As we began our unit on oral knowledge in class today, I couldn't help but think about how language itself is really a form of folk knowledge. And it's one of those things that we learn without even realizing that we're learning, tying it in perfectly with the discussion in Sam's post from Tuesday about how we just seem to automatically absorb some knowledge.I think that until you take a linguistics course, you don't realize how amazing the language acquisition process really is. Last semester I took the linguistics class Dr. Petersen mentioned in class, and I literally spent the entire semester learning about what I already knew. Here's an example of what I mean by that: I know how to make all the sounds (phonemes) that make up the English language, but I still had to learn intellectually how I make those sounds - what part of the mouth, teeth, and lips are used, whether the sound is voiced or unvoiced, and so forth.
I would highly recommend Elang 223 for anyone with any interest in language, regardless of your major. Or even just check out the textbook that we used (I loved it!).
It's kind of cool to realize that the entire basis for our new unit of oral knowledge, which is spoken language, is really a form of folk knowledge. What a seamless transition!
I won't be surprised to see that kind of linkage between each of our units, because in reality, the breakdown of knowledge into different sub-types is rather superficial...we can learn and know and experience the same thing in many different forms and ways.
Case in point: cooking, like I talked about in my previous post, can be learned just by watching and then doing, by having instructions spoken (like my mom does over the phone when I call with questions!), by reading a recipe card written by someone else, or by using instructions or recipes from books or online. That covers the full spectrum of knowledge types we'll be covering this semester! And I think that a similar list could be made for almost any type of knowledge or skill we might consider - the so-called category we place knowledge in probably has more to do with how we experience it or how we want to discuss it than with any intrinsic characteristic of that knowledge.
I think it's cool you brought up linguistics, just cause languages are kinda my passion. So I probably will be taking that class for my major, even!
ReplyDeleteThis also reminded me of something interesting that I learned from psychology this year about how we store memory...maybe a future post topic.
Sam, don't leave us hanging! What is it about how we store memory that connects here??
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely interesting how language is something that you just absorb-well, at least if it's your first language. Also, if you are surrounded by a language 24/7, like on a mission or in a class where you are only allowed to use the language you are learning, it is much easier to pick it up. I never really thought of what parts of your mouth and teeth are used until I took choir in high school and we had to focus on shaping our mouths correctly for vowels and placing the "tip of the tongue on the back of the teeth" when you have a word that starts with T. Language is just something we are so used to that we don't realize how much knowledge it actually takes!
ReplyDeleteHa ha all right - I had to go look up the terms! It involves the categories of knowledge - things that we know categorically, like facts, are retrieved differently from things that we know how to physically do; actions like riding a bike. They call it explicit versus implicit memory. I thought it was interesting how closely it relates to, say, book learning vs folk knowledge, and the differences there.
ReplyDeleteLike how we had to physically learn something for our last assignment, but math is more explicit/intellectual.
ReplyDeleteYeah we actually learned that in psychology also, apparently we don't remember anything past 3--4 years of age. Even then we can only understand actual events, not how they happened or what caused them. But yeah this kind of connects to an earlier post of prioritizing knowledge in the form of what cars we past by on the way to work or school, as we choose to remember certain thing and not others. Things that matter such as assignments or social news we store, but others we completely forget, like what we had for breakfast a certain day.
ReplyDeleteSam, just a side note, we are in the same class for psychology. Thinking of language as a folk knowledge is definitely appropriate. However, like other forms of folk knowledge, even languages can die out. Dr. Petersen mentioned that story about the frustrated linguists who were trying to get the last two people on earth who knew a certain language to speak to one another in order to preserve it (P.S. - I still don't know if that was true or not). It is hard to believe that even grand civilaztions such as the Nephites or the Mayans could simply have their languages, the main identity of a civilization, die out.
ReplyDeleteAnyone ever wonder what language God speaks? Of course He can communicate with man in any language because He is omnipotent, all-knowing, and all-powerful. However, every language known to man has its flaws, such as cursings or inappropriate sayings therefore, it would seem to make sense that in a celestial glory, God speaks the most beautiful language that no human being has probably ever heard. It's cool to think that God could speak to use in English, any maybe even with a sweet British accent, but imagine how incredible it would be to hear Him speak in the purest language in the entire universe.
ReplyDeleteI wonder whether perhaps God communicates without the limitations of a language?
ReplyDeleteI've always thought it must be kinda limiting on what He can say for Him to use our languages, since we are probably missing a ton of words that He would use to describe certain things. Earthly languages, like everything else here, are imperfect.
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