Elgin (2)

 

보낸 사람: "Suzette Haden Elgin" <cls@madisoncounty.net>

받는 사람: "AOAA1/40" <gomse@yahoo.co.kr>

보낸 날짜: 2001년 2월 6일 화요일 오후 10 : 57

제목: Re: Thank you very much

 

Dear Suzette Haden Elgin,

 

It is exhilarating to receive your letter.

I feel honored by it.

I, as a layman, thought that the linguistic competence is not related to,

for example, our eyes and facial ｅxpressions to communicate virtually

every subtle nuance of emotion there is.

 

** I understand. As it happens, the term "linguistic competence" refer to

every aspect of knowledge about the process of communication; it includes

all the words and morphemes, all the body language, and every else that a native speaker of a language knows with regard to using that language.

 

My point was:

If there is "something" that enables a human to communicate other than linguistic competence and no name for it or useful term for it, I'd like to name it

as "invisible tongue."

 

** That is of course your privilege.

 

And my question was:

Does the use of "invisible tongue" as a term or a metaphor for what governs human communication seem plausible? I was not aware that giving a name to something requires "a lengthy and detailed argument."

 

** Anyone is free to give a name to something and use it as he or she likes.

However, establishing such a name -- in the sense of a technical term, which is you are proposing -- and demonstrating that it is more than an idiosyncrasy does require lengthy and detailed argument.

 

Thank you very much for your time and tremendous help.

 

** You are very welcome.

 

 Suzette Haden Elgin

 

 

[**이 Elgin의 답변임]