Does Your Language Shape How You Think? Sometimes we think that words are a way to express what we have on our minds. Right? Think again. Guy Deutscher justifies just that. Our mother tongue does train our brains into thinking a certain type of way, also altering our perceptions of reality. In the NY Times article, “Does Your Language Shape How You Think?,” Guy points out that the mother tongue is Hebrew and leaves us with how we perceive the world. Guy’s protestor, Benjamin Lee Whorf, exclaims that language doesn’t have a particular word for a concept and that the concept itself could not be understood by the speaker. Guy argues that he does not have enough evidence that will substantiate the theory. He claims that Whorf is wrong on so many …show more content…
He points out that in English we do not have to say the gender of the person we are talking about. For an example, English speakers will go out to dinner with their “teacher” without even mentioning their sex. In French and German, it would be enforced to inform the person of the gender. He states that “languages that treat an inanimate object as a he or a she force their speakers to talk about such an object as if it were a man or woman.” If they like it or not, the gender of who they are dining with will be revealed. In Chinese, there is a verb that serves as the concept of time. However, in English, we speak of timing. We explain the timing of the event, either past, present or future. Deutscher makes a statement to the Aboriginal speaker, Guugu Yimithirr. Deutscher’s example is much more intriguing by claiming that the isolated heyday does indicate directions from compass points than the personal coordinates. Even though some may say the chair is to their left, a different person may say it is to their south. In the end we are both putting ourselves in the relation of the chair. With his referrals he makes his argument stronger and very authoritative. He communicates through his language and stays formal. He uses humorous examples throughout to keep his article entertaining. He explains how “our mother tongue was claimed to be a prison house.” He said it as to have restricted people from learning different foreign concepts. He delivers his argument very well and effectively through the
The article The Strange Persistence of First Languages by Julie Sedivy was an intriguing and eye-opening piece of writing to read. The concepts she brought to life through her explicit writing revealed many things I had never heard of before. The further I read, the more I wanted to know and the deeper my interest became. As a monolingual, this article was insightful, captivating and ultimately provided me with a new perspective on language.
Language is our power and expression is our freedom. Through a puff of air, we are able to communicate and influence the environments that surround us. Over the course of time humans have evolved, but by the means of language, humans have matured into humanity. The possibility of thought and emotions such as empathy show the ability to think with complexity. A crucial element that helps Suzanne K. Langer’s illustrate the essence of humanity throughout her essay “Language and Thought.” Langer thoroughly depicts what sets humans apart from the rest of the animal kingdom by explicitly stating “The line between man and beast […] is the language line” (120). Consequently, this implies that if a person is declined the freedom of language they are hardly considered human. Many people around the globe have had their voices silenced due to corrupt governments and the oppression of their culture. These individuals are subjected to the devastating effects of the loss of language, which in turn, translates to the loss of power. Language is our foundation for hopes and opportunity, for with out it a person is shell of possibility that is subjected to a passive existence.
How can it be that something so uniquely human and commonplace in our everyday existence as language, could transcend the limits of our immediate understanding? We all know how to speak and comprehend at least one language, but defining what we actually know about that language an infinitely more demanding process. How can a child without previous knowledge of the construction and concepts of language be born into the world with an innate ability to apprehend any dialect? Mark Baker, in his book The Atoms of Language, seeks to address these unsettling questions, proposing as a solution, a set of underlying linguistic ingredients, which interact to generate the wide variety of languages we see today.
“Queer Theory: According to My Grandmother” by Richard Blanco and “The Right Way to Speak” by Jacqueline Woodson both discuss the lives of children who are being forced to hide a part of who they are. “Queer Theory” is written from a grandmother’s point of view. The grandmother is telling her grandson all of the stereotypical things he can not do because she does not want him to look like he is gay even if he is. “The Right Way to Speak” is written from a daughter’s point of view while she is watching her mother hit her brother with a tree limb. The brother is getting punished for saying a common Southern word, “ain’t”. The mother was born and raised in the South where she was raised to always obey her elders. However, she does not want her children to have anything to do
Language always conveys a message. Language can convey a message that is full of manipulation. In Robin Lakoff’s essay, “Everybody’s a Politician”, she discusses how manipulation is used in day to day conversations, even if one is not intentionally trying to manipulate. Language can be used to dominate others. In the essay, “the Language of Oppression” by Haig A. Bosmajian, he explains the power of using names to define others. Language can change the way a person thinks. In the same essay, “the Language of Oppression” by Haig A. Bosmajian, he also discusses the way someone thinks can be changed by language. Lastly, language has the power to degrade an individual. In another essay, by Robin Lakoff, “You Are What You Say”, she explains how
The story I chose for this analysis is “Why, you reckon?” by Langston Hughes. IN this analysis I will be focusing on how the great depression in Harlem had effect on the story, how racism played a part, and how or if the characters were justifyied in their actions. During this time period the intense racial divide combined with the economic harships that plagued the U.S. during the 1923’s makes for an interesting story that makes you think if the charaters were really justified.
The gender binary of Western culture dichotomizes disgendered females and males, categorizing women and men as opposing beings and excluding all other people. Former professor of Gender Studies Walter Lee Williams argues that gender binarism “ignores the great diversity of human existence,” (191) and is “an artifact of our society’s rigid sex-roles” (197). This social structure has proved detrimental to a plethora of people who fall outside the Western gender dichotomy. And while this gender-exclusive system is an unyielding element of present day North American culture, it only came to be upon European arrival to the Americas. As explained by Judith Lorber in her essay “Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender”, “gender is so pervasive in our society we assume it is bred into our genes” (356). Lorber goes on to explain that gender, like culture, is a human production that requires constant participation (358).
The construction of gender is based on the division of humanity to man and woman. This is impossible ontologically speaking; because the humans are not divided, thus gender is merely an imaginary realm. It only exist in the language exercises, and the way that cultural products are conceived in them. This essay is a preliminary attempt to offer an analysis of ‘One Is Not Born a Woman’ by Wittig and ‘The Second Sex’ by Simone De Beauvoir holds on the language usage contribution to the creation of genders and the imagined femininity.
The author is narrating her personal history where she mentions the number of languages she learned and spoke and how her race, nationality and gender relied on the type of language she spoke. She divides her essay into small paragraphs by giving them a title so that it’s easy for the readers to understand. She has also given detailed examples
Claim 7 states that language and culture shape the way we think. The Nominalist, Relativist, and Qualified Relativist positions present differing views on this claim. The Nominalist position states that thoughts are all the same regardless of the language through which they are expressed. This position suggests that the existence of different languages does not mean that people “inhabit different perceptual worlds” (Nature of Language, p. 154). Conversely, according to the Relativist position, the structure of a language determines perception of reality and also cultural patterns. Lastly, the Qualified Relativist position takes a more moderate stance and states that while language can influence perception, it does not completely determine them. This view presents language as less of a “prison,” but rather as something that “our culture has instilled in us” and contributes to shaping “our orientation to the world” (Nature of Language, p. 156).
As Lorber explores in her essay “Night to His Day”: The Social Construction of Gender, “most people find it hard to believe that gender is constantly created and re-created out of human interaction, out of social life, and is the texture and order of that social life” (Lorber 1). This article was very intriguing because I thought of my gender as my sex but they are not the same. Lorber has tried to prove that gender has a different meaning that what is usually perceived of through ordinary connotation. Gender is the “role” we are given, or the role we give to ourselves. Throughout the article it is obvious that we are to act appropriately according to the norms and society has power over us to make us conform. As a member of a gender an individual is pushed to conform to social expectations of his/her group.
Schweickart, Patrocinio. "Reading Ourselves." Speaking of Gender. Elaine Showalter, editor. New York: Routledge, Chapman and Hall, 1989.
The acquisition of language has long been a debate in the world of linguistics, starting with B.F Skinner and Noam Chomsky in the 1950’s. Skinner, a leading behaviorist argued that language is just another behaviour learned through stimulus reinforcement, whereas Chomsky argued that it is unique. In his novel “The Language Instinct”, Pinker discusses the ins and outs of language while siding with Chomsky’s viewpoint. To further explain how language is not just a learned skill and to develop his own argument, Pinker goes as far as calling language an ‘instinct’.
Language is a part of our everyday lives, and we can describe the meaning of language in many ways. As suggested in Gee and Hayes (2011, p.6 ) people can view language as something in our minds or something existing in our world in the form of speech, audio recordings, and writings or we can view language as a way of communicating with a group of people. Language can be used to express our emotions, make sense of our mental and abstract thoughts and assists us in communicating with others around us. Language is of vital importance for children to enable them to succeed in school and everyday life. Everyone uses both oral and written language. Language developed as a common ability amongst human beings with the change
“Language is a system of communication using vocal sounds, gestures, or written symbols; the basis of symbolic culture and the primary means through which we communicate with one another and perpetuate our culture” (Pg 78) Language is the most significant element of culture. It has allowed us to develop and separate ourselves from all other species on the planet. Language is what connects us from the past, present and future. It allows us the grasp concepts complicated concepts to pass along to future generations. “Language is so important that many have argued that it shapes not only our communication but our perception” (Pg 78 Para 5 Line 1) The Sapir and Whorf Hypothesis broke from the traditional idea of language and made it concrete that language actually structures a thought, “That perception not only suggests the need for words with which to express what is perceived but also that the words themselves help create those perceptions” (Pg 78 Para 5 Line