The Function of Language in

 Relation to Human Mind and the External World

Amir Taheri

M.A English Literature

Fergusson College, University of Pune

Pune

Introduction:

There have been many debates regarding the nature of human mind and its relation to the world. In this paper I have tried my best to remove most of the confusions regarding the understanding of human nature. Central to the understanding of human mind and external reality is the nature of language. In this paper, I emphasize that nature of language should be understood not in an ordinary sense. Rather we should analyze it from the philosophical point of view. The other things to which I refer will be the ideals which have prevented us from approaching reality. We will also see how linguistics plays an important role in shaping human minds. I attempt to emphasize that what has been referred to as linguistic properties of language in ordinary sense is nothing but the bundles of energy, or merely a wave or particles. After this I’ll discuss the other aspect of nature of human mind that cannot be conveyed through the linguistic properties or through ordinary language. This is the mystical state. It abounds in mysticism.

Creation of Thought in Relation with Environment and language:

According to Saussure, the connection between the particular signifier (sound-image) and the particular signified (concept) is itself completely arbitrary. This is evident from variety of words with which I can use to communicate the same concept in different languages.  The system of language itself, though, is a system of the relations of signifiers.  If I explain the meaning of a word to you, or explain to you what I mean by a particular word, I can only give you more signifiers; I can never guarantee that they evoke the same signified emotion or content. Thus language is a linear chain of signifiers, each one following from the last, in the order spoken and each relating to others as a matter of definition and context.  Language itself, Saussure suggests, can be thought of as this purely relational system of differences.

Saussure compares the system of differences to that of economic exchange.  In economic exchange, a particular unit of money (e.g. a dollar) has the value it does because it can be: 1) exchanged for something of value (e.g. a loaf of bread) or 2) exchanged for another instrument of value (e.g. a Euro).  In the same way, signifiers can be exchanged for signified (thus we cross the bar of signification) or they can be exchanged for other signifiers.

To this system of exchange, all that matters is the differences in value between the terms.  (e.g., it doesn’t matter if a dollar is printed on paper or is made of something else – all that matters is what it can be exchanged for).  The properties of signification are defined by the differences between significant elements, not by these elements themselves.

 “Everything that has been said up to this point boils down to this: in language there are only differences.  Even more important: a difference generally implies positive terms between which the difference is set up; but in language there are only differences without positive terms.  Whether we take the signified or the signifier, language has neither idea nor sounds that existed before the linguistic system, but only conceptual and phonic differences that have issued from the system.” So Saussure has opined.

A young child learns from his environment, the variety in behavior, the objects and their characteristics. These are received by means of cognitive system (eyes, ears,…). The microstates and their natural characteristics along with their events define the physical structure of the world. This is connected through visual and auditory particles into the active physical states of brain called ‘Neural Network’ by means of wave signals. The energy which leads and carries these particles transmits the physical states of the world into psychological states. For children, it is very important to have the events and world’s phenomena defined in a logical and correct manner. Otherwise they tend to be misled. Every language has its grammar. The universal rules are common to all languages. Below I have shown the process of thought creation in relation with environment and language and the transmission of the real world to the virtual world through its embedded language and symbols.

     (Fig-1 F=function)         

The process of gaining knowledge by two persons and interaction among many is called the social activity. The psycho sources (human being) put certain energy into each phoneme. These acts as a particle of sound and energy and transmit them to the psychological receptors. Mankind has natural capacity to hear or receive certain frequencies, in order to learn or to memorize the certain pitch and tones of the natural phenomena of speech. This is called social communication. A very young child in the primary stages of his life is blind and deaf. As he grows, he learns to recognize the environments and society. Even in the primary stages when he cannot recognize what is what, it does not mean that he is blind or deaf, physiologically. It means he has not matured to the level of recognizing speech phenomena and behavior patterns of societies or peoples. So, here we have to bear in mind that several phenomena depend entirely upon the biological abilities. The physiological phenomena enhance further stages of human cognition.

The process of recognition takes place through physiological growth and the physiological growth changes from time to time. This means, that the process of growth takes place non-stop. It is continuous. The natural phenomena and social structures will become more recognizable and cognizant with time.

So the process of speech for children depends upon their natural development, and so do their visual recognition ability.

 Fig-02 The Steps toward the understanding the human cognition

When the human beings observe the physical world, they get the picture of natural phenomena either in societies or other social settings. When they consider the received picture, carefully it connects the elements (objects, attributes or characteristics) of that picture to another. So through connecting of these elements with their characteristics, he becomes sensible of them. He senses and perceives the whole picture with its psychological states. This is called ‘Sensation’. The process of perceiving through the senses is called ‘Perception’. The process of manipulating the perceived sensation is called ‘Thought process’.

The process of finding the hierarchical parts of the perceived phenomena is called ‘Conception’. It is sometimes defined as the process of arriving at an abstract idea or belief. It also signifies the moment at which such an idea starts to take shape or emerge. One might be tempted to ask what is the role of language in above figure-02. The role of language is to create the virtual world by means of symbols. These are saved through the learning process as the electrochemical substances in physical brain system. This process creates the memory.

Language is embedded in culture. It conveys the senses which exist in culture. So the development of language depends upon the human culture and its ability to observe and conceptualize the natural phenomena so as to construct an ideal language for its social affairs. Language plays an important role. It is a tool and means of transmission of ideas. It provides means of comprehension. Without language, improvement and development of societies is impossible.

The concepts and meanings remain static, unless they are encoded and interpreted and transmitted by the human mind, so human mind is nothing, but the grammatical structure which is ruled by logic. In the depth of the structure of the mind (language) we have logical structures which share common form with the world.

The proposition and mental structure which have been grasped through the external and internal world carry the energies which convey the sense and bring out the meaning of phenomena, interpreted by the mind.

The meaning of the proposition must be understood in terms of its context, that is, in terms of the rules of the game of which that proposition is a part.

The rules of language are like the rules of game. In any game no one is at the same level as the other. So the players are different in playing the particular game like ‘Chess’. The rules are known to all, but the way one plays is different. So players should know how to bring the objects and characteristics or attributes of the language into use.

Every culture has its own language and the language used in any culture has its own concepts and meaning of itself.

There are many phenomena which we cannot sense through our cognitive system, but which are felt, and through attuned senses which create special meaning which only the individual is aware of. So we conclude that the meaning is embedded in psychological state of every individual. The concept or meaning of, say for instance 'happiness' might vary from individual to individual and society to society and this entirely depends upon the culture and the psychological states of the individuals.

Words are intangible objects along with their very own characteristic and attributes, they exist on their own, their configuration helps us to grasp the way they would be, their state of affaire would bring out certain facts.

At the end of this discussion I would like to mention about the concept of two words which are helpful for understanding the concept of language in relation to the world. They are as follows.

Concept of language regarding what is sense and what is nonsense:

 Sense in philosophical term as cited by Wittgenstein, means:

 Those objects or the phenomenon, which exist in nature and which is grasped by our thought so as to express them in language or in words are called ‘sense’. They make sense and are comprehensible to human mind, because they can be transmitted in any manner through linguistics properties.

Nonsense in philosophical term as cited by Wittgenstein means:

Those objects or the phenomenon, which exist in nature and also in our thought, is inexpressible e.g. morality, which can be gained only through action. They are difficult and abstract and not easy to comprehend in tangible terms.

So we can conclude that our language has limitations for expression of our    personal experiences, (especially mystic ones). Mysticism is the state of thought or mind which is personal experience and we cannot transmit it to other individuals, what is meaningless on transmission to others becomes nonsense to them. As it is a personal experience, it is meaningful only to you not to others. As it makes sense to you it can be meaningful for you, not for others, Wittgenstein called it ‘nonsense’. I have given an analogy or example of ‘nonsense’ which can help to understand it better what ‘nonsense’ is.

First we have the Nature, then thought, then language.

Our thought (Mind) oscillates between our language (Linguistics’ properties) and the external world, So, those things which are known or can be made known to others have ‘sense’, but those which can’t be said or expressed, but have the reality in personal experience are called ‘Nonsense’ or doesn’t have any meaning to others.

Signs  are  the  senses  which  have  embedded  meaning in them,  a  picture  has  its logical  form  and  it  has  its  meaning  within  its  states  where  its  connection resides. The images are the very connections which imply the meaning.

A picture is a logical proper connection of senses conveyed through the function called ‘language’.

The world is a totality of facts. According to Wittgenstein's ‘picture theory’ of meaning, it is the nature of elementary propositions logically to picture atomic facts, or ‘states of affairs’. He claimed that the nature of language required elementary propositions and his theory of meaning required that there be atomic facts pictured by the elementary propositions.

The main idea that Wittgenstein emphasizes is to draw a limit to language, in that what so ever can be said, can be put it into expression; for that which can’t be said it must be passed over in silence. In his conclusion regarding language, he states that the limit is in language, and not in thought. and  what  lies  on  the  other  side  of  the  limit,  will  simply  be nonsense.

Conclusion:

The philosophical concept of mind in relation to the world resides in language. Language itself has been embedded in two concepts of sense and nonsense. Finally I refer to the analogy of the garden in order to explain it properly. 

Suppose one goes to a Garden and sees many beautiful flowers, smells their fragrances and then returns from Garden, and tries to express the scenic beauty and the fragrances to his friends. He explains about all that he has seen, but finally, he is unable to explain the fragrance in terms. He has only one choice i.e. to take his friends to that place and let them enjoy the fragrance of flowers. Then all of them may feel similarly about that scene. The question of person’s privacy and ethics can be grasped through this analogy.

According to Wittgenstein we cannot draw boundaries to thought but language limits our expressive abilities through its limitations.

However, subsequently in his later work ‘Philosophical Investigation’ Wittgenstein, in contrast to the Tractatus, confines the use of language and the meaning of the words to the society and culture, which he refers to it as ‘language game’, that is why he rejects his previous theories.

References

• Philosophy of Mind by G.W.F. Hegel.

• Part Three of the Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences/ William Wallace translation.
• Philosophy of Language/by David Mertz/University of Colorado, Boulder.

Fall, 1987

• The analysis of mind by Bertrand Russell.
• Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus/ by Ludwig Wittgenstein Published (1922).

·       Philosophy of Language: Questions and Answers By Steve Hoenisch Last updated on August 4,2004 Copyright 1996-2006 www.Crrticism.Corn

·       Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy.

·       Encyclopedia of Encarta.

·       Philosophical investigation by Wittgenstein.

Baloch Academy Of Humanities www.balochacademy.org