Week 7 Language Experiment

 Week 7 Language Experiment

Part 1: Engage in a conversation for 15 minutes where you were not allowed to use any version of a symbolic language (no speaking, writing, or ASL).

In this Language experiment the objective was to converse with someone in a setting where speaking, writing and sign language were not allowed. I knew this assignment was going to be very difficult, as I know for a fact that I myself communicate and present myself much more fluently on paper and/or in writing than verbally. Our society revolves around effective communication, and even though it is obviously such a natural thing for our society to speak and write to one another, I myself put a strain on speech mannerism when I know there are issues, personal feelings, or in this case parameters involved, but when you take speech and writing away, my conversations become a little more strenuous and much slower. Communicating with gestures was a meticulously slow and somewhat frustrating experience for me, since getting a point across or trying to ask a question is near impossible to do alone.

I quickly found that I was not in control (as I usually am with my female significant other) in this experiment and I was not able to direct the conversation in any way.  My partner changed the topic, asking nearly all of the questions and played the guesstimating game when I attempted to answer them, thus I felt incapable in the fact that I wanted to communicate but could not and just had to go along with the direction of my significant other in an almost endless cycle until they attempted to change the topic in question.

In a conversation representing two different cultures; one that uses spoken language, and the other that doesn’t use spoken language, I agree that the culture that was able to converse fluently and directly would have the advantage, whereas the culture that couldn’t converse directly would not be able to relate ideas at all. At the same time, I also feel that the culture that did not use the spoken language would sense a deeper association with those that they communicate to. Since those that don't speak must devote added effort into expressing their emotions and ideas they would perhaps be more easily invested in a discussion with another that was required to do the same thing. I do believe there are limitations on this though, depending on the closeness to a certain person in a certain situation (i.e.) work, and the type of working environment, the task at hand, and the liabilities involved in the work responsibilities /function.

Part 2: Spend 15 minutes communicating without any physical embellishments, i.e., no hand signals, not vocal intonation, not head, facial, or body movements.

I would say that this part of the assignment was almost, and/or practically as a challenging as the first. I was permitted to speak this time around and use language, but this did not come without its own demise. At one point, I also was told to stop moving my head. I also raised my eyebrows (as these are regular movements during regular communication and during sex, for me).  My partner even caught me attempting to use hand movements. My partner seemed minimally interested in the conversation, which I thought was interesting; because I was speaking in a drone-type voice she seemed less interested  as we were talking, which is what I was actually supposed to be feeling.

These experiments made me see how verbal communication is just a percentage of what we depend on to talk. Hand movements and facial expressions help us with our expressions.  Fluctuating the normal movements and/or expressions has a bearing effect on the overall communication.  I’ve noticed that authoritative speakers change vocal tones and the pace of their speech to communicate important aspects of their point. I am a firm believer that eye and hand movement definitely relay messages and/or can be used in conjunction with verbal language to communicate more effective.

I believe reading body language can help a person survive, obtain resources, and reproduce successfully in the following ways. In regards to, the adaptive benefit to possessing the ability to read body language. Deprived of the ability to read body language, a person would probably have a difficult time communicating with just about anyone; a single wrong interpretation of a person’s speech due to differing cultural backgrounds could possibly cause them to have a wrong view of that persons point, (i.e.) treating  the individual as combative vs. opinionated. This lack of communicative skill would make it difficult to flourish in a society that is based off social interactions on a daily basis, one can't just go through life without speaking to another person, however as I said, people can become offended quite easily, leaving it that much more challenging for a person like this to form long-term relationships.

Most can easily pick out a person who can't read body language that well, most people express their emotions through their tone of voice or hand motions, and it is not difficult to decipher a person's emotions. For example, someone who uses sarcasm quite a bit and makes it obvious enough at times that they weren’t being serious. This would make the need to watch what is said around them. Or sometimes people don't know how to interpret, or don't pick up on body language and that can be a beneficial thing. A person may under react or overreact about something quite often and that could be beneficial.