Your Language(s) Effects How You Think
Languages develop over time and with the influences of cultures, but the way that people think also evolves with the influence of language. This is evident in many aspects of different languages, from gendered nouns to spatial awareness. Even though some of your perceptions of the world are based on how your language approaches it, language doesn't necessarily determine your position on every subject.
The article briefly mentions how color names in different languages evolve. We all see a spectrum of colors, different languages pick out different areas on the spectrum to categorize. For example, some languages classify blue and green together or orange and yellow together. More developed languages seem to have an abundance of color terms that no one can agree on what specific qualities determines where it is on the spectrum. I've noticed that in English, the different qualities of colors are not commonly specified. In my experience this sometimes leads to complications. I recall having arguments about whether objects were yellow or orange, or green or blue. But there are several terms for what could all be considered purple that are used all interchangeably. Are we ever going to specify the differences between violet, indigo, magenta, and lavender? In Spanish, many people confuse marrón and café, its use probably depends on the culture. Café means something along the lines of "coffee colored" similar to how we use lavender to describe things that have the same color as the lavender flowers. 青色 (Qing Se) is sort of the teal/aqua of Chinese. I thought that it was on the greener side of the spectrum until I did some research and got mixed results, most sources claim that it is bluer, and now I'm just confused.
An important topic addressed in the article is how gender or noun class is interpreted in a language. Many languages have noun classes, but when they only have two or three they are considered gendered languages. Some common languages that contain gendered nouns are Spanish and German. People who speak these languages tend to perceive objects that fall under certain "genders" with stereotypical characteristics of that gender. Gendered languages are theorized to have an effect on how speakers think of gender in society and how they separate them. Not all noun classes are "gendered" though, the article mentions a Papua New Guinean language that has over 177 classifications. In Chinese there are characters known as measurement words that are also used to categorize nouns, there are probably at least 50 measurement words in Mandarin.
Perception of spatial awareness is also largely effected by language. Some examples mentioned in the article are varieties of Australian languages and a Mayan language refer to compass directions to determine their place. The prepositions that we use focus on an objects relation to another object instead of where an object stands according to the cardinal directions. I have noticed that prepositions aren't only used in conversations to describe abstract relations as well as physical placements of objects, words like "on" and "from," or "acerca" and "sobre." So I wonder how languages that use compass directions approach abstract relations. Would they find a way to creatively use North, South, East, and West to describe them or just have separate terms for abstract relations?
Article Link:
<https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/does-your-language-influence-how-you-think>
The article briefly mentions how color names in different languages evolve. We all see a spectrum of colors, different languages pick out different areas on the spectrum to categorize. For example, some languages classify blue and green together or orange and yellow together. More developed languages seem to have an abundance of color terms that no one can agree on what specific qualities determines where it is on the spectrum. I've noticed that in English, the different qualities of colors are not commonly specified. In my experience this sometimes leads to complications. I recall having arguments about whether objects were yellow or orange, or green or blue. But there are several terms for what could all be considered purple that are used all interchangeably. Are we ever going to specify the differences between violet, indigo, magenta, and lavender? In Spanish, many people confuse marrón and café, its use probably depends on the culture. Café means something along the lines of "coffee colored" similar to how we use lavender to describe things that have the same color as the lavender flowers. 青色 (Qing Se) is sort of the teal/aqua of Chinese. I thought that it was on the greener side of the spectrum until I did some research and got mixed results, most sources claim that it is bluer, and now I'm just confused.
An important topic addressed in the article is how gender or noun class is interpreted in a language. Many languages have noun classes, but when they only have two or three they are considered gendered languages. Some common languages that contain gendered nouns are Spanish and German. People who speak these languages tend to perceive objects that fall under certain "genders" with stereotypical characteristics of that gender. Gendered languages are theorized to have an effect on how speakers think of gender in society and how they separate them. Not all noun classes are "gendered" though, the article mentions a Papua New Guinean language that has over 177 classifications. In Chinese there are characters known as measurement words that are also used to categorize nouns, there are probably at least 50 measurement words in Mandarin.
Perception of spatial awareness is also largely effected by language. Some examples mentioned in the article are varieties of Australian languages and a Mayan language refer to compass directions to determine their place. The prepositions that we use focus on an objects relation to another object instead of where an object stands according to the cardinal directions. I have noticed that prepositions aren't only used in conversations to describe abstract relations as well as physical placements of objects, words like "on" and "from," or "acerca" and "sobre." So I wonder how languages that use compass directions approach abstract relations. Would they find a way to creatively use North, South, East, and West to describe them or just have separate terms for abstract relations?
Article Link:
<https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/does-your-language-influence-how-you-think>
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