| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
jpvanderwerf2001
Joined: 02 Oct 2003
Posts: 1117
Location: New York
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
basiltherat
Joined: 04 Oct 2003
Posts: 952
|
 Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 10:19 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
intertesting article.
reminded me of the fact that there is really no precise and adequate indonesian equivalent for the word 'guilt' but there is one for 'shame'.
that tells us something about the way indonesians are taught to think and behave.
i think it's the same for arabic but i could stand corrected.
best
basil |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ntropy
Joined: 11 Oct 2003
Posts: 671
Location: ghurba
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 11:34 pm Post subject: |
|
|
damn straight it does.
The Japanse words for husband are "danna-sama" and "goshujin" which translate to "master" and "main person." The word for "wife" is "kanai" which means "the person inside the house." |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
LinguRing
Joined: 29 Jun 2010
Posts: 10
Location: Tokyo, Japan
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 6:26 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Read this the other day and have to say I agree, both through vocabulary as ntropy mentioned and basic sentence structure |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Sashadroogie
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 6:53 am Post subject: |
|
|
This topic has been done many times before, even on this board. I strongly disagree with the notions in the posted article.
In the words of S Pinker, 'language emerges from human minds', i.e. the mind shapes language, not the other way around. 'Language is not so much a creator or shaper of human nature so much as a window into human nature'. From how language is structured, we can ascertain how the brain processes concepts of time, space causality etc., though these mental processes are independent of culture or the language spoken.
http://designative.info/2009/11/12/watch-steven-pinkers-language-and-thought-talk-at-ted/ |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
gaijinalways
Joined: 29 Nov 2005
Posts: 2279
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 8:33 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Sasha is correct that this topic was fairly recently discussed in these forums (though I wouldn't necessarily agree with all of his and Pinker's conclusions). I assume it is one of those issues that teachers will just to have to grapple over semantics about. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Sashadroogie
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 9:22 am Post subject: |
|
|
| A far more interesting question is to what extent does vodka shape both thought AND language? Hic! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
thelmadatter
Joined: 31 Mar 2003
Posts: 1212
Location: in el Distrito Federal x fin!
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 3:28 pm Post subject: way around |
|
|
Ill go with the other way around as well. The words can reinforce ideas in the next generation but the words are created to fit the situation in the first place.
Did you know that the word "husband" comes from "house bound"? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 4:19 pm Post subject: |
|
|
From the article...an interesting experiment.
| Quote: |
| In recent years, various experiments have shown that grammatical genders can shape the feelings and associations of speakers toward objects around them. In the 1990s, for example, psychologists compared associations between speakers of German and Spanish. There are many inanimate nouns whose genders in the two languages are reversed. A German bridge is feminine (die Br�cke), for instance, but el puente is masculine in Spanish; and the same goes for clocks, apartments, forks, newspapers, pockets, shoulders, stamps, tickets, violins, the sun, the world and love. On the other hand, an apple is masculine for Germans but feminine in Spanish, and so are chairs, brooms, butterflies, keys, mountains, stars, tables, wars, rain and garbage. When speakers were asked to grade various objects on a range of characteristics, Spanish speakers deemed bridges, clocks and violins to have more �manly properties� like strength, but Germans tended to think of them as more slender or elegant. With objects like mountains or chairs, which are �he� in German but �she� in Spanish, the effect was reversed. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
johntpartee
Joined: 02 Mar 2010
Posts: 3258
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 5:09 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| Did you know that the word "husband" comes from "house bound"? |
The etymology when I looked it up just now indicated "house HOLDER"; i.e., head of the house; makes more sense, actually, since the vast majority of cultures throughout history have been patriarchal. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Chancellor
Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 1337
Location: Ji'an, China - if you're willing to send me cigars, I accept donations :)
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 7:31 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Is this like the well-worn question, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Sashadroogie
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 8:16 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| It wishes it were. This one has a clear answer, except for the mystically inclined. Or for the nationalistically minded. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
