Many tend to think of language in terms of transactions made and completed. I go to Bucklix and put a coke and two moon pies on the belt; I pay my money; the clerk says: “hav a naice deh.” The transaction works perfectly; I hav a naice deh eating my moon pies and drinking my coke.
If you have just celebrated Valentine’s Day and whispered sweet nothings into your significant other’s ear, you know language is more than a simple matter of transactions. One Renaissance commentator called the non-transactional aspect of language a “Royal Game.” This game theory of language pays attention to the various playful aspects of language which often fall to the back of our minds when we contemplate the very serious “business” of language.
Respond with an anecdote, a poem, or a quip which reveals your understanding of language as a “Royal Game.”
"THE bow of promise, this lost flaring star,
ReplyDeleteTerror and hope are in mid-heaven; but She,
The mighty-wing'd crown'd Lady Melancholy,
Heeds not. O to what vision'd goal afar
Does her thought bear those steadfast eyes which are
A torch in darkness? There nor shore nor sea,
Nor ebbing Time vexes Eternity,
Where that lone thought outsoars the mortal bar.
Tools of the brain--the globe, the cube--no more
She deals with; in her hand the compass stays;
Nor those, industrious genius, of her lore
Student and scribe, thou gravest of the fays,
Expect this secret to enlarge thy store;
She moves through incommunicable ways."
- Edward Dowden
Windows is Shutting Down by Clive JamesThe Guardian, Saturday April 30 2005
ReplyDeleteWindows is shutting down, and grammar are
On their last leg. So what am we to do?
A letter of complaint go just so far,
Proving the only one in step are you.
Better, perhaps, to simply let it goes.
A sentence have to be screwed pretty bad
Before they gets to where you doesnt knows
The meaning what it must of meant to had.
The meteor have hit. Extinction spread,
But evolution do not stop for that.
A mutant languages rise from the dead
And all them rules is suddenly old hat.
Too bad for we, us what has had so long
The best seat from the only game in town.
But there it am, and whom can say its wrong?
Those are the break. Windows is shutting down.
The poem from The Guardian made me think how much more tolerant we are of Shakespeare's adventures with language. He was not afraid to try new things with language, and of course, his experiments now define correctness. Isn't that odd? I suppose we should only ask for language to be vivid and meaning clear. Where is the boundary between experimental and creative language and language that is simply incorrect? Perhaps that's for poets to tell us.
Delete" Could there ever be a world without a pen? -
ReplyDeleteLaying down a stolen thought from torrid minds,
Yearnings of a lonely heart,
Secret entries of a girl
That in her father's eye would
Call upon the rage of Hell …
Or simple notes - nudges
For the memory of self;
Doodles in the boredom.
I could never dream of days devoid of ink. What of
Toils of talent honed in literary cliques,
A poet in romantic storm,
A novel born of devastating yarns?
And the harmony and melody of tune -
A mighty mind of music penning out
Contortions of emotion thro' the scale
And clef to let the hand in play
Convert the purple into soulful airs,
Or rhapsodies or other lyric forms;
Musician's tears to titillate - enchant
A silent house until the end,
When approbation will resound!
I could never live a life bereft of quills -
What a barren crux for humankind -
A dearth of scholars' tomes,
An author's prose no more to share -
The belletristic want would kill the mind
In such a bleak affair."
-Pen By Mark R Slaughter
Language can be meaningful "transactions" as well as meaningless ones depending on how you use it. If you express how you feel and how you feel towards the signifiant people in your life its meaningful. Telling someone how you feel and meaning it is using it richly. Words with substance are far more meaningful than those of everyday vacant language. To get vital emotion, news, or instruction language is crucial in communication in a technical, literal, and serious matter.
ReplyDeleteIts a lot harder to express meaningful words then meaningless. It takes a lot to find the courage to tell someone your deep, intimate emotions, which is why meaningless language is more common.
ReplyDeleteLanguage and how you use it is a "Royal Game" because language can be used as a tool to influence people as well as communicate emotions. Language can be used meaningfully when you express deep emotions or when it is used to manipulate or influence people. Language can also be used meaninglessly in everyday, empty exchanges.
ReplyDeleteSounds of joy, sounds of joy
ReplyDeleteOh how I love to hear sweet sounds
Of joy
Sounds of joy, sounds of joy
Oh how I love to hear momma sing
In her morning voice
Sounds of joy, sounds of joy
Oh how I love to be in the presence
Of these sounds of joy
Sounds of joy, sounds of joy
Oh how I love sweet sounds of joy
-Va Rockeya Foy
The moment language becomes a "royal game" is when it ceases to be used for just the basic necessities of life, but instead is used with joy to enhance connections with people.
oh sweet love...
ReplyDelete"O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love
And I'll no longer be a Capulet."
- Shakesoeare
I do not see anything to post on for this month Dr. DuPree...
ReplyDeleteIf language was a game, I would have tossed the board and all the pieces off the table by now.
ReplyDeleteYour move Doctor.