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.