Discuss, with examples, language as an element of culture. How does language shape our perceptions and convey cultural attitudes about gender or race and ethnicity?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A good answer will include examples of how language shapes perceptions, such as the Hopi having no verb tenses so they can't communicate past or future, Hebrew doesn't distinguish between "jelly" and "Jam" so an Israeli doesn't understand the difference until learning English, the French discuss "pain in the liver" while we may not understand how they can tell which organ is in pain, after learning the word "gentrification" an Argentinean perceived and could describe his city differently. A good answer will also include examples of how language conveys cultural attitudes about gender or race and ethnicity, such as how "man" and "he" are used as terms to include women and men are gender biased, how Chairman and Policeman imply the position's gender, how "Ms." was developed to provide a marriage-neutral equivalent to "Mr.", and examples that convey ideas about different groups, such as "a black mark," "good guys wear white hats," "a Chinaman's chance," "to Jew down," and the Obamas being called "uppity" which refers to not knowing one's place. (The Eskimos having many words for snow may be cited as an example, but this is a myth students should know from the box on page 43.)