From this example, it seems feasible to me that we had the potential to develop a non vocal process of communication that would be just as precise and illuminating to the process of communicating with each other as words. This is not to claim that a non vocal language would be of greater value as our sole method of communication- darkness, distance would limit its use- but it theoretically might have prevented or delayed the unreliability of our current American English. Communication theorists have noted something they call micro momentary movements in facial expressions, and other body movements that seem to be involuntary signals relating to the intent of the speaker. Current research indicates that these movements can, for example, potentially be used to determine whether someone is lying. However even if the theory has any validity at all, it could not be developed to a level analogous to the pidgin sign language of the older Nicaraguan children. In other words even if the tiny, fleeting movements of muscle is an innate aspect of being human, a genuine barometer of our internal self, we would have lost the ability to document it fully as we aged. [There is some current work indicating that children can learn to sign much earlier than they can learn to speak.] But we can't teach them what we cannot learn ourselves. And we lost our ability to do that back along the evolutionary trail when we decided that all we needed to communicate was words.
There are myriad other indicator tidbits that our communication with each other could have been far more precise and dependable than words alone. We observe dogs smelling each other and in our anthropomorphic egoism think what they are perceiving is primitive and sub human, but that might not be the case. By now it is pretty well accepted that humans produce pheromones, and that these subconsciously send different messages to males and females. We speak of the chemistry of human attraction with no real idea how much information is available in that process if we retained the ability to consciously interpret it. Psychologists have done some studies that show emotional states have characteristic odors. But rather than treat body odors as a method of communication we have labeled them as gross and banned them from proper society, instead disguising our body odors by smearing ourselves with au du whalevomit and other artificial odors. The foulness of body odors is a result of bacterial action on the bodies secretions. In an interesting study researchers found that campers who lived in the outdoors for two weeks without bathing had fewer bacteria under their arms when they returned than when they left. So the next time you scrub your underarms with lava soap and swab them with Old Spice, realize that what you may be doing is establishing a breeding ground for bacterial development which prevents you from knowing what the odor of your sweat was trying to say before it was attacked by the bacterial hordes you unleashed.
What I would like to contribute to is our understanding that we have allowed the precision of our language to be degraded by letting ourselves be lied to. Not just by our leaders but ourselves. We latch on to god terms; give meaning to words that go far beyond what their syntax describes. God bless America is not a well meaning invocation to the alleged creator of all life, it is a jingoistic call to arms. This process has gone on so long that we are no longer able to get a firm grasp on reality by knowing what is being said about it. Whether my musings that the disintegration of our language is a natural function of the evolution of organizational structure is of little consequence. What is crystal clear is that the words we hear so frequently do not mean what they say they mean that we don't have a reliable gauge to make truth clear. We long for assurance that we are on the "right" path, that our destiny is blessed, our progress will proceed toward greatness. We can no longer look for that final assurance in our language. Our scientists cannot provide us that assurance. Our leaders cannot provide us that assurance. In plunging headlong in search of assurance of rightness we travel ever closer to chaos. Can you adapt?
Next up: Religion.
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