<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 7:04 PM, Michael R. Wolf <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:MichaelRWolf@att.net" target="_blank">MichaelRWolf@att.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
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Very interesting to me, these inseparable notions of Language and Culture.<br>
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You're talking about linguistic relativity
:<a href="https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Linguistic_relativity" target="_blank">https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Linguistic_relativity</a>.
IANAL(inguist) but I believe it gained traction when studied by Edward Sapir
and and Benjamin Whorf. The ill named Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis which, simplified, draws a direct correlation between culture, language and cognitive tendencies. It proposes a causal relationship in that the language itself can have a direct impact on the way speakers think and therefore on the culture they create.<br>
<br>This idea blew me away the first I heard of it (can't remember where) and I've found from my experience that programming languages are great evidence to support the hypothesis. When learning a new language every developer I know approaches tasks from the perspective of their previous languages until they grok the zeitgeist of the new language.<br>
<br>WNYC's RadioLab did an episode a while back that explored the inseparability of language and culture in some unique situations: <a href="http://www.radiolab.org/2010/aug/09/">http://www.radiolab.org/2010/aug/09/</a>.<br>
<br>-- <br>Ben<br>
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