Constructive Communication Through Contrasts: Infinitival Pairs for  Educating Towards Communicative Peace

Francisco Gomes de Matos

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.

What is Constructive Communication Through Contrasts?

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 :

1  Appreciate   rather than   depreciate

2  Attract   rather than retract

3  Include  rather than exclude

4  Respect  rather  than  suspect

5  Cooperate rather than manipulate

6  Regard rather than discard

7  Integrate  rather than  separate

8  Conduct  rather than induct

9  Concede rather than impede

10  Intend  rather than contend

11  Inspire  rather  than conspire

12 Invite rather  than incite

13 Appeal rather than repeal

14 Illuminate rather than indoctrinate

15  Enthuse  rather than  confuse

16 Commend rather than  offend

17  Propose rather than impose

18 Dignify  rather than mortify

19 Conceive  rather than  deceive

20 Humanize  rather than minimize

21 Produce   rather than reduce

22 Inspire rather than require

23 Sustain  rather  than retain

24 Concentrate rather than deviate

25 Assist  rather than resist

 26 Clarify  rather than mystify

27  Ameliorate rather than deteriorate

28 Encourage  rather  than  discourage

29 Upgrade rather than degrade

30 Congregate   rather than alienate

31 Partake rather than overtake

Noam Chomsky on the work of Francisco Gomes de Matos.

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

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.

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