Before we can talk of language patterns, it is important to understand and define what constitutes the idea of language.
We all know of languages as English, German, French, Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, etc. Human beings have created 7,000+ known languages. Most of these languages have sounds and symbols that represent real and abstract ideas in this world.
However, the idea of language is far bigger than this. What we talked above is only the verbal component of language. It is only the spoken language, the part of language that can be properly documented.
A much more important aspect of language is nonverbal language. In fact what is not said is often a more important component of language :
- a wink
- a pause
- a look
- a hesitation
- a stance
- an eye contact
- a tone
- a scream
- a whisper
- a whimper
All of these are extremely important components of the idea of language. Yet, they are completely beyond the verbal aspects of it.
A language is everything that is communicated or that can be communicated, either visually or by gestures. And this opens up, very complicated patterns of expression. These are language patterns.
In fact, language is so subtle. There’s an aspect of language which is beyond the seen world and delves into the realm of feelings and intuitions. This is the language, of how the different hidden parts of us and the hidden parts of the world speak to us.
The idea of language consists of six modes of how information is communicated :
- Sight
- Touch
- Taste
- Smell
- Sound
- Feelings
This constitutes language, true language. And only when we consider the patterns that cut across verbal and non-verbal, seen and unseen modes, do true language patterns emerge.