A tribute to Tabitha's incredible and distinct phonemic inventory.
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Spanish Term Paper... done. Whew.
I've been thinking a lot about why miscommunication happens between people. This paper is all about proof for reason that I think it happens. Essentially: Words are simply symbols. The associations that we make of a mental concept with a symbol/word/character etc. are different than the associations that others make with the same symbol/word/character. I mean, that is really the underlying reason for why I don't understand Bengali. I don't have the same associations (of concepts with physical production of sound I hear) as the natives do. This happens within one single language too, obviously, for when somebody smarter than you or of a different dialect talks to you. Different life experiences have created a different kind of association with the same words that we know, and therefore we understand the same sentence different ways. There are also associations with syntax, phonology, phonetics, etc. too, but it all just means that we acquire our method of speaking by (1) those around us and how they speak and (2) by the decisions we personally make about how to speak. The solution that I have come up with is begin to create the same associations with language that the other person has with whom we want to communicate. That is, if a certain life experience has given my wife a certain definition, syntactical structure, pronunciation, etc, all I have to do is become familiar with that experience that led her to that method of production. By understanding her life experience I gain exposure to them myself and therefore form the same associations and can understand more completely. |
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