Words

Language is tricky. As a speech person and avid big mouth, I have years of talking experience and research behind me, but the wonder of the whole thing still leaves me, well, speechless at times. The encoding and decoding process of verbal and written communication is so complex, it’s a miracle we ever learn to do it at all, let alone with some proficiency (provided you think there is any proficiency--and looking at my students’ papers, sometimes I wonder…). It’s even more bizarre that babies can do it. In fact, they come here with the tools for language already in place and start dipping their pudgy toes in the convoluted communication waters before they can barely focus one eye at a time. Beyond the technical skills needed to produce language, there is a whole cognitive obstacle course to navigate--context, interpretation, cultural influences--before the magic of meaning happens. Which is another aspect of communication that kids do in their own small-person way. Years ago we were visiting friends with a four year-old daughter who mixed up her shoes in the on-putting process. When her father told her that her shoes were on the wrong feet, she looked up at him, so innocent and sincere, and said, “But, Daddy, these are the only feet I have.” And that prankster called language scored again. In Tedd Arnold’s Even More Parts, the poor little narrator gets worked over by simile, metaphor, and symbolism. Words are crazy. It’s enough to make you lose your mind.

http://www.amazon.com/Even-More-Parts-Tedd-Arnold/dp/0803729383

http://www.patriciamnewman.com/arnold.html