linguistic relativity
I don't know what I'm doing here. It's been years since I regularly updated and yet I sometimes STILL find myself writing LJ entries in my head when something exciting or overwhelming or just plain weird occurs. I miss it in the way that I sometimes miss high school. Its all part of the same past.
Speaking of the past, my Mom's friend who travels around the world for research recently told me this story about a tribe she studied in Africa. They are a people that live wholly in the present; even their language excludes most, if not all, words that even suggest the past or present. She said that they are some of the happiest people she has ever met. Because they are focused on the present they have nothing to worry about. During the summer they live outdoors and sleep on the ground and during the winter they build platforms with tents. However, once and awhile, she explained, a platform will collapse, (because of the lack of time actually spent planning/building these platforms), and YET, when it falls, everyone laughs hysterically. They get up and join their friends in the other tents until the next day when they rebuild it. I've looked all over the internet for something on them and I've been unsuccessful, sadly, but I'd love to know more/meet these people!
It kind of ties into something we've been discussing in my art history class. Every language has a different amount of words per meaning. In comparison to the African tribe, the English language seems to have an abundance of terms about the past and future, like I mentioned above. Therefore we're more likely to worry about them. As confusing as it sounds, the French only have one word for both conscience and consciousness, resulting in a fusion of the concepts. In addition, the Eskimos have a lot more words for snow, while the Arabs have many more for horses. Even the words for the spectrum of colors differs from language to language (we have 5 in English, but in Rhodesia they have 4 and in Liberia only TWO). Essentially, different languages influence the way that those language-speakers think and see the world!
I find that it would be hard to ever fully understand the concepts of another culture without having actually grown-up within it. I suppose you could learn the language and try to immerse yourself within the society, but I feel as if you could literally get lost in translation! Some argue that language produces almost the entirety of our conventions, and I'm finding it hard deciding whether or not I agree. If by language, they mean every single informal language of a society than perhaps they are right, but otherwise I think there is more to one's environment that affects their being.
Speaking of the past, my Mom's friend who travels around the world for research recently told me this story about a tribe she studied in Africa. They are a people that live wholly in the present; even their language excludes most, if not all, words that even suggest the past or present. She said that they are some of the happiest people she has ever met. Because they are focused on the present they have nothing to worry about. During the summer they live outdoors and sleep on the ground and during the winter they build platforms with tents. However, once and awhile, she explained, a platform will collapse, (because of the lack of time actually spent planning/building these platforms), and YET, when it falls, everyone laughs hysterically. They get up and join their friends in the other tents until the next day when they rebuild it. I've looked all over the internet for something on them and I've been unsuccessful, sadly, but I'd love to know more/meet these people!
It kind of ties into something we've been discussing in my art history class. Every language has a different amount of words per meaning. In comparison to the African tribe, the English language seems to have an abundance of terms about the past and future, like I mentioned above. Therefore we're more likely to worry about them. As confusing as it sounds, the French only have one word for both conscience and consciousness, resulting in a fusion of the concepts. In addition, the Eskimos have a lot more words for snow, while the Arabs have many more for horses. Even the words for the spectrum of colors differs from language to language (we have 5 in English, but in Rhodesia they have 4 and in Liberia only TWO). Essentially, different languages influence the way that those language-speakers think and see the world!
I find that it would be hard to ever fully understand the concepts of another culture without having actually grown-up within it. I suppose you could learn the language and try to immerse yourself within the society, but I feel as if you could literally get lost in translation! Some argue that language produces almost the entirety of our conventions, and I'm finding it hard deciding whether or not I agree. If by language, they mean every single informal language of a society than perhaps they are right, but otherwise I think there is more to one's environment that affects their being.