Editorial
The statement by Noam Chomsky was originally sent to the Committee in charge of organizing the documentation on the proposal for Francisco Gomes de Matos to become Professor Emeritus of Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife. We have received his kind permission to publish the text in HLT.
Constructive Communication Through Contrasts: Infinitival Pairs for Educating Towards Communicative Peace
Francisco Gomes de Matos, Brazil
Francisco Gomes de Matos is an applied peace linguist from Recife, Brazil.
E-mail: fcgm@hotlink.com.br
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What is Constructive Communication Through Contrasts?
Noam Chomsky on the work of Francisco Gomes de Matos
In some of my writings I have been advocating the fundamental communicative right, namely, the right every human being should have TO LEARN TO COMMUNICATE PEACEFULLY FOR THE GOOD OF HUMANKIND. One of the techniques I have been sharing with participants in my Constructive Communication workshops in Brazil is C C C: contrastive, constructive communication. By this is meant the pairing of two infinitive verb forms ,the first one being the positively marked element, while the second one is the negatively focused element. Such pairing is aimed at challenging language users to reflect on, discuss and imagine contexts in which a constructive communicative act could be realized, and at the same, another act would be avoided. Additionally, each participant could answer these questions about each instance: What would that mean to me ? How could I do that, as a language user?
In using the list below, readers are asked to justify the constructive communication
highlighted in each pair and to create mini dialogues in which the communicative
contrast can be seen/heard in plausible conversational exchanges.
Note the partial rhyming at the end of the two infinitives. This is intended to enhance
processing ease and memorability. Here are two examples: construct rather than obstruct; motivate rather than dominate.
An open-ended listing :
- Appreciate rather than depreciate
- Attract rather than retract
- Include rather than exclude
- Respect rather than suspect
- Cooperate rather than manipulate
- Regard rather than discard
- Integrate rather than separate
- Conduct rather than induct
- Concede rather than impede
- Intend rather than contend
- Inspire rather than conspire
- Invite rather than incite
- Appeal rather than repeal
- Illuminate rather than indoctrinate
- Enthuse rather than confuse
- Commend rather than offend
- Propose rather than impose
- Dignify rather than mortify
- Conceive rather than deceive
- Humanize rather than minimize
- Produce rather than reduce
- Inspire rather than require
- Sustain rather than retain
- Concentrate rather than deviate
- Assist rather than resist
- Clarify rather than mystify
- Ameliorate rather than deteriorate
- Encourage rather than discourage
- Upgrade rather than degrade
- Congregate rather than alienate
- Partake rather than overtake
The words of a language are a treasury of thoughts, ideas, perceptions and interpretations of the world, and much more. But a language is far more than a
collection of words. It is a rich repository of cultural wealth, historical tradition, social bonds, and modes of individual self-realization.
Francisco Gomes de Matos has been the world leader in the campaign to recognize linguistic rights as a core part of the array of fundamental human rights, in
particular, with his Plea for a Universal Linguistic Rights Declaration. As he has eloquently shown in his work, linguistic rights must be protected and given every opportunity to flourish, for the sake of the individuals whose lives are inextricably intertwined with their native language, the societies of which they are apart, and humanity as a whole, for whom each language and all that goes with it elicits wonder and inspiration.
Noam Chomsky
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Expert Teacher course at Pilgrims website.
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