The precise definition of Linguistic Intelligence as given by Howard Gardener as “sensitivity to the meaning of words, the order among words, sounds, rhythms, inflections, different functions of language, phonology, syntax and pragmatic”.
In simple words, linguistic intelligence is defined as the ability to think words and use those words to express one’s thoughts to others. When people use conversation to speak to one another, they utilize their verbal/linguistic intelligence.
The linguistic intelligence is how we use language, to express one’s thoughts and feelings with clarity so others may comprehend, understand, even enjoy them. This can be verbal or in written form. This is an integral part of conventional intelligence.
Some individuals developed their linguistic skills to such level that it becomes an art. They have the ability to write and/or talk fluently, using a broad vocabulary to express the precise meaning of what they wish to convey and they can speak almost melodically with changing tones and rhythms of sound to express feelings and promote memory.
Linguistic intelligence and the capacity to use words to communicate is a skill that comes from the temporal cortex on the left side of the brain. This area has been named Broca’s area. It has four areas of sensitivity. Semantics, the first of these, is the various meanings and shades of meanings in words. Phonology is the sounds and meter of words. Syntax involves the order in which the words are used. Finally, praxis is the different ways words can be used in a sentence to invoke different meanings. Combined, these four sensitivities impact an individual’s ability to speak, write, and understand words.
Skills Related With Linguistic Intelligence:
Sensitivity Expressing Skills: People having sensitivity expression skills listen carefully to others language and language patterns and to communicate expressively (primarily orally) with appropriate sensitivity.
Rhetorical Skills: People having rhetoric skills use language as a tool for persuasion and effect through negotiation.
Literature Skills: People having literature skills choose words well when writing or speaking in order to generate the right emotional tone.
Thinking Skills: People having thinking skills have a good verbal memory for what is read, spoken or written. They use language to remember and think.
Activities Enjoyed by Linguistic Intelligent People:
Reading books
Listening stories – Oral or even on tape/CD
Debating and discussing various issues,
Writing poems, short stories,
Reading newspapers and magazines,
Playing word games like Scrabble, Solving crosswords,
Discussing public issues,
Reading aloud.
Materials/Things Enjoyed by Linguistic Intelligent People:
Prepare an informal ten-minute talk for a business or community event.
Listen and watch recordings of famous orators when you commute to work, or during ‘spare time’.
Pay attention to the different verbal styles (dialects, slang expressions, intonations, physiology used and vocabularies) of different people you meet.
Tell stories to children (and adults!).
Attend a workshop on writing skill. Record yourself speaking into a tape recorder/ mobile phone and listen to the playback
To Develop Literature Skills:
Increase vocabulary. Use one new word in your conversation every day.
Attend a speed-reading seminar.
Teach an illiterate person to read through a voluntary organization.
Memorise favourite poetry or prose passages.
Circle unfamiliar words you encounter during your reading and look them up in a dictionary.
Buy a thesaurus, a book of word origins and a style manual and use them regularly in your writing.
Play word games (e.g. scrabble, anagrams, crosswords, up words).
Start reading. Join a book club. Visit the library and bookshops regularly. Read a book a week. Subscribe to a high-quality newspaper.
Keep a daily diary or write 250 words a day about anything on your mind.
Record yourself talking out loud about how to solve logical or mathematical problems.
Make up your own riddles, puns and jokes
To Develop Rhetoric Skills and Thinking Skills:
As you obtain Literature Skills and Sensitivity Expressing Skills, you automatically develop Rhetorical Skills and Thinking Skill. This is very useful for people whose mother tongue is different than the language used in the society.
How to Tackle Children With Linguistic Intelligence:
The written and spoken word are the best pathways for helping them learn and analyze information.
Provide them with books, access to a reference library.
Encourage them to read the newspaper and ask you questions about what they do not understand
Talk a lot with them about what they see around them. Encourage them to describe what they see or what they do, in words
Have them create poems, songs and enact stories by playing different parts and making up those dialogues.
Encourage them to speak to you whenever they would like to.
Encourage them to keep a diary.
Activities to Develop Linguistic Intelligence:
LEVEL 1:
Play the “what if” game with friends. e.g. what if you were a tortoise? What if my house was made of cheese?. What if the sun does not rise?
Write and illustrate your stories. Share your stories with each other.
Narrate a story to a blind person. Describe the scenes, events, and characters of your story. Understand the challenges in narrating this story.
Play dumb shadraj.
Describe your emotion to someone else. Find whether they are experiencing the same emotion.
Pick three books or stories that you like and analyze the differences and similarities between them.
LEVEL 2:
Explore the origin and meaning of words. Find different words to express the same idea. Find words that mean the opposite of the idea.
Pretend to be someone else and in your pretend role, teach a friend something new.
Choose the words that best describe you.
Write a story about an inanimate object from the object’s perspective.
Cut out words from a magazine and use them to write a letter.
Read a story to someone using different voices, tones, rate and conveying different emotions.
LEVEL 3:
Keep a daily journal of things that are important to you or interesting to note.
Pay close attention to your friends and family members. How do their faces, body and voices communicate their emotions? Create character studies of your family and friends and put them in a story.
Take someone through a guided imagery exercise. Try to use as much detail as possible.
Choose one of your favorite books and write the next episode or continuation of the story.
Read books or articles about nature and the environment. Write your own article about something you have discovered in nature.
