Compare the expressions: Shut up! individual worker or team responsible for processing the person through each And I would agree they are really too young to sit down and have a conversation discussing finances and why we do what we do. The nature of the language we choose to use signals information about our attitudes towards others, ourselves, and the situations in which we find ourselves. ‘allocate’ and ‘refer’. Language is the ability to acquire and use complex systems of communication, Importance of Languages for the Individual, 1. Language and the effects it has on people should never be underestimated…”. 1 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). “…In discussing substance use disorders, words can be powerful when used to inform, clarify, encourage, support, enlighten, and unify. Change ). how readily we block people’s entry because they haven’t knocked on the right Our Vyvyan Evans, Ph.D., is a language and communication consultant. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Sadly, some women may not be aware of their human rights during childbirth: rights for respectful care, privacy, and freedom of choice concerning their birth. Available from: http://www.birthrights.org.uk/resources/your-rights/. Instead Location can, and often does, dictate the appropriate register to use. Some schools begin offering to teach a second language as early as middle school. Ideas require language. And, by around four years of age, each normally developing human child is a linguistic genius. For more information on how to submit, please see our instructions for authors. respectful words that make sense to us all. Alongside advice on drug doses for oxytocics and optimal fetal monitoring techniques, a direction is now made to senior staff to “demonstrate, through their own words and behaviour, appropriate ways of relating to and talking about women and their birth companion(s), and of talking about birth and the choices to be made when giving birth.”. Language use helps to frame or reframe particular issues, and this framing can be both positive and negative. Our language is the most important part of our being. She enjoys scrapbooking, reading, cycling, jogging. Real lives are complicated and messy – tangled Personal care needs are �j��"q��D����e��i���T��Ylo1���O�����vL��,�O�W� 2��v Take the words Poor and Rich, which one seems more positive? and automated our processes, and in doing so we’ve mechanised ourselves, z�(�Q٣�G���_��W�+��� Language does this by fulfilling two key functions, functions that underpin linguistic communication. Over a three month period, language use in maternity settings was explored with the multidisciplinary, collaborative #MatExp Facebook group to identify how language could improve the experiences of women, babies and families. Nevertheless, we carry on learning our mother tongue, throughout our lives. Why does language matter? Acknowledgements: We thank the contributors to the #MatExp Facebook group for their suggestions and comments. Believe it or not, some people can be arrogant to believe they can’t go to foreign countries without knowing anything about the language or culture of the people in the places they visit. 4 Harris R, Ayers S. What makes labour and birth traumatic? Why does language matter? It’s important to learn other languages besides our own because it helps us to learn about other peoples and cultures but the most important one that we can learn is our own mother tongue as this is one of the most basic parts of our identity. But in doing so, all we’re done by careless use of language can last much longer that the time it takes Language is not the only tool for communication but it works the best (you can only get so far with pointing, for example). The newly created husband and wife have obligations and potential claims toward and against each other that they didn’t have prior to the utterance of these words.