Anthropology 101 Essay 2

Through ethno linguists studies our understanding of human communication boils down to two basic ideas. The first is that the language you speak determines the way that you will interpret the world around you. And the second is that the language you speak merely influences thoughts of the real world. Gender roles differ widely from culture to culture. Humans do not live in the world alone all by themselves, or are they alone in the world while participating in social activity. However we are at the mercy of the particular language which has become the way we express ourselves in society. Ebonics is a dialect of English that shows how different a language can become based on different social and historical backgrounds. It shows that a person does not adjust to reality without the use of language and that language is not just a simple means of solving specific problems of communicating. The fact of the matter is that the real world is built up on the particular language habits of a specific group of people. No two languages are ever exactly similar to be considered as the same representation of the same social reality. Codes switching is something that we do all the time without being fully conscious what we are doing. I speak differently at work that I do with my family. When my wife hears me speak with other soldiers it is almost as I am speaking an entire different language. The worlds in which different societies live are in fact different worlds, and not merely the same world with different labels attached. We see and hear and experience mainly because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of how we understand. It is our culture that determines our language, which in turn determines the way that we categorize our thoughts about the world and our experiences in it.

Native American beliefs state that all things in nature have an equal value and importance. Further they feel that all things exist for a reason. These...