AMD 3

Hallo!

I decided to go for something a bit more educational for this post compared to my previous posts. I was looking forward on the assignment page, and I came across an optional reading in Chapter 4. The reading is basically about whether language causes speakers to think differently. This is a very interesting idea because language is an extremely necessary thing in society. Without language, who knows whether the wheel would have ever been invented. The article talks about how different languages and how the speakers of those different languages orient themselves differently. It also calls into question whether languages themselves cause people to think differently. For example, a group of Aboriginal Australians orient themselves in terms of "absolute reference frames." English speakers (and most other cultures) orient themselves in terms of relative placement. This means that when I say to move your hand to the right, they would instead say (in their own language, of course) to move their hand north. This doesn't seem like a very large deal. It actually is very important because this causes these people to always know where they are. This is far better than most English speakers, me included. For example, when I am on the diag, I still think that State St. is south than me. If I were standing on the diag, State street would actually be west of me, and I would still think this if it wasn't for the fact that three of the roads around campus are named for their direction. Someone who spoke Kuuk Thaayorre would never have this problem because they have always been taught to think that way. There was even an experiment where they asked people who spoke numerous languages to place cards that showed a progression (banana being eaten) in order. English speakers placed these cards in order from left to right (the same way we read), and Hebrew speakers placed those same cards in order from right to left (the way Hebrew is read). The interesting group was the Abroriginal people. They placed these people in all different directions, but these people would always place the cards in order from east to west.

Apparently, other languages have genders. I thought it was difficult to learn the two (or three if you count neuter). The Aboriginal Australians have to learn 16 different genders. That sucks!!

In addition, gender actually does impact how people think about language. "Key" is masculine in German and feminine in Spanish. When referring to a key, Spanish speakers (Key is feminine) use words like "golden" and "intricate," while Germans (Key is masculine) say "metal" and "useful." This shows that language really does change the way that people think of words.