DISCOURSE, LANGUAGES, AND ART

DISCOURSE, LANGUAGES, AND ART

Before I had found pottery, I had found languages. For various reasons, a few unavoidable, I took a different route in my collegiate studies to focus on writing and rhetoric. During this time, I began research for an honors capstone project which focused on the value and inherency of "discourse" in formal literacy studies. But to date, I have also studied 4 foreign languages in depth.

Langauge profoundly influences my creative sense for inherency and connectedness, both in my life and in the greater world. Language can be verbal and non-verbal, oral or written, and it carries the weighty purpose to explain, demonstrate, and identify concepts, and to communicate commonness and diversity in a shared reality.

When I design and create my art and patterns, I often return to this wealth of diverse knowledge. I like to consider multiple perspectives, styles, and even meanings that my I might convey through the creative process. Although much of what I once learned in formal language study is now mostly collecting cobwebs in the recesses of my mind, the depth of my investigations into foreign cultures and languages has inherently changed how I gather, process, and express creativity in my art and design.

In this section, I will expound on my ethos, logos, and afflatus statements. I will discuss two different examples of how language profoundly influences my creative process and my sense for conceptualizing and communicating art, patterns, life, and design.

First to demonstrate:

I learned many years ago that there are many North American Indigenous Tribes who have developed languages with a unique linguistic structure. These languages use verbs in the stead of nouns. And, in the oral tradition this often operates to express connection and purposefulness between concepts, and purpose in the use of spoken language as an oral heritage.

Another way to conceptualize this is: structurally, in these languages all sentences center around a main verb, and all other words are attached to it (before and after) to express connectedness, whether as an action, state, or occurence.

My understandings of these applications are limited. And I certainly don't profess to understand the full dimensions of this complex linguistic structure... As it would be, I only learned about this incredibly interesting aspect of Indigenous linguistics during a college course on the History of Native American Religions - but apart from my formal language studies.

From what little I had the opportunity to learn in class, and through some articles that I sought out online, this is what more I can share:  

In a verb-centric language, the development of all ideas, feelings, conceptualizations, and general discourse relates this constant and inherent activeness. It may be related from within, among, or between all aspects, and it conveys purpose through the commonness of activity.

In a sizable attempt at general translation, morphemes (words) that are designated "nouns" in other languages would be "verbed" to be expressed in these languages. Once verbed, these morphemes would either precede or follow the central verb in a phrase to carry its meaning (Link). More on this in a moment.

Many, many years before I even knew what linguistics was, so way back in my childhood, I had been familiarized only with the more "spiritual" aspect and profound cultural feature of surviving Indigenous societies, which was referred to more colloquially as a both a spiritual belief and a philosophical concept of "The Great Spirit", which conveyed some form of "complete sacredness of the living world". This completeness was expressed to me as a belief that "life" abides in all things, which describes the ontological sense that all things in the world are regarded as "living beings". This was the basic understanding that I also held close to my heart for most of my life. Only years later, I learned that there is also this incredibly complex linguistic and cultural history rooted to it.

There is also so much more incredible information about world-changing discourses regarding profound First Nations' traditional concepts, which include but are not limited to democracy, free will, ethics, and morality. If you're interested in learning more, you might enjoy this book, about the profound origins of the Suffragist Movement in Haudenosaunee Wordview. Or this one, about the urgency of Indigenous Values in the modern world. Each is authored by one of my incredible college professors. Additionally, if you're interested in some writing I did in college, follow this link. It will take you to the stories and information I gathered while conducting amateur research for my college Writing and Rhetoric BA, and Honors Program Capstone project. The history is powerful and complex, and enjoyable to learn. It is a work in progress, and was never submitted for review.

As it is, there is a lot from history we have still to learn.

For those in my audience who may not have the time to read from any links above, and for those who have, before I continue on about how this unique linguistic feature has influenced my personal sense for creative expression and art, please consider the following example of an Ojibwe legend, first. This will only serve as a single example of a much larger and broader collection of beliefs from Indigenous worldview. In its natural narrative, this example will provide a unique lens to consider and better understand the complexity and inherency of a living language.

So, there are many of us who are non-Natives who might have been more colloquially familiarized with dream catchers, as an ornament, but less with the Ojibwe Legend of Great Spider Woman, which is the heritage legend and the ancestral activity of passing it forward. As it goes:

When Great Spider Woman created the world, she also wove into Her sacred web the sacred bridge between the waking world and the dreaming world. Long ago, She instructed the Clan Mothers in how to craft Her sacred charm. The Clan Mothers knew that with this charm She would always protect their children in the two worlds. In the dreaming world, the children may learn sacred teachings of duty from the Spirits who abide there. In the waking world, the children may prove their skills from the lessons learned in their dreams.

To assist in Great Spider Woman's charm, many powerful birds offered the Clan Mothers their sacred feathers. The sacred feathers would carry the children's lessons back to them, as they would transition between the two worlds. Each bird carried a unique offering. From the sacred owl feathers, girls would gather healing, wisdom, and guidance. From the sacred hawk feathers, boys would gather craftsmanship, bravery, and protection. As the Clan Mothers' children exist in both worlds, so Great Spider Woman protects the sacred bridge.

As the co-creator of the world, Great Spider Woman's sacred web is a powerful labyrinth, that only the smartest and wisest Spirits can solve. Each night, when the Spirits visit Great Spider Woman's sacred web, they must follow Her spiral and solve each of Her puzzles in order to reach the center where She guards the sacred bridge between the two sacred worlds.

When the new day comes, Great Spider Woman's partner, Morning Star, will rise to spread His long, first sacred light across her sacred woven silk. In His brightness, all of the unprincipled Spirits which She has ensnared in Her web, who were too mad and senseless to pass Her tests and cross Her bridge, will perish in his rays and never bother the Clan Mothers' children again...

Each morning, as the sacred feathers return our lessons to us, we awake with a smile on our lips...

I find this legend captivating and mesmerizing, and it has stuck with me ever since I learned it, years ago. Alas, I lost the webpage link (*smh*), and I cannot provide a proper citation for this version of the legend. But, I have written it out as best as I can remember it was told, and I feel that I've got most of it. Here, is a link with some similar descriptions of the tradition, along with quotes about Ojibwe perspectives on the legend, but this link doesn't include the narrative. And here, is a link with beautiful diagrams for making a dream catcher.

Over the years, I have found that this "living sense" of universality, value, purpose, and creativity, which the activity of this charm and its legend communicates, inspires me to continue to more meaningfully appraise both my waking and dreaming worlds.

With this heritage story passed forward, I feel especially provisioned with sincerity and deep appreciation for the sense of "living" purpose rooted within this unique, popular, creative, and legendary ritual. Dream catchers became a globally appreciated tradition especially after the Pan-American-Indian movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, the sense of universality surrounding dream catchers spread across many of the First Nations and across the world.

This legend provides us with an authentic lens to consider sacred Indigenous spiritual beliefs and philosophical concepts which describe the cyclical, mythic, and reciprocal framework of the natural world, and the global relevance of Indigenous worldview today. Hearing this heritage legend can help to explain the better-known concepts of "connectedness" and the "web of life", which are often associated with the tradition. It also gives recognition and tribute to the dream catcher's profound ancestral lineage and its sacred connection to the Creation Mythologies shared especially between many mid-western Clans, Tribes, and Nations.

To avoid saying too much here, please follow this link for a longer discussion about modern influences of Indigenous worldview, across the globe.

Now, equipped with the sacred heritage legend of Great Spider Woman, allow us to return to the verb-centric linguistic aspect of Indigenous languages, where we began.

As it is, I haven't had the opportunity to study any of these verb-centric languages formally. Instead, I have read a handful of articles online about Oneida language structure, as an example. And, some information about the more formal inherency and exigency of distinguishing linguistic categories for verbs, nouns, and adjectives. It's fascinating, so follow the links if you're language-inclined.

More often though, in my day-to-day living, I take the time to think about how I might substitute nouns with verbs, in my own language... This isn't a perfect modality for the true linguistic translation, but it's meaningfully close.

As I verb my nouns, and as I make this shift in perspective, a common requirement for learning a foreign language, it feels... more pronounced than I am accustomed to, and profoundly foreign, but also meaningful and natural.

It has been some commiseration for me to be reminded, only recently, that the root and etymology of "verb" in Latin, is simply "word". (I continuously seem to discover, in my years, that the depth of our connectivity to one another is endless.)

Without the formal help of a textbook or an instructor, over the years I have considered the "verbed" version of diverse English, French, Italian, Spanish and Serbian nouns, on my own.

"Peace" for example, I often conceptualize affably as (a) verb. More, at some level I sense I have even always thought of peace as inherently "active".

...I find this very profound.

I even think, surely, it will always be this way...

With each verbed noun, I will shift my perspective and I will touch this inherency of activity.

I recognize the activeness of "sky" and "Earth" and "water", or "human" and "horse" and "elk", or "strawberry" and "peppermint" and "mushroom"...

... And, after letting some time pass, so that this new form of conceptualization and discourse might settle in my mind and heart, I now often enjoy drinking hot tea-ing, running my dishwasher-ing, relaxing in the(-ing) shade-ing or under the(-ing) warmth-ing of a(-ing) blanket-ing, walking down the(-ing) sidewalk-ing, preparing food-ing, and just... life-ing...

But also, I think of concepts I usually refer to as nouns that we engage in collectively, such as "election day", or "social democracy", or "deli", or "highway", or "country fair", or "University", or "bus stop", or "Dumbledore", or "Quidditch!"

...I sometimes also affectionately look up to the night sky, towards constellations, or (my own colloquially termed) star-ings, or Star-Beings... and, then Yoda will eventually float by my minds-eye and share his sage advice, "Being-Star only what brings with..."

You might also consider, after learning this, I will also find myself in the middle of the creative process, "washing my-ing paintbrush-ings", and "designing some-ing design-ings", or otherwise out in my day "waiting in line-ing", and "eating a-ing handful-ing of tomato-ings"...

So, it has been over 10 years, and still I profoundly wonder at how and why I conceptualize and express my nouns through such inherent activity, that I seem to honestly imply an embodiment of language entirely differently than I have ever had the opportunity to admit, in my formal language studies...

It(ing) has changed how I(ing) am living my(ing) life(ing), everyday(ing).

I have gathered that the world must naturally participate in connectedness and in this effort confirm the inherency of activity, and that I might also use language to naturally and habitually conceptualize and communicate it...

Now, for "a/the second" example:

Half-way across the globe there are also Slavic peoples who have developed languages that never use distinguishing articles 'a' or 'the' with their nouns. Another way to put this is: there are no articles in Slavic languages.

When I first studied Serbian, a Balkan and Slavic language (and, my mother's native tongue), abroad in a formal language school during summers between college semesters, I wasn't sure I could make (the) switch in my brain. All the students were international, and we all spoke English as the classes were conducted in English and Serbian. We never explicitly studied the broader implications of this linguistic characteristic and article-less-ness in class. Instead, we were simply assured it would eventually make sense with practice.

Inevitably this was true. Especially, as I could still use the words for "this" or "that" when I needed to be explicitly distinguishing. But also, it came to make sense once I had learned the (very) complex grammar structure, i.e. using 3 genders (he, she, it/neuter); conjugating every word in a sentence as it gives the compositional effect to supercede linear reasoning; and using seven obligatory grammatical cases.

Learning this ancestral and "article-less" language required an admittedly lesser shift in my perspective than the first example above, and it was also very profound.

I came to deeply appreciate and esteem the unique fluidity and pronounced composure that this alteration lent to my perspective as I communicated and conceptualized, both personally and in social environments.

At the coffee shop, today, 12 years later, I still catch myself wanting to place an order at the bar by saying "I would like hot coffee", or to ask my table neighbor, "please, pass me sugar"... And in my mind I politely think "to wipe up milk spills at bar", or "to hold door for wo/man behind me".

I also affectionately remember my youthful self in Belgrade (the capital of Serbia), redundantly substituting the words "this" or "that", for the first week or so, while stumbling to order (the) pork cutlet sandwich, or (a) mineral water.

To this day I will still wonder and marvel at my English and habitual grammatical attaching of articles to nouns in certain circumstances, while not in others.

I'll explain a bit of this, and be brief.

Grammatically... both the "definite article" (the) and "indefinite articles" (a/an) function as adjectives. So, they "describe and modify" the nouns they are attached to. English speakers most often use these modifying articles after a verb or preposition to objectify nouns in context. English speakers will also colloquially imply objectifying nouns without using any articles. Articles are required before the mention of a profession or occupation; to enumerate nouns as expressing a singular quantity or quality; and also (though more rarely) to give a positive or negative connotation to connected adjectives in a phrase, i.e. "this weather is a little better, today" (positive) or "this weather is little better, today" (negative).

Once I started studying Serbian, and really trying to internalize the experience, I was captivated by this realization that I could informally or formally communicate all my needs without being so explicitly objectifying in discourse. I learned to re-address and re-harness the omniscience of language, and of implication and anticipation, and I learned with practice.

With practice, I came to appreciate this sense of accepted inherency in the discourse, especially while conceptualizing and communicating shared experiences such as objectivity, subjectivity, impressionability, and instinct.

My habitual expressions and conversations in Serbian were often more open-ended, less severe, and also composed exceptionally dynamically...

I would still feel out of my breadth at times, though...

For me today, it is in the intention and exigency to personally objectify, through dialogue, discourse, or conceptualization, which impresses distinct creativity on my explorations of expression in the arts.

So, today often, I start the day by sitting "at wheel to throw clay," I take a break to "eat snack", and I end my day by "cleaning up big mess".

I take care of "supplies and resources" in my studio, and I "keep tools" clean and ready.

And, I still often think I should order "coffee", instead of "a coffee"...

And, while my English professors had expressed for me to write "the essays" and receive "the grades", I still often wrote "essays" and received "grades"...

And, forests still make oxygen... and, sunlight and leaves always cast shadow...

Oh and... wow... fun fact before we go: our Milky Way Galaxy is moving through space at some huge velocity of 372 miles/second (600 kilometers/second), and it is spinning around its axis at 168 miles/second (270 kilometers/second) and it will take 200 million years to complete one rotation...

I think surely, it will always be this way...

All seriousness and jokes aside... I have been profoundly moved by how and why articles and nouns play profound and distinguished roles as temporal and spatial markers in language, in my life, and in the world.

In closing:

These two insights into language structures used across the world have inspired and provided me with a profound lens for investigating meaningful concepts in my art, and in my life. These concepts include, but are not limited to: inherency, connectedness, association, and patterns, as well as, concept, communication, collaboration, purpose, and worldview (follow these links to my ceramic art projects and series)...

I hope my reader has also derived some profound meaning, or even (a) sense of purpose, from (the) time(ing) spent with these words.

Index of Terms:

Anthropogenic    Balkan     Breadth    Clan Mothers    Colloquial    Commiserate    Conceptualize Convey    Connotation    Discourse    Dialectics    Dream Catcher    Dreaming World    Dumbledore    Enumerate   Ethos    Exigency    Explicit    Great Spider Woman    The Haudenosaunee Nation    Implicit    Labyrinth    Linear Reasoning    Linguistics    Mesmerizing    Morning Star   Native American    Ojibwe    Oneida    Pedagogy    Preterit    Quidditch    Redundant    Rhetoric    Sidle    (Spider) Silk    The Six Tribes    Slavic    Spatial    Stead    Supersede    Spirits    Temporal    Waking World    Worldview    Yoda