Linking language, art and culture

A tool, a hurdle, a weapon. An inescapable part of our lives. Language is all that and more. It is also part of our identity as distinct human beings.

Research has shown that when we are born we think in pictures. Eventually, we link the pictures to the words we hear spoken around us. Our cognitive processes are thus all linked to our birth language and, therefore, language and culture are inextricably linked.

Language is an emotive issue with economic, social, educational and political implications, according to Professor Kathleen Thorpe, head of German studies in the School of Literature and Language Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand.

The best example of the political implications of the use of a particular language, was the 1976 Soweto uprisings when pupils refused to be taught in Afrikaans, which the government had tried to force on them. Language — the use of one’s own mother tongue in particular — is a basic human right entrenched in the Bill of Rights in our Constitution.

Thorpe says the undervaluing of the humanities is having a disastrous effect on the general standard of education in South Africa. Young people are being deprived of learning to think critically, construct an argument, tolerate and appreciate difference — as well as improve their language and communication skills, a matter increasingly mentioned by employers, she says.

“The perceived hegemony of English is doing everyone a disservice,” says Thorpe. “South Africa seems woefully unaware of the value of foreign languages — a surprising fact in the light of the upcoming World Cup, at which hundreds of thousands of Europeans are expected. Neither in schools nor at university level, is the awareness of the value of learning a new language very high. Learning a foreign language will change your consciousness,” she says.

Language studies broaden one’s thinking and hone critical and interpretative skills. Learning a language is a way to gain new knowledge, and the knowledge inherent in each culture is woven into its literature.

Art in visual form is also a language, albeit more bodily directed and less mediated than discursive language. Over time, art forms transform into conceptual clarity, into new discursive language. Therefore a picture is much more than just an image the viewer looks at.