Colorless Green Ideas 02 - an attempt for interpretation

"Colorless green ideas sleep furiously."

Many have attempted to construe some sense out of this nonsensical sentence.  Finding sense in everything is something that humans always try to do. We humans just cannot leave something senseless or "non-categorized". The sentence can come to some understanding if we can make some sense out of the "colorless green" and "sleep furiously". Let's try interpreting it here.

<colorless>
without color or very pale / not interesting

<green>
having the color of grass or the leaves of most plants and trees / not yet ready to eat / young and lacking experience

So "colorless green ideas" can be understood as "monotonous immature ideas".

"Sleep furiously" is a little more difficult to interpret. The agent in the act of sleeping is in an unconscious state, which contradicts with the state of "furiously" where the agent actively and aggressively take part in the action. But how about having  a nightmare? You are sleeping but you are having a frightening experience in your dream, I consider that similar to 'sleeping furiously'.

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.　
                     ≒　
Monotonous immature ideas have a nightmare.

Is it now comprehensible?

Colorless Green Ideas 01 - what takes us 'above reality'

"Colorless green ideas sleep furiously".

This is a famous sentence made by the distinguished linguist Noam Chomsky demonstrating the distinction between syntax and semantics. The sentence is grammatically correct but semantically nonsensical. One can read it but cannot derive any meaning or understanding from it.

I first saw this phrase in a text book of linguistics I was reading in graduate school. It is said one cannot derive any understanding from it, but it sort of blew me into the world of "Alice in Wonderland." I like the phrase very much, it is simple, poetic, and me with my wild imagination it is easy to imagine "ideas sleeping furiously". Some might say 'how can green be colorless?' or 'how can you sleep furiously?' and I would just answer, 'Why not?'

This sentence shows that syntax and semantics can operate independently in people's minds, and I think this is how metaphors, poetry and fantasy are born, people have the mind to appreciate them and why there are surrealists. The autonomy of the functions are the source of our creativity, what take the human mind 'above reality'

Yakki burger...

When a nation is so called 'advanced' or 'globalized', I find that there are in their cities American based world wide franchised fast food restaurant or two. One of the most successful company is McDonald's. Although it is a global brand, the company allows countries to have latitude in menu, marketing and management to meet the local optimum. One way to enjoy your travel abroad is to go and try the original McDonald's local menu.

In Japan, there are original menus like Teriyaki Burger, Mega Teriyaki Burger, Bacon Potato Pie. Another menu joined the list recently, Shoga-yaki Burger (pork ginger burger). And I was in McDonald's the other day, and found this poster on the wall. Shocking...

To make the product more familiar to people, they have shortened 'Shoga-yaki Burger' to 'YAKKI'. If the person who was producing this product had some senses in English, he wouldn't have given a food menu such a name. It sound exactly like 'yakky', or similar to 'yucky'. If you just read the Japanese it would sound exactly the same as 'yucky'. On the wrapping paper of the burger YAKKI in Japanese character (ヤッキー) is written all over as the design. Yes, what you are about to eat is all wrapped with 'yucky' around it...

yakky

talkative, noisy

yucky

disgusting, very unpleasant, revolting.

In fact, 'yucky' was one of the first English words that I learnt when I started school in Australia, and my classmate's mother was worried about me saying such word.

The sound of the word means something to me so it would take me an effort to enjoy the pure taste of the food. The word gives influence to what I feel... I wonder if anyone has made a complaint on the naming of this product?

Language and Mind 06 - tattered and torn

When person speaks to you in a foreign language you do not understand, it just sounds jargon, strings of meaningless vocal sounds. You would not notice or mind if the person is saying something abusive or nasty. But funny, once you understand the language, the strings of sounds make sense to you, carry meaning that can move your mind and emotion. The same strings of sounds could be meaningless or meaningful to different persons.

This is a story about me when I was about 10, living in Australia. Three years had passed since my first encounter with English, and I was able to communicate without much problem at school. 

One day when I was at home, the phone rang so I picked it up. I said in a cheerful voice, 'Hello?'. On the other end of the line, there was a voice of a man, a deep coarse voice, breathing heavily, and slowly and dirtily saying,

"I am wearing lady's underwear, all tattered and torn..."

I yelped, hung up the phone! What was that?! 

I was only 10, and I had never had this kind call before. It was revolting, disgusting, I felt abused. All I could do was to cry and tell my parents what had happened. 

After three years of education in a local primary school in Australia, ironically and unfortunately, my English was good enough to understand what the pervert was saying. If my English had not been that good, I would not have understood what had been said and the words would have not disturbed me.

Many years had passed since the call, but I still remember precisely, word for word, what I heard. It isn't a good memory at all, but I now think that I was sort of attracted to the alliteration of 'tattered and torn', that woodnote tone of the 't' sounds.

This pervert phone call became a subject of a talk among the Japanese families and friends circle. Some of the mothers felt sorry for me. One Japanese lady who was not so good in English said to me,

"Maki, so unfortunate that you understood English. If I had picked up the phone, I wouldn't have had the faintest clue what he was saying, and would have said 'Pardon? Pardon?' over and over, and it would have gotten rid of him!"

Sometimes it is better not to understand so much.

Language and Mind 05 language and independence and “My Fair Lady”

I have an alternative way of enjoying “My Fair Lady”(a duchess or a flower girl) – the story is about a girl being transformed into a lady, but I can also see it as the history of England, the fall of the Empire.

The story is set in England in 1912. The British Empire, with its colonies and territories, was at its height, holding nearly a quarter of the world’s population, and covering also a quarter of the earth’s land area. It was truly, “the Great Britain”. The people in those days must have been very proud of their mighty country.

In the movie, Professor Higgins seriously tells Eliza, who is so fed up with learning English, the majesty and grandeur of the language, what great project she is trying to conquer. For me, he sounds like “the British Empire” itself speaking, talking of conquering new land, new territory.

……

I know your head aches.

I know you're tired.

I know your nerves are as raw as meat in a butcher's window.

But think what you're trying to accomplish.

Just think what you're dealing with.

The majesty and grandeur of the English language....

It's the greatest possession we have.

The noblest thoughts that ever flowed through the hearts of men...

...are contained in its extraordinary, imaginative... and musical mixtures of sounds.

And that's what you've set yourself out to conquer, Eliza.

And conquer it you will.

……

Higgin’s words are a revelation to Eliza. She suddenly grasps what she is trying to do, and she enjoys her capability to speak the beautiful language like her professor. After this, Eliza is no longer the whining, crying student bossed round by Higgins, and gains confidence and independence from him.

To me, this scene and the following story overlap the state and the history of the then British Empire. From the end of 19^th century to 20^th century, the British Empire starts to give independence to its white colonies – Canada, Australia, New Zealand – letting the country self-govern, but still keeping the influence strong over them.

What happened to Eliza? You have to see for yourself if she gained her full independence.

Language and Mind 04 a duchess or a flower girl

The movie "My Fair Lady" is my starting point in my interest in language. It is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 'Pigmalion'.

A common flower girl Eliza meets Higgins, a snobbish misogynistic professor of phonetics. Eliza speaks in Cockney, and Higgins says that from her disgusting, depressing speech, Eliza 'incarnates insult to the English language.' He considers that a person's way of speaking classifies him / her. Then, Higgins agrees to a wager with his friend to transform this common flower girl into a lady presentable in a high society by training her speech.

I was living in Australia when I first watched this movie, and I, whose first encounter with English was Aussie English, thought that Eliza's speech was perfectly acceptable, nothing wrong at all. So the idea that a person's way of speech distinguishes from others was really striking for me, and since then, I concentrated on how people spoke and their accent.

In the movie, Eliza successfully masters beautiful speech and makes her social debut at an Embassy Ball, being offered the hand of the prince for the first dance. Everyone at the ball is convinced that Eliza is a lady, and even a professional phonetician believes that she is a princess under an incognito.

Having acquired beautiful English, Eliza is at a loss what to do, where to go. Now that she had been made a lady and everyone treats her like a lady, she realizes that she is not fit to go back to being a flower girl at Covent Garden. Not just the people around her but Eliza herself thinks that language has transformed her and cannot be the same as before.

Speak poorly, you are treated poorly.
Speak properly, you are treated properly.

Language and Mind 03 No word, no limit

Words are defined, they represent perceived objects or events. If the word is a noun, the definition tells us what it is - what it looks like, how it is used. In other words, it tells us the limit or boundary of the word, to what extent a certain word can do, represent. Words draw lines and clip out objects and events from the big chaotic world. Also, once you acquire words, that is, a language, you can think of not just 'here and now', but of 'there and then'.

Now, what if you come across a tangible matter but you do not have the word in your vocabulary, your mind to express it? Infants acquiring their first language must encounter this situation countless times every day.

Here's a story about my nephew when he was about 2 and a half. He was looking for something in the house, and came to me for help. He tried to explain what he was looking for.

"Long, long. Red. Put marble. Marble go zoom."

I couldn't understand what it was, so I asked him where it was last time he saw it.

"Door, at door. Long and red. Marble go zoom."

He led me to the front door, the place where he got "that thing" first. I thought hard on what my nephew was trying to explain, and finally got it.

It was "a shoehorn".

It was long, red, and always put near the front door. "Shoehorn" had not yet joined into my young nephew's vocabulary, and he had not often seen in action how it was used. For him, the long, red, slightly curved shoehorn was an ideal road to roll his marbles.

Once you know the word, you tend to think only of what is defined, not of what is not defined. A shoehorn is used as a shoehorn, not as a road for marbles. If you can think of what is not defined, that is called "creativity".

Infants unequipped with words have no limit to what they can do.

Language and Mind 02 Language for quarreling

From my experience of living in a bilingual environment, I am sure that language shapes our mind and attitude. When I was a child, there were certain things I preferred to do in English rather than Japanese.

One of them was quarreling with my brothers. I have two brothers, one elder and one younger, both three years apart. Three years of age difference is quite big when you are a kid. We used to fight over everything - TV channels, toys, who gets to sit in the front seat of the car, who gets to push or ride the shopping cart, who gets the first scoop of the ice-cream, etc. When we start a quarrel, I would switch to English.

There was a clear reason why I did this. Speaking English, I felt more aggressive and I could stand equal with my big brother. 

When I call my brother in Japanese, I would have to say "お兄ちゃん (onii - chan)" which means "big brother + suffix for familiar person", and calling him that way, I would have to accept the fact that I was younger and smaller than him. Whereas in English, I could call him by just by his name or use the second person pronoun "you". 

In Japanese it is not so common to address a person who is older than you in a second person pronoun, let alone just by his or her name. It would be considered as rude. If you had to address a person older than you by his or her name, you would have to put say the name with an honorific. Also in Japanese, not just "mother" or "father", but there are words for "big brother" and  "big sister", so the family hierarchy is firmly planted in the younger siblings once they start speaking.

In the quarrel, it felt good to be able to just blurt out my brother's name. I was not the little sister, I was standing equal. I felt more powerful speaking English.

Language and Mind 01 - Interpreting is like a state of possession

Quite a big title I have put up for this article, but I would like to write in series (and from my experience) about language and its influence to how we think.

I do Japanese to English interpreting in Aikido (one type of Japanese martial arts) seminars. The Aikido master explains and shows the seminar students the moves and principles, and the interpreting has to come consecutively, without lag, for it is crucial in this kind of seminar that the students hear the explanation when that certain move is demonstrated.

In England, I was doing this interpreting for 3-day seminar of my Aikido master. Although I have studied with my master for many years and understood what was going on, interpreting the seminar was another thing. I had to use very different part of my brain.

Several weeks before the seminar, I prepared myself by revising articles written by my master and remembering what he had taught and said in the past seminars. Sitting in the seminar, I had to instantaneously convert what was said, so I tried to grasp the perspective of what was being taught and tried to I estimate what could be coming - always equipped with several choices of words, phrases and topics. It is quite a hard work switching languages in one little brain.

On the third day of the seminar, I had got used to the interpreting  and it was going really well. Then something very strange happened to me -  I thought that I was reading my master's mind. I could tell what he was going to say next. My mind was connected to my master's mind.

It sounds a little horrific, but I thought that interpreting is like in a state of possession. Although in a different language, from speaking the words of another person, you start thinking in the same way as that person, you are thinking in the mode of the speaker you are interpreting.