We’ve learned in class that culture and language are
inextricably linked, that we can learn about a culture through language. But it seems as though language doesn’t only
record observations about the culture it represents, but can actually influence
a culture in a very measurable way. Recent
research suggests that language influences our behavior; specifically, cultures
that use gender when referring to nouns are more likely to distinguish between
male and female roles, which results in fewer women working, especially in
politics and other powerful positions.
Languages often use gender for nouns. The World Atlas of Linguistic Structures
lists four grammatical variables related to gender in a language, which are:
the number of possible genders in a language, whether or not the genders are
linked to biological sex, whether or not the gender of the noun is determined
by semantics, such as in English; and whether the pronouns take a gender in
first, second, or third person.
Researchers have studied this detailed data and assigned a
numerical value based on it, called the Gender Intensity Index, which shows how
heavily saturated the language is with gender.
The researchers found that the more heavily “genderized” the language,
the fewer women participated in the work force.
Languages with sex-base gender nouns correlated to a decrease in female
workers by up to 12%, as compared to 3% in non-sex-based gender languages.
Women in these cultures are far less likely to hold
political office, and the countries of these languages are more likely to have
quotas for the number of women required.
Female participation in politics tended to rise sharply after the
implementation of quotas, suggesting that it was a lack of opportunity rather
than a lack of desire to participate in politics. I found this interesting because while we
know that language and culture are linked, the idea that language can influence
culture is something I had not considered before.
Gay, V.,
Santacreu-Vasut, E., & Shoham, A. (2012). Does language shape our economy?
Female/male grammatical distinctions and gender economics. Retrieved March 29,
2017, from http://voxeu.org/article/language-matters-gender-grammar-and-observed-gender-discrimination
That is very interesting and something that I had thought about in the past. In class we always talk about how language is culture or how language makes up a part of culture. Even today, we also talked about how language can influence a culture or how culture can influence the language. I did understand that language and culture influenced each other and that’s why they are so closely associated with each other, but I didn’t fully understand just how deep it actually goes. I had thought that language just influenced how we should or shouldn’t act in a culture. Or if someone grows up in the culture the language can reflect the beliefs of that culture. So in some sense the behavior aspect of it I kind of understood, but as to how it affects areas like work and politics like you mentioned in your blog. That was something that I also never really considered. It’s fascinating just how much influence language actually has.
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