As described and briefly explored in the definition of Interpretation, language requires Derivative Interpretive ability to arise. In speaking or writing one understands beforehand how the listener or reader shall listen or read. In listening or reading one understands how the speaker or writer intended one to listen or read. Language requires such a reflexive Interpretation in order to work, which in turn allows the emergence of self consideration and higher derivative thinking. Origin Both speaking and listening are symbiotically fundamental, and define one another in function. We shall start, however, with the simpler process of listening. In the section on sensory cycles we saw how both sight and sound are processed by their respective primary cortices and projected into other senses whilst being iteratively Interpreted, building a representation of the world in which the sense modalities are linked. Listening to the They and reading what They wrote simply uses this framework. In the cortex, immediately posterior to the primary auditory cortex lies Wernicke's area, a region that Interprets words. Listening  Speaking Now just as the senses of the world are the basis for action of the body of Dasein, so too is what is heard the basis for what is said. The information from Wernicke's area and associated cortices is sent to Broca's area, a region of the frontal cortex, associated with the pre-motor cortex that performs the corresponding function for the body. To understand what Broca's area shall Interpret we need to first understand the nature of what has been heard; it is a Potentiality-for-Being. Language can be fundamentally divided into statement and question, the former not implying the need for a response, the latter asking for one. Both statements and questions are Potentialities-for-Being that have been conveyed in the same way a physical action is the manifestation of a Potentiality-for-Being that has been selected and executed. A statement should pose a Potentiality that shall be agreed upon by the listener, it is merely a representation of the world and as such should be agreeably intelligible to the listener. A question should pose an unresolved Potentiality-for-Being, and in so doing it prompts the listener to provide the information required to resolve it. We say "should", because communication is the foundation of culture, and thusly custom. To break the culture is to become unintelligible, thus defeating the purpose of language. However, a statement can, and they frequently do, pose unresolved Potentialities-for-Being, and an instance of Dasein of sufficient cultural advancement shall recognise this and respond appropriately. But it is most important here to see that in the origin of language there was an interplay between neural evolution and culture, for a time co-evolving, resulting in brain functions that represent the basics of the culture that were lain down. Broca's area, then, Interprets the nature of what is heard and seeks for an unresolved Potentiality-for-Being. Of course, what is unresolvable to one instance may or may not be resolvable in another; such a decision is made with respect to information of the world, the Entities, and of declarative memories at hand. The result of this Interpretation leads Broca's area to Interpret a response. This response is simply an Interpretation that looks to resolve any perceived unfulfilled Potentiality, and in this respect what is always said seeks to address this. Derivative Interpretation So far we have considered what is essentially reflexive, or habitual speech, common to everyday conversation. However the degree to which a response is Interpreted may differ, in socially "sensitive" situations for example, one must be careful of what one says, and so Dasein may use a Derivative Interpretation loop; this is situated in the prefrontal cortex and its development is the primary neurological distinction between homo sapiens and the other extant apes. As we saw in the case of the sensory projections, Derivative Interpretation consists of repeated Interpretation of the previous Interpretation's product, thus abstracting from the original information in a stepwise manner, and realising a product that has a meaning dependent on the source data and "what" the Interpretations have been configured to "see". In the prefrontal cortex, the information Interpretation starts with is found in the SMA and Broca's area, that is, Potentialities-for-Being - resolved or unresolved - pertaining to either physical action or communication. The Derivative Interpretive chain then projects anteriorly, to the very front of the lobe, from whence it returns to the pre-motor cortex (and possibly Broca's area) for Emotional judgement, thus influencing action and speech. What the prefrontal cortex perceives is, simply put, the consequences of the Potential actions and speech that have been presented to it. To a few derivative degrees it Interprets the knock-on effects of its Potentialities-for-Being as they pertain to the World and the They by which it is surrounded. By Interpreting the Potential speech, it gains a "view" on how the listener shall react, or how they shall understand what could be said. By Interpreting the Potential action, it gains a view on how the World and the They, how society, shall react to what could be done. The primary pressures for such an evolutionary change are language and the need to understand before one speaks how the listener shall hear, groups and the need to understand how one's actions shall affect another instance, and war, to appreciate how another is trying to kill oneself, and so giving one the possibility of baffling their designs. It is this process of Interpretation that is commonly understood to be "interpretation" in the casual sense of the word, for in understanding the finer parts of life, art, culture, and the sciences, Derivative Interpretation allows Dasein to "get its head around" the thing. Most importantly, as we shall go on to see, Derivative Interpretation permits the function of Dasein to view the Entity of self in a way not possible otherwise, which is a strong and direct cause of the phenomenal perception of "consciousness". Created 23rd October 2008 Last revised 28th October 2008 |