To grasp the parolsJanuary 15, 2016

Introduction

When I hope strongly "I want to put something into parols," I neither think "I want to put something in voices" nor think "I want to put something in letters. " The hope only means “I just want to put something into the very parols." According to such my sense, I think “parols” certainly exist somewhere separately from voices and letters, but it would be impossible to put the existence of “parols” itself into parols.

Could I grasp the parols itself separately from voices and letters ? What about utilizing formative arts to grasp the parols ? This theme has always induced me to make art works.

The theme of my works up to now has been to create a topos where parols are generated. The examples of specific work forms I utilized are three-dimensional formative works in which letters are inlaid, installations using sounds, visual poems by the graphic representations. I've also worked on the study of bookmaking, the method of designing and setting letters, and typography as the environments of parols. These art forms have different structures from the parols we utter in our daily lives.

There have been a variety of frameworks in poetry all over the world, such as restriction of the number of letters, meter and styles. These countless frameworks include everything, from prerequisite conditions for the formations as the poems, to routine concepts that started as mere techniques.

Though our own language grammar has a great influence on our thought and cognition, we have been able to use parols as media to express anything freely by giving frameworks to the languages. In other words, the only moment when we can control parols is that we are able to treat the parols as our "expressions", which has been our purpose of creating the methods of generating languages (frameworks).

And what is more, the parols that are generated by using the frameworks we have created on our own, paradoxically, may contain meanings and emotions that we can not produce only by our daily arbitrariness, which has been the object of our appreciation that also stimulates our senses for language.

The common theme in my productions up to now is an exploration and a creation of the method of generating parols, and I also tried to form a topos where parols are generated in master's degree work. Then I have thought that this master's degree work would be a language art because it has the same structure as the technique in a creation of the method of generating parols that has been the technique attempted in the past language arts.

Now, as the first step of the interpretation of my master's degree work, I am going to begin with the interpretation of my graduation work of faculty, having a close relationship to the master's degree work. In my graduation work of faculty, I created the topos where we stand face to face with each other in the use of parols, that is, the topos where parols are generated, by means of a formative art using an optical phenomenon in the motif of "conversation".

Graduation work of faculty
“Correspondances (Correspondences)”
(2014, Prism sheet, acrylic, cotton W900×D4000×H150)

Our mutual use of parols is named “conversation”.

A "conversation" is formed by the presence of a speaker “I” and a co-speaker “you”. In the case of Japanese, “I” am called “watashi (わたし)”, “ore (おれ)”, “boku (ぼく)” or others, and as well, “you” are called “omae (おまえ)”, “kimi (きみ)” or others. The moment the co-speaker has become the speaker, the referents of "I" and "you" interchange.

In every moment of our "conversation", the speaker “I” guess what the co-speaker “you” whom “I” am talking to are thinking, and at the same time, guess what “I” myself whom “you” are thinking about am. In the conversation, the consciousness of the subjects “you” and “I” intermingle and intertwine with each other. The topos where thought and emotion of different subjects make correlation is the very "conversation" I think, therefore I wrote the original text. The following is the entire text whose theme is intertwining of “you” and “I”.

I feel and know what you think.
You feel and know what I think.

What you think
that I,
whom you might feel and know, or might not,
feel and know
means
that I feel and know
that you feel and know
what I think,
and then,
what I think
that you,
whom I feel and know, or not,
feel and know
means
that you feel and know
that I feel and know
what you think.

You might feel and know, or might not,
that I feel and know
what you think.

I feel and know, or not,
that you feel and know
what I think.

What I think
that you,
whom I feel and know, or not,
feel and know
means
what you think
that I,
whom you might feel and know, or might not,
feel and know,
and then,
what you think
that I,
whom you might feel and know, or might not,
feel and know
means
what I think
that you,
whom I feel and know, or not,
feel and know.

What you think
that I feel and know
means
what I think
that you feel and know.

What I think
that you feel and know
means
what you think
that I feel and know.

What I think
that you,
whom I,
whom you feel and know,
think of,
feel and know
means
what you think
that I,
whom you,
whom I feel and know
think of,
feel and know,
and then,
what you think
that I,
whom you,
whom I feel and know
think of,
feel and know
means
what I think
that you,
whom I,
whom you feel and know,
think of,
feel and know.

What you think
that I,
whom you might feel and know, or might not,
feel and know
means
what I think
that you,
whom I,
whom you feel and know,
think of,
feel and know,
and then,
what I think
that you,
whom I feel and know, or not,
feel and know
means
what you think
that I,
whom you,
whom I feel and know
think of,
feel and know.

I made the acrylic plate of 5mm thick on which I depicted the letters of the above text. Then I placed them on undulations made of cotton and put them in the box, which is a rectangle of 90cm wide and 4m long. I covered the surface of the box with a prism sheet that I had made undulated like waves. A prism sheet is a material that causes the refraction of light by unevennesses of the surface". By the sheet, parols that make up the whole text warp, surface and overlap. By this gimmick, intertwining and overlapping of the subjects “I” and “you” arise. In addition, descriptions of the state of the subjects become more complex as they include the following question of whether “one” know and feel “the other”, or, whether do not.

I have placed this work in the room which natural light shine in from the window. Since the light impinging on the prism sheet turns by weather and time, the appearance of the letters and the reflected light change moment by moment. The meaning of text is transformed by the intervention of not only the interpretations of individuals in their appreciations but also external phenomena. We can not let the work which is an object for the “appreciating” subject be an object “being merely appreciated”. It exists, rather, as an object which has the subject under its influence. I tried to express the state of the subject and the object continuing to change in “conversation” by creating a topos where this phenomenon arises.

A French symbolist poet of 19th century Stéphane Mallarmé, in his poem “Un Coup de Dés Jamais N'Abolira Le Hasard (A Throw of the Dice will Never Abolish Chance)”, took up the generative process of parols itself as a poetic representation. The sequences of words described as constellations, while maintaining their grammatical order, have many links not only as linear aspects but also as planar aspects, and countless connections near and far with each other. The only way to comprehend the verse is not to read the poem page by page but to look over it at the state of the page spread. In my work “Correspondances (Correspondences)”, referring to the concept of "visual poetry" of Mallarmé, I tried to adopt not only the planar arrangement of the words but also the spatial arrangement of them, for my own expression, taking advantage of the materials and the phenomena. The reason I tried this is that it would be the suitable concept for me to deal with what the “conversation” by multiple subjects with multiple thought are, from the viewpoint that, in "visual poetry" of Mallarmé, not one thought or emotion develop as linear aspects but some thought develop at the same time.

In addition, Mallarmé had positively tried to take “contingency” in his poems. I have been deeply interested in and strongly influenced by his concept, having felt poetic sensitivity in parols not only based on human arbitrariness and having made my own representation for the purpose of creating the topos where such parols are generated.

Moreover, I named this work of mine “Correspondances (Correspondences)” on the basis of the same poem title of Charles Baudelaire who had a decisive influence on Mallarmé. This poem included in his collection of poems “Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil)” has expressed the empathy between nature and humans, the interaction of the human sensory organs such as visual and olfactory ones and the communion of reason and sensibility. They have been regarded as the very theory of symbolism that Mallarmé had adopted too. Even so, I eventually would regard correspondances as correlation of parols with each other, because I have directed my attention to that humans and nature, sense and sense, reason and sensibility, and all that are, in the first place, the concepts perceived and cognized by the language.

The following is what I thought after I had finished creating the work. The presence of the subject as the word "I" or "you" that appears in “conversation”. My own devotion and interest to each of them. I wonder if this psychology has a universality that can be shared with others.

Each subject call up one's own parols and respond to them to oneself. Next, correlation of parols between the subjects arises. And again, it raise inner correlation of each subject. The chains of reflections and influences of parols that occur among the “conversation” keep on complicating the situation.

As the “conversation” has a complicated structure, I feel as if the distinction of mutual parols were fading. In this midst, it begins to seem to me that I am a part of the phenomenon of conversation and a mere reflector in the space where parols are flying. At the same time, my eye seeing the opponent “you” of the conversation as an object suspend and I feel pleasure as if “you” and “I” coalesced.

All humans, not only me, have survival desires as physical and biological existence. In the same way, I wonder if we humans who are in the middle of “conversation” would be satisfying our own survival desires as consciousness by making the personal pronoun “I” be present in our speech actions. I have thought the use of "I" in speech actions has been due to our instinctive desires.

Our conversations, and the development of emotion and thought of individuals linked with the changes of progress and relationship of the conversations, are made up of “affect”. “Affect” is strict coherence and order we can not completely analyze. Also from the viewpoint that we humans are made up of body organs, we can regard ourselves as the very ones of the orders, and parols we use also have a mechanism.

Moreover and basically, I wonder if we humans can be subjects of our own parols. It is necessary for birth of parols that each of us is influenced by all of reality, which is an object for each subject, except each of ourselves. I would regard that each subject is not an owner of parols but a mere device that makes up cosmos in a topos of "conversation". When devices with the potential for producing parols, that is, humans have multiple relationships with each other, parols guide parols while changing their relationships, and the change also makes mutual guidance of new parols. This is what “Correspondances (Correspondences)” I think are.

In my graduation work of faculty “Correspondances (Correspondences)”, I came to have thought that the great interest to "I" or "you" as the concepts of parols is instinct based on survival desire as consciousness. Whereas, I came to have thought that the subject is a mere reflector of parols in the phenomenon where parols are flying, that is, “conversation”. Within the concepts of "I" and "you", while trying to make ourselves survive, we tend to seek for pleasure of letting ourselves disappear into the reflection of the parols. On the one hand, we speak, but on the other hand, we wish to disappear as voiced parols themselves. We humans in the phenomenon of "conversation" are probably doing such action unconsciously.

In my master's degree work, I created again the mechanism in which parols are generated, and furthermore, thought about "voice" which is one of the factors of parols.

Master's degree work
“BABEL”
(2016, Installation art with projection)

Behold, they are one people, and they have one language,
and this is what they began to do,
and now nothing will be withholden from them, which they purpose to do.
Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language,
so that they may not understand one another’s speech.

(“Old Testament” Genesis 11)

We humans tear apart ourselves by our own voices.

By voices themselves, We will be those who has uttered the parols, and at the same time, those who has heard parols. Struggles that arise within us being torn apart by voices. I wonder if the parols I uttered was really suitable. I wonder if humans can appreciate each other by parols.

Uncertainty of each sound, which means a voice that I have thought to be a mere sound is a parol and a voice that I have thought to be a parol is a mere sound, would be the origin of that we humans sometimes can and can not appreciate each other by parols. I began to produce my work "BABEL" from this viewpoint.

Sounds that we utter with our mouths and hear with our ears. When the sounds become parols ?

For example, when we saw the letters "東京駅 (Tokyo Station)", the sound of "TOKYO EKI (toːkjoː eki)" occurs to us. To be precise, I do not know whether it is a sound or not. But letters and sounds are the only means for humans to recognize parols. Anyway still, I feel “Tokyo Eki” is not letters but a sound. It is a sound that does not shake the air. If we have termed a state that a parols have become a sound a “voice”, "Tokyo Eki" is a “voice” which does not travel through the air. It is a way of presence of parols that are neither letters nor sounds.

Previous thoughts and emotions to the moment when they are uttered from the mouths are not something that can not be translated into parols but still parols as "voices". They are parols only found in silence. We trace the "voices" so as to cease the silence and actually attempt to utter parols out of our mouths.

But, in most cases, voices can not imitate the "voices" well. We can not convert the “voices” into the voices that shake the air.

The language grammar, the ritual-like side of conversation and the utterance tied to customs, that we can not help admitting to be habits we have learned imperceptibly, hinder the conversion.

Though “voices” should have been the same as parols in silence and have been able to completely express everything.

Also when we remember the parols once uttered, what come to mind are sounds rather than letters. Voices disconnected from the body of the person who uttered parols, within others who memorize the voices, become "voices". Parols in the state of belonging to neither the person who utter parols nor who memorize them go on dissolving mutual distinction. They continue to be played as “voices” whose owner is vague. But if we behave as if the “voices” were our own parols, we feel something inconvenient. Still, the "voices" has a difference from the parols of others. However, by the difference, the memory of the fact that once the "voices" were parols that shook air vividly revive. And, the time in which the person who uttered parols have been alive becomes clear. The existence of the person who memorize parols stands out vividly. This existence of the "voices" is, when parols are uttered from within the flesh-and-blood humans, what connects the languages of intangibility and human bodies. The fact that we can understand parols with each other will be also a proof of the connections between us humans that share the physical phenomena of “voices”.

In considering the relationship between the utterance of “voices” and the birth of parols, I refered to the idea of philosopher Giorgio Agamben.

We should not regard the concept of voices as mere sounds. If we were able to comprehend the meaning of every sound, we would never have acquired languages. However, since we are not, we always try to translate sounds into meanings. That is, we catch phonemes we have heard, regard them as signifiants (words), and bring out meanings from them. Voices are what we must remove when we have meanings develop and have languages be meaningful.

This process remove all voices from us, and create essential voids in each center of languages, namely, that of speaking. Now, I would name this process which is embodied within the fact languages are generated “voices”. These “voices” are no longer voices as sounds, but exactly, also no longer meanings. Each “voice” is a mere speech act, and it is the basis of existence and time.

(Alex Murray, 2014, “Giorgio Agamben” Seidosha, translated by Kazumi Takakuwa)

Then, I began to think what if I, a native speaker of Japanese, try to grasp “voices”.

Sounds that we utter with our mouths and hear with our ears. When the sounds become parols ?

For example, each unit of one sound such as "あ", "い", "う", "え" or "お" is only how to count sounds conforming to the mechanism of the Japanese to which they belong. "あ", "い", "う", "え" or "お" are not the sounds themselves but how to call sounds when we viewed them from one of the standpoints (“names”).

Suppose what objectify, classify and name the cosmos is language, sound itself that is one of the elements constituting the language also should be able to be counted by being classified conforming to the mechanism of the language, and as a result, comes to have names.

When a sound is called by name, the sound becomes a voice and a parol by the name.

When we humans hear foreign languages which we are not used to in our ears, we feel we have heard the pure "voices" of speakers. In addition, when we try to imitate and pronounce them by ourselves, we feel like we have uttered the genuine "voices" of humans.

Here, I have assumed the existence of some voices.

■to those who utter voices
・voices that have meanings as languages
・voices that do not have meanings as languages

■to those who hear voices
・voices, from that we can infer that will have meanings as languages, and have them
・voices, from that we can infer that will have meanings as languages, but do not have them
・voices, from that we can infer that will not have meanings as languages, and do not have them
・voices, from that we can infer that will not have meanings as languages, but have them

In my work, I considered trying to let some of these voices arise. Silence appearing in the topos where overlaps of voices missed utterance by means of utterrance of many voices. This silence is just what I have tried to seek for. In other words, I tried to “remove all voices from us, and create essential voids in each center of languages, namely, that of speaking” (from the above quotation).

First, I carried out a questionnaire for those whose native languages are other than Japanese, in which I examined whether there are some words of the same pronunciations as the 50 sounds of Japanese from "あ" to "ん" in their native languages. Then, I recorded and collected the voices on the basis of the questionnaire.

■examinees
・Those who are Japanese language school students during their stays in Japan
・Long-stay foreign workers in Japan
・Tourists I spoke to in the street
・Age, sex, gender and nationality are chosen at random

■method
・The examinees are free to choose or skip words.
・I left it to senses of the examinees whether each pronunciation of the words is the same as each of the 50 sounds.
・I treat each examinee not as a representative of speakers of each language but as an individual speaker of each language.
・I let examinees utter the only words they had chosen and written in order from “あ” to “ん”.

The voices they uttered are played with three images made up of letters in a darkroom. The images are reflected by the projectors to the acrylic plates whose rear side got transparency film put on. The size of one acrylic sheet is 60 inches. Each plate is suspended at a height of human eyes, so the three screens come to be side by side. By using acrylic plates on which I had put a rear transparency film, I made the letters in the images give the impression that they are floating.

The 50 sounds, including ones that have not been uttered, go on playing in a steady beat with the letters of "あ", "い", "う", "え", "お" and the others. When it comes to the beat where no sound is uttered, silence arrives. "あ", "い", "う", "え", "お" and the others by various language speakers with their foreign accents appear one after another in the loop playback.

The contents of these three screens are as follows.

■Screen A

In exchange for the appearance of the meaning of each word uttered, "あ", "い", "う", "え", "お" and the others disappear from the 50 sounds table, by one letter at each beat. If the examinees have judged no meaning exists, an interval is left. The sequences of words that finally surface on the basis of the 50 sounds table are quite different with each other depending on the languages. For example, in the case of Chinese whose words can each have four meanings because of its four tones, many words appear to full screen. However, in the case of the languages such as French which have fewer words of the same pronunciations as "あ", "い", "う", "え", "お" and the others of Japanese, the rows and the lines of the words are conspicuous for many intervals.

In addition, even in the case of the same language, the words of choices are different with each other or there is a variety of ways intervals arise, depending on the senses of individual speakers.

■Screen B

The meanings of the words uttered and their phonetic symbols appear. It is shown that sounds we hear only as "あ", "い", "う", "え", "お" and the others in Japanese have different names and meanings in other languages. I adopted International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) as the phonetic symbol of the languages except Pinyin as that of Chinese.

■Screen C

The letters from “あ” to “ん” go on being projected in a steady beat. The sounds that are pronounced as languages other than Japanese, by listening to them while looking at each character of hiragana, feels like sorts of Japanese with foreign accents. Rather, there are also words which we, native speakers of Japanese, can not hear as the sounds that are present in the 50 sounds of Japanese if we do not look at the characters, so we are sometimes amazed at these ways examinees tie their native languages and Japanese together.

Here, I would think about the sequences of parols that finally appear on the screen A.

These are paroles that are hardly tied with each other in everyday life. Conflicts between Japanese and other languages caused by intervention of the framework of 50 sounds. Influences of individual senses for language and emotion upon the ties. I felt poetry on these parols which were obliged to be generated in different situations of topos from everyday life. I hope to treat these parols and this work which represent the generative process of them as language art.

If selecting out parols from cosmos that is different from so-called language grammar of everyday life and putting them together are poetry, production process of this work "BABEL" is certainly a work of poetry, and, the letters appearing on the screen and the voices going on playing can be regarded as poetry itself.

As I mentioned it at the beginning of this interpretation, there have ever been a variety of frameworks in poetry, such as restriction of the number of letters, meter and styles. These countless frameworks include everything, from prerequisite conditions for the formations as the poems, to routine concepts that started as mere techniques.

Poetry automatism (automatic writing) once led by André Breton was the experiment on dictation in sleep and stenography at high speed. Its purpose is to create parols which do not depend only on the human arbitrariness based on the consciousness such as aesthetics and ethics, by setting a condition that his consciousness is vague or a severe state that he forces himself to fill in the manuscript paper in time.

This work "BABEL" has a structure in which I had made the frameworks in generative process intervene in its production methods and forms, which is the same technique as the one that has been attempted in linguistic expression, and furthermore, the work has involved a variety of language speakers as individuals in the structure. A norm which an artist produced let combinations of parols which do not depend only on the human arbitrariness appear. This work as a topos where parols are generated has a potential of new linguistic expression.

Moreover, I think the phenomena that occurred in the production process of this work are important facts as linguistic phenomena.

What affect the judgement on “what to pronounce and not to do” by the examinees who participated in this questionnaire, are not only the conflicts between Japanese and other languages that are huge presences being burdened with each culture. It stands to reason that indivisual senses for language affect the utterances. Not only that, delicate elements such as hesitation and agitation which arise as emotion at the moment they utter parols have a great influence. I aimed in this work to grasp these wavers of human hearts that try to deviate from the techniques and fixed forms.

They would have experienced a variety of struggles while I was recording and collecting their voices based on the questionnaire.

■Their struggles
I would be able to point out the four factors from the research in this work.

●Linguistic struggles as follows : “This sound might be a word that has a meaning in Japanese or might not.”
●Semantic struggles in social norms such as the interaction with the artist (me)
●Emotional struggles as follows : “I want to be regarded as a good speaker of Japanese.” or “I might be scolded if I can't speak the voices well in recording.”
●Struggles with the nuance of two sounds such as a question of whether the sound of Japanese and that of examinees’ native language resemble each other or not in their impressions.

Moreover, I came to have the following opinions on three factors as the very person who listen to their voices.

■My opinions
●Are they really pronouncing the sounds with the impressions of the meanings of them in their native languages while reading the languages they had written in by themselves ?
　They are pronouncing innocently the words which have meanings such as “fart” or “pee” that would make others, who have a comprehensible relationship with each other because of sharing the same native language, feel “embarrassed” to utter. Even a pronunciation of their native language, now that they pronounced it within the framework of the 50 sounds table, might be no longer a native language for each of them, but no better than a foreign language which does not have the meaning with realization.
●What is the reason they enjoy this questionnaire and recording ?
　 In the questionnaire at the Japanese language school, there were many cases where the students saw the others, with whom I had made an appointment in advance to let them gather around me, are participating in the questionnaire entry and the recording, and participated willingly. In addition, I saw cases where examinees who have the same native language compete with each other to find many more words on their own than the others. From the viewpoint of a linguistic game, is there a universality in human senses of playing with parols ?
●Even in the case of native languages, what they are for the examinees is differs and changes depending on the degree of their Japanese learning, and the numbers and the sorts of languages that they have acquired or are learning other than Japanese. What on earth does a native language mean ? There would be no other way for me but to think that even those who seem to speak the same language have each individual language of their own.

By the way, it will be possible to say the whole of what I have mentioned above itself has been included in the category of "semantics" in linguistics. I do not have a viewpoint that I recognize the superiority or inferiority to each other in differences of languages themselves and of language abilities because of senses for languages or disorders of individuals. I will advance the interpretation on the assumption that there are no stages such as evolution, degeneration, superiority or inferiority in the transformation phase and acquisition situation of languages.

■What I felt during the process of research and feedback on recording of the examinees' voices

I think that “Japanese” with their foreign accents would be also certainly Japanese and there would be no perfect form of the language. A foreign accent means, not only an aspect of the features of the intonation in the foreign language, but also a tendency of disorder, confusion or distortion affected by its grammatical structure. Also in this work, I was able to somehow have an idea what his or her native language would be only by hearing "あ", "い", "う", "え", "お" and the others. It will be proper for us to think that Japanese with foreign accents is rather the language of each individual than Japanese language. I feel that, with regard to a person on a higher level than a certain proficiency in Japanese, the linguistic view based on his or her personality appears in how to mistake the grammar of Japanese. In addition, I have the impression that parols exchanged between them and me who am Japanese have been liberated from the prescribed grammatical structure of one language.

The grammar between individuals is instantaneously generated only for the purpose of smooth conversation in which we can understand mutual parols and, as a result, can convey mutual minds. This will be the phenomenon which approachs essential questions about the existence of the parols such as what it means that "humans exchange parols" or that "humans communicate something to others".

For example, after I heard their incorrect Japanese, I intentionally used the incorrect Japanese, because I judged that the communication would be more successful by using Japanese in imitation of their incorrect ways than by using the correct Japanese. This language does not mean the incomplete state of Japanese, rather one language only among them and me. The “parole” in a mixture of English and Japanese used in the international school is one of such examples.

Moreover, it will be proper to say that one language with the great backgrounds of culture, climate or calendar of the country or the race is a manifestation of the interpretation of the world by the speakers sharing the backgrounds. Learning of a foreign language other than the native one means a translation, that is to say, a reinterpretation of foreign one as the result of an interpretation of the world, by native one as the result of a different interpretation of the world. Its structure means, as it were, an interpretation of a result of an interpretation.

In addition, they exactly use the grammar they have learned according to the lexical rules, therefore they repeat the sentences with the same grammatical structure many times during the conversation. That looks like meter or fixed forms and feels poetic.

Even when I heard words of languages whose meanings I do not understand, I was occasionally able to read their emotions by the intonations of their parols. What is more, in many languages, the way of binding ties between intonations and emotions is similar to each other, and it felt like something universal to me.

While seeming to be a contradictory situation to what I mentioned above, in the conversation with them, understanding of the meaning of their parols has directly a stronger connection with understanding of their emotions. In the case of mutual conversation by native speakers of Japanese, often we can understand what the parols mean and can not what we mean with each other. That is because we add nuances and use subjective expressions that satisfy our own senses rather than lexical rules we can share with each other. However, they can communicate their intentions to us well because of the clarity of the grammatical combinations which they bring as inexperienced speakers in Japanese. Emotions are never buried in the grammar. In short, a "smattering" would be the condition that grammar and emotions are tied more strongly. It would be the condition that intonations, that is, inflections or rhythms of parols are not tied to speakers' emotions and they can not delicately control languages, then grammatical structures would be the only factor which they can put "what they want to say" in and depend on. As for our native language, we forget to depend on the grammatical structure in accordance with the discipline of the language, and then, the combination of “what we want to say” and the grammar tends to be a subjective assortment of our own.

This situation sometimes hinders our communication.

The "smattering" contains fewer subjective nuances mentioned above because it has no choice but to depend on the structure in accordance with the discipline, so it will possible to say that we can easily see the essence of “what we want to say” in it. There are the cases, from the viewpoint of communication, where the ability to handle the grammar and nuances at will does not necessarily mean the control of the language.

Through the production of this work, I was able to realize that I myself who heard the voices, they themselves who uttered them and the attainment of the work itself have been already "linguistic" and "human", and that humans have no other way but to be always linguistic.

Here again, I want to refer to the discourse of Agamben.

A person who has faced a sound whose meaning is vague would be hoping to know its meaning. However, for that, he or she must have known that the sound he or she heard is not the one of an empty parol and a mere “blah-blah-blah” sound but the one of a meaningful parol.

Parols of humans are “voices of consciousness”. The consciousness is present within parols and it really exists owing to them, that is just because parols are separated voices. Every sound acquires its meaning in “empty” voices of aminals, and come to be existent as a name, that is, as a direct non-existence of each sound itself and each object named.

(Giorgio Agamben, 2009, “Il linguaggio e la morte (The language and the death)” Chikuma shobo, translated by Tadao Uemura)

The 50 sounds table they saw in the questionnaire is not an empty parol. We humans seek for meanings. We have the desire to hear voices as parols. There will be a possibility that we find the essence of parols in the bound between the sounds as mere syllables of the stage where their meanings are not yet known to us and the sounds of the state where the fact that they are parols is known but their meanings are not yet known to us.

Here, I want to get back to the idea of the outset. The following is the quotation from the beginning.

We humans tear apart ourselves by our own voices.

By voices themselves, We will be those who has uttered the parols, and at the same time, those who has heard parols. Struggles that arise within us being torn apart by voices. I wonder if the parols I uttered was really suitable. I wonder if humans can appreciate each other by parols.

Uncertainty of each sound, which means a voice that I have thought to be a mere sound is a parol and a voice that I have thought to be a parol is a mere sound, would be (now, I want to use “is”) the origin of that we humans sometimes can and can not appreciate each other by parols.

However even so, with whatever do we try to balance the “suitableness” ? With our own emotions or thoughts ? Each voice of our own is conveyed faster to and heard earlier by each of ourselves than others, and is checked with “what each of ourselves had wanted to say”. However, in the first place, it is ambiguous whether “what each of ourselves had wanted to say” already exists previous to our own parols or not.

Since the checks on the “suitableness” are ones with something ambiguous, there is little hope that we can hold convictions about the “suitableness”.

Nevertheless, why do we pursue the “suitableness” ?

That would not because parols are tools for communication with others. The “suitableness” is longed for by our survival desire of spirituality. Our self-consciousnesses which are torn apart within the effect of verbs such as “speak” or “hear” when we utter voices try to believe, at least by the “suitableness”, themselves to be what is firm.

Then, while we are feeling the “suitableness”, while we are really exchanging parols, strictly, while we are inclined to have been doing them, we can get the feelings that the distinction between oneself and others vanishes, as it were, that others enter into oneself and onself melts into others. Precisely because of a clear distinction between oneself and others, it is possible for us to use parols with each other and do an act of jumping into the area where the egos are vague. However, by the act of using parols with each other, we are going to get the “suitableness” which is so suitable that we are inclined to feel there is no distinction between oneself and others.

Our self-survival desire of spirituality. Pleasure of self-loss owing to immersion of oneself in others and infiltration of others in oneself. Both seem to be contradictory, but they support their realizations with each other.

"I" myself expand according to continuation of our finding and awaring of the fact that “I” myself feel, think and behave like this in a case like this. If the reality is cut off, "I" myself also disappear. As many “I” myself as realities appear. One of a number of realities is each of others, and humans interact with others being roused by self-survival desire of spirituality.

The loss of others is that of oneself that has expanded until that moment. We often mention that physical disappearance of the other (that is, death) is, so to speak, an agony of the disappearance of a part of oneself, but that is not a parable about grief. Exactly, that will be the experience of losing one of many realities that shape oneself and lacking oneself. We might feel relief in sharing oneself (including occurrences and parols that make up oneself) with others by parols because of the fear above. When each parol of our own obtains the “suitableness” for the realities that make up oneself, we will be able to feel the reliability of our existence with certainty.

Here, I try to think about parols that have a form of type, that is, optical representation from a different angle. I want to think about the “suitableness” by adopting "eyes" as a clue. We do not use the wording “catch one's eyes (目を奪われる)” as the literal meaning “grab one's eyeballs” but as that “make one be attracted to an object heartily and concentrate one's gaze on it unconsciously”. In an other instance, we do not use the wording “turn one's eyes (目を向ける)” not only as the meaning “direct one's gaze to an object” but also as that “have one's consciousness and thought function”. Many of the wordings about "eyes" have functions that indicate the nature of the human minds and consciousnesses. "Eyes" symbolize the existence of what is nonphysical while being physical in parallel.

The poet Goethe had thought about eyes, light and color which is the result of correlation of the former two. Then, he stated the followings in his "(Zur Farbenlehre) Theory of Colours" quoting a poem of the founder of Neoplatonism Plotinus. (quotations from "Theory of Colours" by Goethe as follows)

The eye may be said to owe its existence to light, which calls forth, as it were, a sense that is akin to itself; the eye, in short, is formed with reference to light, to be fit for the action of light; the light it contains corresponding with the light without. We are here reminded of a significant adage in constant use with the ancient Ionian school— "Like is only known by Like ;" and again, of the words of an old mystic writer, which may be thus rendered,

If the eye were not sunny, how could we perceive light ? If God’s own strength lived not in us, how could we delight in Divine things ?

Translated from the German : With Notes by
Charles Lock Eastlake, R.A., F.R.S.
John Murray, Albemarle Street
London, 1840.
The M.I.T. Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts And London, England, 1970

The “eye” mentioned above is not only physical one but also a metaphor of nonphysical existence of mind or consciousness which an “eye” symbolizes.

A physical "eye" requires an interval to see between itself and the object. That is because it is impossible to see if the eye as the subject to see and the object are touching each other. An interval allows a physical "eye" to see. Well then, What is it that enables a nonphysical eye to see ? I think it is a parol.

I want to proceed to think about the discourse of Goethe and the poem of Plotinus, assigning a 〈parol〉 to “light” that is indispensable for an eye as a physical organ to see the world and 〈myself〉 to an “eye” that is the subject to see.

《The 〈myself〉 may be said to owe its existence to a 〈parol〉》. We have made our own contours with ideas and concepts by parols such as attribute, emotion, thought and memory, and have cognized others on the basis of them. However, even so, that does not mean there exists no world previous to parols.

Then, it may be said that 《A 〈parol〉 calls forth, as it were, a sense that is akin to itself》, that is, it calls forth humans who understand it. Moreover, it may be said that 《the 〈myself〉, in short, is formed with reference to a 〈parol〉, to be fit for the action of a 〈parol〉; the 〈parol〉 it contains corresponding with the 〈parol〉 without》, which means that the essence which things and phenomena hold and a human who has the makings of feeling it correspond with each other and call forth a parol. It comes down to that 《Like is only known by Like》.

Feelings that "I can not say well" or "I can not tell everything" or others, which are related to the “suitableness” of parols, depend on conditions of parols, that is, those of intervals. Parols, as intervals, separate us and the essence of things and phenomena. Though the intervals and separations enable us to see the essence, they hold difficulty with vision or possibility of illusion at the same time.

“I want to say well.” This hope is an emotion which arises regardless of whether the languages of mutual speakers are the same or not. It is also what I have deeply felt in the production process of my work. From the very beginning, if humans had not held a feeling that "I want to say well", the language grammar would not have been prepared and would not have even existed.

The "babel" which is the title of my work and the name of the birthplace of linguistic confusion gave birth to the word "babble". It means nonsense or rambling chatter, which is also the onomatopoeia standing for the babbling voice “babubabu（バブバブ）” of the pre-speech period. We tend to be so serious about our parols that we can not let all of them go past laughing them away as trifling chatters. Even though the Tower had not been destroyed and the only one people with only one language had not been lost, we should have suffered for parols in sufficient confusion.

While I was producting my work “BABEL”, I had thought again about the survival desire of the subject which is based on the concept of parols I had treated in my graduation work of faculty “Correspondances”. It was also valuable for me that I actually experienced interactions of parols between the different languages. In addition, "BABEL" has the same structure as the technique which has been attempted in the past linguistic expressions from the standpoint of the control over generative process of parols, and has involved a variety of language speakers as individuals in the structure.

When it came to the stage where my work is in final form, I accomplished the purpose of creating a sequence of parols that we can not generate only by human arbitrariness. As a gimmick for that, I incorporated the various language speakers and their individual thoughts and emotions into my work, where I felt an originality as a generative method of parols in language arts. A norm which an artist produced let unintended combinations of parols by multiple subjects arise. I think this work as a topos where parols are generated like the above has a possibility of a new linguistic expression.

“The possibility of language arts by constructed language (conlang)” – Poetic development of Iwasaki's System of Reconstructing Japanese (ISReJP) –

Still after fiinishing my master's degree work, I have come to have my stronger will of creating a topos where parols are generated. I have also realized the possibility that such a gimmick involves flesh-and-blood humans who use languages.

I have an idea that our thought is controlled by the language structure we use. The language structure, that is, the grammar has been treated as a material or a means in language arts such as poetry and fiction. However, What I intend to produce from now on is a language grammar whose existence itself can be a representation. In other words, I have thought whether I can handle the grammar itself as a new representation media. I hope to create a parol which itself embodies the question of “What a parol is” by grammatical structure, neither by letters nor by voices. Moreover, in the production of it, I hope to get everything, from its process to the final work which appears as the result, to be linguistic.

What I intend to position in my research theme is a presentation of a conlang as an art work and my own theoretical dissertation on why the conlang can be said to be a representation.

The conlang I want to present is “Iwasaki's System of Reconstructing Japanese (ISReJP)”. A language researcher Mr. Junichi Iwasaki has contrived and produced for his research of mental disorders. Although there are many conlangs all over the world, ISReJP is used in a very closed community. It must be unique in that it was produced as an artistic language (artlang) in order to assist individuals and groups other than himself. In addition, it must be also similar to a programming language in that its grammar is composed in methods of logic and semiology, therefore, it is theoretically possible to implement it in the computers which persons with mental disorders use.

However, be that as it may, it is different from every other conlang in that, as an ever reality-oriented conlang, it intends to describe the uncomfortable feelings of persons with mental disorders toward the contemporary Japanese language and society, and that the description as a program is a subsidiary objective.

Mr. Iwasaki has a profound contemplation on persons with language disorders in combination with dissociative disorders or schizophrenia and persons with a extreme dread of linguistic expression, and is creating ISReJP as one of deeds of thinking what it means that “humans exchange parols” and “humans communicate something to others”. In addition, Mr. Iwasaki himself has the consciousness that his deed is an artistic expression.

It has been concretely used by persons with anxiety disorder, dissociative disorders, depersonalization disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and others to prevent themselves from forgetting to buy day-to-day foods and commodities, forgetting promises with acquaintances, confusion of behavior by amnesia or fugue, or others, in their own writing which they see by themselves such as diaries, notebooks, scratch papers to stick on refrigerators.

Furthermore, it is used by persons with dissociative identity disorder, whose own mentions of their disorder can not help but tend to be redundant ones with explanatory tone in sentences with contemporary Japanese, as concise commentaries in the cases such as where their physical and mental condition is so bad that they have difficulty in moving their hands and writing sentences. It is also used as commentaries on experiences such as agonies in school and social life, sexual damage, sexual symptoms, sexual harassment, abuse of power, pregnancy discrimination that they hope never to be known to their families, friends and many others. It is used in poems, novels and the likes too. It is also used in the texts of e-mails and letters which is exchanged between the inventor Mr. Junichi Iwasaki and users. There have been some cases where persons with mental disorders are not able to express their feelings well with its grammar for the time being, which has been the indicators for Mr. Iwasaki to revise its grammer. In addition, it is more suitable for linguistic, philosophical and logical research than contemporary Japanese, therefore, Mr. Iwasaki himself has used in such research.

It was four years ago when I met Mr. Iwasaki and ISReJP. I have had interviews to Mr. Iwasaki since I had the opportunity to hear his lecture in department of design to which I belonged during the course of faculty and master. From then on, I have understood that ISReJP is a linguistic expression which itself embodies the question of “What a parole is” by its grammatical structure. I have had strong empathies with and have felt encouraged by ISReJP as a work of language art and his thought itself.

The factor of ISReJP I have been especially interested in is that the mentality and the emotion of humans transform the framework itself of part of speech and tense, which realize this language, by means of incorporating the nature of the egos of persons with mental disorders into the structure of nominative.

The following are the concrete examples of how ISReJP is used quoting from "The full explanation of ISReJP" that Mr. Iwasaki published on his own website. For example, ISReJP gives various changes to “I (私)” in the sentence by contemporary Japanese "I am watering the flowers. (私は花に水をやっています。)" and accordingly makes various sentences with its symbolic notations, which represent a diversity of egos. Although it is impossible to fully describe its symbolic notations here, I will enumerate some of them together with his translations in contemporary Japanese and English which are the closest to them.

Descriptions are as follows :
「Symbolic notations of ISReJP」
(Descriptions in contemporary Japanese)
Translation in contemporary Japanese
《Symbolic notations of ISReJP》
(Descriptions in Hepburn system)
Translation in contemporary English

「私Ga(SHU)は花に水をやっています。」
（ワタシは花に水をやっています。）
自我が明確なこの私自身によると、まさに私は花に水をやっています。
《私 Ga(SHU)は花に水をやっています。》
(Watashi wa hana ni mizu o yatteimasu.)
According to the very myself whose ego is clear, I am exactly watering the flowers.

「私Ga(SHU5)は花に水をやっています。」
（ワシュゴは花に水をやっています。）
まさに私が花に水をやっているのであって、そうしているのが私以外の何者でもないことは、神に誓って真実であり、その真実性はいかなる場合も変化しません。
《私 Ga(SHU5)は花に水をやっています。》
(Washugo wa hana ni mizu o yatteimasu.)
I am exactly watering the flowers and it is a truth before God that the person who is doing so is nobody except for me, moreover, the truth does not waver in any case.

「私Ga(SHU1)は花に水をやっています。」
（ワシュイチは花に水をやっています。）
まさに私が花に水をやっているのは間違いないのですが、それはあくまで私の自我が判断したことです。
《私 Ga(SHU1)は花に水をやっています。》
(Washuichi wa hana ni mizu o yatteimasu.)
It must be a truth that I am exactly watering the flowers, however it is merely a judgement by my ego.

「私 Ga(KATSU)は花に水をやっています。」
(ワカツは花に水をやっています。)
自由意志の有無にかかわらず起こる全ての行為については行為者としての私の自我の存在を理解して生きる私は、今、花に水をやっています。
《私 Ga(KATSU)は花に水をやっています。》
(Wakatsu wa hana ni mizu o yatteimasu.)
I, who live under the condition that I myself understand the existence of my ego as an actor only concerning all acts that arise regardless of whether my free will exists or not, am watering the flowers now.

「私Ga(I-KATSU)は花に水をやっています。」
（ワイカツは花に水をやっています。）
意思的・意識的に行う全ての行為に加えて、自動的に起こる生理・自然現象の行為者としての私にも自我の存在を認めつつある私は、今、花に水をやっています。
《私 Ga(I-KATSU)は花に水をやっています。》
(Waikatsu wa hana ni mizu o yatteimasu.)
I, who am admitting the existence of my ego as an actor of physiological or natural phenomena which arise automatically in addition to all acts that I myself do volitionally or consciously, am watering the flowers now.

「私Ga(I)は花に水をやっています。」
（ワイは花に水をやっています。）
意思的・意識的に行う全ての行為については行為者としての私の自我の存在を理解して生きる私は、今、花に水をやっています。
《私 Ga(I)は花に水をやっています。》
(Wai wa hana ni mizu o yatteimasu.)
I, who live under the condition that I myself understand the existence of my ego as an actor only concerning all acts that I myself do volitionally or consciously, am watering the flowers now.

「私Ga(NO-I)は花に水をやっています。」
（ワノウイは花に水をやっています。）
可能な全ての行為に加えて、意志的・意識的に行う行為の行為者としての私にも自我の存在を認めつつある私は、今、花に水をやっています。
《私 Ga(NO-I)は花に水をやっています。》
(Wanoi wa hana ni mizu o yatteimasu.)
I, who am admitting the existence of my ego as an actor of acts that I myself do volitionally or consciously in addition to all possible acts, am watering the flowers now.

「私Ga(KI-NO)は花に水をやっています。」
（ワキノウは花に水をやっています。）
希求して行う全ての行為に加えて、可能な行為の行為者としての私にも自我の存在を認めつつある私は、今、花に水をやっています。
《私 Ga(KI-NO)は花に水をやっています。》
(Wakino wa hana ni mizu o yatteimasu.)
I, who am admitting the existence of my ego as an actor of possible acts in addition to all acts that I myself hope to do, am watering the flowers now.

「私Ga(GU-KYU)は花に水をやっています。」
（ワグキュウは花に水をやっています。）
道具・人為的手段を行使して行う全ての行為に加えて、他者・対象に影響の及ぶ為の行為者としての私にも自我の存在を認めつつある私は、今、花に水をやっています。
《私 Ga(GU-KYU)は花に水をやっています。》
(Wagukyu wa hana ni mizu o yatteimasu.)
I, who am admitting the existence of my ego as an actor of possible acts in addition to all acts that I myself hope to do, am watering the flowers now.

「私Ga(GI)は花に水をやっています。」
（ワギは花に水をやっています。）
意識・自我の存在が仮定にすぎない私は、今、花に水をやっています。
《私 Ga(GI)は花に水をやっています。》
(Wagi wa hana ni mizu o yatteimasu.)
I, who admit the existence of my consciousness and ego no more than as a hypothesis, am watering the flowers now.

「私Ga(SHU1,Gb)は花に水をやっています。」
（ワシュイッツは花に水をやっています。）
自我が何とか明確であることに過不足なく満足しているこの私自身によると、まさに私が花に水をやっています。
《私 Ga(SHU1,Gb)は花に水をやっています。》
(Washuittsu wa hana ni mizu o yatteimasu.)
According to the very myself who am satisfied with the fact that my ego is somehow clear, I am exactly watering the flowers.

「私Ga（SHU1,Gkm）は花に水をやっています。」
（ワシュイットは花に水をやっています。）
若干の困難を伴いつつ自我を何とか明確に保とうとしているこの私自身よると、まさに私が花に水をやっています。
《私 Ga(SHU1,Gkm)は花に水をやっています。》
(Washuitto wa hana ni mizu o yatteimasu.)
According to the very myself who try to somehow have my ego continue to be clear with some difficulty, I am exactly watering the flowers.

「私Ga(SHU1,Gki)は花に水をやっています。」
（ワシュイッチは花に水をやっています。）
自我を何とか明確に保つことに成功し若干歓喜しているこの私自身によると、まさに私が花に水をやっています。
《私 Ga(SHU1,Gki)は花に水をやっています。》
(Washuicchi wa hana ni mizu o yatteimasu.)
According to the very myself who have somehow succeeded in having my ego continue to be clear and have been somewhat delighted, I am exactly watering the flowers.

「私 Ga(SHU1,Gsi)は花に水をやっています。」
(ワシュイッテ)は花に水をやっています。
自我を明確に保つことに著しく成功し歓喜しているこの私自身によると、まさに私が花に水をやっています。
《私 Ga(SHU1,Gsi)は花に水をやっています。》
(Washuitte wa hana ni mizu o yatteimasu.) According to the very myself who have highly succeeded in having my ego continue to be clear and have been delighted, I am exactly watering the flowers.

「私Ga{CS(I,KATSU-SHU)}は花に水をやっています。」
（ワシーエスイカッシュは花に水をやっています。）
私は基本的には、花に水をやる時は、明確に自分の都合でやる必要のある時は別にしても、自然に雨が降る時のようにやるべきだと思っていますが、今目の前にある花は、 なぜか人為的に水を注ぎかけるべき対象であると思いますので、花に対して優位な自我を持って花に水をやっています。
《私 Ga{CS(I,KATSU-SHU)}は花に水をやっています。》
(Washiesuikasshu wa hana ni mizu o yatteimasu.)
Although I essentially think that watering flowers should be as if rain falls on them naturally except when I have to do it for my own reason, I am watering the flowers with a predominant ego over them because now I feel that the flowers in front of me are the objects which I should water intentionally.

「私Ga(SHU1)は花Ga(SHU1)に水をやってGkmます。」
（ワシュイチは花シュイチに水をやっていロます。）
自我がなんとか明確なこのわたし自身によると、まさに私が花に水をやっているとは思いますが、花が私と同程度の自我を持ち、 私の手を借りて花自身に水をやっているかもしれず、この現状の把握に若干の困難を感じます。
《私 Ga(SHU1)は花 Ga(SHU1)に水をやって Gkmます。》
(Washuichi wa hana shuichi ni mizu o yatteiromasu.)
Although I suppose I am exactly watering the flowers according to the very myself whose ego is somehow clear, the flowers might have as clear egos as I have and might be watering themselves by borrowing my hand, which makes me have some difficulty in understanding the present situation.

「私Ga(SHU2,SHU4)が花Ga(SHU3,SHU1)に水をやっていGkmす。」
（ワシュニシュヨンは花シュサンイチに水をやっていロます。）
自我がほんの少し抑えられていながらも、稀にかなり明晰になることがあるこの私自身によると、まさに私が花に水をやっているとは思いますが、 花を見ていると、花はなかなかの明晰な自我を持って、私の手を利用して水を得ているのではないかと思われ、その明晰さは影をひそめることもあり、 全体として私の自我より明晰ではないでしょうが、この現状の把握に若干の困難を感じます。
《私 Ga(SHU2,SHU4)が花 Ga(SHU3,SHU1)に水をやってい Gkm す。》
(Washunishuyon wa hana shusannichi ni mizu o yatteiromasu.)
Although I suppose I am exactly watering the flowers according to the very myself whose ego, being a little restrained, becomes highly clear in some occasions, I feel that the flowers, as for my judgement on them, would have rather clear egos and would be obtaining the water using my hand by themselves, which makes me have some difficulty in understanding the present situation granted that the clearness of their egos sometimes hide and they will not be clearer than mine on the whole.

(Iwasaki Jun-ichi’s official website : http://www.iwasaki-conlang.com/ refered during December 2015)

ISReJP is not a mere conception and has numerous specific examples. I have quoted a lot to show its huge quantity of vocabulary. Still and All, the examples I have mentioned here are only a part of the whole, and he has presented so many more examples of how ISReJP is used on his website that you can see the expressions of a diversity of egos by the combinations of symbols. These examples have shown that there are those who have difficulty in picking out the words which are suitable for what they want to say only from the grammatical structure of contemporary Japanese because of a diversity of their egos, and have raised a protest against "Japanese" which we have thought to be self-evident for us.

The fact that we can not say what we want to say means the limitation of the language grammar. Only those who want to put into parols somehow what they want to say must be those who can use languages as means of self-expressions. They try to find a new method of generating parols according to their feelings that the language grammar which surrounds them has the limitation.

I am planning also for the future to theoretically manifest the fact that ISReJP is the “representation” in the context of language arts through trials of the research of ISReJP, interviews to Mr. Iwasaki and meetings with the speakers. Moreover, I want to try to make use of this representation in the framework of literature and poetry. I hope to grasp the language arts from a new perspective by those very trials.