Picture this: two cats stand inches apart, ears laid back and backs arched. As they circle around each other, each one's squinted eyes fixate on the other as both utter low, threatening meows.
The cats' body language and tone lead us to conclude that a fight is about to commence. After all, this feral rotation is a far cry from their behavior at home, where the occasional high-pitched meow is a plea for food, and anger is as rare as a selfless visit to see what you're up to. No; at home, our personal relationships with them have created--for the most part--content house pets, capable at most of an annoyed swipe at your arm.
Cats obviously don't have a language system as complex as ours, but the same rules apply to the fusion of our actions and words. When words don't mean what they mean, how do we understand what the other person is trying to tell us? Over time, certain phrases have come to mean certain things, like Pinker's whimperative, "Do you think you could pass the salt?" But in other cases, we must deduce meaning from body language, the context of the conversation, and, in some cases, a person's tone of voice. For example, we can hear sarcasm in a ridiculous suggestion that drips with enthusiasm, or observe a person asking an officer for a way to pay for his ticket from his car while pulling out $50 and understand that he is hinting at bribery (Pinker 746).
The cats' body language and tone lead us to conclude that a fight is about to commence. After all, this feral rotation is a far cry from their behavior at home, where the occasional high-pitched meow is a plea for food, and anger is as rare as a selfless visit to see what you're up to. No; at home, our personal relationships with them have created--for the most part--content house pets, capable at most of an annoyed swipe at your arm.
Cats obviously don't have a language system as complex as ours, but the same rules apply to the fusion of our actions and words. When words don't mean what they mean, how do we understand what the other person is trying to tell us? Over time, certain phrases have come to mean certain things, like Pinker's whimperative, "Do you think you could pass the salt?" But in other cases, we must deduce meaning from body language, the context of the conversation, and, in some cases, a person's tone of voice. For example, we can hear sarcasm in a ridiculous suggestion that drips with enthusiasm, or observe a person asking an officer for a way to pay for his ticket from his car while pulling out $50 and understand that he is hinting at bribery (Pinker 746).
Yes! I love your cat. He certainly has body language that shows how hungry and lazy he always is. He’s like me. I like how you went further with applying what we discussed in class to human behavior
ReplyDeleteMarina, I love how you drew the discussion of language to include non-verbal communication. I wrote about something similar (certainly not as entertaining) so it is interesting to see how the discussion on words naturally led us to think of body language and tone. Great job!
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