So far I’ve really enjoyed this novel. Language, and the different types of language are very important to this novel. The experience of a neurodivergent character and language is also a key aspect to his experience. The opening chapter explains the way he experiences having tourettes and how his ticks process through his brain. For example, on page 5: “Lionel, my name. Frank and the Minna Men pronounced it to rhyme with vinyl. Lionel Essrog. Line-all. Liable Guesscog. Final Escrow. Ironic Pissclam. And so on.” This is something that Lionel does throughout the novel, he plays with his words and usually before he bursts out with a tic he does a lot of rhyming and associations with words. I think we all do this at some point or another, when reading, thinking, or in conversation. I might associate a word with a movie, a song, and one word might make my brain end up thinking about something random as a potato, to where I will think: potato chip and the silly slang of brotato chip.
I am curious about language in the neurodivergent community. Like we have seen in everything we have read so far, the language we are reading sounds so colloquial, and makes these people seem no different at all. In this novel we see the thought process behind language and I think that makes a huge difference. I wonder if people with manic depression have their own language, or people with autism, depression etc. What does it sound like? What is the process behind it? I think the ways in which illnesses are explained through the people experiencing them is a language in itself, compared to the language of the DSM or someone talking about the person who has it.
Interesting post, Renne. To answer your question of if people with different neurological disorders have their own language, I think don’t think they do have their own language (or if they do, it would be interesting to look into) but I do think there are words or sounds that are more appealing to them. For example, Higashida writes “there are times when I find the sound of my own voice comforting, when I’ll use familiar words or easy-to-say phrases. But the voice I can’t control…blurts out, not because I want it to; it’s more like a relax.” pg 8. It’s even more interesting now that I htink about it. For Higashida, there is another “voice” / author and he is just the animator; two authors, one animator and one principal. I think there are not different langauges but different authors and possibly different principals and the words are expressed through one animator.
I think we all have our own inner language sometime when we talk to our self about certain situations or something happens to us. We are in deep thoughts inside. Kids also have their own language but we don’t understand them. Some languages can’t be understood by others because it only makes sense to them who are talking inside. I think people with disorders also have their language which can be understood by the doctors or whoever is close to them. They have different feelings towards others so it makes it very difficult to understand their language. But that does not mean we can’t understand we can if we try hard to reach them.
I definitely think that everyone has his or her own language. I believe that language is the creation of associations between certain verbal cues and societal or cultural indicators. I don’t think language is simply the words we express in our conversations or our writings, but rather the associations we choose to make. Things like our ages, ethnicities, neurodivergence, gender, etc. can determine how we create our own languages and who or what can understand us. Jasbir’s example of children having their own language is probably the best way of explaining this concept. Children have not had as much exposure to the world and are limited to what they perceive by the people around them. In addition, they have a limited amount of time that they’ve spent in their respective environments. Therefore, their “language” is incomprehensible to us because we have formed different relationships and associations with the things that they are trying to convey. I’m sure those of the neurodivergent community, or the autistic community, or any other community have their own language – but so do all the other communities out there.