Language Matters

 The role language plays in my life has always been a bit bigger than the average Joe's. My passion for language started as soon as I learned how to read, which happened at a very young age because my parents were both Finnish and literature teachers and massive bookworms. Reading was something we all did a lot in my family, and my parents always had at least one book that they were reading at that time. Hundreds of books, huge bookcases...I was brought up in an environment where stories and language were constantly visible in my everyday life. 

As I started going to school, I soon realized that the one subject I loved the most out of all of them was Finnish and literature. I loved reading and writing stories and learning about the language, the grammar and the structure of sentences, all of the 15 grammatical cases that Finnish has. My language is quite complex in its grammar, but I was intrigued and extremely curious to learn more every single day. Since then, language in general and especially my own mother tongue has been my first love, my forever-companion. 

It is an absolute no-brainer to say that language matters. We all do know that because we as humans are avid language users. A lot of the things you learn at school you can escape from, but language will always be there with you. In your speech, text, thoughts...everywhere. Language is essentially what makes us human, what differentiates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. But stating this very obvious fact here should hold a bit of a different meaning. It is to say that not only does language matter as it is, but it also matters in the way we decide to use it.

As a linguist, I can safely declare that a part of the way we use language is not in our conscious control. Some parts of it are grained into the society we're apart of, the culture the language originated from, our personal upbringing, and so on. But a vast majority of the language we speak is made up of the conscious decisions we make in using it. This is especially important when we are naming things, using nouns to describe things. Nouns are a tricky group of words, and a big reason for that is how important semantics is for them. Names have different meanings, that's why there are many different names for things that are seemingly quite similar. Connotation plays a major role in the semantics of nouns as well. For example, you can call a piece of fictitious literature 'a book' or 'a novel'. By both of these words, you are referring to the same piece of art, but they have different connotations: the former being generic and practical, focusing on the physical form of the art piece, and the latter being more specific and focusing on the literary nature of the piece. 

Along with connotation comes another aspect to the usage of nouns. Sometimes, we use nouns "incorrectly", meaning we give certain names that don't actually fit the thing as you would think, but the name describes the thing in a more abstract way. These are usually called metaphors or figures of speech. For example, you can give a particularly long message you get from a friend the name 'a novel' to describe the unnecessarily complicated sentences your friend has typed. Obviously, the text message is not an actual novel, but through the metaphoric usage of the name we find out something more of the nature of the message.

important notices.

 

Metaphors are wonderful, but you have to be very careful in how you use them. In certain situations, using metaphors and figures of speech is not appropriate, and you should concentrate on delivering the message as clearly as possible. And sometimes, using a certain name as a metaphor can become very common, so common in fact that the word loses its original, more practical meaning; the meaning it had originally been given. Depending on the word in question, this can become a pretty big problem. 

The word 'bullying' is very common, and I assume almost every one of us has been in some kind of contact with that word in their life. Especially online, you tend to see it a bit more often than you think you would, and that is because of one very simple reason: the way 'bullying' is used as a word in online spaces is different to the one we are familiar with through our experiences at school. 'Bullying' is thrown around a lot, and sometimes it might ring a bit hollow in the sentences it has been placed into. This is because in online spaces, the word has lost its actual meaning, its usage as a metaphor has become more common than the purpose the word was originally given. Being used as a figure of speech has turned the word into something that doesn't really have any meaning rooted in reality. It has become completely abstract with no concreteness.

The abstractiveness of 'bullying' as a word has eliminated all impact it once had. I would argue that in everyday life, even outside of online spaces, the metaphorical usage of 'bullying' is far more common than the actual, practical and realistic usage it originally had. This is due to choices we have made as language users: we have collectively decided to use the word in this manner, and that has lead to changes in its semantics and connotation. This becomes a very big issue when we are dealing with traumatic experiences that have been labeled as bullying by that original, reality-rooted definition it used to have.

not a trauma.

The language we choose to use has a huge impact on how we view things, how we feel about them, and what are our attitudes toward them. Choosing to ignore the actual meaning of the word 'bullying' leads to invalidating someone's trauma, victimblaming, and other harmful actions. When bullying is brought up as a concept and a form of abuse, the overall general mindset surrounding the term is going to affect the discourse and lead to sarcastic remarks and tasteless jokes. 

"It's just semantics" as a phrase has become a bit of a meme in itself, or at the very least, its connotation is most definitely not the most positive one. But here's another usage for it: at the end of the day, a majority of this problem is just semantics, and that is why it should be really easy to fix the issue. Go back in time or pick up a dictionary and see what is actually meant by 'bullying' when it's not used as an abstract buzz word in online debates.

Loving words,

ichigonya