Does Your Language Shape How You Think?

[Bernadette Santamaria]

All on this topic:

To throw my "two cents" in and a viewpoint of fluency in three
languages--these questions, including does your first language influence
your thinking or the other way around, I believe, are questions that fluent
speakers of more than one language would be more able to make assessments
on.  Also, even if some Indigenous language speakers, mostly in the past
(now most of our elders are bilingual in our rez communities) did not speak
English (for example), they still had concepts and values such as morality
lessons, right and wrongness of actions, etc. that are probably embedded in
all cultures; therefore, saying that they didn't understand certain things
just because it was not in their languages is not very accurate.

The other thing is that I can distinguish in myself what language I'm coming
from when I think about certain things, but most things I make important
decisions on involve my first language more often than and includes even
modern topics such as how I'll give advice about higher education to my
grandchildren who are all raised on the rez. I think about in Apache first,
in other words, then tell them in English why I believe they should plan
their futures. Also, too numerous times to count, I often find that English
is not an adequate language in complex topics such as in attempting to
describe our ceremonies, meanings, symbolism, spirituality beliefs,
traditional values, etc.

The other thing about our Indigenous languages is that they far surpass
English in many areas, topics of discussion, and use in descriptions of
land, natural resources, etc. The Apache language is far richer than
English, in other words, and I can make that assertion because I speak both
fluently.

Another  curious thing I've observed is that many people who are monolingual
in English make numerous grammar mistakes, even though some are highly
educated or hold high public positions; why is it that some of us for whom
English is a second or third language can use English in a more standard or
"correct" version than some of those for whom it is their first and only
language?  What does that imply regarding these questions on Whorf's
theories?

Just some views on this topic of whether language shapes a person or the
other way around.


Bernadette A. SantaMaria





On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 9:03 AM, MJ Hardman <hardman at ufl.edu> wrote:

> What fun questions!!  I imagine an evening, or more, of conversation in
> person, just tossing back and forth all these implcatons.  And yeah, some of
> us have indeed thought of a lot of these.  And stewed on them.  And  for me,
> it’s coming full circle; my first studies were with the students of the
> originals named.  Stuff got lost in the middle there, where folks stopped
> asking; thought they *really* knew.  Really?  If we think we shall
> discover the nature of human existence maybe we need a bit of humility.
>
> Thanks.  MJ
>
>
> On 8/30/10 10:19 AM, "Richard Zane Smith" <rzs at WILDBLUE.NET> wrote:
>
>   Thanks Dave,
> great article, love this stuff! .... it makes me ask some "different"
> questions.
> Makes me want to analyze the analyzers, probe the probers, to study the
>  studiers,.
> *
> - what is it that makes certain people groups analyze other people groups?
> *
> *- why is it NOT important for some people groups to analyze other people
> groups?
>
> - has there been a specific anthropological study on anthropologists?
> *
> - *is it a cultural motivated desire to find patterns and to comprehend
> everything that exists?
> *
> *-why do some cultural groups seem free from a desire to understand
> everything in the universe?
> *
> - *is continual knowledge harvesting a lingering desire of conquest or is
> it preeminent curiosity?
>
>
> *wow this list could keep going...
>
> Richard Zane Smith
> Wyandotte Oklahoma
> *
>
> *
>
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 4:57 AM, Dave Pearson <dave_pearson at sil.org>
> wrote:
>
> Guy Deutscher’s article in yesterday’s New York Times, “Does Your Language
> Shape How You Think?” is a stimulating challenge to the linguacentric
> assumptions that each of us make.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html
>
> Dave
>
>
>
>
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