Aamen Mostafa 5RI
12/12/2013
Does Language Play Roles of Equal Importance in Different Areas of Knowledge?
The importance of language in different areas of knowledge such as Science, Math, History, Art, Culture and Religion differs, but language is always present in any area of knowledge. Language is a tool that no area of knowledge can forgo or replace completely. History for example depends greatly on language unlike mathematics where language isn’t of great importance but is definitely existent.
Language plays a very small role in mathematic s. This is because unlike history and science, mathematics is made up of proven facts as it involves dealing with values and formulas that are very ver y hard to question. In no way does this mean that language doesn’t play a role in mathematics, in mathematics, in fact language plays an important role in the understanding and describing many areas of mathematics. Many philosophers argue that mathematics itself is a “global” language “global” language and an important tool of communication of knowledge. An example that represents the importance of la nguage in mathematics is the “Pirahã tribe” (a tribe” (a group of hunter-gatherers located in the Amazon) of Brazil. In their language they the y only count to the number “two” and anything larger is referred to as “many”, but this doesn’t mean that they can’t deal with anything that involves more than “two”. For example when they go fishing they usually catch one fish for every tribe member, m ember, which is a number greater than “two”, “two” , although they don’t don’ t have a word to represent the amount of tribe members and the amount of fish they are to catch, they the y still are able to catch cat ch the exact amount of fish they need. This shows us that mathematics doesn’t always need to depend on language but more so on common sense.
An area of knowledge such as history is ver y dependent on language, as language makes up a very large portion of history. History, I think i s very hard to prove to be completely reliable and true, as it is often based on evidence and reasoning that is usually biased and or incorrect. Another important aspect of history is the view and opinions of historians who are often bias ed as well, but use their power of language, communication and persuasion persuasion to prove the historians point of view and refute other opinions.
“Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” – George Orwell
Politics is an important part of histor y and is the reason for many historical and modern day conflicts. This quote perfectly explains m y point, of how history and politics are very dependent on language.
Art is an area of knowledge where language pla ys a large and a very important role. Although art is a very broad area of knowledge ranging from music and poetry to paintings and sculptures, language still plays a role in all areas of art. Color is an important aspect of life and art that all languages share, but color does not affect all languages equally. In some languages such as English the color blue can refer to many different shades of blue such as light and dark blue, but in languages such as Arabic the color blue “Azrak” has very different names for different shades of blue, for example there is more than one shade of light blue in the Arabic language; “Samawi” which is a very light shade of blue and “Labani” which is a slightly darker shade of light blue. I believe that this causes those who speak Arabic fluently and or as their first language to be more sensitive and selective when dealing with colors. Art is very dependent on language especially when it comes to poetry, as poetry is simply language put together by the poet to create an image in the audience’s mind that differs depending on how they interpret the language of the poem, “To have great poets, there must be great audiences” – Walt Whitman. To summarize this point, language does play a great and important r ole when it comes to Art.
Culture and Religion play a very important role in the daily lives of most people and is the area of knowledge that I believe language has the greatest importance and impact on. Language has an exceptional impact on Religion, as it is how most Religions are practiced, taught and preached. In some Reli gions such as Islam, those who do not speak the language of the religion may find it more challenging to practice and follow than someone who speaks the language fluently, that’s why most of the followers of any Religion speak the original language the Religion was created in or at least are able to understand it. Language also has a significant impact on Culture and Culture also impacts language. Language is
Aamen Mostafa 5RI
12/12/2013
important to Culture as it expresses various aspects of it such as historical events, poetry, Religion and traditions of the culture through literature. Culture also can impact language, for example Arab countries have developed many words as part of the Arabic language that all mean “Desert” or “Sahara” such as “Al-Baeda” and “AlMafaza” due to the climate of the area and how often people that live in the area have to deal with the desert in one way or another. This makes me believe that pe ople shape their language to suit their culture depending on the cultures aspects and surroundings. This shows that language plays an exceptional role of importance in Culture and Religion.
To be able to prove that language plays an equal role of importance in different areas of knowledge, we would have to consider several areas of knowledge and compare the role language plays in each one of them. The role language plays in an area of knowledge such as mathematics is of minimal importance compared to areas of knowledge such as History, Art, Culture and Reli gion where language plays a role of great importance. This brings me to m y final point; Language does not play roles of equal importance in different a reas of knowledge, but rather plays different roles of importance depending on the area of knowledge. Nevertheless language is a vital tool of thought and communication, existent in all areas of knowledge.
