Thinking Out Loud, Volume DXIX

While browsing through a book fair more than twenty years ago, I stumbled across a novel I had never heard of, but for some reason, it grabbed my attention, so I bought it. It just so happened that it was the first of a series about pre-historic people written by Jean Auel, called "The Clan of the Cave Bear." As I began to talk about it to friends, I was amazed at just how many of them had read it. Among many of the tribes or "clans" depicted in this book, there were no spoken languages, but there was a universal sign language used by the people as their way of communicating. Many years later, there were numerous tribes of people living in what is now known as America, who had spoken languages, but the language of each tribe was different. Therefore, when it became necessary for different tribes to communicate with each other, they once again utilized that universal sign language. Over time, as The United States came into being, English became the national language, and many people also became fluent in multiple tongues, so that sign language I was speaking of was no longer taught. Today there is a small percentage of the population who is able to communicate with signs, and they are primarily either the hearing impaired or those trained to communicate with them, when just a few centuries before, everyone knew how to speak by signing. Over the millenniums, as spoken languages began to be perfected, systems began to be developed to put the spoken languages on paper, resulting in even fewer people needing to use sign language. Technology then began to explode, resulting in telephones, radio, and television, all of which utilized the spoken language. Then came email and text. How could any of us have foreseen the magnitude of which those two forms of dialogue would revolutionize the ways we communicate? So our point to ponder today is this, "Is written language beginning to replace the spoken word?" I honestly can't imagine our spoken language completely dying, but I CAN visualize individuals losing the art of verbal conversation. May that prediction never come true! Those of you who know me well are aware of the fact that I'm a regular patron of the Corner Coffee House, where I meet my "coffee buddies" to just sit and talk while sipping on our favorite types of coffee. It's a place where friendships are born that will hopefully last through eternity. We laugh together, we cry together, we discuss life, we dream together, we can name each others' spouses and kids, and we owe it all to the art of verbal conversation. I saw a cartoon a few days ago showing an invitation to a party that said, "You are invited to come to my place this Saturday night so we can all sit and stare at our phones together." I grew up without ever viewing conversation as an art, because I thought it just came naturally, but I've come to realize that it requires a skill that has to be practiced and fine tuned on a regular basis. I feel quite sure I won't live long enough to see it die, and though I pray for long, healthy lives for my grandchildren, it is also my prayer they never witness the death of spoken conversation. I prefer hearing your voice over just reading what you type. Preston NOTE: I actually wrote this article on April 27, 2016. Since then, on May 10, I saw a news story saying that school systems are reporting that elementary school children are lacking in conversational skills as compared to previous generations.