Gold: Importance of language often overlooked

It seems to me…one of the most important abilities we humans have that sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom is language. The ability to communicate ideas, emotions, instructions or just small talk often is taken for granted but language is just as important as an opposing thumb.

Granted, many animals use sound to communicate. We humans can communicate ideas, concepts and complicated factual information like mathematical equations or concepts in physics. We can also stir the feelings of others through words that are written in a book, spoken in a play or sung in a song. Words of love have filled volumes for millennia. Very primitive picture words cave men scratched on the walls of caves tell stories of their hunting for food, wars or changes in seasons. The Old and New Testaments, of course, are filled with many different stories, teachings and facts as are the holy books of all religions. And all of these have stirred the passions of men and women for centuries. Humans have used language for good and for evil. They still do.

So it strains the mind to wonder why we don’t teach the importance of language and make certain that those we educate understand that language is a tool just like the multiplication tables or chemical formulas or architectural drawings. Unlike these however, language plays with our senses. No wonder we get angry when we hear or read something we don’t like, laugh at a joke, cry over sad stories and are filled with contentment by others.

Our schools are constantly involved in language and it is expressed in the books students are required to read, essays they write or in class discussions. But, as I learned in teaching at one of the local community colleges and one of the Governor’s schools, students are not learning vocabulary, the proper use of language or the courtesy through language. Today, language often is rude and/or crude, jumbled and trite. Listen to cell phone conversations on the street, in stores or in the mall. Expletives punctuate virtually every sentence like periods or exclamation marks. One sentence may contain the word “like” two or more times. When some people use the wrong word or a word improperly, then continue with “whatever.” This is another indication of unclear words masquerading as language.

While throughout history language has been corrupted, today with the extraordinary influence of television words have entered our everyday vocabulary and, although inaccurate and perhaps insulting, they have become commonplace. Take for example the word “guys.” Sit down in most restaurants and you are greeted by a server who says, “how are you guys?” Sounds nice and friendly but when a teenager or twenty-something says this to an 80-something couple…it just seems ridiculous. This is a language stretch from puberty to geriatrics and a little too familiar for this kind of relationship. A simple, “Good morning or evening, how are you?” would seem more appropriate. Even, “How are you folks?” would be acceptable. And, although the dictionary recognizes that “guys” could refer to either sex, it also indicates that its primary meaning refers to males. The use of the word has become so common you can hear it daily on the news programs when one reporter says, “Now back to you guys.” It certainly doesn’t sound very eloquent coming from someone who interviews presidents and other world leaders. Would they ask the College of Cardinals, “How are you guys?” Or, picture Speaker of the House Pelosi saying, “All right guys, come to order.” It is just as inappropriate to use it when taking an order in a restaurant as well as turning the microphone back to a TV anchor. What it turns out to be is “cool,” and that is another term that shows the lack of an adequate vocabulary.

Ironically, one of the most popular majors in college today is Communications. Yet, using language with clarity and simple eloquence seems to have eluded the curriculum. With few exceptions, language in public and in mass communication has taken on a triteness that suggests a too familiar relationship between speaker and listener. This results in a diminishing of the respect shown by the speaker to the listener. It is, to coin a phrase, “language incorrectness.” Just one example of many in use today.

Today, texting is taking language on a downhill slalom. Cell phones, computers and devices such as blackberries are changing the way we talk to each other. The real downside is that it reduces vocabulary and that results in the inability to organize and communicate complex ideas.

The fictional Professor Higgins taught Eliza Doolittle not only to speak properly but to be understood. In both George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” and the musical adaptation “My Fair Lady,” a cockney girl is transformed into a lady through the power of language.

But in real life, the most overwhelming use of language I have seen was that used by Helen Keller. Handicapped by blindness and deafness from the age of three and helped by the genius of Anne Sullivan, she became a world famous writer and lecturer who wrote and spoke to the world with simple eloquence although her speech was affected by her deafness. She learned to speak and convey ideas without ever seeing or hearing a single word. When asked if she had any regrets, she answered, “Yes, I wish the way I am able to speak could be better.” If everyone could convey ideas as clearly, thoughtfully and eloquently as Ms. Keller, the world would not be as confused as it is today.

Harvey Gold is a contributing writer at the Stafford County Sun. Reach him at info@staffordcountysun.com.