good morning mydi, this is the [i]u{v}fo and so on

Het is maar net hoe je naar de dingen kijkt dat je ze ervaart. In written languages there were (at least) two possibilities. In the first case, all written language is, of course, a handmaiden to the spoken tongue; on the second place, it is altogether free of spoken-language restrictions ...

In either case, it resembles the spoken tongue in that it depends upon symbols which require common acceptance. The same is true of any non-linguistic system of communication. There must be common agreement upon a symbol before the latter can become meaningful, serve the purpo- ses of transfer, and be dignified, even figuratively, with the name of "language." We may assume that common acceptance of the symbol takes place through a process of individual innovation and piecemeal acceptance rather than through mass creation. The innovator is one who enjoys prestige and is therefore imitated. If the leader of a group decides upon the use of a certain symbol, oral or otherwise, with a given value, a few of his followers will imitate his usage, which later spreads from individual to individual until it becomes universal within the group. In a way thus we can say that we are in general a mass of strange birds more or less caught up in certain types of collective consciousness. If a human being "develops" alone, without human company, we don't learn to speak and/or understand human languages of gesture, mimics & other symbols ....

A human being usually/typically is a mammal with certain potentialities that only can be developed according to certain natural/cultural lines: we can communicate with those people (animals & plants) to which we are accustomed. We understand each other if we have at least a minimal set of capacities in common: race, tribe, nation, family, brothers, sisters, fathers/mothers, friends, 'aboriginals', 'autochtonen' & 'slang-gevoeligen' ...

Soms zijn we zo druk bezig met alle beslommeringen des levens, dat we weinig of geen ruimte hebben voor rust & creativiteit, 'peace & love' ...

Anyway, THE systems of our communication that have been devised by man's fertile brain since the inception of civilization are numerous, not to say innumerable. An interesting question that undoubtedly arrizes for some of us in connection with them is that of historical priority; namely, whether & to what extent the mutual acceptance that characterizes them is based on a previous understanding depending upon spoken language.

We worden zo dan dus ook lichamelijk, geestelijk & sociaal geboren met een bepaalde voorraad genetische/evolutionare kenmerken die we vaak voor de hele rest van ons leven tot de dood erop volgt met ons blijven meedragen: de kunst is 't om vorm & inhoud optimaal op elkaar af te blijven stellen gedurende ons bestaan. Ieder woord, elk gebaar, alle gelaatsuitdrukkingen & 'gewetensrimpelingen' i/d geestelijke vijver tellen mee
...