Carly Tavares
Writing about Writing
Prof. Lebduska
10/21/14
Pinker pg. 117#2 draft 1
Language: An Open Wound
Imagine a world without language, in your mind how do you imagine the world to be? Without
language it simply not possible to communicate with one another on a verbal or artistic level.
Language is a form that devises in a means of communication including a form of expression.
Steven Pinker’s essay, Words Don’t Mean what They Mean” describes how language is vital to
human society. As an internationally well-known language and cognition scholar, Pinker
successfully depicts that language is an “open wound” to society by saying that it is exposed to
an “infectious world.” Although language come in many different forms one form of language
that is definite in Pinker’s essay is language as an open wound including how we use the form
of double speak. Language as an open wound and forms of double speak are part of our
“infectious world.”
In Pinker’s essay he describes language as “…an open wound through we’re exposed to
an infectious world.” As defined in the dictionary, an open wound is an internal or external break
in the body’s tissue through which skin is usually exposed to the outside environment. In this
case, an open wound becomes vulnerable. Just as an open wound from the skin is exposed to
the outside world, language is also an open wound because it is a wound exposed to language,
In today’s society there are many open wounds to language. The exposure of language is not
just through verbal conversations but through conversations through instant messaging as well.
Social media for instance is a major wound in which language is the cause of infection. It is a
major factor in which we as humans are able to communicate and express ourselves. When we
message we are using words to define what we want to express.
Open wounds are also created by languages such as body language and languages
which can convey emotion. It is another open wound were we are exposing ourselves to
languages without words Sign-language for instance is one of the languages which doesn’t not
consist of words, but rather both means of body language and emotion. When people sign you
an tell what they want or how they feel through the emotions depicted on a person’s face and
how they move their arms and hands to express what they want to say. Sign-language is one of
the languages where it is easy to tell how a person feels through the gestures and body
language because words in itself has no meaning unless conveyed with tone. If one was to just
say a sentence with no tone how could the person to whom they were talking to understand or
feel any emotion behind the words being said? It is simply not possible in this case. Words
essentially have no meaning to emotion without tone.
Since language is an important means of communication this communication leads to an
open wound of words not meaning what they really mean. Pinker says, “Words let us say the
things we want to say and also things we would better off not having said.” This leads to a
wound where language can be hurtful. There is a time and place as to where words need to be
said and where words do not need to be said. As the saying goes “there is a time and place for
everything” it is also the case in social media. It is humane to make mistakes. Through social
media what one person posts may be acceptable to one person but harmful to another. When
people express themselves on social media one comment many be the start of a social
controversy. Even if the comment is deleted off the site it is never really deleted off the internet.
In an essence we are trapped by what we say on the internet because everything that we say is
recorded and is left out of our control. It is part of the infectious world in which we live in
because anything posted on the internet spreads from one viewer to the next in seconds.
In other forms, language is essentially a form in which society uses words to hide the
real truth. Pinker is not surprised “that we sheathe our words in politeness and innuendo and
other forms of doublespeak” because it is true. Every day we use a form of doublespeak without
realizing it. People speak indirect to speech to “save face”, not to hurt feelings. In this case the
question of “Why don’t people say what they mean” arises. Pinker gives the reason as to why
this is simply because people are touchy about their relationships. Sentences need to convey a
message and negotiate in the relationship, without it any filter of politeness is lost. Linguists use
politeness as “felicity conditions” to which the goal is to have needs satisfied without being
bossy. This form of doublespeak is countlessly used in political leaders who have authority
ranking and donation parties because they want to convince the voters or the sponsors that they
are the best candidate for the job without being abrupt about it.
Language is many open wounds which involves an open world and Pinker describes this
in his essay by saying that, “we are exposed to an infectious world.” By being exposed to this
world we are able to have many open wounds which helps define which is a different type of
language. An infection is what happens when a viruses spreads rapidly much like a post on the
internet. Languages which convey body language and emotion are open wounds which explore
the idea that words just don’t have a meaning unless fully expressed through actions that follow
our words. Words not meaning what they really mean completes Pinker’s message that we as
humans tend to “beat around the bush” by not saying what we want to say directly. Sometimes
being direct in what we want to say can be difficult at times because we want to figure out the
best way of saying what we want to say in a way which does not confuse or offend someone.