Ch.4 Language: Does Your Culture's Language Shape How You Perceive the World

Language: As Kottak discusses, it is based on "arbitrary, learned associations between words and the things they stand for." Humans, not other animals as far as we can tell, have the linguistic capacity to discuss the past and future, share their unique or cultural view of their experiences, and benefit from their experiences.

My cat Delilah seems to know the difference between night and day but she can't discuss what happened two days ago with me (or it seems to another cat) to share me how much she loved the petting session we had or hated that I was away all day long.

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis claims that a culture's language has a significant impact on how the members of the culture perceive things. For example, in American English we use a lot of metaphors about battle and war. What is we replaced them with metaphors of dance? Would we perceive our interactions differently?

"I shot down all your points" vs. "I'm tired of dancing to those points"
"You're always attacking my points" vs. "You're always dancing around my points"
"I win." vs. "What a great dance!"

What about the metaphors we use to talk about love?

Below, I offer 3 examples to bring your into the anthropological world of language, into the study of linguistics. First, language change in English literature, then two quotes and finally a TED Talk video that I love. All is followed by a suggestion for comments.

Language Changes in Bible: (taken from Wesch lecture notes):

English 11th Century:
Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum; Si þin nama gehalgod
English about 1400 CE:
Oure fader that art in heuenis halowid be thi name ...
English 1611 (King James):
Our father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name.
English 1963 (Phillips):
Our Heavenly Father, may your name be honored;
English 1970 (K. Condon):
Our Father in Heaven, let your holy name be known

On the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (or the "linguistic relativity hypothesis"):

[Language] diversity is a diversity not of sounds and signs but of ways of looking at the world (Karl Kerenyi, 1976).

From a TED talk by anthropologist Wade Davis:

Language is not just a body of vocabulary or set of grammatical rules. A language is the flash of the human spirit. It is vehicle through which the soul of each particular culture comes into the material world. Every language is an old-growth forest of the mind; a watershed of thought; an ecosystem of spiritual possibilities....fully half [of 6000] are no longer whispered into the ears of children.

[22 mins TED TALK]

TRY IT ON (suggestion for comments): What kinds of metaphors do you notice yourself speaking as part of being male or female, Black, Caribbean, or Asian, as part of your student club, or your home country/nation? How have those metaphors or other uses of language shaped the way you perceive yourself and the world around you?

Biocultural Language Diversity (Terralingua.org)

Click the image for more FAQs on language

Most in the U.S., ethnocentrically think English is the most-widely spoken language. But if you think about it, that defies logic.

With just over 1.3 billion people (1,330,044,605 as of mid-2008), China is the world's largest and most populous country.

As the world's population is approximately 6.7 billion, China represents a full 20% of the world's population so one in every five people on the planet is a resident of China. (Matt Rosenberg, About.com).

If this is the case, there is no way English is the language with the most speakers. Check out the top 20 oral languages spoken on the planet.

BEST QUESTIONS: Inquiring minds want to know

1. After reading the Conformity and Conflict essay on the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis by David Thomson, Kevin C. wrote:

Why is it that when an unsightly person on the street mutters non-sense to imaginary figures, they're crazy? But when someone talks to a figure they believe to be true but can't prove, on their knees, in a pointy building, its prayer?

Prof. G - Just some thoughts on your posts of late

I have been really enjoying the comments and reactions to Majora Carter's TED Talk and the post on Social Responsibility. I wished more of you responded to my previous post about whether "individual" or "fear" are social constructs. I am very interested in leading you all to consider that if most ideas we live by are socially constructed, like myths we live by, and all human cultures have their own way of thinking, believing, behaving and feeling about this common humanity we share, why is it so difficult to change something we made up? How do we get stuck with these things? It has implications for economics, for how we talk about our times. "We are in a financial crisis" gives a particular point of view of life when we might have had the same amount of money or even more during the Clinton administration boom and been worse off. Why?

Daniela was responding to the TED talk about the South Bronx with Majora Carter who is an excellent and passionate non-profit leader for greening the ghetto. Daniela as well as Edwin made some AWESOME comments--go back and read them. But often we can talk about change and what's missing but because we live in the US more often than not we have the luxury of talking but not necessarily acting.

We have so many luxuries here in the U.S. The luxury of a democracy, of money, of our position in the world, of choice, of free speech. They are awesome and wouldn't trade em for the world.

“Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind”

Henry David Thoreau (American Essayist, Poet and Philosopher, 1817-1862)

What do you think would have Thoreau say this and what about what you learned this semester from doing/reading/participating-observing/writing about anthropology, what aspects of what you have learned would you use as evidence for your answer?

AFTERTHOGHT: Hey what if "luxury" is something you can simply create (words create worlds)? What would you create in your speaking and how? Maybe it begins with simple pleasures.

Play on Words and the Worlds They Create

Hey professor i came across this email that was sent to me and it reminded me of the language chapter in Kottak. it also serves a purpose to brighten and bring a smile and laughter to everyone:

EVER WONDER
Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?- -
Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?- -
Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?- -
Why is "abbreviated" such a long word?- -
Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?- -
Why is it that to stop Windows 98, you have to click on "Start"?- -
Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid- made with real lemons?
Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?
When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests it?
Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?-
You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes?
Why- don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?
Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

From Claumery, XZ24C section

Chapter 5 – Language and Communication

Many of us do not realize how the development of language has actually affected not only our world and culture, but more specifically shaped our ideas. Since the development of language around 5000BC the human race gained a new form of expression that each culture developed into its own unique form.

What we as a group decided we should further examine is the Sapirwhorf hypothesis. This states that different languages produce different ways of thinking. Therefore each language should have certain aspects that wouldn’t translate into another or wouldn’t convey the same meaning, so consider…

Take an idea like freedom or slavery and questioning the fact of whether these things would exist without the actual word (Freedom) existing. (Let’s say a totalitarian government in America takes control and decides to remove the words rebellion, disloyalty, traitor, coup, and revolution or there exists a culture without these words, would these ideas still exist for the people without language to express them?) After you have responded to this question, then try to think of some words in your language that would be hard to translate and explain why. (If you only speak English, consider English words that would be hard to express in another language.)

Here are some interesting, perhaps even funny videos that could aid you in your thinking process about language.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHQ2756cyD8

George Carlin explains how perception changes with words, but the overall idea or fact is the same.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h67k9eEw9AY