Words

By Conrad Beaubien

I’m giving thought to what a thesaurus or a dictionary might read like in the not- toodistant future. My thinking is about how languages evolve through time. They are a main part of cultures globally. Words are how we express the gamut of emotion. Words in various forms can touch the deepest part of our Being; words in a song, poem, prayer or hymn connect human spirit to a higher world that in that open space vaporize as if a glider had transported us into a realm beyond words. “If words could tell”, or “there are no words to describe something” or “I’m speechless” are expressions that tell us about occurrences that cannot be put in the context of vocabulary and therefore humanity has instinctively sought out ways of communication that surpass language. Art, whether painting, cartoon, syllabics, or three dimensional structures like sculpture appeal to individual interpretation that rest within the soul and is translated on the basis of personal journey. Architecture is also a language of its own and expressive of eras can be a place sympathetic to surrounds or express ego in arguing its setting. Architecture, like any art form, prompts human response and is often regarded as sculpture that we inhabit.

Individual words given rhythm need not have an accompanying verb or adjective, as the word on its own can be like striking a single note on a piano keyboard and allow it to resonate; play a few notes and they sound together as if descriptive paragraphs in varying moods. What is generally referred to as poetry has a spectacular modern genre in the form of the rap music. Words sung a cappella, rap follows in the genre of poetry as it enunciates a series of words that express and tell a story with rhythm and theme. Words can be issued in a take on love or hate or fear or anger or peace or protest, and words can juxtapose or collide or carry double meaning or surprise; they can run, interrupt or simply stop. Modern rap, a word which means “to lightly strike” originated in New York in the 1970s is a technique, a musical vocal delivery that incorporates rhyme, rhythmic speech and street vernacular. It is a repartee that derives from the West African griot tradition.The role of the griot, still common today, is a person in a community who is a storyteller or bard.

I find speech in the form of sign language to be powerful communication. Phrases and mood and tone are efficiently compacted into hand gesture, facial and body movement that combined are intensely expressive and quick to the point.

In a recent article in New Yorker magazine I read about how DeafBlind communities may be creating a new language of their own. “Protactile began as a movement for autonomy and a system of tactile communication” is the heading of the piece. An early story at the beginning of the evolution of Protactile is that of Helen Keller, a DeafBlind person and how a graduate instructor Annie Sullivan arrived to help educate her. “Sullivan finger-spelled English words into Keller’s hands, hoping that she would slowly pick up the language, the way infants pick up spoken language. The story of Keller’s breakthrough, as her teacher placed her hand under a stream of water while finger-spelling W-A-T-E-R into the other, is a canonical scene in American history.”

I began this piece with my own query of communication of the future. We are now guided through our world with an international approach to icons that point to things like a place for information; washrooms; rest areas along our highways, food and accommodation. In some ways it is not far off in my view of early cave drawings that tell stories of events and themes of importance in ancient civilizations. And now with various formats of social media where language gets reduced to a limit of how many characters can be used in one message, we are discovering a whole new form of shorthand and linguistics that are common in our communication. Pls lmk how to keep up! And besides how are new dictionaries and thesauri going to keep up, and not only that, it’s keeping Spellcheck awake at night!