BASBAS, BEVERLY GARABILES
BS Accountancy

Journey to the World of Words

“Not to know is bad, not to wish to know is worse.”
We can relate the proverb above to the significance of knowing something. Something that is worthy to be learned and discovered. Something that takes a very important role in our daily intellectual intercourse. Something that you are actually using as part of your everyday lives but in the end of the day, we’re not even reminiscing all of those if they were used effectively or unconsciously hurt someone’s feelings. ---- “WORDS!”
Every word that comes from our mouth is part of our personal and social responsibility as a human. So, with this great accountability we must consider ourselves to be an instrument in studying the meaning of words that we are exploiting every second. Should I say, we must give importance to SEMANTICS which focuses on the relations between signifiers such as words, phrases, signs and symbols and what they stand for or their denotation.
The word semantics itself denotes a range of ideas, from the popular to the highly technical. It is often used in ordinary language to denote a problem of understanding that comes down to word selection or connotation. When I was in high school, I had a hard time in choosing the appropriate word for my sentence from a couple of somewhat synonymous words. For me, this is not just an ordinary problem because I am chosen as the editor-in-chief of our school paper and often selected to be the representative of our school during essay contests. So, being a writer, correct usage of words in my composition really matters. Then, when the time comes that our topic in our English subject was semantics, we learned that not all words that are synonymous can be used in the same situation. For instance, it is not enough for us to use words we just thought or we conclude for ourselves that we knew rather it is part of our duty to seek first for its real and exact meaning from a reliable source before uttering it to the public or writing it down in a certain document. Yes, we do have our freedom of speech written in our Bill of Rights but then we must be brave enough to face the consequences of our words. Remember, when it comes to human rights, we must also be aware to the rights of our fellow citizens. Also, to the power of words to harm people either frankly or unconsciously.
Using semantics is to produce logical connections between words, and when words are considered as representations, semantics is to produce logical connections between representations in order to produce its higher level. In this manner, semantics also offer/enable the possibility to move in the mental space, and the representations we are aware of, define our mental state of being. There was a time last semester when I’ve seen that our teacher is not feeling well, I said “Sir, magpahinga ka na po” seriously during one of our class then after a while all my classmates laugh. At first I’m puzzled but after a minute, I totally captured what my classmate’s interpretation of what I said. I realized that during that time our professor is an old man and their mental state of being defines “magpahinga” as somewhat “rest in peace”. I feel embarrassed because that’s not what I mean but then I’ve learned something that even in Filipino language, I’ve seen the significance of semantics. Also, I’ve discovered that my classmates have already reached the highest level in producing logical connections between words in their mind. Somewhat ridiculous but at the same it is a unique process of learning.
We are familiar of the expression “bwesit”. Our first impression whenever we heard that word is that we thought it was a bad word which everyone should refrain to utter. Last Sunday afternoon as we attended the anniversary of one of the Baptist Church in San Fabian, their Pastor clarifies the real meaning of the expression bwesit. It is a French word which means “nakakainis” in Filipino. At least, from that time I am able to correct my perception with that word.
So, as I continue my journey into the world of words my knowledge increases. All we have to do is be open-minded in every new things that we’ve learned and discovered. We are very thankful nowadays that through modern product of technologies we are able to explore and learn semantics in an easier and more convenient way.
When we learn new things, the dynamics of the sub-consciousness will inevitably change as new units have joint to the constructive mind of ours, and the more we sophisticate the matters we have already learned, increased them in complexity, we are able to exist in more complex mental co-ordinates, whether concerning fantastic states of being, the logical realism of natural sciences, and the list goes on. The more we sophisticate our semantics and the words we use, the more sophisticated our mental co-ordinates will be, and the more sophisticated logical connections we are able to make. And what mental space offers constantly is an exhausting amount of life for this minimalistic piece of art of nature, a human. It is our art as modern humans to consume the likable from this miraculous feast and live through, and manifest these sources of life.
Every wise individual admits that the greatest gifts he/she has received from the society are the words he/she has learned. This is the significance of every combinatorial evolving education system, and the gratitude of all the educated is for the teachers of these words. The significance of semantics is in that we may live beyond the innate nature. Through words and representations we won for example the Darwinian natural selection (the survival of the fittest), and are now able to rise into purposes of life that we ourselves are more freely to select as the variety for selection has increased. We are already beyond the debate between the determinism and indeterminism, and are now reaching mass self-determinism in the level of conscious information driven continuums of super organisms.