As a very young boy, i wondered what the world would be like without language. Language has been a wonderful instrument which humans use to communicating and expressing their feelings to one another.
Have you imagined a world without language? We have thousands of languages. How human brains are structured to fully grasp these different languages is truly marvellous!
In Nigeria alone, we have more than 600 dialects. There are dialects that people from same tribe (e.g Yoruba) do not understand. I am an indigene of Ijebu which is a region under Ogun State, Nigeria. The capital of Ogun is Abeokuta yet i do not understand Abeokuta language.
The above is an instance of the beauty of life. We can speak any language if we are ready to learn it.
While in the university, i was introduced to the debate on the existence of African philosophy (a discussion for another day). This debate centers on 'what makes a philosophy African'?
The West did not deny the fact that we have capacity to reason rationally but argue that African cannot have a philosophy they can call their own. As a scholar of African philosophy, i do not really blame them.This is because they failed to understand that what we call Western philosophy is not an holistic philosophy but philosophies. Different countries are known for different things. The Greek have Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and these people have different views about the world. Americans are known for pragmatism. Pragmatism is a movement that looks at practical or cash value of anything to ascertain its truthfulness. What we have among these cultures is called philosophies.
On that basis, Africans cannot have a philosophy! What we have is philosophies. The Yoruba people have their philosophy, the Akan of Ghana have their philosophy, Mande people in The Gambia, Guinea, Mali and Zulu people in South Africa also.
The problem with African philosophy is the problem of orality. Nothing says a philosophy must be documented before it can be called philosophy. Both text and orality are crucial to the continuous existence of our philosophies. Can philosophy or any discipline be taught without writing or speaking?
You couldn't have human society without language. John Maynard Smith
Can we call anything rational without language? If there was nothing like language, would you have been able to know what you know? Would the world be any different from what it is now?
Without language can we know about Socrates, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Imhotep, Confucius, Budha, Kwasi Wiredu, etc. Without language, can there be a school? If there is, how would we be taught things there?
Without language can there be inventions, technology, development? How will husband and wife understand each other? Without language, can there be a religion? Without language, how would we judge human actions?
Language permeates every aspect of our existence. We use language for almost everything. Without language i wont be able to communicate with you through text like i am doing right now or through spoken words.
If you do not understand this language, you can translate it to read it. You will still be using language to do so but without language, how can you judge me as rational human being? Remember i must have communicated with language that you understand (or translated) before you can judge me as a rational or irrational being.
Do you think a world without language is possible? If yes, how? Your take on this topic would be highly appreciated.
Thanks for reading my blog. Your boy @smyle the philosopher.
A world without language is not possible, language is a means of communication either written or spoken... So no language no communication. Even when we think, we do that with language.
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Exactly!
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Wow a world without language, I can't even imagine how we as humans is going to communicate with one and other. I guess life will be very boring without language. A very educative post, good work @smyle
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I believe the only society that can exist without language is one that is very primative and fustrating. Language is the key to our advancements throughout the world. But when you say language i include even sign language. So without language it is near impossible if not impossible for a society to progress. The more i think on this the more i feel a society can not exist without language. Thanks for sharing!
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It was a joy to read your article as always. Truly language is the cord that binds us together. Language manifests culture. Even animals have their language, it's only that we don't have the faculty to understand them.
Without language, we will be in perpetual chaos!
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Nice post .....Language is an extremely complex and highly versatile code that is used to communicate thoughts, desires and experiences to other persons. Yh the world can't exist without language
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A world without language is possible @smyle. Here is my proove. What you need is just to be a psychologist and you could be able to read the mind of people and and say the fact about them without any prior communication with them before. A good psychologist will only study your action and tell u your habit, he only need to look you critically and say what you eat..... On my stance... World without language is possible....
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But without language how can a psychologist be a psychologist? What will he say in his mind to form conclusions? Isn't that a language?
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Psychology is all about studying the human mind scientifically and without thinking you cannot study a human and thinking is done with language. Even when you try to use signs to communicate. It is still called the sign language. Studying ones habit still involves language if not how do you think, study and translate one's habit?
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Its a nice post. i really enjoy read t your post.
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It is absolutely impossible to have a world without language.
Thanks @smyle for the write up.
@largerben
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Very interesting post.
I would actually think language develops from rational thought. Let us look at the blind and deaf, who lack full means of communication. They are still rational because humans are innately rational, which actually makes us very special. We appeal to logic and rationality because it simply makes sense to us. We like truth. Language is a tool that helps us discover truth. But an expansive language like English or Afrikaans is not necessary. Symbolic logics like propositional logic or mathematics have shown we can express rationality with "limited" resources.
Now this begs the question of things like body language. Suppose I wanted to represent the word water to someone that does not speak the same language as me. I could motion my hands to be drinking from a cup. Or the word bird. I could ridiculously flap my arms up and down. This is because of empirical experiences.
Now, if we were to consider the case where every individual person has different empirical experiences, ie. everyone is from a different planet and we all have different things on our planet. Even in this case, supposing we are all rational, we could work things out even if it were difficult. We are deductive. We try to figure out what is going on. We work with reason. So even if I have never seen a bird before, but you flap your arms to represent a bird, I know you are trying to represent something. Although I do not know what, I hope to eventually figure it out.
As a logician, linguistics is closely knit into my field as much as we try to do without it. Problems arise all the time from language, like Wittgenstein, Quine, etc. I think rationality and language are symbiotic and grow together, but are not wholely dependent on one another.
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