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Speaking of ways in which our language affects the way we define the world around us, here's a list of Eskimo words for snow names (or rather: lexemes, in the a
by joeyyang 13y ago
Speaking of ways in which our language affects the way we define the world around us, here's a list of Eskimo words for snow names (or rather: lexemes, in the article):
http://www.princeton.edu/~browning/snow.html http://www.princeton.edu/~browning/snow.html
Some would dispute that there exists a similarly diverse taxonomy of ways to classify snow in English, but I'd argue those rules are looser and more subject to interpretation.
Either way, it's really interesting to learn the ways in which the constructs of our language define the way we see the world. Another example of language influencing thought is the way gender assignments of words affect perceptions of their characteristics as masculine, feminine, or neutral.
- Samuel_Michon 13y ago’Eskimos Have Hundreds Of Words For Snow, and Other Myths Debunked’ by CPG Grey: http://www.cgpgrey.com/blog/10-misconceptions-rundown.html http://www.cgpgrey.com/blog/10-misconceptions-rundown.html I live in the Netherlands, where it rains most of the year. According your logic, one would expect for the Dutch language to have countless words for rain. Instead, it has just a few, and less than a desert language like Arabic.
- joeyyang 13y agoSure, I agree that there's some contention over this. It is interesting, however, if you entertain the fact that because there exists a separate word for different types of snow, you may perceive it as a separate entity entirely from another kind of snow rather than a just "snow" with a different modifier out in front.