Gaming:
I generally play FPS games ( First person Shooters) these games are generally very fast paced and in the competitive scene of these games, communication is generally what separate the good teams from the exceptional ones.
As the game is very fast, the communication is short and abbreviated in most cases. In games such as overwatch information about the position of the opponent players are essential thus players use ‘shotcalling’ to communicate this. Shot calling refers to short messages such as “Soldier top right”, “Ana high ground”. These short messages have so much power as the pro gamers memorise these calls and predict the mentality of the player and try to outsmart them. Furthermore, shot-calling is also used to convey the status of the opponents. A tactical grenade is used to anti-heal a player meaning they cannot be healed for a certain amount of time. This is referred to as purple. As the health bar over the player’s head is highlighted in purple. This cuts down 1 syllable, players generally tend to repeat their shot calls to increase the emphasis on them. It’s easier to say “tracer purple, Tracer purple, Tracer Purple” rather than “tracer anti-heal, tracer anti-heal, tracer anti-heal”. This can also be seen in other cases such as referring to ‘low health’ as ‘one’. For example “enemy widowmaker one”. These calls are literally the difference between life and death for the opponents, well at least in the game.
Badminton:
There are several technical terms used in badminton but they are pretty straightforward. Terms such as Crossline refer intersection of two lines at 90 degrees, cross netting refers to hitting the shuttle close to the net but to the opposite corner of your position, cross court refers to hitting it far and high to the opposite corner of your position. Pretty easy if you ask me, but this is not the interesting part of badminton. It is the paralanguage in badminton. Professional players have learnt to read the body language of their opponent. This is a huge advantage as you can predict the shot and think of how to counter the shot and get the point. Thus, steps are now taken by players to have a similar swing and follow through for different shots to keep the opponents guessing as to where the shots will end up.
It fascinates me how the player even though play sports end up having to think about paralanguage to help themselves win the game. It proves the importance of language and how it is everywhere.
Football:
In football there it is a combination of the positioning of the opponents as well as feints are known to play an integral part in the match. The word cross is different in meaning from the cross we use in everyday life. This particular “cross” refers to the ball be hit into the Box (the lines near the goal) from the edge of the field also known as the wing. Moreover, a few shots and passes are given slang terms such as swaz, sledgehammer, ping and chip. While these terms have the sole purpose of sounding cool and edgy as they carry covert prestige and also create a comedic effect. however, a few other terms are used to effectively describe the condition of the game. These terms are used often and are essential to understanding the flow of the game. Words such as clear, mark, counter, Fall back are used to instruct all the player on what to do.
Clear: Kick the ball away from your own goal to prevent the opponents from scoring
Mark: It refers to pressuring the opponent player by blocking his field of view and decreasing his movement by shoulder pushing, making it harder for him to get the ball.
Counter: refers to quickly switching from a defensive tactic to an offensive one to catch the opponent off guard.
Fallback: It is the opposite of counter. It refers to every player coming back to defend after attacking. Thus, “they are falling back”.
Talking to my cousin brother:
My cousin brother was born with a serious mental disorder. I am not sure about the name of the disorder but it was explained to me as “when we say a word such as apple or ball, he is not able to imagine it in his head”. This was because my aunt was in a minor accident when he was in the womb. Due to this fact, insults such as “Did you hit your head or something?’ and “Did you fall on the floor when you were younger?” are found very offensive and I honestly do not find them funny.
Currently, he is not able to speak but can understand all the basic instructions given to him, due to this communicating with him is rather interesting. For me to communicate with him is mainly through non-verbal actions as it is the most effective way I find to communicate with him. He perfectly understands every action such as nods, pointing, warnings (shaking your finger), Shaking your head, etc. but when it comes to verbal communication it becomes intriguing.
My aunt suggests us to talk to him more rather than actions as the more he hears the words the lesser time it takes for him to understand. Every year when I go back to India I test how much more he has learnt by talking to him normally and assessing his reaction. He never fails to surprise. I am advised to talk to him as I would to a friend, the same tone and body language as this would make him feel included. This small gesture makes his day and will keep him energetic and active throughout the day.
Cousin sister talking to my cousin brother:
My cousin brother has a younger sister which he has created a special “bond” with. As they have been living together with their whole life, they have become rather comfortable and familiar with each other. Because of this, she is able to communicate flawlessly with him, through speech. She is the only one who can give him commands through speech which he will follow. She talks to him how an older sibling would talk to a younger one, even though she is younger. She acts more mature and caring when talking to him.
Nonverbal Communication:
I am a very curious person and naturally I love to do experiments but often the subject of such experiments is myself. I had one day decided not to talk at all for 24 hrs.
In the beginning of the experiment, I thought it would show me the importance of verbal communication, but the results weren’t so straightforward. This experiment showed me the power of nonverbal communication. It showed me show a simple gesture such as pointing your thumb to your mouth conveys the sentence ‘I need water’, simply rubbing your stomach conveys that you are hungry and need food. All of these gestures are very important to express your thoughts, wants and needs very effectively to any person.
Furthermore, this experiment, oddly enough, also had an effect on the people surrounding me. They noticed the house was a lot quieter (as I run around and irritate everyone). My friends tried to provoke me, in the beginning, to make me talk. But this did not make me talk. Eventually, they gave up and also talked a lot lesser as they felt there was no need for communication and became awkwardly quiet. This particularly fascinated me as I realised how integral it is, it may sound dumb and obvious, to have 2 people at least to start a conversation. even though I was right there and I could react to him using gestures, he chose to converge and not talk. this also showed how human need sound to subconsciously confirm them that they are in a conversation and they need to talk as if the sound is a reminder to them.
Overall, thinking about how language is important in our daily lives, as I severely took it for granted, but after going over all of these topics and contemplating about them, I can clearly understand how my idiolect has risen from the ground up to be an original language “fingerprint” for me.
