Language and Culture (was Re: Proverbs)

[Justin McBride]

> I thought maybe this might be a good separate thread.
> The Omahas recommended when I was in Macy that I go to the three
> funerals
> being held that first week.  I know it was partly just to keep me out of
> their hair while they went to the funerals themselves, but they argued
> that it it would help me understand them better, and "you can't understand
> our language if you don't understand us."

    Great topic!  It reminds me of--and please excuse the level of pop
culture in my reference--that "Tanaka at the Bridge" episone of Star Trek:
The Next Generation!  The aliens spoke English, but even their "universal
translator" (don't get me started...) could'nt figure out what they were
saying.  The idea behind it was that the aliens spoke a language of
theatrical metaphors that could not be interpretted out of cultural context.
NextGen was one of those rare shows where anthropological linguistics was
good material!

Paul wrote:
>    Has anyone heard of proverbs in eastern
>    Asia?  Chinese proverbs?  Japanese?

    The Dhammapada (sp?) is nothing but proverbs.  I believe it was written
in Pali, a IE Prakrit language.  But due to the rich heritage of the
Buddhist tradition in the East, I assume there might be an analog there to
our Biblical proverbs.  I don't know for sure, or anything; it's just
speculation on my part.  But it also brings up the notion of the Hebrew
proverbs as found in the book of... yup... Proverbs.  A patriarchical
society, true, but not necessarily a chiefdom, and definitely not
Missippian!
    Furthermore, since many Native American languages were first approached
by missionaries, and since many such languages may have some Biblical texts
translated, I wonder how some of the texts deal with the Proverbs, or even
the metaphors.  I'm sure 'a camel in the eye of a needle' would be
fascinating in Kansa, or even just 'eye of a needle!'