Language, Thought and
Representation
Session 4
LANGUAGE AS A SYSTEM OF
REPRESENTATION (I)
• Language is a way of representing reality. How?
• Is language merely a reporting device? Or does it influence the way
we think about reality?
• Language enables us to label and categorize the world around us. The
first language we learn through cultural transmission provides us
initially with a ready-made system of categorizing the world around
us.
• Can you think of an example in which you revised your ideas about a
thing or cultural norm from the one you previously held by virtue of
being a member of a society?
Ferdinand de Saussure’s Theories
• Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) is often known as the founder of
modern linguistics.
• Saussure approaches theory of language from two different
perspectives. On the one hand, language is a system of signs. That is,
a semiotic system; or a semiological system as he himself calls it. On
the other hand, a language is also a social phenomenon: a product of
the language community.
• Sign, signifier and the signified
WORD=SIGN
WORD=SIGN
Ferdinand de Saussure’s Theories
• Sign, signifier and the signified
• Langue and Parole
• The system and rules of langue can change. These changes are very slow, and may take hundreds
of years. Individuals start using a new word, or an existing word in a new way (all these usages are
parole), and other language users understand and adopt this. When this new linguistic behaviour
is well established, we can say that the new form has become part of langue, one that we all
understand. (49)
• The Symphony
• Synchronic vs. Diachronic
• Let’s watch a video here.
LANGUAGE AS A SYSTEM OF
REPRESENTATION (II)
• It is tempting to believe that there is a fixed relationship between the set of words we have
learned (our categories) and the way external reality is organized.
• However, evidence from the world’s languages would suggest that the organization of external
reality actually varies to some extent according to the language being used to talk about it.
• Some languages may have lots of expressions for types of “rain” or kinds of “coconut” and other
languages may have only one or two.
• The Color Spectrum: Although the Dani of New Guinea can see all colors of the spectrum, they
only use names for two of them Observing this difference in basic color terms in languages, we
can say that there are conceptual distinctions that are lexicalized (“expressed as a single word”) in
one language and not in another.
• Kinship Terms
DOES LANGUAGE REPRESENT REALITY?
• Because of the arbitrary relationship between signifier and
signified, and because signs take their meaning from their
relationship to other signs, there is no single way for languages
to describe reality. We can call this linguistic diversity.(59)
• What is Edward Sapir and Whorf’s term for this diversity?
THE SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS
The Sapir Whorf hypothesis states that one there is a
relationship between language and thought known as linguistic
relativity and to that language determines thought known as
linguistic determinism.
These are two hypotheses. Let’s unpack them one by one.
DOES LANGUAGE REPRESENT REALITY?
• The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis proclaimed the influence of language on
thought and perception. This, in turn, implies that the speakers of different
languages think and perceive reality in different ways and that each
language has its own world view. The issues this hypothesis raised not only
pertain to the field of linguistics but also had a bearing on Psychology,
Ethnology, Anthropology, Sociology, Philosophy, as well as on the natural
sciences. For, if reality is perceived and structured by the language we
speak, the existence of an objective world becomes questionable, and the
scientific knowledge we may obtain is bound to be subjective.
• Such a principle of relativity then becomes a principle of determinism.
Whether the language we speak totally determines our attitude towards
reality or whether we are merely influenced by its inherent world view
remains a topic of heated discussion
LINGUISTIC RELATIVISM
• We not only talk, but to a certain extent probably also think about the
world of experience, using the categories provided by our language.
Our first language seems to have a definite role in shaping “habitual
thought,” that is, the way we think about things as we go about our
daily lives, without analyzing how we are thinking.
LINGUISTIC DETERMINISM
There is a stronger version of this idea, of linguistic relativism which holds
that “language determines thought.” If language does indeed
determine thought, then we will only be able to think in the categories
provided by our language. For example, English speakers use one word for
“snow,” and generally see all that white stuff as one thing. In contrast,
Eskimos look out at all the white stuff and see it as many different things
because they have lots of different words for “snow.” So, the category
system inherent in the language determines how the speaker interprets and
articulates experience.
Examples:
• Color words
• Hopi conception of time
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
• Politically correct speech became a matter of hot debate in the 1980s,
when many native speakers of English became sensitive to biased
terms and phrases that exist in the language. In the previous decade,
activists of the feminist movement made the first attempts to
diminish differences between men and women in society.
• Feminists criticized the existing language and culture as “maledominated” and “patriarchal.” The history of society, as the feminists
argued, was written from the male point of view (“it’s HIStory, not
HERstory”)
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS: Don’ts
Sexist language is a term that labels the use of male-dominated
phrases suggesting that members of one sex are less able, intelligent,
and skillful.
Pejorative language is the use of words or phrases disapproving or
suggesting that something is no good or of no importance (labeling
nationalities, aged people, etc.);
taboo language includes words or phrases which are likely to offend
somebody—certain words referring to sex or sexual organs, excretion,
and people’s nationality or race can be particularly offensive.
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS: Characteristics
• Inclusive language suggested avoiding the use of male pronouns in the
cases when the gender of a person is unknown.
• In the late 1980s, the rules of political correctness (PC) began to be applied
to a broad range of issues—such as race, age, sexual orientation, abilities.
As people became sensitive to bias on the basis of race, gender, age, and
sexual orientation, they tried to minimize the negative impact of language
that reflected these biases. The tendency toward “deracialization” in
English provided new names for nationalities and ethnic groups.
• The words Negro, colored, and Afro-American were replaced by African
American; Oriental or Asiatic became Asian or more specific designations
such as Pacific Islander, Chinese American, Korean. Indian, a term that
refers to people who live in or come from India, was differentiated from
terms used for the native peoples of North America such as American
Indian, Native American, or more specific terms like Chinook or Hopi.
Task 1
The following phrases use sexist language. Rewrite them to make them
inclusive.
1. A teacher should be tolerant with his students.
2. A child needs the love of his parents.
3. An actress is usually nervous before the show.
4. Mary is a camerawoman.
5. The committee elected a chairman.
6. Man is destroying our planet.
7. Today man-made fibers are used for manufacturing stockings. 8. This
substance is not known to man.
Task 2
Although well known, the following proverbs are not politically correct.
Try to change them.
1. Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and
wise.
2. He who cannot obey cannot command.
3. A man’s home is his castle.
4. Every man has his hobbyhorse.
5. He is happy that thinks himself so.
Task 3
Many people are sensitive about their abilities, age, culture, and
appearance. Make the following phrases sound inoffensive to the
persons being spoken about.
1. She is looking after her insane mother.
2. The program offers long-term care for the elderly and
immediate care for the mentally retarded.
3. A new clinic for the care of geriatrics is being proposed.
4. He is as blind as a bat.
5. My neighbor is as deaf as a post.
TASK 3
1. She is looking after her mentally challenged mother.
2. The program offers long-term care for senior citizens and immediate care
for the developmentally challenged.
3. A new clinic for the care of older people is being proposed.
4. He is visually challenged.
5. My neighbor has hearing impairments.
6. Jane finds it difficult to express her feelings.
7. Overweight people need to go on diets.