Language and liberty

Abstract

Linguists consider language, the most important tool of human existence, as first and foremost, a cognitive experience actualized through speech. Liberty, a principal concept, has since the beginning of the renaissance attracted the attention of philosophers, jurists, political scientists, ethicists, media scholars, among others, as an indispensable facet of human life in the areas of governance and the constitution of order, peoplehood, and societal value systems. Following the philosophical traditions of Sir Isaiah Berlin and drawing on African (Akan) axioms, the paper presents a theory relating to the entwining between language and liberty by elucidating how one indexes the other in a political process and practice, judicial process, in the foundation of people’s social and moral value systems, as a healthcare construct, and in free speech. Also explicated is the fact that actors’ effective use of language (linguistic and discourse-pragmatic tools) ensures success in the fight for liberty. Finally, the theory calls for liberty to be rooted in a nation’s laws, politics, philosophical traditions, value systems, healthcare practice, and the construction and enactment of free speech in order to make the fight for it (liberty) a reality.