The lexical sets we employ to circumscribe the external reality of life have evolved with new social concepts and frames of referencing; the vocabulary one employs to explain and express the physical world is changing as society pushes forward with its evolving cultural narratives and negotiations. The need and desire to communicate effectively and coherently is more apparent in paradigms of internationalism and interconnectedness. How we understand the outside world depends on our ability to delineate what is indeed the case in terms of facts and things, objects and truisms. The phenomenon of language as a uniquely human attribute sparks myriad questions concerning the nature of speech as a social tool in the various environments of man as an inherently social animal.
'Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent'. This assertion from Wittgenstein encompasses a huge amount of philosophical and linguistic contribution in an impressively succinct declarative. This central tenet of his thoughts on language should be examined in modern contexts of behaviour and anthropological trends that are emerging in society; where are the limits of one’s language in a world within which the possibilities of speech are constantly expanding? The ability to express truth and knowledge stems from an internal perception of reality as a concrete entity which can be objectively measured and conceived by an individual. Our interaction with external data should be circumscribed in uniquely human terms if we are to understand the rapport between what is there and what we perceive.
We have all experienced, at some point in our existence, the predicament of not being able to cement what one intends to say in coherent vocabulary. The evolving technologies and capabilities of machinery extend the possibilities of human imagination and innovation; we are entering a period of rapid sociocultural change across the global stage, and the words we use to describe this are an important factor in comprehending what is happening at the fundamental level of human experience. As human behaviour and feelings are continually influenced by structural evolution, saying what one means may become an increasing socio-psychological challenge. Creative neologisms and coinages will become more apparent as social cognition evolves as a corollary of changing cultural horizons. Acquiring other languages, for example, is a process deemed extremely useful within the modern era of global travel and internationalism; as we extend our language capacities to other tongues, our perceptions and interpretations of external phenomena will inevitably transform. Indeed, using other languages ultimately provides us with new methods of circumscribing the physical world, creating new paradigms of awareness and understanding.
It is undoubtedly an exciting era for the realm of neuroscience and neurolinguistics; we are witnessing unequivocal advances in the study of the brain, language and its functions. Many of us will be curious to see to what extent language can catalyse epistemological awareness of the nature of things and facts in the future; as humans become increasingly mobile as global citizens, the way in which we explore and describe the world via linguistic engagement will inevitably change. With a new world comes a new language…