End of Unit Questions (Continued...)

·      -Is it possible to experience an emotion, a feeling, an attitude or sensibility that cannot be expressed in language? Can an emotion, such as love or grief, have its origins in, or be shaped by, language?

       I certainly believe that it is possible to experience a sensation that is inexpressible through language. For this same reason, we often hear people make statements such as "I don't know how to explain what I am feeling." That being said, I disagree with the latter part of the question, as I actually believe in quite the opposite. Whilst I do not think that emotion itself is shaped by language, I do on the other hand think that language can be shaped by emotion. It was emotion that came first and then methodologies to label these emotions followed suit. Thus, I feel like language was molded to adapt to communicating a certain emotion and not vice versa.

·      -Is the knowledge gained from emotional responses influenced by culture? Are concepts such as patriotism and racism examples of collective emotions? What does it mean to be responsible for our emotions? Can emotions be classified as ‘good’ or ‘bad’? Do emotional responses emanate from cultural influences?

       In my opinion, concepts like patriotism and racism are very much embedded in a societal mindset and are thus emotions heavily influenced by one's cultural background and upbringing in general. That being said, I also believe that an individual himself is responsible for the emotions they exhibit and the entire cause of how one feels cannot be attributed to a group/culture. For example, for the large part in my culture, inter-religion marriages are not necessarily appreciated, however, I still do not have a particular stance on this notion due to the fact that I have never been someone who blindly abides by societal norms. I do not think that emotions can broadly be classified into 'good' and 'bad' however what I do know is that displaying an extremity of any emotion is not healthy. Yes emotional responses do to a great extent emanate from cultural influences and the dynamic exposure an individual has encountered in life. For example, in most cultures the slaughtering of cows for beef is deemed acceptable however in my culture, a Cow is considered as a sacred animal and consequently the consumption of beef itself is not a part of my culture. Our cultures accordingly play a pivotal role in shaping who we are. 

·     -Does emotion reside in the realm of private knowledge in the sense that it cannot be verified by others? Is all private knowledge necessarily some form of emotion? Is physical pain or hunger an emotion? Can people be wrong about their own emotions? Do people have, in some sense, exclusive access to their emotions or can others lead them to recognize previously unknown emotions?

       I think that whether emotion resides in the realm of private knowledge or not is very much a personal choice. For many individuals, their internal emotions are not something they try to hide and these are easily identifiable in their reactions to certain things. On the other hand, for some people they like to keep their emotions to themselves and what is shown to the world externally is merely a facade masking what is hiding in the depths of their emotions. I do not agree with all private knowledge being a form of emotion as much as I believe that emotion can, by choice, be a part of private knowledge. I do not think physical pain and hunger are emotions as emotions are sentiments/feelings that are not really physically more perhaps more cognitively experienced. I think people can only be wrong about their emotions if they do not really know themselves and have not explored and established who they really are. I am convinced that other people can certainly lead an individual to experience unknown feelings. One does not know how jealousy, love, sympathy, empathy or even hate feels like before they encounter another individual who makes them acquainted with these unfamiliar emotions. 

·     -Is there any kind of knowledge which can be attained solely through emotion? Is the answer to the question dependent on factors such as gender, age, culture, and/or socioeconomic group?

       Knowledge in terms of social interaction between two individuals can certainly be attained through emotions, if they are explicitly expressed. However, besides that, I am unsure of any kind of knowledge that can be attained solely through emotion. The factors listed above definitely play a role in this notion as these outlines essentially paint a picture of generalized groups that have distinct characteristics and hence their perception of the world can influence the amount of knowledge that can be gained through emotion. 

·    -Is emotion an essential ingredient of scientific or artistic knowledge? Can there be creativity without emotion?

       While I do think that emotion is an essential ingredient in artistic knowledge, according to me, scientific knowledge has always been very distant or independent of emotion. Artistic knowledge in my view is very much linked to emotion, as it is one's internal emotive state that propels art. I do not thus think that creativity can exist without emotion as these elements are inextricably intertwined. Art is often called a form of expression, a medium for one to communicate how they feel and hence to think that creativity itself can exist without any emotion to stimulate it seems unreasonable. 

Language Questions (1 and 2)

Questions (1)

•What is human language?  Can it be defined?

         In my opinion, human language can be deemed as anything that allows a means of efficacious communication between two individuals. This means of communication could be in the form of gestures, verbal conversation or even facial expressions. Accordingly, I also believe that human language in itself is an amalgamation of several entwined elements that cannot be isolated from each other. 

•Do we think in language?  Why is that?

         Language is a medium that allows us to process our thoughts and thus I do think that we think in language. In terms of the specificity of the language that we gauge in to think, from my personal experience I can say, we often retreat to processing our internal thoughts in our mother tongues/native languages as this is the language that is intrinsic to our being. 

•Do speakers of different languages inhabit different worlds?

         I do not think that speakers of different language inhabit different worlds for the sole reason that despite that fact that we may have different phonetically sound to convey the meaning of certain things, we do in the entirety seek exposure to similar facets of the world. Thus, I personally feel like it is more the manner in which one is brought up or their cultural background that determines their perception of the world than the language they speak.  

•How does human language differs from animal communication?   Do speakers of different languages know different things?

         Animal communication, as per my perception, is based purely on sounds that capture another animal’s attention. Humans on the other hand have several elements that elevate the notion of communication and hence a grand distinction can be drawn between the forms of communication between the two species. Speaker of different languages often have come words that are untranslatable. These worlds can potentially indicate that speakers of different languages may perhaps engage in different facets of the world depending on the tangible vocabulary developed to express these variations. 

•Does our language limit what we can know?

        If an individual is only articulate in one language but desires to gain knowledge that is primarily grounded in another language, a language barrier may be encountered if the individual does not have parallel vocabulary to translate the words of the new language into. Hence, viewing it from this perspective, yes, in some cases an individual's language could potentially limit what they can know.

•To what degree might different languages shape in their speakers different concepts of themselves and the world? What are the implications of such differences for knowledge?

        To reiterate, different languages oft consist of untranslatable words/terminology that could potentially result in a language barrier between two individuals who speak a mediating middle language. Nevertheless, the differences in knowledge as a result of this dividing factor can lead to further complications in communicating messages but on the other hand can also lead to greater findings due to the fact that two individuals who have different elements of knowledge on one subject can unite to arrive at a grand conclusive finding together.

•Does the language we speak shape our cultural values, or does the influence go the other way, or both?

         As mentioned earlier, I am a strong believer in the fact that our cultural values are dominant in influencing elements of our personalities, including that of our language. Thus, the language we speak is only an extension of our culture and hence is greatly influenced by it. For example, two people who speak the same language may not perceive the world in the same way as this disparity is characterized by their cultural background and upbringing. 

•What is the role of language in sustaining relationships of authority?

          Language plays a critical role in sustaining the relationships of authority as a hierarchy is established whilst using language in different ways with different people. For instance, in certain languages like Hindi and Korean, language and conversational  vocabulary is segregated by levels of formalities that pertain to people and the person they are speaking to. Thus, in language as such, the language itself plays a pivotal role in defining and sustaining the relationships of authority.

Questions (2)

•To what extend does language shape our thinking?

           I believe that language does not play a big role in shaping how we think as it is our culture that essentially is dominant in moulding our though process and ideology. Language simply mediates our thoughts and allows us to communicate them effectively. Although, considering an alternative perspective as by which language allows conversation with those around us and therefore allows us to consider and absorb new perspectives, the importance of language can be argues to influence our thinking.

•Do people think differently in different languages?

          I do not think that speakers of different language inhabit different worlds for the sole reason that despite that fact that we may have different phonetically sound to convey the meaning of certain things, we do in the entirety seek exposure to similar facets of the world. Thus, I personally feel like it is more the manner in which one is brought up or their cultural background that determines their perception of the world than the language they speak.  

•If you do not have words for certain situation, does it mean you do not have thoughts for them?

        I think that it is possible to conjure thoughts about something without having the exact words to express the thought. For instance, if speaking about a certain emotion, it is possible for one to feel a certain way without having an exact label to identify it by. Thus, these sentiments/ thoughts that cannot be communicated through words are often perplexing as there is no way one knows how to communicate the exact situation due to the absence of corresponding relevant words

Last Language (November 1st, 2016)

NOTES

-Language can be manipulated to influence and evoke an audience's emotions through the deliberate use of jargon.

-Media is a critical conduit that is responsible for propagation of subjective point of views through the distortion of language.

-Governments deceive their own people.

-Communism in Vietnam War
     Principles behind communism were not evil but it got corrupted along the way.
     Lower productivity results in decreased economic prosperity and hence overall there is less to              distribute in the first place. What is the point then?

-George Orwell 1984- future dystopian society oppressed by central government, highlighting the troubles of censorship and the lack of freedom expression

- Words that cannot be translated from one language to another

Primary Emotions-

Happiness
Sadness
Fear
Anger
Disgust
Surprise

The Language Glass (October 29th,2016)

In the article, "Through the Language Glass," Alex Bellos shed light on numerous concepts that were foreign to me prior to reading this text. Nevertheless, the content of the article itself was rather illuminating as it covered a range of different perspectives on the perception of colours and how this perception is intertwined with language. For instance, Bellos falsifies the myth that the ancient Greeks were unable to distinguish between varied colours or did not have developed sense of colour as he counters that it was merely the lack of colour-oriented vocabulary that resulted in this misconception to arise. 

Bellos then goes on to give specific examples from countries around the world, including Japan and Russia to emphasize the fact that it was not just the Greeks who did not have a colour, more specifically, for blue. I personally found this quite interesting to learn as I have never really focused on the origin of colours of the etymology of colour specific words and hence reading about the emergence of these words was quite fascinating. 

One line that really stood out to me in this article was regarding how colours in different language are discovered in a predictable order whereby: "Black and white come first, then red, then yellow, then green and finally blue." Now that I think about it, today we are surrounded by a gazillion different colours, most of which we can name. Nevertheless, it was not necessarily always like this. Perhaps this predictable order explains why old TV shows. movies and printed photographs were initially in black and white as these were the only explicit colours known to be labelled as a colour back then. 

Accordingly, the examples provided for the German and Spanish language is one I can genuinely relate to as I have been learning French for a while and am thus well acquainted with the "gender system" for words. In all honesty, I also personally believe it would be much easier for me to remember names given to objects if they correlated with the "gender" of the object in French as this makes establishing connections much easier. Whilst this was a great example, I am not sure of how it really links to Deutcher's conclusion that "speakers of different languages may perceive colours slightly differently after all".

Ultimately, I am in agreement with Bellos claim that one's language does not have that much of an influence on their perception. I personally believe that more than the language one speaks, a contributing factor that greatly influences perception is the culture and values they are brought up with. For example, brought up in an Indian society, I was always taught that teachers are to be held with very high regard and are pivotal figures in our lives. Thus, whilst I often see fellow classmates sometimes answer back or perhaps being disrespectful to a teacher, it is something I do not agree with for that is how I have been brought up. Thus, to me, the perception of something as little as wrong and right in varied situations seems to be greatly influenced by one's upbringing as opposed to the language they speak. 

1st order claims:

• We can see something for which we have no word
• None of the ancient language had a proper word for blue
• Colour words emerge in all languages in a predictable order: Black and white come first, then red, then yellow, then green and finally blue. 
• Language barely has an effect on perception

2nd order claims 

• Can perception of varied aspects of the word truly be influenced by one's linguistic acquisitions?
• Are bi/multilingual individuals subject to having two different perspective on a single observation due to the fact that they can speak more than one language?
• Were the Greeks, who barely had a colour-oriented vocabulary, actually unable to distinguish between varied colours?
• Do artists, due to their constant exposure to many colours, have a better sense of distinction in regards to shades of colours?

1)What have you learnt in the last two sessions about language? what came to your mind that you have not shared with the class?

In the last two lessons we have spoken primarily about language in relation to perception. All in all, I have learnt that language itself is much more than simply a means of communication; language is equivalent to an identity. Depending on the regions we come from, or have lived in, we are exposed to a multitude of languages and these have evolved over several generations. In fact, we explored so many different facets of language that I had never even thought about before (on which I have reflected in depth in the specific blogposts for that class). The stroop test is a good example that has over the years quantified the claim that bi/multilingual individuals process fluctuation in minute details much faster than those who are monolingual due to their practice of "code-switching."The activity that demanded us to make our own language essentially taught me how it is not vital for merely the definition of words to be known, but also the fact that several other factors, including expressions, gestures and body language play a critical role in getting across a point in any given language. From a more scientific point of view, we looked at how multilinguals may have greater brain elasticity due to their ability to acquire many languages. 

I myself am very keen on the acquisition of varied languages. I personally believe learning multiple languages opens many windows to the world as those you can communicate with on a different level have increased in numbers. As mentioned in class, at the moment I am very much into Korean and hence have been practicing my Korean skills. Nevertheless, what I have learnt over time along with my acquisition of languages is that it is extremely difficult to learn a language unless you are constantly surrounded by people fluent in it. Thus, despite the fact that I have been learning the basis of Korean for the past couple of months, I am sure that spending just a week in Korea itself, submerged in that atmosphere would be a much more effective way of acquiring and implementing concepts. 

2) How important is body language across cultures? Do we think differently when we speak more than one language?

I think body language is something very distinct across different cultures. For example, in the Indian culture, subtly bowing down to greet with folded hands is quite common. Nevertheless, if contrasted to the Korean whereby individuals fully bow down, the body gesture would be received oddly if swapped in the different contexts. Accordingly, being a multilingual, I can say at least on my behalf that my thought process does not differ whilst switching from one language to another. Nevertheless, more than thinking differently, I think often it is a different side of one's personality that emerges depending on the language they are conversing in and how they desire to portray themselves. 

3)How reliable is language?? Explore these aspects: (lost in translation, misunderstandings, legitimacy of language, language used in marketing, media, bias...)

I believe that language itself is not reliable due to the fact that language can cleverly be moulded or in some cases distorted to deliver an ambiguous message. Marketing and media is a great example as evidence to this as these are fields especially where language is cleverly manipulated to attract buyers/buyers. For instance, as we were studying in our biology lessons, food products often have labels like "trans-fat free" or "cholesterol free," to appeal to health conscious people. Now, we learnt that cholesterol is only founded in animal cells, hence, it is ipso facto impossible for potato chips to have cholesterol in the first place. However, due to the fact that cholesterol is connoted with unhealthy, simply plastering the fact that a product is free of this molecule tricks buyers into picking it up. Therefore, language can be cunningly manipulated in contexts to reap benefits. 

Words and What they Mean (October 25th, 2016)

NOTES

Do we need to know a definition of a word, in order to understand its meaning?
Do words have meanings or do we give them meanings?

Young people no longer use language properly?
Elucidate on the use of abbreviations and slang in the technologically advanced generation.

oignon = onion= onion

How does emotion influence the way we perceive words that we don't know the meaning of?

context is crucial for perception; if you take words of of context, meanings can be misconstrued.

Image Theory- EinsteinTheParrot
Call and Response: natural conversation is when both people understand
Familiarity with the sound of words triggered Einstein
Subtle gestures utilized
Parrots are associated with general repetition, however the video seemed to contradict this phenomenon as the parrot almost seemed to be having a conversation with his owner.

Advantages of speaking more than one language.
Brain elasticity- widens one's horizons, more adaptable
"To have a second language is to have a second soul"
Different personalities emerge from speaking different languages.
Cultural surrounding has an impact on how you act in different situations
harder to distinguish or label one as stronger than the other if we grow up speaking both simultaneously

How languages evolve:
A language family can comprise of may languages and sub-branches
language scattered though the babble of migration
so many dialects. So many different branches.

Make your own language? (October 20th, 2016)

In today's class we spent majority of the time going through everyone's new languages. It was actually quite a great experience to see how the different groups had perceived the task in varied ways, and thus the product was different from group to group. I personally think this particular activity enhanced my understanding of how language and perception are linked as the languages presented were completely ambiguous to us and yet we had to try and decipher the meanings unveiled in the messages being relayed.

However, whilst watching the performances was great, what I enjoyed more was the succeeding discussion we had. I learnt a lot about Italian culture and the significance of prominent gestures whilst on the other hand I also learnt that similar actions may be perceived in a contradicting way in countries like Japan and Korea as over exaggerated gestures connote aggression. One thing led to another and we somehow began commenting on the Indian head "bobbing." Now, I may have a got a little worked up in class about this as I personally believe that western media has over time skewed the perspective of so many different cultures and religions, that reality is not even sought after any more. People tend to limit their perception of cultures/religions merely to what their exposure allows them to.

I definitely think that Western portrayal of not only the Indian culture, but several other cultures, has heavily influenced society and the view point they adhere to. Why must an Arab country always be represented by vast deserts? Why must Italian culture always be associated with a thick accent and perhaps pizza? Why must Indians be characterized by their "head bobbing?" The list can go on and on. However, the point I am trying to make is that we have become a society where we blindly accept facts that are placed on a platter. We have stopped questioning things. It is almost as if we are going back in time. The questioning attitude that people once exhibited, the questioning attitude that allowed phenomenons like the Industrial Revolution and the Renaissance to prevail and propel our society, is again being curtailed.

I personally believe it is crucial for us to go beyond the facts simply provided to us. The aim is to do some exploration for ourselves and not simply agree with everything being told.

Language (October 18th, 2016)

In today's lesson we essentially examined the relationship between language and perception. Firstly we watched a video regarding the The Stroop Test. I particularly found this to be quite interesting as I was recently used as a subject for the Stroop Test by some psychology students and thus could relate to this phenomenon. However, when I had first been exposed to this test I did not have much hindsight wisdom about the test. Nonetheless, having studied this test in varied subjects this year, I am now familiar with the rudimentary purpose of it. In fact, I could make many connections with this test and the most significant one would be the factor we associated the Stroop Test with in our English Lang and Lit lessons: multilingualism. In the lesson, we learnt how a bilingual/multilingual person often outperforms a monolingual in the Stroop Test due the faster processing and elasticity of their brains. Actually, I clearly remember how I had completed the Stroop Test with the psychology students and they had been quite impressed with the speed that I had exhibited. Perhaps I can attribute this trait to the fact that I can speak almost 6 languages? Maybe it was just a coincidence, but evidence accumulated over time supports the claim that multilinguals are considerably efficient in the Stroop Test in comparison to monolinguals.

We then watched the 'Million Dollar Question' video and in all honesty I felt quite exasperated and annoyed at all how it played out. When I learnt that this was a comedic staged scene and not the official TV show, I was quite relieved in a sense as if this were to be real television, I would have been quite disappointed. However, this video really got me thinking about how we truly depend on sense and perception to such a great extent but these elements that we rely on so heavily can often be deceiving. Language is one such element interlinked to our perception of things. For instance, a word may mean something in one context but another in another and therefore our perception of that word is limited to our subjective point of view. This can be a starting point for several arguments caused due to the dynamics in varied opinions based on the sense and perception of different individuals.

Another example of the limitation of sense and perception can be dependent on the phenomenon of property of object vs property of mind. Whilst we tried to distinguish between several examples and classify whether they were property of the object or mind, I could not agree that even one of them was the property of an object and personally believe that every thing we perceive around us is based on subjective sense and perception. For instance, a sweet drink may not be sweet for everyone and the definition of what comprises of light blue and what dark blue is also dependent and varied from individual to individual.

Another way to look at sense and perception hindering our perception would be when we over-depend on our senses. For instance, often times we may here or see things that may not be true and at times like this, we have to learn to deviate from our primary sense and perception and apply logicality to decipher the true meaning of something. A basic example I can think of is when a person overhears their friend "gossiping" about them. However, they may have misheard the conversation and this can result in conflict. Thus, whilst primary sense and perception are key to our survival, we must also learn how to distinguish between contexts that need us to think independently of our subjective viewpoints and thus overpower the reliability of one our sense and perception.

Senses continued(October 11th, 2016)

Sounds

• My apartment doorbell

Smells

• Baby Food- Cerelac
• Johnsons shampoo/ baby powder
• Wet grass
• Hospital smell 
• Vicks 
• Play dough 
• Chlorine 
• Petrol 

Tastes

• Fruit loops
• Pancakes 

First order claims- claims about the world

The brain has to fill in the gaps 

Contents of visual working memory are encoded in the visual cortex

Second order claims- Knowledge claims 

How can we trust our perception? Are perceptions valid and reliable?

Sensible Senses (October 6th, 2016)

I may have already made my love for open discussion lessons to be quite clear. However, I shall reiterate this fondness as today's lesson was another great example of one that I find myself truly engaging with due to being mostly opinion and discussion based.

Accordingly, today's lesson was begun with a rather simple (seeming) riddle: "If a tree falls down and no one hears it, does it still make sound?" When I first read the question my immediate instinctive response was- yes, of course the tree makes sound regardless of someone hearing it. Nevertheless, my understanding of sound was clearly a little distorted as the mind blowing answer was revealed to us. Hence, today I was enlightened about how sound itself is produced due to vibrations. However, in order for the vibrations to be classified as a "sound," there must be a mechanism present to mediate the transformation. Accordingly, this mechanism is human beings is essentially our ears. I personally would have never looked at this questions from a such a perspective and hence the answering of this questions made me aware of how it is crucial to engage with a presented questions not always directly but also with some hindsight wisdom that can allow us to better assess the question and a potential answer.

Moving on, we watched the "how many balls can you see?" video and I was left speechless once the true essence of the video was established by revealing the hundreds of clear jell like balls. I mean, what made me even more stunned was the fact that I knew of the existence of these globular structures as I oft played with them as a child. Nevertheless, the thought of this never even occurred to me. In my opinion, the reason for this lies in the fact that we as humans have been engineered to accept so much at face value that we as a species have become quite gullible. If asked to focus on one thing, our mind eliminates other potential distractions whereas the main point may be to test how we can balance our perception and judgment effectively. Similarly, the Queen Elizabeth smile and frown face and the Albert Einstein facial illusion, is another example of how the human mind can easily be manipulated to get it to focus on one element, that an anomalous element takes them by surprise.

Whilst I throughly enjoyed the aforementioned elements of today's lesson, my favourite part without a doubt was the part where we examined the story of "The Boy Who Can See With No Eyes." Using echo locations to detect sight? That is a phenomenon I never thought possible for the human mind. However, watching this video allowed me to be better acquainted with how people adapt to their own needs and work around their problems to find effectual solutions to them. With this solution being an exceptional one. I mean, it sounds crazy but the fact that a boy has developed this skill also sheds light on how he may have activated a certain part of his brain that may not otherwise be activated for other people. That being said, this ability is clearly not innate and his ability to do so has emerged form his determination and willpower.

In the latter part of the class we analyzed the different nuances of senses that we do not often categorize whilst speaking about sensory perceptions. The following are some of these unconventional senses:

.

• Nociception: This sense of response is essentially the response adopted by the nervous system in an emergency situation. This response is also known as the fight or flight response as the nervous makes decisions based on subcategories of these two main sets. 

• Chronoception: This sense essentially relates to the idea of the perception of time. Unknowingly, we already studied this concept last lesson and it is now good to know how we can label this concept as being chronoception. 

• Proprioception:This sense can be defined as he sense that allows an individual to make connections between one's own individual body parts. Thus, the simplest of things such as raising an arm or the movement of fingers fall under proprioceptive movements. 

• Equilibrioception: As the name suggests, this sense is essentially the sense of physical balance in a mundane context. In fact, whilst we may have never considered this sense in our lives, it is critical to engage with the fact that this is the sense that allows us to stand without stumbling around. Perhaps clumsy people have a lower degree of equilibrioception which causes the constant tripping. 

• Thermoception: Thermoception is essentially the mechanism that allows our bodies to perceive varied temperatures. For instance the detection of cold and warm temperatures can be attributed to thermoreceptors in the body. In fact these thermoreceptors play an important role in the organ systems due to the fact that they allow the body to always maintain optimal conditions by externally detecting surrounding temperatures. 

Possible claims-

First order claims- 

• The neural cortex of the brain, responsible for logical perception is placed very close to the area responsible for memory. 

Second order claims- 

• Sensory perception is not reliable due to the fact that sense and perception is subjective and not an objective element that remains constant in different individuals.