The Malevolence of Words
2023
“According to Marr’s system, monosyllabic or ‘synthetic’ languages correspond to primitive economic formations or primitive communism; ‘inflected’ languages are found in class or caste societies, with the ‘agglutinative’ languages marking an intermediate phase, the beginning of the social division of labor.” (Irigaray, 2002:109) It can be seen that writing has an inseparable relationship with the social order constructed by humans. The rulers of various languages wield language itself as a weapon of power, gradually infiltrating people's daily lives in a non-violent manner. This influence extends to shaping behaviours and modes of speech until we are completely subject to the power behind language. As Guha(1998) articulates that the first language in which the dominated learn to speak of power is that always from the dominant. Throughout Chinese history, rulers seeking to unify the nation often collected books nationwide, standardised written language, and proclaimed new eras or enthroned new emperors. Emperor Qin Shi Huang's adage "同书文，车同轨 (uniform script, uniform carriage),". Those in power consider the standardisation of words and the establishment of normative academic ideologies as crucial tasks. Not only in China, rulers, often resorting to violence, have not only occupied the territories of other ethnic groups but also imposed their language and writing systems. With violence, they would dismantle the local linguistic framework and introduce their own language and script. For examples, Scottish Clearances by England. When England occupied Scotland, it eradicated the Gaelic-speaking locals and promoted English in Scotland, to the extent that young people in Scotland began to perceive Gaelic as a "backward" and "useless" language, actively abandoning their traditional language. The promoters of Gaelic realisation recognise and sincerely ask, "Use Gaelic or Lose it?”(Appendix: Figure 1) Hence，language is a superstructure, and is produced by a class or a nation. One class can then impose its language on another, and a language can disappear when its corresponding class disappears. (Irigaray, 2002 )
Figure1: Xiaoyu Xiong, Use Gaelic or lose it. 2023, Print work.
On the contrary, some people believe that language is the bridge for human communication. English art critic Berger (1926) believes that the abyss between two individuals is bridged through language, and language allows people to treat each other as they would treat themselves. Animals and humans lack a common language; their silence, distance, distinction, and rejection make them susceptible to being killed and tamed (The Seasons in Quincy, film, 2016). However, with this anthropocentric perspective, placing human language above all else, how can one truly feel the emotions of animals. And do language of humans and words indeed possess the ability to eliminate strife and establish connections?
Artist Xu Bing conducted an experiment related to this. In his work “Telephone, (1996-2006)” , he invited translators of different languages to translate a Chinese text into English, then from English to French, French to German, and so forth. The process involved professional scholars at each step to minimise errors. However, as the communication continued, the intended meaning of the original text deviated significantly. This experiment illustrates that, in the continuous process of translation, even with precise and professional translators, misinterpretation is inevitable. Therefore, the conclusion that language can inevitably eliminate strife and establish connections is evidently not valid. On the contrary, language or words, in the process of repeated communication and transformation, tends to convert visible group struggles and armed conflicts into invisible power mechanisms deeply rooted in everyday life. These mechanisms reproduce a powerful oppression on each individual body (Foucault,1989). Words, or symbols generated by current cognitive thinking and power structures, could be one of the major obstacles hindering the construction of a lively, perceptual, and emotional living scenario.
Specifically, within the social power mechanisms, when the authority of rulers is threatened and they are compelled to establish relations with other countries, they often manipulate language. This manipulation involves incorporating the language of another country into their own language system to symbolise sincerity in establishing diplomatic relations. While the rulers may package such diplomatic gestures as symbols of friendship and peace, the underlying essence remains the consolidation of the ruling class's power and interests. Words become a weapon pointed at the ruled, providing them with the "opportunity" to compete in acquiring new language skills for survival capital or even upward social mobility. Moreover, China has historically had vast territories, and each region has its own language. However, people still consider themselves part of Chinese culture. A crucial factor is that various regions use a common writing system, which consists of logographic characters rather than alphabetical letters. Despite not understanding the spoken language of different regions, most Han Chinese people perceive their languages as dialects rather than independent languages (Abram, 1996). An exception is Cantonese, which seems to exist as a distinct language. People in Guangdong and Hong Kong have even created a new phonetic writing system based on their language pronunciation, which is unintelligible to people from other provinces. Cantonese is so distinct that it has its own English term, "Cantonese," rather than being classified under "Mandarin." The transformation of surface words is inherently dynamic, conflicting, and reflects changes in power relations. It illustrates shifts in the social status of Cantonese speakers. Similar to the phonetic writing systems in Korea and Japan, which evolved from Chinese characters but have gradually distanced themselves from Chinese culture, Cantonese has formed an independent cultural identity. As the sentiment for Scottish independence grows, Gaelic is also experiencing a revival in present.
Therefore, language and words bear the desires and power of humanity. We use them to convey information, store knowledge, construct discourse, claim resources, and control thoughts. As Lingis (1994) suggests, words shapes social structures and reflects them, the social meanings produced by words strategies in “Conceived Space”. In turn, construct new hierarchical structures and configurations, gradually enveloping humanity in the textual space constructed by words. (Lingis, 1994) In Ancient Chinese, there is a legend about word creation. It is said that in antiquity when the sage Cang Jie invented writing, “all the ghosts wailed in the night.” Later commentators have speculated on the reason for the ghosts’ cries. Some people attribute the ghosts' pain to their loss of control over the secrets of the universe; others believe that Cangjie's invention will contribute to countless lies and pain (Wu, 1994). Based on people's reflections on the myth of creating characters, it is not difficult to see that ancient people had already realised that while writing gives humans the powerful ability to connect with the universe, it also creates a world full of distrust, causing humans to distance themselves from each other. This aligns with the biblical Tower of Babel myth – writing causes human division. However, as humans greatly possessed and enjoyed the Earth's resources, attributing the invention of writing to this accomplishment, they gradually forgot to be vigilant about words and discourse. They were entangled in the abyss of repeated pain by the "symbols" that had long lost any connection with nature, until they became "increasingly exhausted, and increasingly perplexed" by their own words.
Contemporary artists strive to abandon the legibility of text in their creations, and disassociation of the graphics of writing from the linguistic sign. Emphasising the showcasing of the formative impact of weapons in the shape of written words on the human body and mind. In Xu Bing's work A Case Study of Transference, (1994) elements such as the contrast between books and pigs, the collision of fake Latin symbols and fake square characters, the enthusiastic sexual behaviour of pigs, and the awkwardness of the audience are intricately woven together. Civilisation, language, knowledge, power, primitiveness, violence, and desire are unexpectedly and reasonably blended into one space. It serves as a reflection of human society. Simultaneously, it also proves the vast difference between the cultural construction of human discourse and nature. In contrast to Xu Bing's rational approach to art creation, another group of artists from the same era similarly separates the visual form of words from their informational content. If Xu Bing's words is a deconstruction of power structures and a silent resistance to existing social norms, then the abstract calligraphy works of Japanese calligrapher Nankoku Hidai and Gakyu Osawa are unconscious improvisations. They believe that even if you were to try to consciously draw/write a line, the line you write will not be the same as the one you intended. It comes out by itself when I am not conscious of it.(Holmberg, 2008) Coincidentally, in Europe half a century ago, the artist Henri Michaux（1899-1984) also attempted to record the current emotions as quickly as possible through unconscious writing. The work Alphabet, (1927) is an artist's recording of the unconscious state using "his own language" (René Bertelé). Interestingly, the initial lines of the work are very small and abstract geometric lines; as time progresses, the text becomes larger and more concrete, even evoking specific things highly connected to nature such as trees, fire, people, leaves, eyes, and so on. With the deepening of the artist's unconscious state, I can gradually read Michaux's thoughts and emotions at that time. Not only Michaux, but in an unconscious state, people seem to be able to write more direct, communicative, and figurative text, establishing an emotional connection with the reader through a kind of "superpower" understanding. For example, Nankoku Hidai's work 64-6, (no year) like a Turtle. Therefore, can we say that while text originates from nature, the symbolised text systems that exist today are tools created by power structures? Their main purpose is to construct discourse, categorise people, and enter different systems to maintain the operation of society, causing humanity to forget that emotional expression in an unconscious state is the core of communication between people, and between humans and nature.
In order to substantiate this hypothesis, a small-scale experiment was conducted. Primarily, it was assumed that translation software, devised by humans based on language systems, could reflect and represent the cognitive processes prevalent in human society. Subsequently, artworks from three artists were selected for the experiment: Xu Bing's Square Characters (a rational recombination of Chinese characters), Henri's Alphabet (emotion recording under unconsciousness), and my own created words (constructing rational characters based on emotional data). These were utilised as the experimental subjects. Finally, the translation software's photo translation function was employed to automatically recognise and translate these three experimental objects, and the resultant translations were documented. The following conclusions were derived:
1. Xu Bing's square characters were unequivocally identified as readable Chinese characters but could not be amalgamated into a coherent sentence. 2. Henri's "Alphabet" was recognised as a medley of readable characters from various regions, such as Chinese, English, Urdu, Hindi, Japanese, etc., and could not formulate complete semantics. 3. My new characters could not be recognised as any known language.
From these observations, it can be inferred that the translation software strives to identify text images resembling the known and limited text systems prevalent in society. This is instead of seeking to comprehend the emotions, spirits, and thoughts expressed within the text. Although Xu Bing and Henri's works constitute self-created characters, they adhere to the writing conventions of existing text systems, manifesting in rows of text and consequently being recognised as such by the software. Conversely, my characters eschew the compositional methods of any existing language and also discard conventional text layout, rendering them unrecognisable by the translation software. In summary, it is posited that the translation software endeavours to standardise and symbolise the fluctuating thoughts and rebellious expressions of human inner emotions into a form that aligns with expectations and avoids disrupting class stability. This facilitates seamless integration into the societal operational framework. Thus, the hypothesis is substantiated.
Figure 2: A Translation Experiment, Print work, Xiaoyu Xiong, 2023.
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