Evaluate the Strengths and Weaknesses of Language as a WOK

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Ross Philipp

Evaluate the Strengths and Weaknesses of Language as a WOK

Language may often be defined as “a body of words and the systems for their use common to people who are of the same community or nation, the same geographical area, or the same culture/tradition” (dictionary.reference.com). Although language is a basis for communication, it has many forms and variations, not only specific to the same lingual group or nation, thus causing it to present both strengths and weaknesses depending on the situation in which language is used. Many characteristics of language, such as: specificity, translation and communication, can be evaluated in order to better understand the strengths and weaknesses they present, which then gives us a better overall picture on language as a way of knowing.

The first characteristic of language that can be examined is the specificity of language and how it contributes both strengths and weaknesses to the general concept of language itself. Language can be both vague and misinterpreted, as well as being very specific in the sense of the choice of words one may use. The strength to this characteristic is that words are always used to describe certain things; whether it be emotion, thoughts or ideas, and there are specific words created that are specifically created for certain things so that one may be able to accurately represent or convey an idea that they have. For example, Jargon is defined as specialized or specific vocabulary that is used in a particular profession, whether it be a doctor or a pilot. The advantages to having Jargon in professions, is that it creates new words that can only be associated to that specific job, which would make it easier for the professionals of those jobs to convey ideas to one another by using the specific vocabulary, or jargon, instead of trying to use colloquial language to convey the same ideas. However, this does present a very prominent weakness where words become to get too specific and start to develop several connotations in which they mean completely different things in different situations. Because of the many connotations a word may have, language can often be easily misunderstood as words may be used in a situation where the implied connotation differs from one’s own personal assumption of the meaning, therefore altering their perception. Metaphors are also prime examples of how words can confuse the meaning of a sentence as they play around with connotations that often lead to the alteration of one’s perception based on the confusion given by the metaphor. Even though the specificity of language has both strengths and weaknesses, it can be observed that this characteristic of language may definitely alter ones perception.

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Another characteristic of language is how it is the basis for all communication of intelligent life forms and how its strengths and weaknesses can define language’s limitations. Language is excellent in giving us a way of communicating with one another, making the idea of communication easy and extremely efficient, however, it also presents a weakness in the way we comprehend it when we communicate with one another, as several errors may present in a sentence or just a simple misunderstanding can occur between individuals. A big strength to the idea of language being the central concept to communication is that ...

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