Humans are inherently self-centered creatures. We seek to ensure our own survival, naturally accepting we deserve priority on this earth. However, we never give ourselves the chance to review this privilege. We are quick to assume that because we are human, we deserve more than other living and non-living things on this planet. This viewpoint is full of limitations that only seek to reassure our own self-worth. Humans are fragile creatures. By ignoring the many other non-human things that make up this world, we conceal our insecurities about how insignificant our individual footprint really is.
A key component of this superiority complex is centred on different forms of communication. Linguistics studies the structure of language; a term that is reserved for our species only. Linguistics upholds a false perspective of how the world operates in the way it privileges human communication. We privilege human communication as the only way to describe our experiences in the world. It is seen as the only way to communicate ideas, information and emotions. Our construction of knowledge and language arises from linguistics; an aspect of human structuring that has been ingrained into how we view the world. It’s hard to believe how limiting our priority of human language is, due to the fact we rarely consider what lies beyond our own dialogue. The language of humans is only one form of communication within this vast world. It is a mere speck in comparison to the many aspects of communication that exist within this entire planet. We rarely give ourselves the chance to appreciate this fact. It is easy to position nonhuman communication in relation to us, asking ourselves, how does this non-human communication serve me? However, if we reposition ourselves to see our language in relation to everything else, we realise how dependable we really are on all forms of communication rather than our own.
Removing ourselves from the centre of the world allows us to step back and form a more objectionable view of how non-human things matter in relation to humans. Although this is a really brief starting point into this vast concept, I want to explore this further and look at examples of communication that exist in nonhuman worlds. I hope to do this in posts to come.
