Define communication and show the relationship between language and communication
Answers
Coincidentally, I just wrote a piece on this. To sum parts of it up, I do believe that there is a connection between the two. The argument here is that words have histories that differ from person to person and are, thus, understood differently from person to person.
For example, some slurs are not inherently insulting by themselves, lingually they have a completely different meaning than the hurtful context they are placed in. What does make them hurtful and insulting and unacceptable in a conversation is actually their history; those words have been used for decades to demean and oppress a group of people and so they still carry that history when they are being said. On a smaller scale, if you are taunted by a specific trait you have for a long time, you’ll still cringe when that trait is brought up even if it’s not particularly in a negative context.
So if we apply the small scale logic to every person, you’ll find that each person will have a different history to each word. IT doesn’t have to be a taunt or a traumatic experience for a word to carry a history, any context will do, happy, sad, comforting, scary. Any word said will remind a person of something in their lives when they heard.
Another connection is that subjects are discussed differently across different languages. For example, there is a shared discussion across many platforms in the US especially or the western world generally regarding mental health and safe spaces and inclusion and so on and so forth. No matter what your views are on this subject, it is a subject of discussion. It’s brought up for debate and has a complete set of commonly used vocabulary. If you try to translate that into Arabic, for example, the subject is mildly butchered. It’s not a common subject that comes up in the news or in celebrities’ tweets or in political movements. The core subject loses its meaning since it lost the language that gave it its history. A similar phenomenon will occur if you translate an Egyptian article on deaths during protests. Sure the article will be understood but it will carry more meaning in its original language since it has been discussed and brought up and touched a lot of people’s lives across the last few years.