Saturday 30 May 2015

Speech. How do we understand it?

Part 1
To those who speak at least 2 different languages.

Have you ever wondered how you actually make meaning of the language? For example, the word food. In English, it's 'food', in French is 'nourriture', in Spanish it's 'comida'. Do you think that our brain remembers each word separately in the head? For example:
English: Food
French: Nourriture
Spanish: Comida
If you think about it, that's a really tough way to remember it. Each and every word in a language has to be remembered separately. Taking it into computing terms, that's like the brain making different 'folders' for each language and storing the words there. Wouldn't that be wasteful? Sure, the brain doesn't really have a defined storage specification like our computer and yes, the human body is in some ways inefficient. , but nevertheless, it's really very wasteful. 
Now my idea (which I really want someone to prove or disprove. PS: Send me some article on it if you find any!) is that the brain must store it in a way that isn't so wasteful. Maybe, just maybe, it stores each word in a shared folder. For example, when we think food, our head forms a general image/smell/taste/experience of it, and associates it with the sound of the word, so in that way, if we speak more than one language the brain suddenly associates that image with all those other words for it in the head. For example:
                                                                                                        
Food (a mind image/smell/taste/experience stored already in brain): Nourriture - (French)
 Food- (English)                                                                      Comida- (Spanish)
So, in this way each word is stored with the object of thought.
To make it easier to wrap your mind around (if this wasn't easy enough), think of it this way. You, your mother, and your brother have 50 images in a folder, on the family computer, which is 1GB in size and they are all technically exactly the same. Now, in this situation, you could; make three copies and store them privately in each person's account (using up 3GB of space) OR make the folder public and store it in a public folder for everyone to access (using only the necessary 1GB of space). What would you do? If you make the sensible choice you'd choose to make the folder public and store it in a public folder for everyone to access. Why? Because this option is way more economical and uses 3 times less space than the first option. 
So, that's what my idea is. In simple the brain stores all the words and their translation into human languages in a public folder, making it easier to access and using up less space.

Part 2
So, continuing from there, I will move onto another theory, and while some scientific research has been done into this and it's not exactly one of my ideas, it's one that you're better off knowing. Anyways, it's always better to add more info to a topic isn't it?
This topic also relates to the idea of speaking more than one language. Also, I know I did say research has been done into this, I don't think they did it into what I'm going on about. Another thing to point out too is that Part 1 was pretty simple and made easy to understand. It might seem as somethings may not add up, but I'll do my best!

So this theory also uses the idea that the human brain works like a computer. On a computer, it seems to you that it is actually using English (or some other preferred human language) to communicate with you. Well, it isn't. What is actually happening is the computer translates the word, say “Start”, into computer language (which isn't really legible to anyone except an experienced computer technician), so it would be '01110011 01110100 01100001 01110010 01110100' (in this case translated to binary). So maybe, in the brain, each word is a signal of waves or buzzes or some repeated removal of liquid in a specific pattern (okay, that's pretty far fetched). So, saying that the word 'food' is something like 'Z...ZZZZZ.Z….ZZ.ZZZZ.ZZZ..ZZZZZZZZZ...Z', taking that 'Z' is some kind of brain buzzing, the word 'food' will be given to the brains word database like this:

                                                                                   Food - (English)
Z...ZZZZZ.Z….ZZ.ZZZZ.ZZZ..ZZZZZZZZZ...Z: Nourriture - (French)
                                                                                                   Comida- (Spanish)

In Part 1, I said 'Food (a mind image/smell/taste/experience stored already in brain)'. The word 'Food' there was actually 'Z...ZZZZZ.Z….ZZ.ZZZZ.ZZZ..ZZZZZZZZZ...Z'. It's that signal that means a mind image, smell or taste etc..

So, for now, that's it. I know I have more to say on this, but if do have the time, I'll carry on with this. Right now, I'm more focused on writing and finishing up some short stories of mine. I thin k you'll enjoy these more. And if you have something to say about this topic or my blog, feel free to comment below! And remember, next time it could be you writing articles for this blog! If you have anything you think is appropriate for this blog, send it along to my email at spitfirerob@gmail.com. I accept nearly anything on this blog, be it reviews, stories, or poems. It can be anything that you’ve written on, or have an interest writing on. I’ll always give you full credit for it, don’t worry. 
In the meanwhile, this article will keep your mind working!


http://brainconnection.brainhq.com/2001/01/27/how-the-brain-learns-a-second-language