcome.
Karen
Emergence of language:
the larger the group, the more sophisticated the system needed to manage it.
the maintainance of social relationships
Linguistic difference between communication and language
Distinguishing characteristics of language rather than communication:
productivity: ability to reshuffle and reform the bits
openness: introduce new words & their meanings
displacement: speaking of something in a different time and place
privarication: discuss & communicae things we don't know exist
[create entities that do exist...stories, myths]
[sometimes entities can be changed]
Telling of stories aids in group cohesion and rank & grooming, and maintaining status
Elements of language and stories are denotative (actual meaning) and conotative (ambiguous,
metaphor)
Question for us from this course...
When we tell a story, we must look for the "telling remark"
Why do we tell it this way?
What does it tell about the culture?
maintaining a cultural script?
perpetuating messages?
Is the audience grooming the storyteller or is the teller grooming the audience?
Synchronic behavior: grooup actions performed together such as clapping.
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Wow - neat and useful summary.
ReplyDeleteIf comments should be kept to any major points that you might not have noted - there are none that spring to mind for me.
If, this is also a space for trying to clarify discussions that we went through and moved on from, then I thought I'd put down my "two impulses" theory - as it rather morphed into Hugh's "two impulses" theory - and his was "different than mine". I've put the last phrase in quotes, because different than doesn't sound right to me, I would use "different to", but the guy on my meditation tape uses it and so its in my head right now. One or the other or both is perhaps an example of "telling speech" but I'm not sure any more which is the standard usage!
Hmm how linguistics discussion can wander into a long train of thought!
I think that in addition to this, we also had a conversation about whether it was narrowing things too much to see everything in conversation as a result of this grooming impulse.
I talked about seeing two different impulses - the grooming impulse which relates to rank and relationships, and the impulse to knowledge acquisition, which I think may have a purpose different to rank and relationship establishing, but crucial to the particular nature of humanity. David likened this impulse to a self groom - which I accept, but I still feel that knowledge acquisition is a basic drive of its own (and I think, though I'm not sure, that that is the premise behind the referential or information based theory of language development which Locke rejects).
Hugh also talked about two different impulses - but I don't think his were quite the same as mine, so I'll let him elucidate.
Karen, ditto the nice recap..at 11:34 pm, too! Sorry for the morphing behavior. Is there still room for a two-impulse story of communication? The first impulse is easyall about the common need for touching, stroking and grooming for purposes of managing groups, attaining cohesion, maintaining organizations and cultivating relationships. Also, the first impulse enables rise in rank, class, status and keeps one out of harms way. So why a second impulse? Isn't survival the name of the game? One problem with a one-impulse theory is that it produces an essentially competitive model of natural adaptation. One ends up with a game in which the players survive by out stroking and out grooming the other players. The winner is one who rises highest and lasts longest. Is that all there is? No. Here is what I believe Kat is calling a crucial need for information acquisition that has a different purpose from political solidarity and personal security.
ReplyDeleteThe second impulse, morphed here from the original, represents an agenda of adapation opposing the first. Where the first impulse labors for information range reduction, the second works for expansion. Where the first impulse produces tighter groups and stronger stands, the second loosem things up and and ranges wider. The second impulse is all about learning and discovery at the expanse of earning rank, status, stability, security and solidarity.
Acquiring original information tends to require breaking ranks and not holding them. Breaking ranks gets one busted, not promoted. Just saw "Avatar" and can't shake the reference. The most telling remark and heroic deed of the day comes in a single statement by a marine attack helicopter pilot. The battle is going in favor of the corporate military enterprise on Pandora. The pilot breaks ranks. She says in urban scat, "I didn't sign up for this shit." It is the break that begins the ending of the empire. By striking out on second impulse she falls but also comes to acquire a new information about who she is and what she does. It is self-discovery not really produced by first impulse.