Language Experiment
Part 1: Conversation for 15 minutes. Not allowed to use any version of a symbolic language (no speaking, writing, or ASL).
- The experience of attempting to communicate without any words was very challenging. My partner was forced to guess what I was referring to rather than knowing what I wanted to do. I attempted to have them get me a few things from the kitchen like a glass of water and some snacks. It proved difficult getting my points across because even the nodding of my head would be a form of language derived from English. My partner had to continually guess what I was thinking until I finally was able to give an ambiguously affirming response to their guess.
- It seemed as if I was completely in control of the conversation considering that I wanted something out of it. It became a game of signaling and guessing where I was in control of what my partner reacted to. This being said, I had little power even though I held the attention. I imagine that if there were multiple people involved, I would not have much to gain attention within the conversation.
- It is clear that spoken language has a vast advantage over pure signaling. Speech and representation in words have a lot of power to suggest things that aren't in the present area. Those in speaking cultures might look down upon those who aren't as lesser in intellect due to their inability to communicate in the abstract. A modern example of this concept would be someone entering a country where they don't speak the local language. Without any means of verbal communication, someone might be seen as not intelligent and inept.
Part 2: 15 minutes of communicating without any physical embellishments, i.e., no hand signals, not vocal intonation, not head, facial, or body movements.
- For this section of the exercise, I utilized text messaging with strict guidelines. No emojis or indications of laughter were allowed from me. Surprisingly it was fairly easy with this in mind. We communicate every day with very little insight as to body language or intonation. In the wide world of blogging and texting, we often guess about people's inflection and attitude. My partner had little issues with understanding my points.
- This shows that in modern society, nonspeech indicators are important to find deeper meaning in one's thoughts but has nothing to do with understanding what someone has to say. What body language gives is purely emotional information. It gives clues as to how to more effectually communicate with others.
- Understanding body language gives a person the ability to understand the unspoken. It lets you know who to approach and who not to mess with. It is the ultimate adaptation for survival and reproduction.
- There are some people who have a lot of trouble reading body language. I don't know who these people are, but I know of a few films exploring this concept. People can be deceptive in their body language. In many deal making situations like buying a car, it is useful to not take a lot of body language into account.
- The experience of attempting to communicate without any words was very challenging. My partner was forced to guess what I was referring to rather than knowing what I wanted to do. I attempted to have them get me a few things from the kitchen like a glass of water and some snacks. It proved difficult getting my points across because even the nodding of my head would be a form of language derived from English. My partner had to continually guess what I was thinking until I finally was able to give an ambiguously affirming response to their guess.
- It seemed as if I was completely in control of the conversation considering that I wanted something out of it. It became a game of signaling and guessing where I was in control of what my partner reacted to. This being said, I had little power even though I held the attention. I imagine that if there were multiple people involved, I would not have much to gain attention within the conversation.
- It is clear that spoken language has a vast advantage over pure signaling. Speech and representation in words have a lot of power to suggest things that aren't in the present area. Those in speaking cultures might look down upon those who aren't as lesser in intellect due to their inability to communicate in the abstract. A modern example of this concept would be someone entering a country where they don't speak the local language. Without any means of verbal communication, someone might be seen as not intelligent and inept.
Part 2: 15 minutes of communicating without any physical embellishments, i.e., no hand signals, not vocal intonation, not head, facial, or body movements.
- For this section of the exercise, I utilized text messaging with strict guidelines. No emojis or indications of laughter were allowed from me. Surprisingly it was fairly easy with this in mind. We communicate every day with very little insight as to body language or intonation. In the wide world of blogging and texting, we often guess about people's inflection and attitude. My partner had little issues with understanding my points.
- This shows that in modern society, nonspeech indicators are important to find deeper meaning in one's thoughts but has nothing to do with understanding what someone has to say. What body language gives is purely emotional information. It gives clues as to how to more effectually communicate with others.
- Understanding body language gives a person the ability to understand the unspoken. It lets you know who to approach and who not to mess with. It is the ultimate adaptation for survival and reproduction.
- There are some people who have a lot of trouble reading body language. I don't know who these people are, but I know of a few films exploring this concept. People can be deceptive in their body language. In many deal making situations like buying a car, it is useful to not take a lot of body language into account.
For Phase 1 it seems that you were different in the way you communicated with taking the attitude of being in control of the situation in the best way possible. Even though there were difficulties in items being retrieved, there was still the process of knowing that verbal communication goes a long way. For Phase 2 (and I call them phases because it is more interesting this way)Texting was an interesting way of experimentation considering that the person on the other end, whom I am assuming knows you, can already guess your language from communicating with them prior. I like this idea and way of looking at it.
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ReplyDelete"It proved difficult getting my points across because even the nodding of my head would be a form of language derived from English."
ReplyDeleteNo, nodding is not derived from English. It is more broadly used than this and precedes the English language. I suspect you limited yourself far too much on this experiment. Body language was perfectly acceptable for this.
Your answer on power is closer to the truth than your answer on control. Did you really have control? Could you change topics at will? Ask questions? Steer the conversation where you wanted it to go? And if you did feel this way, could it be because your friends let you do this? If you had engaged in this discussion with a stranger on the street, just how much control would you have had? Would they have patiently tolerated your limited communication or might they have just walked away? Did you really have control? Or did your friends give you the control? In which case, was it really yours to begin with?
I agree with your conclusion on communicating complex ideas and attitudes between cultures. Well done on your example as well.
Part (B):
"My partner had little issues with understanding my points."
Understanding is only part of the issue here. Okay on your description, but usually the most interesting part of this experiment is the response of the partner. Some have actually gotten angry and stormed out. It would have offered more information for both you and your reader if this had been expanded.
"What body language gives is purely emotional information."
It actually goes far beyond pure emotion. Humans tend to use body language as a type of lie detector. If spoken words don't match with the body language, we are more inclined to believe the body language and doubt the words. Think about how being able to detect liars might help an individual's ability to survive and reproduce (which applies to the next section).
"I don't know who these people are, but I know of a few films exploring this concept."
There are groups of people who have great difficulty or an outright inability to read body language due to physical or mental disability, such as those who are in the autism spectrum or those who are blind (though they can read vocal intonation).
"People can be deceptive in their body language."
Actually, it is easy to deceive with words but harder to do so with body language. If you were trying to detect liars, I wouldn't give up the ability to read body language. But is there any situation you can think of where body language might actually mislead you, not because the person is lying but because you don't know how to read the body language? Do all cultures use the same system of body language? They all use different systems of spoken/written language, so why would we assume their body language isn't different? If you travel to another country, can you trust the information you get from their body language?
Hello! I enjoyed reading your blog and I can totally relate to your point about finding this assignment hard due to the fact that we could only to go a certain extent with our communication. Using body language was the only way to really express how I was feeling and it was difficult for my partner to sort of grasp my body language. However I had a different take on the "how was in control" question. I felt as if my partner was in control due to my lack of absence in the conversation.
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