Language Experiment

                In this language experiment we were told to speak with a partner using nothing but body language, hand movements, and facial expressions. Our partner could speak but we were not able to. In the second part of the experiment we were allowed to speak but not to use any facial expressions, fluctuation in our voice, or hand signals. The two parts of this experiment were extremely different from each other and the results were intriguing.

                Part 1 of this experiment was very difficult for me. It is tough to convey a thought to your partner without the use of words. It was like a game of charades at first. As it continued however my partner changed from asking complex questions to asking me yes or no questions. This was a lot easier for me to answer and for my partner to understand what I was trying to communicate. From a cultural standpoint when it comes down to describing complex ideas I believe the spoken language has a real advantage over the non-speaking form of communication. The speaker became a leader in our conversation. They would ask all the questions and I, the non-speaker, had to answer them. It was very difficult for me to ask my partner a question since most of the time they had to just guess what I was trying to say. For non-speakers there is too much guessing work involved, this makes it very difficult to convey a complex idea. From a speakers standpoint as well they might look down on the non-speakers as being dumber and less cultured. The speaker had to dumb everything down to a yes or no question for me to be able to answer. There are many people in our current culture that have difficulty speaking. Whether it is a young child just learning to talk, a foreign citizen who does not know the language, or a mutation in a person’s genes that make it difficult to speak, there is always a struggle. Unfortunately in our society there is not a very helpful reaction to this. People mostly just try to talk louder or slower to the other person. When talking to kids we dumb down what we say so we don’t confuse them. As a culture we tend to look down on those that don’t speak exactly like we do.

                Part 2 of this experiment was a little funnier to me. I could not last more than 1 minute without bursting out in laughter. I found my own monotone voice as funny and robotic. We rely so much on our emotions and express them in every aspect of our language. In taking that away from me, I tried to break it and ended up laughing so that I could show some type of emotion. My partner had much the same reaction as I did. We are not used to listening to someone talk with no emotion so we end up laughing at it. My partner also kept trying to make me break and laugh before the 15 minutes were up. We are able to judge a lot about a person and their personality through the way they talk and how they hold themselves. Body language is a huge insight into the person you are speaking to. You are able to tell if they are lying, or happy, or angry with you. Seeing the emotions of the person you are talking to enables you to change your own tone of voice as well. We are able to adapt and communicate better with whoever we are speaking to. However there are people who do have difficulty reading body language. Many people with mental disorders such as Asperger’s or autism have difficulty reading people’s body language. They can learn to imitate it in some situations but it may never come naturally to some. There are situations where it would be a benefit to not read into body language but it is very difficult for me to think of one. The only one I can really think of is from a law point of view. When listening to a testimony it may be more beneficial to not see the person talking. In this situation you may be able to hear the testimony better if you are not taken in by their bod language and how they are talking. If a woman is crying we are more likely to feel empathy for her but if you do not see her crying you may be able to make a better and less biased decision.