“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself; I am large, I contain multitudes.” Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass (1855).
Etymology is beautiful and telling. It gives depth to our words. Words as fantacy images, attempts of simile to describe the world. The meanings of words has a sensitive intricate, deep history of it’s own. The grand epic scenery of meandering changing and diverting meanings of metaphores and their diverse meaning through centuries gives depths to the ending lables over all of our language conceptual abysses, the thin but distinct in form alphabetical letters, the words. The agreed upon signs our mind needs to be human.
We mimick reality by means of languages’ concepts and meaning. The world of ours becomes then malliable in our mind never possible for animals.
We think not with words nor in images, we think with what’s happening, how the world is. With concepts meaning, function, sentiment, atmosphere, clouds, parables, with as-ifs. Ans how the world feels.
Function, notion, concepts, thinking lies for many hidden under our language. The actual Word the uppermost level, the letter, the label. Under this another level, function, meaning, intention, concept, noun, verb, adjective, narrative, adage. Yet under this are connections, associations, branches into other concepts, memories, events. Like roots that branches lost in undescribable entanglements. Even under this intricacy, are the connections to archetypes, collective memories, age-old behaviors, into the collective unconscious. Way under this the instincts, the animalistic automatic behaviors. And under this, the physiology and the by science now appearant intelligent collective cells of our body.
“Instructions for imagination.” – Daniel Dor ´The invention of language at one point became both necessary and possible, a growing dependancy on each other made way for experiential mutual-identification, machinery required for the construction of language. With bodily and vocal mimesis, they helped each other experience.´
Language itself is a source of knowledge. Disecting the underpinnings of the labels etymologically, the ancient meanings of our everyday worn expressions exposes ourselves to what we actually are saying. (examples..)
BEGINNING OF WRITTEN SIGNS • DAWN OF SOCIETY CULTURE
Spoken language must have emerged out of necessity, just as our written characters were first born out of the need to organize the ever-increasing prosperity, the exuberant grain of crops, the uncountable sheep herds back in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Keeping track of all this gave birth to written signs. The mesopotamians used clay tablets, the egyptians used elegant much more practical papyrus sheets.
The initial trigger, the indicator to use sound with meaning, was stoneknapping. The skill of forming stones for hunting and related needs. Endorsing tools shelter weapons and other needs. Speech though might have began with gestures facilitating different sound utterances. All skills and cooperation improves with communication. At the same time fostering and partaking entangled in the birth of culture.
Rythmic stone knapping, rythmic walking and walking at the the savanna. The embryo of music. Rythm hypnosis, iterations upon iterations in rythm as meditation. And in rythmic unison warding off wild animals round the fire camp. The tribal birth of music. Training the voice and dancing body in shear collective unison joy.
Rythm by knacking stones done by a half ape, australopitecus, in time all up until homo erectus took between one and a half to three million years. A hell of a long time. During that time we probably began to talk. Talking had time to evolve just because it was so slow.
To be continued and reiterated…