“Introduction to (re)Making Language”
Seth Graves argues that knowledge is acquired through language. As seen in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, the creature first learns about what war is after overhearing a conversation. He then expresses his opinion of this and a realization of himself through language. By doing so, we learn how the creature feels, and the same thing occurs when we use language to communicate with one another. With language, we are able to acquire new knowledge and express our own opinions about it, just as the creature had done.
“Language, Discourse, and Literacy”
Language is an of exchange of symbols that allow both parties to effectively communicate their ideas to one another. In many cases, there are groups that use language in a certain way, and these groups are called discourse communities. Examples of this are your friends and your colleagues from work, and they way you casually communicate with your friends would most likely be different than the way you communicate with your colleagues. There is also literacy, and it refers to how we are able to use language within a certain discourse community. The way we use literacy can shape our ideas and change our understandings of things.
Response
Language is used everyday, so it is important to know that it is used to share and obtain knowledge about the world and ourselves. Without it, how would we be able to be aware of what’s going on? How would we be able to effectively express our own emotions? The way we use language can affect how we share and obtain knowledge as well. For example, the creature from Frankenstein was often called a “monster” or other horrible terms by people that he tried to help, which led him to believe that he was a monster when he really wasn’t.