God
has blessed us with best means of communication through languages evolved by
man over centuries. Words empower us to effectively communicate with others in everyday
life situations.
Words are pulsating power brokers in creating wealth of ideas
in the minds of thinking beings.They give form and cohesion to thoughts which
are communicated through grammatically structured and semantically sound
sentences. Words weave magic in the experienced hands of a master craftsman:
the literary artist.
For instance poetry is interplay of melody in words. It is
not the meaning but apt choices of words which make us go over and over again
to stanzas which
are sheer music to the ears. Wordsworth’s DAFFODILS conjure up in the
mind’s eye the bliss of dancing daffodils in the breeze. What can surpass the
sleepy tenor of words when a mother puts her baby to sleep singing a lullaby
bringing Chanda Mama in the child's lap? Welcoming words from parents’,
siblings, and one’s spouse have the ability to calm many a ruffled feather. Such
is the charm and honeyed appeal of words.
It is the words which write beautiful stories for us. They
chronicle the events of past ages. They enable us to peek into the saga of
families .They glide us through romance and love. They express our grief and sorrows.
They inspire us. They guide us in life’s rough patches. They stand by us in all
situations and are our loyal friends.
However, words are like a double edged sword. They become an
arsenal in the hands of leaders who sway public opinion in their favour for
nefarious purposes. World History is replete with examples of the vicious use of
words to manipulate the sentiments of the people. Hitler’s propaganda machinery
is a case in point. His megalomania led to near destruction of the world and
changed the course of world history.
There are umpteen
instances also, where the oratorical skills of the well-meaning leaders turned
the tables on the unscrupulous elements and brought forth tremendous changes.
Battles are won or
lost depending on the oratorical dexterity of a General to revive the sagging confidence of his forces or of a
teacher to lift the students out of examination fever or of a parent to calm a
restive child or of a lover to reassure his beloved
I had forged an
amorous relationship with words a long time back when I was in college. The
first two books which I got issued from my college library were Pearl S.
Buck’s, “The Good Earth” and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s, “The Hound of The
Baskervilles” Both books introduced me to an entirely new but fascinating
world of fiction where ingenious use of word formations articulated a
mesmerizing world of gripping stories.
How the dexterous use of words brought to life Sherlock Holmes the legendary
fictional detective, with whose personality readers were smitten. His persona: enigmatic, mysteriously romantic,
wearing a long coat, smoking pipe and
his alter ego Dr.Watson held sway over my curious and impressionable mind for
long. It was the magical words which crafted those unputdownable mysteries. It
was during these years my interest for reading and learning new words developed
and became a lifelong passion
More recently the supernatural narrative of Harry Potter
books spiced with enchanting word power crazed the youngsters all over the globe.
Our grandson not yet thirteen told me that he had read some of them fifty times
over.
Words are powerful entities and extend their semantic boundaries regularly,
defining new concepts, and conferring nomenclature to changes which are taking
place in the universe all the time. Languages keep pace with the needs of the
expanding world by assimilating words from other languages and cultures or by
coining new words.
In his
book “Literature and Science” Aldous Huxley says that ‘words empower us not
only to communicate
scientific quantified regularities but also to weave oceans of human
experiences and emotions in a purified, highly sensitized and nuanced
language.’
Word games are proliferating in print media and being lapped by young and
old. All-time favorite ‘Scrabble’ has its loyal fan base. Testing the
vocabulary and comprehension of the students are an integral part of school curriculum, language proficiency tests and competitive examinations.
The contribution of the popular ‘Reader’s Digest’ with its attractive page,
“Word Power” has readers (including myself) addicted to the page and the
first thing which they check out is this interestingly conceived page.
Words will always remain inadequate to express the infinite world in which
we dwell. Language says Saussure (father of modern Linguistics) is a living
organism and flexibility in its connotative sphere is inbuilt. Words denote
particularities but connote concepts as they combine two aspects of the
language phenomenon i.e. concept vs. acoustic image.
For a writer an enriched vocabulary opens up possibilities of penning down
deeply felt experiences evocatively.
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Images: courtesy Internet
Your comments are awaited eagerly.
