To What Extent Can Language Express What We Truly Feel Inside? in Other Words, How Accurate Can Language Be When We Want to Convey a Certain Message?
To what extent can language express what we truly feel inside? In other words, how accurate can language be when we want to convey a certain message?
Language has sure helped us humans a lot in many ways, but is it really possible for language to express everything on earth? Including emotions, or what about things that do not exist? How much, can language really express? We do not know the definite limitations, even though considering we are the ones that came up with these different languages. Isn’t it fascinating to know that we’ve come up with something that not even we ourselves know the boundaries of? Throughout a conversation, you may get a general sense of what someone is saying, because we all live in a world where we share definitions of words that are agreed among the majority of people living on earth. For instance, there might not be a correct definition of "red", but we have come up with a general sense of what it is- the color we seen on the skin of an apple, or the color of blood. We can see that red does not consist of only one shade of color, just like many other words do not have only one definition. Definition of words vary among individuals, it is affected by many factors such as gender, nationality, culture, religion, age, time, and so on. Our experiences are what follow us when we think about the definition of a word, and the way that the words are used and being said. Therefore, when someone says something, what we interpret may not always be exactly what he or she is trying to imply. This is very important to understand and keep in mind because it can cause a lot of problems in communication, such as misunderstanding, disagreements, discrimination, bias, etc. We can say that, language can also be really dangerous! Many of the words used in language not only have a primary meaning (denotation), but also a secondary meaning (connotation). A connotation of a word signifies more on the personal aspect of the word.
References: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/home?s=t IB Theory of Knowledge- Understanding knowledge issues (Short paper from the IBO about identifying and presenting knowledge issues.) Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma Written by Richard van de Lagemaat