Folk Categories

One area of the interest in anthropological linguistics is the study of folk categories, that is, the units of meaning into which a language breaks up the universe.

Every language conveys much of the content of a culture in the items that it labels with separate words. For example, in one Inuit (a native word for Eskimo) language there are 12 separate and unrelated for wind and 22 word for snow.

That is, 22 different kinds of snow are recognized and given names that not just different forms of the same root word but different words altogether.

It is not important to English speakers that there are many types of snow, so we used adjectives to describe these variations – wet snow, powder snow, and so on.

We may occasionally use different words, such as sleet or hail, but that is about all the variety our language allows. On the hand, we have a large vocabulary to deal with technological aspects of our culture that are important to us.

Look at all the words we have for the automobile: sedan, convertible, coupe, fastback, wagon, bus, van, truck and so on. Obviously, we would not expect a member of a society in which automobiles are not found to make such distinctions: to them a car is a car, period. But then, to us snow is snow, period.

The idea that the structure and content of one’s language affects one’s thought processes is fascinating one.

If you have ever studied foreign language, you have found that there are some words that simply cannot be translated into English. This illustrates the importance of language in shaping the way we look at the world.

Each language has certain words that describe experiences or feelings that are peculiar to the group of people who share that language and culture.

It is often impossible to translate such a word literally in English, for there is no way to capture its essence in a single English word.

Instead, we usually end up with several words in a rather awkward phrase that may convey some of the meaning but is never really satisfactory.

Thus learning a foreign language is not merely and exercises in memorization but a lesson in cultural anthropology as well, for by learning the language we learn something about the way other people think and about the ways in which they are different from us.

Language gives us insight into culture, and as such it is a valuable tool for studying an understanding people.
Folk Categories