Question 4

       A common language is at no doubt a need for man to exchange information and understand each other on a human level of consciousness. Thus, language is particularly necessary for Ildefonso as the man wishes to express his thoughts and to linguistically connect to a whole community of people.

       Ildefonso, a man who was never taught any language before, observed everything around him intently but could make no connection between what was being done by other deaf students and their intention to communicate with him. He was able to socialize with his other languageless friends through compensating their mimetic acts. After discovering the concept of language, which is a system of symbols, Ildefonso did not have to go through the tedious effort of miming again. He improved tremendously in his socializing skills and cognitive thinking. Interestingly, he was also incapable of regressing to his former languageless self, suggesting that language may have replaced or disrupted other forms of thought and interaction.

      Language was necessary for Ildefonso since it shaped his capacity to perceive the world. Would he be able to survive without language?  Yes. Ildefonso had managed to survive, and clearly had thoughts, but he was also obviously confused by the social interaction and the capacities of the language saturation. Some might argue that language is not necessary because you still can think and experience sensations, impressions, and feelings without language. It is true, however; there are certain kinds of thinking that can only made possible by language. Linguistic thinking allows for a level of abstract reasoning to be brought into social conscious awareness we wouldn't have otherwise. In other words, we may be able to think without language, but language lets us know that we are thinking.

      After being exposed to language, Ildefonso’s rejection to regression to previous state suggested that certain cognitive skills and communicative channels had actually became emaciated with the intrusion of language upon them. For this to happen, the evolution of language must have met many trials and errors, as Susan Schaller asserted. Though slow and painful, the adoption of language is rewarding as it will become our significant and knitted inner companion.