T h e I M P O R TA N C E
of LANGUAGE
——
" P e o p l e l o s t vi t a l p a r t s o f t h e i r p e r s o n s i f
they lost their language."
LANGUAGE
Language is a system of conventional or written symbols through
which human beings, as members of social groups and participants
in their culture, communicate.
In other words, it says language is a system of communication
through which human beings express themselves.
"Language is a speech sound produced by human beings to
express their ideas, emotions, thoughts, desires, and feelings."
- Aristotle
tuffet
curds and
whey
1
Language is vehicle
for the transmission
of culture.
“The most important relationship
between language and culture that gets
to the heart of what is lost when you lose
a language is that most of the culture is in
the language and is expressed in the
language.”
WISDOM
LITERATURE
GREETINGS
PROVERBS
SONGS
CURSES
PRAYERS
RIDDLES
PRAISES
L
A
N
G
U
A
G
E
CULTURE
2
Language is our
major mode of
communication.
• Language is a distinctly human activity that aids in the
transmission of feelings and thoughts from one person
to another.
• Among people, language is the primary means of
communication. It is through language communication,
spoken or written, that we are able to share our ideas,
opinions, views, and emotions with another person.
Don’t speak,
but WHISTLE.
3
Language gives
us our identity.
• Social interaction and ways in which people use
particular linguistic expressions that reflects dialect
patterns of their speech community. Studies shows that
many languages have subtle nuances in linguistic usage,
such as greeting patterns and even in their speech
patterns, their age, gender, and status are manifested.
• Accordingly, there is language of the youth, language of
the rich and famous, language of the nobility or
language of the “common tao.”
4
Language paves way for
continuity of traditional
culture.
• Language holds the intricate memory and information
for thousands of years and is the vehicle for the
transmission of culture. Since language is a visible and
powerful indicator of group’s identity, it has accurately
been recognized as an important way to maintain links
with one’s cultural past and to protect one’s cultural
uniqueness in the present.
• When a language dies out, future generations lose a
vital part of the culture that is necessary to completely
understand it.
5
Language create gaps
and caused
discrimination.
• Certain masculine language that connotes
importance in society such as managers, political
leaders, and managers that are often referred to as
male jobs. While certain female associated works
that connotes incompetence and low status create
wider gap between these sexes as well as
discrimination.
• Language plays a vital role in helping people build a
bridge of relationships. At the same time, language
acts as a destroyer of bridges of human relations
because it separates people from each other.
6
Language is not
confined solely on
verbal language.
• Non verbal communication that is usually lumped
into kinesis (body gestures), proxemics ( study of
manipulation and meaning of space) and
paralanguage or non verbal) sometimes convey an
even a stronger message than words can do. Non
verbal communication varies across the world, but
some appears to be universally understood and or
only understood by certain groups who created
them.
“ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN
WORDS.”
Gender-Fair Language is language
that avoids bias toward a particular
sex or gender and therefore is less
likely to convey stereotypes.
AIM OF GFL
Gender-fair language (GFL) aims to
reduce stereotyping and discrimination
based on gender. Two main strategies
have been used to make languages
gender-neutral and treat women and
men symmetrically:
Neutralization and Feminization.
Neutralization : is achieved, for example, by
replacing male-masculine forms (policeman) with
gender-unmarked forms (police officer).
"humanity" or "humankind" instead of "mankind"
"manufactured," "machine-made" instead of "manmade"
Feminization - use of feminine forms to make female
referents visible
Example: (the applicant… he or she instead of the
applicant… he)
Studies showed that consistent use of GFL like
in the story telling and use in the messages or
text utterances increase the probability of GFL.
Language policies have been successful in
incorporating role nouns with men and women
in putting gender stereotyped jobs in their
mental representations.
Guidelines provided to promote gender
equality through language:
Guidelines provided to promote gender
equality through language:
SE XISM in L ANGUAGE:
It is the use of language which devalues members of
one sex, almost invariably women, and thus fosters
gender inequality.
It is inherently discriminatory language, either written
or spoken, that implies an unjustified sexual bias
against a group or an individual, usually women, but
sometimes men. The identification of sexist language
and the need for a change to nonsexist forms have
long been topics of controversy.
Ways on how SEXISM in language foster gender inequality and
devaluates WOMEN.
THE WAY WE TALK TO
CHILDREN:
This is setting us up to believe that the
female lot in life is based on her looks, while
strength is promoted as a masculine feature.
Girls are taught that they should sit nicely
and quietly, while boys are rewarded for
being energetic.
Ways on how SEXISM in language foster geder inequality and
devaluates WOMEN.
The “RUN LIKE A GIRL”
phrase:
Women are put down by referring to them as
‘girls’. This suggests they are small, young
and innocent. In contrast, men are linked with
ideas of strength and suitability. They are
generally only referred to as boys to suggest
a playful aspect; ‘boys will be boys’, ‘playboy’,
or ‘old boys’ club’.
Thank you!
——