Peter you make my heart sing!!! The Nicaraguan sign language story and its wonderful justification for/indebtedness to 'play time' is now another arrow in my quiver of arguments for 20% of curriculum time in all schools to immediately be given to students to pursue their own questions, purposes, interests, concerns, passions - to push back and lever open play space for children. I would love to hear your explanation for the almost species-suicidal contraction of 'play space/time' in our schools? Thanks for your vision and insights! Derry.
Your thesis on the evolution of language through play and its impact on societal development is both fascinating and as all your work, insightful.
Drawing parallels between early human protolanguages and the natural, playful communication observed in children offers a compelling argument for the importance of play in cognitive and linguistic development.
Your mention of the Nicaraguan school for deaf children highlights an essential aspect of my experience mentoring partially deaf British students in learning Spanish as a foreign language: the critical role of interactive, playful, and engaging methods.
Just as free play was pivotal in the development of Nicaraguan Sign Language, incorporating play into language learning for deaf students can significantly enhance their ability to acquire and use language creatively and effectively. This approach not only aids in linguistic development but also in social integration and general emotional wellbeing.
Your thesis is fascinating and reinforces the importance of nurturing an environment where play and interaction are central to learning, emphasising that this is not just beneficial but essential for all children's development, regardless of their hearing abilities.
Wonderful ponderings Peter,,,the notion that children in play invented language seems right on to me too. I remember as kids, we were constantly coming up with new words to describe things or concepts that needed spicing up or a better, brighter way of saying it, and then passing those words around till our whole playgroup shared in that secret new language. Our family of 4 kids incorporated many of my baby brother's words, and to this day those words are in my family's vocabulary. A young kid Fred and I were very close to during our years of living at New Hamburger, invented 3 languages over a few years. It was all in play, and wonderfully complex and creative. Fred and I still use a number of those words and phrases in our daily talk, simply because nothing else says it quite in that perfect, and delightful way. And of course, being a couple of life-long playful beings, Fred and I are constantly making up new words for just about everything,,,maybe many couples do, I don't know. But it keeps life silly and fun and full of joy.
Thank you Peter, I love those stories you shared! As a school based SLP, I have been saying for years that kids need more play to help develop their language. Play is so important for children to develop their shared imagination, which is a building block for conversation skills later in life!
I’m currently teaching a course about multimodal literacies and play to a group of early childhood educators. Anecdotally, they are already able to confirm your hypothesis based on their observations of social play. It is clear that children are CREATING language from the available resources of their culture. the ever-evolving slang terms of the youth of the times is surely evidence that this occurs.
Also, the young children grown up in orphanages in Russia/ Eastern Europe would make up their own languages with each other as they were often left alone in their cribs w/ only each other to "talk" with. And I would add, it's not just play, but the human drive to communicate is powerful which fuels kids to come up with some way to socialize.
Interesting. Not sure I agree on what "play" is. As a teacher I found the key was fun or enjoyable. Helping students have fun learning to be productive. I enjoy renovating houses, this is fun for me even when sometimes hard work. Is this play?
I believe that families while not creating their own language do develop or perhaps can develop their own argot, drawing upon shared experiences, books, music, films, theatre, etc. Ours is a mix of these plus a smattering of French, Russian, Gaelic/Irish and Latin. Though it’s faded a good bit since our daughter grew up and moved out.
I do believe in the literal life of Adam (as). The first true human was gifted this capacity for language. It is therefore something all of humanity has in common. Not only that, but the creative element of human language is what makes humans superior to the angels, in our ability to solve and investigate.
But this article also reminds me of the phrase "the right of the people to alter or abolish", because the game of life often needs fresh rules, as the game gets stale or some underlying unfairness has been discovered. I also wonder, having followed the story of Boeing lately, will we ever solve the two biggest problems of capitalism, that is (1) the pursuit of profit above all else and (2) the exclusive decision making power of owners. It all goes back to freedom, to suffer a company that demands corners be cut and justified regulations be ignored... this can't be the reason people study engineering.
Of all the things the adult world does pass on to children, I worry that we suffer too much indignity and as a result we either stamp out creativity early or later, but for sure, we try to stamp it out.
Thank you for this piece, Peter - I really enjoyed reading it!
It reminded me of the ways my generation played with language in our teen years, particularly with the rise of SMS texting in the early noughties. We invented a whole host of abbreviations and found ways to use punctuation and numbers to draw pictures. Some of these innovations entered common usage such as “lol” and the smiley face :), and so it is easy to forget now that they at first needed to be explained to older generations!
I then began to wonder if some of the world’s writing systems such as hieroglyphics, cuneiform, or Ogham script might have been first invented by children in play, too?
Especially considering that the invention of secret alphabets and code-breaking seem to be activities loved by children universally.
Lovely play of arguments - thanks, great start to drizzly London day! Is there a difference between conscious and unconscious invention, do you think? I mean between setting out to invent a code say to send a secret message and inventing language as part of playing without deliberately planning it? best wishes George
Peter you make my heart sing!!! The Nicaraguan sign language story and its wonderful justification for/indebtedness to 'play time' is now another arrow in my quiver of arguments for 20% of curriculum time in all schools to immediately be given to students to pursue their own questions, purposes, interests, concerns, passions - to push back and lever open play space for children. I would love to hear your explanation for the almost species-suicidal contraction of 'play space/time' in our schools? Thanks for your vision and insights! Derry.
Your thesis on the evolution of language through play and its impact on societal development is both fascinating and as all your work, insightful.
Drawing parallels between early human protolanguages and the natural, playful communication observed in children offers a compelling argument for the importance of play in cognitive and linguistic development.
Your mention of the Nicaraguan school for deaf children highlights an essential aspect of my experience mentoring partially deaf British students in learning Spanish as a foreign language: the critical role of interactive, playful, and engaging methods.
Just as free play was pivotal in the development of Nicaraguan Sign Language, incorporating play into language learning for deaf students can significantly enhance their ability to acquire and use language creatively and effectively. This approach not only aids in linguistic development but also in social integration and general emotional wellbeing.
Your thesis is fascinating and reinforces the importance of nurturing an environment where play and interaction are central to learning, emphasising that this is not just beneficial but essential for all children's development, regardless of their hearing abilities.
Inspiring! Thank you.
Wonderful ponderings Peter,,,the notion that children in play invented language seems right on to me too. I remember as kids, we were constantly coming up with new words to describe things or concepts that needed spicing up or a better, brighter way of saying it, and then passing those words around till our whole playgroup shared in that secret new language. Our family of 4 kids incorporated many of my baby brother's words, and to this day those words are in my family's vocabulary. A young kid Fred and I were very close to during our years of living at New Hamburger, invented 3 languages over a few years. It was all in play, and wonderfully complex and creative. Fred and I still use a number of those words and phrases in our daily talk, simply because nothing else says it quite in that perfect, and delightful way. And of course, being a couple of life-long playful beings, Fred and I are constantly making up new words for just about everything,,,maybe many couples do, I don't know. But it keeps life silly and fun and full of joy.
Thank you Peter, I love those stories you shared! As a school based SLP, I have been saying for years that kids need more play to help develop their language. Play is so important for children to develop their shared imagination, which is a building block for conversation skills later in life!
I’m currently teaching a course about multimodal literacies and play to a group of early childhood educators. Anecdotally, they are already able to confirm your hypothesis based on their observations of social play. It is clear that children are CREATING language from the available resources of their culture. the ever-evolving slang terms of the youth of the times is surely evidence that this occurs.
Also, the young children grown up in orphanages in Russia/ Eastern Europe would make up their own languages with each other as they were often left alone in their cribs w/ only each other to "talk" with. And I would add, it's not just play, but the human drive to communicate is powerful which fuels kids to come up with some way to socialize.
Interesting. Not sure I agree on what "play" is. As a teacher I found the key was fun or enjoyable. Helping students have fun learning to be productive. I enjoy renovating houses, this is fun for me even when sometimes hard work. Is this play?
I believe that families while not creating their own language do develop or perhaps can develop their own argot, drawing upon shared experiences, books, music, films, theatre, etc. Ours is a mix of these plus a smattering of French, Russian, Gaelic/Irish and Latin. Though it’s faded a good bit since our daughter grew up and moved out.
I do believe in the literal life of Adam (as). The first true human was gifted this capacity for language. It is therefore something all of humanity has in common. Not only that, but the creative element of human language is what makes humans superior to the angels, in our ability to solve and investigate.
But this article also reminds me of the phrase "the right of the people to alter or abolish", because the game of life often needs fresh rules, as the game gets stale or some underlying unfairness has been discovered. I also wonder, having followed the story of Boeing lately, will we ever solve the two biggest problems of capitalism, that is (1) the pursuit of profit above all else and (2) the exclusive decision making power of owners. It all goes back to freedom, to suffer a company that demands corners be cut and justified regulations be ignored... this can't be the reason people study engineering.
Of all the things the adult world does pass on to children, I worry that we suffer too much indignity and as a result we either stamp out creativity early or later, but for sure, we try to stamp it out.
Thank you; I'm looking forward to your book!
Thank you for this piece, Peter - I really enjoyed reading it!
It reminded me of the ways my generation played with language in our teen years, particularly with the rise of SMS texting in the early noughties. We invented a whole host of abbreviations and found ways to use punctuation and numbers to draw pictures. Some of these innovations entered common usage such as “lol” and the smiley face :), and so it is easy to forget now that they at first needed to be explained to older generations!
I then began to wonder if some of the world’s writing systems such as hieroglyphics, cuneiform, or Ogham script might have been first invented by children in play, too?
Especially considering that the invention of secret alphabets and code-breaking seem to be activities loved by children universally.
Lovely play of arguments - thanks, great start to drizzly London day! Is there a difference between conscious and unconscious invention, do you think? I mean between setting out to invent a code say to send a secret message and inventing language as part of playing without deliberately planning it? best wishes George
What a brilliant edition!