In chapter three of Interdisciplinarity, Moran discusses how “for example, it is regarded as common sense that language is always secondary: that it neutrally describes phenomena, and that as independent, autonomous individuals, we can use language as a way of expressing ourselves and our relationship to others and the world.” This idea of language as a means of expressing relationships and Moran’s discussion of Freud and the subconscious got me thinking: is our use of language as expression always a conscious decision?
In class we discussed the difference between “I” and “we.” People typically use “I” when they are comfortable with confronting a situation head on and “we” when they are willing for the rest of a group to do something. It is the willingness to take ownership of a situation. Last week while working on a group project, I realized that I use these words to express my intentions without even realizing it. While working on the group project, I found myself using “I” frequently when I wanted something done a certain way and by a certain time. I subconsciously reverted to “I” when I didn’t trust my group members to do something in a specific way I thought it should be done. Without even realizing it, I was shifting the focus of the group to myself. When I wasn’t as concerned with a particular aspect of the group, I used “we” frequently. As bad as it may sound, I used “we” because I wanted to group to tackle the problem, not me. I wasn’t purposely driving the focus away from myself and onto the group, but the words I chose expressed my subconscious intentions. In my mind I was fine with sharing the work equally, but then when I thought about my diction after our meeting, I realized that I was expressing a lot more than I thought. I found this interesting because we use language to express, but sometimes we aren’t really aware at what we are expressing to other people.