After reading Chapter 4 and the articles for this assignment, I’ve concluded that the way we see the world affects the language that we use. One of the most gripping and memorable examples is from Chapter 4, where it mentioned the unfortunate case of Genie - a girl who had been locked in an attic for almost 13 years. Because of the way she saw the world (being confined like a prisoner), her speech was permanently deformed and she became somewhat fearful to even speak. From this example, I think people’s concept of reality shapes the language they use, not vice versa. Because of the circumstances different people live in, the ways of speech other cultures allow or forbid, and the way children are raised, it’s quite evident that their personal views are vividly and verbally shown through their language.
I personally love the article “Shakespeare in the Bush”, because it takes the anthropologist’s base argument (people are the same everywhere) and humorously puts it in the mouth of the elders she’s telling the story to. The people understand the words she’s speaking in their language, but they interpret the story completely differently according to their own culture. So, her argument was wrong. One doesn’t have to speak the language right in order to get a story’s message across. She could speak the native language, but their way of life contradicted almost every action and theme of Hamlet. Also, some of the words like “ghost” and “scholar” are interpreted through the Tiv’s own views on bewitchment and omens, making it even more difficult for the anthropologist to explain the story.
People aren’t the same everywhere when it comes to their views on family ties, right versus wrong, and how life should be. The important thing we must all remember, however, is that this isn’t from their own choosing. Opinions and life views are based on the person’s experiences and the circumstances which have led them to believe certain things. Everyone is at a different stage of understanding what it means to be human, and this is something I think anthropologists believe most ardently in their work.
I liked how you tied in how it is important that people are not born into cultures they choose. Therefore no one has the right to judge how they take in information. This often causes ethnocentralism because people believe what they think is better and won't open their minds to new ideas. I also enjoyed the Shakespeare in the Bush article, it is so fascinating how one's perceptions of something is so different from somebody else's!
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