The Nomadic Alternative – Page 29

that of man. A pre-linguistic man has never been, and despite

the enthusiasm of racist philosophers a diligent search has

failed to uncover a single language more ‘primitive’ than any

other. This foredooms to failure all talk of an inferior mentality,

ideology or culture. It denies the existence of the spectation of

races or of low-grade intelligence. Language imposes its unity

over all men. For men do not create languages. Languages live in

them.

The gift of tongues rests on a young exploring child. It demands

to know the name of its discoveries and the reason for their exist-

ence. (“What is it called? Why? Why? Why?”) The child devours

information, but its brain patterns this information into an ordered

logical sequence of associations. For grammar and the rules of

syntax live an independent existence in the human brain, unmodi-

fied by learning (that is, if the structural linguistics of Noam

Chomsky are correct). We merely clothe this inherited structure

with the raw material of our experience. By naming all the

objects we encounter, we take our bearings on the world and in doing

so, solve the problem of our identity – all at a very early age.

The nature of the human mind is such that its workings resemble

the art of navigation at sea. Let us suppose that a navigator is

heading his ship towards a landfall at night, unaware of his exact

position. On the horizon he sights the beam of a lighthouse and

takes a compass bearing on the source of the light. The lighthouse

flashes at a given speed, and, thanks to the work of others before

him, he can consult his chart and give it a name. From his compass

bearing he knows the exact direction of the light, and draws a

corresponding line on this chart. His position is somewhere along

it, but except by eye or experience, he cannot tell how far he

lies off the coast.

If, however, a second lighthouse flashes its beam elsewhere on

the horizon, he repeats the operation and draws a second line. The

point of bisection of these two lines fixes his position on the

chart. Now supposing only one lighthouse illumines this stretch of