In The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language Whorf brings up the idea that the language we use daily has an effect on our actions because language influences the way we think about certain things. He describes his way of thinking when he states, "concepts of 'time' and 'matter' are not given in substantially the same form by experience to all men but depend upon the nature of the language or languages through the use of which they have been developed (Whorf)."
Early on, Whorf gives the example of the gasoline drums, and goes on to explain that the words “gasoline drum” suggest some kind of danger, and therefore tend to make people cautious. On the other side of things, Whorf states the words “empty gasoline drum” suggest no danger, and therefore people tend to be more
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He analyzes both languages in regards to their ‘Plurality and Numeration’ and found that the Hopi language treats time as an order of particular events, while SAE views time as an abstract amount of numbers as physical objects. When it comes to ‘Nouns of Physical Quantity’ Whorf found that mass nouns were commonly used in SAE, while Hopi has a “formally distinguished class of nouns (Whorf),” but no mass nouns. Instead its nouns “imply indefiniteness… outline and size (Whorf).” In the ‘Phases of Cycle’ section, Whorf explains that Hopi uses adverbs to characterize phase terms, but in SAE phase terms are seen as very concrete. Also, Whorf mentions ‘Temporal Forms of Verbs’ and reveals that SAE relies on a three tense system (these three tenses being past, present and future), and Hopi relies on the speaker to indicate whether something is taking place later or sooner and so on. Lastly, Whorf goes on to talk about the many connections between language, thought and behavior. In the end, everything ties back to Whorf’s main argument: that language has some influence on thought and
The article, “The Power of Habit” (chapter 9), by Charles Duhigg, is about Angie Bachmann who was addicted to gambling. It all started one day when she felt so lonely that she decided to go out and play in the nearest casino. Angie started by setting rules just so she would not become addicted. As days went by Angie slowly started to break her rules and gambled more than what she should of have. Angie lost a lot of money. Although, Harrah’s casino would send her free stuff and vacation trips to get Angie to play more. Angie realized that she had a problem with gambling and went away for a time, but she went back to Harrah’s casino when her parents inherit her money. Angie lost all the money that she inherited and started to get loans
How much does language truly affect the way that we think? In “Nothing is Missing,” Tom Munnecke discusses the limitations that arise when being confined to unique “linguistic shells.” However, after an eye-opening trip to Japan language paradoxes that once hindered the fluidity of his thoughts were depleted. Through his own experiences with thinking and speaking in different languages, Munnecke was able to open his mind and view the world in a more progressive way. The “linguistic shell” that frustrated Munnecke in his early age becomes a lead to many theories that he has about our modern lives. Subsequently, Munnecke is able to relate language, thought, and distance; all of which he concludes have no boundaries within each other. In his memoir
Do our relationships with each other really have a psychological impact on our minds? The mindset of a person is very intriguing especially when they are around different types of people. People will adjust themselves in order for them to belong. Alain de Botton challenges the way we view our ordinary experiences in his essay, “On Habit” by. In his essay, de Botton is a traveler that tries to seek the meaning of a traveler’s mindset. De Botton implies that the traveler’s mindset is the idea of thinking that a place can not decide one’s mood. In order for a person to escape that boredom in life, they must find a way to interpret their surroundings differently. The same sense can be brought towards relationships. If a person is miserable in a
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
Whorf believes that the Hopi culture “has no general notion or intuition of time”(370), referring to the absence of the word “time” in the Hopi language as well as the past, present, and future tenses in the Hopi grammar. He describes the Hopi grammar as having only the “manifested” and the “manifesting”(372), which roughly translates to the known and the unknown respectively. Something manifested or objective can include a past event, something that is occurring right now, as well as anything that can be grasped by the physical senses. Conversely, the subjective or the manifesting covers not only the future but also anything that is abstract or inaccessible to the physical senses, such as “mentality, intellection, and emotion”(372). Anything subjective in the Hopi language is associated with the verb “tunátya”(374), or hope. According to Whorf, “the word is really a term which crystallizes the Hopi philosophy of the universe”(374). It contains the combined idea of “‘thought,’ ‘desire,’ and ‘cause,’”(374) but is at the same time associated with inanimate objects and involuntary actions; “the Hopi see [hope] in the growing of plants, the forming of clouds and their condensation in rain… and in all human hoping, wishing, striving, and taking thought: and as most especially concentrated in prayer”(374).
Inside every speaker of a language is a thought world, which is how they can make sense of the overly-detailed world the live in, and portray how they see things to others. Whorf shows an example of how languages differ from culture to culture by comparing the Standard Average European language to the language of the Hopi Indians. When compared, there are major differences that would make it very difficult to understand either languages depending on what culture you are familiar with. In the Hopi, all their nouns are singular and plural, to them just the word water implies an amount (Whorf 1939: 219). This unlike the Standard Average European language; in this particular language they have to have something that gives an amount or shape of whatever they are talking about, like a glass of water. The Hopi don’t distinguish time as the SAE do; they don’t place time in an imaginary place, they can only talk about what is happening at the moment. The speakers of SAE puts time in an imaginary place, they can talk about the past, present, and future. The way the two different cultures speak showcase the differences in the cultures. The SAE culture is an industrialized culture, their language is all about saving time and efficiency; they are worrying about how much time they are wasting. The Hope culture is an
Whorf, Benjamin L. “Some Verbal Categories of Hopi”. Linguistic Society of America, 1938. Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 275-286. Print.
Lakoff and Johnson propose that the language we use affects the way we think and the way we think affects the language we use. I am reminded of the old saying: "As a man thinkith, so is he.S To illustrate, the metaphor of argument as war is used. If I think of argument as war then my instincts will be directed towards winning that war. Kill or be killed. I defend my claims against others and attack the opponent's weak points trying to shoot down any counter-arguments hurled at me. The adrenaline is pumping. The objective is no longer expression, but survival. Signs consistent with the metaphor will be recognized and others will be ignored.
People always communicate using language. In communication, people share their feeling and thought through a system which makes their interlocutors understand what they speak. Wardhaugh (2006) state people constantly choose what they want to say, how they want to say it, and the use of specific linguistic items which best for the way they say things. People need to manage their relationships with the interlocutors as well. It makes them consider who their interlocutors are, the settings in which the communication occurs, and the appropriateness of language being used.
In the article The Mindset of a Champion Carol Dweck explains how important the mindset of an athlete is. Dweck goes into great detail about the differences of a growth and fixed mindset and how it influences athletes and students, Dweck mentions some of the characteristics of someone with a fixed mindset and she does the same with someone with a growth mindset. Someone with a fixed mindset typically sees their abilities as a fixed trait, they also believe that talent is a gift you either have it or you don’t, in the contrary someone with a growth mindset usually believes that people can cultivate their abilities. Dweck also mentions how sometimes a person can hold one mindset about intelligence and another about sports. The central psychological concept of this article is how your mindset affects your motivation to excel in your sport or school work. In the article Dweck discusses a few experimental studies, she was a part of, in the first experiment she indicates her hypothesis: students with a fixed mindset were more likely to cheat or give up. Independent variable: a group of students given a test in a new subject. Dependent Variable: a group of students given a test in a subject they enjoy. they found that those with a fixed mindset were more likely to say that if they did poorly on a test, even if it were in a new course they would most likely study less or even cheat on the next test. This example, provides great proof of Dweck’s definition of a fixed mindset.
In her article, How Does Our Language Shape the Way We Think, Lera Boroditsky (2009) explains how the results of her experiments support the idea that the structure of language shapes the way we think. In one of her experiments, she found that English speakers would place cards showing temporal progression in temporal order from left to right, Hebrew speakers would place them right to left, and that the Kuuk Thaayorre would place them from east to west. This shows that the written language affects how time is represented to them. In another one of her experiments, she asked German and Spanish speakers to describe some items and found that the masculinity or femininity of the noun in their respective languages affects how it is ultimately described. This can also be seen in how artists represent the human form of abstract entities like death. Boroditsky concludes that “Language is central to our experience of being human, and the languages we speak profoundly shape the way we think, the way we see the world, the way we live our lives.” (Core reader p. 49) I would like to add that language is also the foundation of a person’s culture, pride, and self by exploring articles written by Eric Liu, Amy Tan, and Gloria Anzaldua.
Language has a significant impact on cognitive development as according to Vygotsky language precedes thinking. (Powell, Katherine C, Kalina, Cody J p241) A common language is necessary for people to interact socially. Language is...
Next, we shall evaluate the key features of language which are; communicative, arbitrary, structured, generative, and dynamic. Communicative, language can allow one to interact with another. According to Willingham (2007), the bond found with the elements in language and what they mean is arbitrary. The way language is set up shows how the symbols are not arbitrary. The set up language shows precisely how intricate it can be. Generative, one is able to build countless number of meanings from words. Dynamic, language never stays the same, therefore it can be known as sporadic. According to Willingham (2007), changes are being made all the time as new words get added and as the ways of grammar change. These elements can be quite critical when it comes to language.
"[H]uman knowledge is organized de facto by linguistic competence through language performance, and our exploration of reality is always mediated by language" (Danchin 29). Most higher vertebrates possess ‘intuitive knowledge’ which occurs as the result of slow evolution of species. However, the ability to create knowledge through language is unique to humans. According to Benjamin Whorf, "language…. is not merely a reproducing instrument from voicing ideas but rather is itself the shaper of ideas…. We dissect nature along lines laid down by language" (Joseph 249). In addition, the development and acquisition of language seems to be related to "complex sequential processing, and the ability to form concepts and to classify a single stimulus in a multiple manner" (Joseph 178). Antione Danchin suggests that the knowledge we create through language allows us distinguish ourselves from the rest of the world to produce models of reality, which become more and more adequate due to the "self-referent loop" which enables us to understand ourselves as objects under study. This "path from subject to object," which is common to all humans, Danchin claims, suggests the existence of a universal feature of language (29).
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