Analytic Paper A moment of silence: a silent period taken for contemplation, prayer, or reflections. This phrase is often used as a gesture of respect when mourning the loss of someone. For most people this ritual is seldomly used. However, this phrase is all too familiar to the students of Harper High School located in Chicago, Illinois. Teens in this area are exposed to a life of gangs, violence, and murders. The social location of these students is immensely different for most high school students making their norms look like mores compared to most of society. In 2012, 29 current and recent students of this high school were shot, which is unimaginable for a large majority of the American population. A two part podcast created by, This …show more content…
Principal Sanders calls the seniors, her babies. She uses this term frequently throughout the podcast. This could be seen as a folkway, principals do not typically call their students their “babies”. However, the students love it. It makes them feel loved and that she is like a mother figure to them. An article titled, “Symbolic Interactions and the Development of Women Leaders in Higher Education”, written by Andrea Gallent, Gallent comes to the conclusion that for a woman to be a good leader in education, she needs to unitize soft skills (Gallent 2014: 213). These soft skills include nurturing, communicators, and relationship focused. This is why principal Sanders is such an inspiring leader at Harper High School. She uses the soft skills to instill trust within the student body. She and the faulty strategically uses language like this to create a loving and safe environment, something that these students often do not experience. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis states that language determines our consciousness (Henslin 2016:46). In other words, language shapes one’s reality. Crystal Smith is a dearly loved counselor who works in the Social Work Office. She is known for spreading words of encouragement. She is constantly telling her students, “I 'm so proud of you. I see you trying hard” and “Let me appreciate you in advance”(Glass, Ira. 2013). This is such a powerful statement that she uses. She is telling her students that she knows their
People in society develop their own language on how other’s see them which can be seen
Also the quotes shows that the way someone, talks, or writes can reveal who they are. Also this quote shows that language is much bigger than just a word, it is an idea that people use to base initial conceptions about another person. He makes it known that language is created by the conditions and state of life.
“Silence is violence” is a common phrase used by people nowadays which references people who lack initiative when it comes to speaking out against oppression. The same phrase could be applied to the ideas within Shusaku Endo’s novel, Silence. Endo was clever to name his novel Silence, because the word is a very prominent symbol within the story. In fact, it plays a crucial role to the development of the main character. Although some readers may argue that the role of silence in the book is neutral, I claim that silence plays a negative role for the characters because it is what causes protagonist Rodrigues to renounce his faith. In the story, it represents the silence of God, which induces Rodrigues to question his religion through the torture of innocent Japanese Christians.
Famous American anthropologist and social theorist Clyde Kluckholm , claims in one of his publication that “Every language is also a special way of looking at the world and interpreting experience concealed in the structure of language are a whole set of unconscious assumptions about the world and the life in it”(Writing logically, Thinking critically 7th edition P 35). Based on this theory, we can learn more
Benjamin Lee Whorf believed that language had power over the mind however, this theory has crashed due
It is often thought that the reality that is being expressed in spoken word is the very same as the reality which is being perceived in thought. Perception and expression are frequently understood to be synonymous and it is assumed that our speech is mostly based on our thoughts. This idea presumes that what one says is dependent of how it is encoded and decoded in the mind. (Badhesha, 2002) In any case, there are numerous individuals that trust the inverse: what one sees is reliant on the talked word. The supporters of this thought trust that thinking is reliant on language. Linguistic Edward Sapir and his understudy Benjamin Lee Whorf are known as far as concerns them in the promotion of this very guideline. Their aggregate hypothesis, known as the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, also known as theory of linguistic relativity, relativism, determinism, Whorfian hypothesis or even Whorfianism. Initially talked about by Sapir in 1929, the speculation got to be prominent in the 1950s after post mortem production of Whorf's works on the subject. After incredible assault
In simple terms, language is commonly defined as the ability to speak to and communicate with others. In reality, the concept of language is far more complex. There are multiple ways in which language can influence the human experience. It allows us to measure empathy, understand the viewpoints of others, listen, and process emotions with the goal of correctly interpreting words and cues from others. Language, however, is an imperfect tool, and although we as humans develop the ability to use and express the same words, we are often unable to control the ways in which others receive the messages that our words are meant to convey. The book Fifteen Dogs illustrates the complexity of language and shows that there are multiple factors that contribute to the way we develop language and communicate with one another. Although each dog is granted human consciousness at the same time, they individually interpret language in their own way based on their experience and perceptions of the new world and the ways in which they form connections with each other and with humans. No dog was better able to communicate with both his peers and with humans than Majnoun. Despite his mastery of language, he struggled to fit in with groups. This essay will argue that Majnoun’s example illustrates the problem of using language alone to ensure effective communication. This will be accomplished by focusing on how Majnoun struggles to understand and feel empathy, the difference between speaking words
I’m sensitive to contexts of communication. I recognize that changes in physical, cultural, social– psychological and temporal contexts will alter meaning.
In the words of George Orwell, “If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” Language has been spoken for over 350,000 years. It has expanded tremendously, but its power has never changed. The use of language shapes peoples' perceptions and the depth of interactions because it can demean, avoid, portray emphasis, persuade, and conceal from simple phrases such as “I feel like” and “just”.
Toni Morrison makes a good point when, in her acceptance speech upon receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature, she says, “Narrative . . . is . . . one of the principal ways in which we absorb knowledge” (7). The words we use and the way in which we use them is how we, as humans, communicate to each other our thoughts, feelings, and actions and therefore our knowledge of the world and its peoples. Knowledge is power. In this way, our language, too, is powerful.
Many people have no idea that a song can be a wonderful poetry which is called lyrical poetry, but all songs are not poems. In this amazing poetry “the sound of silence”, both the authors Paul Frederic Simon and Arthur Ira Garfunkel ironically implied their frustration on the modern world and how it’s changing. In 60’s this lyrical poetry has left an indelible mark on pop culture. This poem’s lyrics has a disturbing picture of a society which work with materialism and self-absorption. The poem uses the imagery of light and darkness to show how people's ignorance and enthusiasm to destroys their ability to communicate even on simple levels. Day by day people are becoming more secretive about their life and forgetting being social on some level. Moreover, the narrators strongly felt these changes and transformation could lead us to a robotic life. The Sound of Silence" contains numerous poetic elements, including figurative language devices, rhyme scheme and tone. Throughout this poem, narrator is addressing the dark site of the society, people and how its leading them in to a false dilemma.
The idea that language affects the way we remember things and the way we perceive the world was first introduced by the influential linguists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf (Harley, 2008). The central idea of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, today more commonly known as the linguistic relativity hypothesis, holds that “each language embodies a worldview, with quite different languages embodying quite different views, so that speakers of different languages think about the world in quite different ways” (Swoyer, 2003). In the late 1990s, Cameron claimed that the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis was regarded as “that which must be refuted
It does so because when we cannot clearly communicate through language we are apt to be misunderstood by others or express meaning that is other than we desire. Expression of our thoughts is a complex process and language remains central to clear expression. However, there are different forms of language other than words or voice expression. As one instructor asked of her students, "How do we pass information along without using voices, letters, or numerals" (Language, 2004, p. 11). One answer would be the use of nonverbal language, which is often conveyed through body movements, posture, facial expression and other techniques. Once more, such facets of language are symbolic and differ across diverse cultures. However, when students learn to understand the different and broad meanings of language across cultures even, then they have a better grasp of communicating and receiving communication. All too often, as one educator maintains, "When thinking about what language means, younger children often make connections to oral language or the learning of a foreign language" (Language, 2004, p. 11).
Linguistic relativity is the notion that language can affect our thought processes, and is often referred to as the ‘Sapir-Whorf hypothesis’, after the two linguists who brought the idea into the spotlight. Whorf writes how “Language is not merely a reproducing instrument for voicing ideas but rather is itself the shaper of ideas, the program and guide for the individual’s mental activity” (1956:212), and I will explain how it is able to do so. In this essay I will argue that certain ways of mental categorization, spatial cognition and reality interpretation, based on the characteristics of our specific variety of language, influence our perception of the world. I will discuss how languages divide up nature differently, and
From my readings to research from Edutopia to literature courses, I have gained a deeper appreciation for language. In order to understand what one is speaking, a person needs to spend time listening to one’s language and before responding must reflect and analyze what the other said and how to respond. If a person wants to love another person they have to listen to their language in order to speak their language, and the core part of learning another language is by listening. According to Joan Blaska, author of The Power of Language: Speak and Write Using “Person First” the language people use shows one’s bias and prejudices. Beliefs and another’s performance fall under the influence of language. Blaska claimed “ the degree to which children are able to perceive themselves as competent and worthy, or the opposite, is heavily influenced by the verbalizations used by their teachers...Studies have found that labeling of students does affect teacher expectations which in turn affects student progress”. People have heavy influence with their words, because of this, our language must be intentional in a way, that breaks down negative stereotypes and helps one gain empathy as well as seeing others capabilities. Communicating and reading others comments and inquiring others has helped me to accept