Michael Robertson
ANT 101 H006/H007
4/3/2016
Dr. Kaufmann
Language can Change Reality A normal person, going a long living their day to day life may not stop to think that if they knew a completely different language, or no language at all, that their reality would be completely different. A thought I always had is, if someone did not know any language at all, were they able to logically think? The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis suggests, “Language is a force in its own right, that it affects how individuals in a society perceive and conceive reality” (Ember 245). The English language was compared with Hopi. Whorf stated that the English language has discreetness in regards to time and space. The Hopi language does not. Hopi speaks of things going on as an ongoing process without time being into fixed segments (245). Every language is different in some sort of way, may be a minor difference or could be complete opposites. Language can alter one’s reality in many different ways. Such as knowing how to describe something one needs or wants. Or even getting a job in order to make a living. Language can alter one’s realty. Knowing how to communicate with people is the best way to …show more content…
I personally had to read Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. In class, our teacher made us read aloud. It messed most people up based on the language itself. English during times of Shakespeare was much different than that of English in present day terms. There is a field of study called historical linguistics. Historical linguistics study how languages change over time. The best way to determining how language changes over time is to use some sort of written documents that are found. (237) Shakespeare’s plays are perfect for this kind of study. Just from reading Shakespeare aloud, one can tell there are words that have different meanings, changes in pronunciation, and even words that are new to the present world all
ANT 101 H006/H007
4/3/2016
Dr. Kaufmann
Language can Change Reality A normal person, going a long living their day to day life may not stop to think that if they knew a completely different language, or no language at all, that their reality would be completely different. A thought I always had is, if someone did not know any language at all, were they able to logically think? The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis suggests, “Language is a force in its own right, that it affects how individuals in a society perceive and conceive reality” (Ember 245). The English language was compared with Hopi. Whorf stated that the English language has discreetness in regards to time and space. The Hopi language does not. Hopi speaks of things going on as an ongoing process without time being into fixed segments (245). Every language is different in some sort of way, may be a minor difference or could be complete opposites. Language can alter one’s reality in many different ways. Such as knowing how to describe something one needs or wants. Or even getting a job in order to make a living. Language can alter one’s realty. Knowing how to communicate with people is the best way to …show more content…
I personally had to read Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. In class, our teacher made us read aloud. It messed most people up based on the language itself. English during times of Shakespeare was much different than that of English in present day terms. There is a field of study called historical linguistics. Historical linguistics study how languages change over time. The best way to determining how language changes over time is to use some sort of written documents that are found. (237) Shakespeare’s plays are perfect for this kind of study. Just from reading Shakespeare aloud, one can tell there are words that have different meanings, changes in pronunciation, and even words that are new to the present world all