Knowledge Question: Does language play roles of equal importance in Different AOKs?

Group Members:

- Anye Nathan Awasum

- Haman Mana Mia
- Ndjinang Zanga Killian
- Jonathan Ernest
- Audrey Lisa

Word count: 790

Language is basically a means of communication, a method of transmitting knowledge from one person to
another. It is a very essential to the different Areas of Knowledge (AOK), i.e., mathematics, natural
sciences, History and Art. But, the importance of language to these areas of knowing depend on its
contribution towards the understanding, practice and development of the AOK. From this, we can say that
language is important to the different AOKs to different degrees; while it is rather essential for History
and the sciences, it would not be as essential for mathematics and the Arts

Language is the very essence of History. Without language, we cannot have History as we would not be
able to tell the events or even write them down. For example, before historians agree on the different
causes, the course and effects of a historical event, they must communicate amongst themselves to make
sure they are giving the right information to the public. This communication obviously cannot take place
without language. Next, when all the information has been assembled in the correct order, the only way it
can be divulged to the public is by using language. From this, it can easily be seen that language is quite
indispensable when it concerns History as an AOK. It is basically the building blocks of History.

Language, though, tends to be heavily influenced by emotion and perception. So, it is very possible that
some historical accounts are very biased or exaggerated as they are in fact written by men. For example,
the story written by the winners of a war will be a very different story compared to that of the people who
lost the war. This is because the perception of the war was different for both camps. Also, sometimes,
language tends to be rather ambiguous which hinders the understanding of the actual events that took
place. All of these create a problem because, as discussed above, language is the very essence of History.
Thus, if the language used is exaggerated, biased or untrue, it reduces the validity of the historical
account. To sum up, language is very essential to History but, the flaws of language as a way of knowing
affect the validity of the historical account.

Mathematics is the AOK in which language has the least importance. There are some things in maths that
just cannot be properly expressed using language – like the concept of infinity. Or how a regular number
divided by an unimaginably small number results in an unimaginably big number. All of these are very
abstract concepts; concepts so abstract words just are not enough to express them. Due to this limitation,
most mathematical knowledge is gained through reason.

Even though language cannot express some mathematical concepts and values, it is somewhat essential to
the teaching of mathematics, even though its use is minimal. But generally, language is not of great
importance to Mathematics as an AOK

In the arts, language can be useful but, it is not necessary for the most part. When someone makes art,
they try to make that art provoke different emotions or feelings from different people. This could be
accomplished using the many different forms of art, like paintings, sculptures, music and literature. The
only form of art that requires language in that list is literature as it is a written form of art. The rest do not
need language. For example, paintings and sculptures could tell a story just by a visual representation of
said story. They do not need words to tell this story, neither do they use words to convey an emotion.
Music could need language for lyrics to exist but, not all songs have lyrics. Classical, Avant-garde and
electronic music generally do not have any lyrics, but they still do a good job at conveying emotion.

In the sciences, language is important in communicating the results of research and experiments to the
public. Since theories in science need to be proven for them to be accepted, language is very essential to
document these theories and their proofs. On top of that, language becomes more important with
increasing magnitude of complexity of the science being studied. The more complex the science becomes,
the more specific the terms used to describe the concepts become. Sometimes, new words will have to be
created to ease the understanding of the sciences.

Language, though very important to science, has its limitations. Language, especially in science, can be
vague and ambiguous at times which can hinder the communication process and make things harder to
understand.

In conclusion, as you can see, language, though important to all Areas of Knowing, is more important to
some like science and history than it is to others like arts and mathematics.