Thread: Language filter

Just after posting this:

Originally Posted by AetheLove

Some countries have other sports that are also called football. Having people in different places use different words for different things is normal. Forcing countries with variety to use the same word for different things in order to placate countries that can only imagine one sport is stupid.

There's nothing wrong with English/Imperial units, though I'll admit that having people speak the same language can be convenient.

I have no picture, and I'm not laughing.

Babel.

... I was reminded of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis and other things which have taught me and shaped my thinking about language. I was going to follow-up that post with more, but it obviously didn't go in that thread. Seemed like it suited Drama though.

The operative quotes:

"Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society. It is quite an illusion to imagine that one adjusts to reality essentially without the use of language and that language is merely an incidental means of solving specific problems of communication or reflection. The fact of the matter is that the 'real world' is to a large extent unconsciously built upon the language habits of the group. No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached... We see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation." -Sapir (1958:69)

"We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages. The categories and types that we isolate from the world of phenomena we do not find there because they stare every observer in the face; on the contrary, the world is presented in a kaleidoscopic flux of impressions which has to be organized by our minds - and this means largely by the linguistic systems in our minds. We cut nature up, organize it into concepts, and ascribe significances as we do, largely because we are parties to an agreement to organize it in this way - an agreement that holds throughout our speech community and is codified in the patterns of our language. The agreement is, of course, an implicit and unstated one, but its terms are absolutely obligatory; we cannot talk at all except by subscribing to the organization and classification of data which the agreement decrees." -Whorf (1940:213-14)

Those are from this page:

The Linguist List

... which, if you are at all like me, is dangerous to visit. You might start reading and then look up to discover that it's tomorrow.


Æ