The Real Alphabet

I would like to introduce my theory of languages. I have arrived at an explanation of how languages operate that I cannot see anywhere else.

We know that many thousands of different molecules can be put together from a relatively few atoms. Any molecule can be deconstructed into it's component atoms. But those atoms cannot be broken down any further, at least not by chemical means.

So, what on earth does this have to do with language? The fact is that language operates in exactly the same way as atoms and molecules and the "atoms" of language are what I refer to as the "Real Alphabet". This alphabet has nothing to do with that which we use to spell out words.

All of the information that we get about the world around us comes to us through our five senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste and, smell. Language is what we use to describe the information that we have received with our senses.

Words are strung together to describe things. But at it's most fundamental level, language has a set of things that we cannot describe with words, but must be experienced to be understood or else described indirectly. It is this set of fundamentals that I have named the "Sense Elements", they are congruent to the atoms which combine to form molecules.

A Sense Element is simply a fundamental piece of information that we receive with one of our five senses. Since these pieces of information are fundamental, it is not possible to describe them directly with words. A Sense Element must be experienced to be understood, or at least described indirectly by comparison and contrast.

Since language is what we use to convey information, and all of the information that we obtain comes by way of our senses, these Sense Elements must be congruent to the atoms in molecules. Since no Sense Element can be described with words directly, but can only be experienced, language must exist to expand our information by linking Sense Elements with which we are not familiar to those with which we are.

As an example, try describing your favorite (favourite) color (colour) to someone who could either not see, or could only see in black and white. It is impossible, the words just do not exist. That is because this is a Sense Element. It is one of the building blocks of words, and thus it cannot be described by words.

This also means, of course, that we cannot be absolutely sure that we all interpret colour (color) in the same way. The same goes for all other sensory input.

As another example, suppose you went past a lilac bush and wanted to describe it's scent. Once again, it is not possible to describe it directly. The words just do not exist. The best that can be done is to describe it indirectly by comparison and contrast.

In the same way, there is just no way to directly describe sound or taste. It can only be described by comparison and contrast with something else. That is because these are Sense Elements and are actually the building blocks of all language.

Words and language are intended to be a substitute for actual experience. But any description using words must span more than one Sense Element. A description links Sense Elements that the reader is not familiar with to those he is familiar with.

Someone who is good with words can describe a ride in an airplane (aeroplane) or skydiving or underwater diving to someone who has never experienced these things. That is because none of these are Sense Elements, but are composed of a multitude of Sense Elements.

Language is not "absolute" in it's description of reality. Rather, it is a matter of perspective. We see the world and universe as we do not only because of what it is, but because of what we are. On my cosmology blog, I showed how this explains why we perceive such things as time and the speed of light which are otherwise unexplainable.

Language is the same way. We do not have an "absolute" view of the world, we see it through our senses, and this gives us a perspective view.

Language must rest on a foundation and this foundation is the Sense Elements. No one sense element can be described with words. But words do link those elements with which the reader is familiar to those with which he is not. We do not see reality as it absolutely is, but as it is conveyed to us through our senses.

Think of it this way: A description or an explanation is the use of words to support entities in reality. But there are certain entities at the most fundamental level of any language where there are no words below them to support them. Therefore these fundamental entities cannot be described using words.

These are what I am referring to as the Sense Elements and they are the real alphabet of any and all human language.