|
It's an interesting discussion about deciphering the written language and writers modifying language to meet their audience.
My daughter and I share a lot of books, with one big exception -- she won't read science fiction books. This frustrates me no end, because I adore SF and she really enjoys SF television and movies, but won't read the books. So when we started talking about it, she explained that she can't understand the story when the start using made-up words. I said, "well, yes, but 'phaser' is a made-up word and you understand that." And she explained that she understands it because when the word was first encountered, she could see the actor pull a gun-like object from his belt, aim it, and fire an energy beam. But had she encountered the word in text, she would not have been able to build the comprehension based on similar words or context.
My daughter has a language processing disability. She's gifted, has a degree in Mathematics, and teaches math in a local school. The disability originally caused lots of problems for her in school because the two language centers in her brain -- spoken language and written language -- do not have the normal cross connections. For example, she cannot write what she hears, so taking notes in a class is impossible. She's developed a number of coping mechanisms and the disability now doesn't cause many problems. But she's highly dependent upon a dictionary if she's going to be running into words she hasn't yet learned. And the SF author rarely includes a glossary in the back of the book!
|