On 01/05/07, DEREK ZAHN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
what exactly do you think my internal simulation processes might
be doing when I read the following sentence from your email?
>In short, imagery from visual, acoustic and other sensory modalities
>give life through simulation to the basic skeletal framework of
>language.
In short
Some things can be not so long as others. I might imagine objects or
people of different heights. Something which is shorter contains less
material than something which is longer (a naive but usually true
assumption). All these sorts of ideas will have been learned from
direct experience at an early age. As a child I may have drank from a
small cup, whereas my parents drank from larger ones.
imagery from visual, acoustic and other sensory modalities
A parent or teacher says "listen to me when I'm talking" or "look at
this". The idea of being able to see something or listen to something
again comes from early experience. In more formal adult language
"see" and "listen" become "visual" and "acoustic". Learning what a
modality is is a more abstract concept likely to have been learned
much later. Whilst learning to use a computer in the 1980s I switched
between different graphics "modes". In using a CB radio I switched
between different channels, and television programmes could also be
switched. The idea of a "mode" or "modality" is likely to originally
come from these kinds of experiences.
give life
The concept of something being born probably first occurs when a new
sibling arrives, when a pet gives birth, or when you first see a baby
and ask what it is and where it came from. The experience of seeing
plants grow from what previously looked like empty space. Also the
absence of life - the death of a pet, friend or relation - might lead
a child to ask about what life is and how it starts.
through
Moving through something. Putting your hand through a hole. Tieing a
shoe lace. Going from one room to another through a doorway.
Physically going through something later gets transformed into a more
abstract form "I went through an ordeal".
simulation
At primary school I copy the actions of a girl to annoy her, repeating
her movements or what she says. The teacher tells me to copy a
written word using a pencil. A more advanced term used later to
describe copying, imitation, practising or behaving in a similar way
is "simulation".
to the basic skeletal framework
Seeing a skeleton of an animal. A skeleton contains less stuff than
the original creature. Skeletons hold things together, providing
support. When an animal dies it becomes a skeleton. Whilst playing I
find a fossil and take it to my father, who says "this is the skeleton
of a creature which lived a long time ago". A teacher places a large
cuban cigar in the mouth of a plastic human skeleton during a biology
lesson. When a friend breaks their ankle falling out of a tree a
parent says "they broke a bone in their foot". A climbing frame is
made from thin poles which look a bit like a skeleton.
of language
My mother is talking to someone but I don't know what she's saying. I
try to listen harder, but it doesn't make any difference. When I ask
her she says "I'm talking in a different language". People who talk
differently usually live a long way away. Someone swears and the
teacher says "don't use bad language".
A few of these concepts and their associated simulations may have been
triggered whilst reading the original sentence, but its very likely
that you won't have been consciously aware of them.
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