Languaging

In the 6th century, Bhartrihari (450-510) argued that our ‘reality’ is structured by language.
By changing a ‘linguistic paradigm’ (c.f. de Saussure, 1916) we change what is ‘thinkable’ (Whorf, 1956).
So education systems can disempower us by making us conform to dictionary definitions & paradigms.
However, if we are bold enough to think across the rules we can all play a part in co-creating the world.
- (See Mathilda Tham's video).
These kinds of conversations might need:
- to assume that participants are equal in (this may not always be possible)
- to contain deep listening
- to be non-confrontational
- to start without an agenda
- to be open to unexpected possibilities

The American saying: "there ain't a noun that can't be verbed" is seldom heard in the UK.
This is because the English traditionally use the word 'language' only as a noun.
This limits it to playing an exclusively passive role within the communication process.
It means we need other verbs (e.g. 'to learn', or 'to speak') to make it work actively.
But both of these examples are only subsets of what we mean by 'languaging'.

It is clear that babies do not 'learn' to speak by memorising vocabularies and rules.
Instead, they use a profoundly heuristic approach to discover what 'works' for them.
It is a highly situated learning process that can create new, but meaningful syntax.
At the social level, it integrates what the infant 'wants' with what others 'want'.
In this sense infants 'co-language' their survival within an adult-led world.
This opportunistic 'languaging' activity is not unique to babies - we can all do it.
Who invents new words that appear in the language, quite frequently? (We all do).

Sometimes, an unexpected event may go unnoticed - until someone gives it a suitable name.
We can re-attune ourselves to a new 'reality' by finding a new metaphor/syntax (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980).
This would be a way to change attitudes, relationships and habits of behaviour.
Powerful organisations may commission media consultants to promote a particular belief.

George Monbiot 1/11/2018 published this on Twitter:

CURRENT TERM	SUGGESTED REVISION	RATIONALE
The environment	The living planet / natural world
Climate change	Climate breakdown
Global warming	Global heating
Biodiversity	Wildlife
Fish stocks	Fish populations	(don't exist to be exploited)
Natural resources	Living systems / the fabric of the Earth	(don't exist to be exploited)
Natural capital	Nature / living systems
Ecosystem services	Life support systems
Nature reserves	Wildlife refuges	(‘reserve’ implies distance)
Extinction	Ecocide / annihilation	(these terms suggest agency)
The planet	The living planet
Saving the planet	Defending the living planet
Climate sceptic	Climate science denier
Freemarket think tank	Opaquely-funded lobby group

The popularity of Object-Oriented Ontologies has inspired the Internet of Things
But this may have eclipsed the importance of a Relations Oriented Ontology.