Before telephones became common place, people used to communicate over long distances by telegraph via a sequence of electrical impulses. ‘Morse Code’, which involves patterns of short and long taps, identified as dots and dashes, was developed as a means of communicating in this way. These patterns of dots and dashes represented letters. For example, […]
Distinctions, Stories and Statistical Learning Read More »
There are many theories about the psychosocial development of human beings but amongst those theories there is some commonality. To quote Ken Wilber in his book, ‘A Theory of Everything’: “From Clare Graves to Abraham Maslow; from Deirdre Kramer to Jan Sinnott; from Jürgen Habermas to Cheryl Armon; from Kurt Fischer to Jenny Wade; from
Adult Human Development Read More »
In our constant search for meaning, human beings ask a lot of questions. In terms of the linguistic acts, questions are defined as a type of request designed to get some more information and create new meaning for us. Questions generally come in two forms – open and closed. When we ask these two types
Human beings live in a complex web of linguistic commitments with each other. We create these webs through the practice of ‘coordination of future action’. This distinction speaks to more than just coordinating action, which can take place in the moment and apparently without language. All social animals coordinate action in some way – that
Requests, Offers & Promises Read More »
Whereas we make assertions about a world as it already exists for us, when we make a declaration, we seek to bring forth something new in the world. Whereas assertions relate to the past (the exception being pending assertions), declarations are future focused. It is the linguistic act of declaration that allows us to play
We are always stepping into an unknown future and assessments are the linguistic aspect of weighing risk and navigating that uncertainty. Our assessments are automatic and born of our way of being in that moment. They also reflect our experience and what has worked to take care of our concerns in the past. Our habitual
Grounding Assessments Read More »
Whereas assertions tend to focus on the world as it is or has been and declarations are future-oriented, the linguistic act of assessment provides a linguistic bridge from the past to the future. Assessments are our opinions or judgements and provide the linguistic mechanism to create meaning about our experience. They are the linguistic approach
An assertion is a statement about our empirical observations of phenomena in the world. Assertions generally relate to the past and provide a linguistic association with what is true about the world as we know it. We can also make assertions about what might happen in the future, distinguished as ‘pending assertions’. Pending assertions are
We have long lived with the concept of time. Whether it is the seasons, the motion of the sun, the moon or the stars, or the ticking of a clock, time is ever present for us. It is through our reference to time that we live our lives – when we start work, when we
The Linguistic Acts Read More »
As far as we know, human language is unique. That is not to say that other animals do not communicate via sound, action or signs. They do. Rather, what makes human language unique lies in its complexity. Through human language, we can create a shared understanding about the world, explore possible futures, decide what future
The Role of Language Read More »