You Know . . . Like Life Itself

Awhile again, a buddy texted me a phrase with a definition. It was a phrase I might by no means heard earlier than, one which applies, particularly, to early childhood training. It was a scrumptious, juicy phrase stuffed with which means and nuance. I totally supposed to make use of it right here on the weblog, however now I am unable to discover the message and, in fact, I do not keep in mind the phrase in any respect. It might need began with the letter “e”.

I am going to guess, nevertheless, that I might recollect it this morning had he spoken it to me as a substitute of texting it, particularly had it been a part of a face-to-face interplay, utilized in a sentence, delivered with hand gestures. 

In human growth, gesture identified to precede language. As an illustration, lengthy earlier than a child can discuss, they’ve already realized to, say, level at an object, to which the loving adults of their lives reply by naming the item. They level at a canine and we are saying, “That is a doggie!” Those that research these items say that once we do that, we significantly enhance the chance that this phrase will enter the kid’s vocabulary. 

Earlier than the event of the Phoenician alphabet which was the primary to assign particular sounds to particular symbols, there have been hieroglyphics or pictograms. These have been likewise used to convey and protect data, however they weren’t essentially learn in a linear trend, nor did every image characterize a sound as a lot as a fancy of concepts. “Studying” pictograms isn’t a precise science, however slightly a strategy of interpretation. One of the crucial well-known poems in historical past is Wang Wei’s “Deer Park,” written in historic Chinese language pictograms a while within the 700s CE. That is one translation by Gary Snyder:

Empty mountains;

nobody to be seen.

But — hear —

human sounds and echoes.

Returning daylight

enters the darkish woods;

Once more shining

on the free moss, above

However there are millions of “translations” on the market, a few of which create solely totally different meanings and moods and views as a result of every of the pictograms used within the poem have a large number of the way to interpret them . . . You understand, like life itself. 

Whereas our phonetic alphabet strives for concrete and slim meanings, with as little room as attainable for equivocation, one of these alphabet is extra impressionistic and holistic, permitting room for interpretation, or, if you’ll, perspective. Pictograms convey a fuller sense of how issues really feel and transfer, opening issues up the place our alphabet is an try to lock issues down. The Phoenicians have been nice merchants and commerce was boosted by the precision of their invention, however the adoption of it for on a regular basis makes use of, finally killed off these older methods of writing.

After I take into account human gesture, particularly hand gestures, I wish to suppose I am getting a glimpse into the minds of pre-phonetic alphabet people and so they look rather a lot just like the minds of our pre-literate kids. Gesture can also be impressionistic and holistic. After we say the phrase “water,” as an illustration, we convey the factor itself, however once we accompany that phrase with a hand gesture — making waves, as an illustration — we evoke the factor itself extra totally. When a child factors, we frequently interpret that as “What’s that?” however we all know, {that a} level could concurrently imply, “Have a look at that!” and “I see that,” and “I would like that,” and “Why is that?” and “I am delighted by that!” and “I am on this planet with that,” and, actually, an infinite variety of issues that may’t be put into phrases . . . You understand, like life itself.

In her e-book The Prolonged Thoughts, science author Annie Murphy Paul urges us to take gesture extra critically, that it is not simply “hapless ‘hand waving’,” however slightly an important a part of how we all know and study. Simply as a child’s pointing comes earlier than language, “folks’s latest and most superior concepts typically present up first of their gestures; furthermore, people sign their readiness to study when their gestures start to diverge from their speech. In our single-minded concentrate on spoken language, nevertheless, we could miss the clues conveyed within the different mode. Analysis finds that even skilled academics decide up on lower than a 3rd of the knowledge contained in college students’ hand actions.”

She goes on to write down that this means “the startling notion that our fingers ‘know’ what we will say earlier than our aware minds do, and actually this if typically the case. Gesture can mentally prime a phrase in order that the correct time period involves our lips. When individuals are prevented from gesturing, they discuss much less fluently; their speech turns into halting as a result of their fingers are now not capable of provide them with the following phrase, and the following. Not having the ability to gesture has different deleterious results; with out gesture to assist our psychological processes alongside, we keep in mind much less helpful data, we remedy issues much less properly, and we’re much less capable of clarify our pondering. Removed from tagging alongside as speech’s clumsy companion, gesture represents the forefront of our thought.”

Like hieroglyphics and pictograms, gesture encompasses a lot greater than mere phrases. I am satisfied that literacy as we narrowly outline it, has made it not possible for many of us to completely recognize the fuller, deeper communication that occurs via gesture. Within the strategy of studying one factor, we left one other manner of understanding our world, one thing fantastic, behind. But it surely nonetheless lives in our pre-literate kids. Via them, we have now entry to this unique manner of being on this planet, a manner of being, the truth is, that’s shared by the remainder of the animal, and maybe plant, kingdom. I fear that in our present rush and crush to power literacy on kids at youthful and youthful ages, we’re not solely robbing our youngsters of seeing the world on this impressionistic and holistic manner, however we’re stopping ourselves from “remembering” that it’s all too magnificent to be put into mere phrases . . . you realize, like life itself.

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