If I decide that words that I encounter are not enough to express the thoughts I have, I may use the words at my disposal to try and convey an idea. If I am successful, this may expand the definition and so I have redefined language, if but for my audience.
As for words changing consciousness, the same idea comes into play. I may use words in new ways, interject them where they seem inappropriate, or utilize them to express new ideas. If I am then expressing an idea using these new conventions I have created for these words, the consciousness of others can be drawn into my own stream. My audience adopts my usage or my formula, if only for the sake of driving through my writing. In turn, I might see another writer using a word or phrase in a new way and adopt it into my consciousness. If enough people do this, we have changed language,
I completely agree with you. New words and phrases, or old words and phrases used or abused in different-than-normal ways, is a powerful means to change the way people read and write.
ReplyDeleteAnd words are such arbitrary things-- they represent what we want them to represent. If one day everyone decided that they wanted to change the word for "fish" into "cat", yet still maintain its meaning, then they could (so long as everyone was on board with that idea!)
Whether you are actually changing the word itself or the meaning behind the word, utilizing them as a form of expression can be a powerful thing.
language can be manipulated to form whatever we want. I completely agree with you. However is this a function and product of language or writing. Words have the ability to shape how we think and we can manipulate them to bend to our will but this can also be true in strictly oral cultures. How does writing do this on it's own?
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