Language and meaning

One idea that strikes me as interesting about language and meaning is the idea of the language and though. As it is mentioned in chapter four, “the language we speak determines what we can think.” I agree with these phrases. First of all, there are many languages over the world, and every language has its structures, rules, vocabularies, etc. thus making us think differently. I think the structures and rules are key to determine the meaning of a text. Culler gives us an example when he says, “Speakers of English have ‘pets’ – a category to which nothing in French corresponds, though the French possess inordinate numbers of dogs and cats.” This is just one of the many examples we can have. For instance, if two people who speak different languages observe the same event, they may interpret it in different ways because of the differences in each language. I think that is very interesting for many reasons. It can make us aware of the diversity around us, but most importantly, I think it can help us to understand why others think differently from us and why we think the way we do. It is to say, why do we give things the meaning we do?

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