While language contains a lot of different aspects (gestures, tone, and grammar, to name a few), words are the most basic aspect of communication. We type, talk, and text words every day to communicate our feelings, intentions, and stories. As Chamberlain says, “Words make us feel closer to the world we live in,” (Chamberlin, 1). So why is this?
The most obvious answer to this question (the question of why we feel connected through words) seems to be that words are how we communicate. I think that an interesting aspect of communication is storytelling. Passing along information, beliefs, and values through storytelling is, what TIME argues, makes us human. We connect through stories, and expand our world views. Growing up, learning lessons, and developing a moral compass can all stem from community and family stories being passed down. The TIME article mentions a few interesting aspects of storytelling that I believe reflect the power of words. The first example of words being important to us and connecting, is that the villages with more powerful storytellers resulted in more people being generous in regards to sharing food with each other. This is a strong example of how storytelling, and words, can improve the bonds between our communities and our connection with each other as humans. Words can have a powerful impact upon not only our society, but ourselves. Humans want to be liked by our peers and be held in high regard, and our communication (and words) have a large impact on this.
Language, and more specifically, our words and stories, shapes our culture. This quite literally relates to Chamberlain’s quote above. Our culture, and the world that we live in, is shaped by the stories that we tell and the way that we communicate with each other. How else would culture be shaped? The very notion of community is built on the fact that we can talk to one another, pass on traditions, and develop a mutual understanding between one another. I believe that this is what Chamberlin is alluding to when he refers to stories, “[Bringing] us [closer] to the world we live in by taking us into the world of words,” (Chamberlin, 1).
Sources:
Carlson, Benjamin. “Yes, Language Does Shape Culture.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 26 Oct. 2013, www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/07/yes-language-does-shape-culture/340451/.
Chamberlin, Edward. If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories? Finding Common Ground. AA. Knopf. Toronto. 2003. Print.
Kluger, Jeffrey. “How Telling Stories Makes Us Human: It’s a Key to Evolution.” Time, Time, 5 Dec. 2017, time.com/5043166/storytelling-evolution/.
Hi Brenda! I enjoyed your post. The passing along of beliefs, values and information through storytelling definitely does make us more connected to the world. In addition to this, I think at an even more basic level words themselves–and through their associations–pass on beliefs, values, information, and frames of viewing the world that connect us with the world. For example, people can just take the world as it is, and not notice many positive experiential aspects about the world, or worse, take it for granted… However, concepts of “beauty” in nature and other things invites us to notice the aspects that are visually appealing, or beautiful in another way. For example, one might not notice the birds chirping in the forest or the details of the leaves because they are so deep in thought, but they may remember the association of nature, beauty, and appreciation. These ideas may prime someone in a forest to have a certain outlook or lens of focus that revolves around appreciating beauty, and therefore influence them to be more in the moment and pay attention to those things that are delightful. In general, there are so many phenomena or ideas that we may be attentive to in any moment, however, certain words and there meanings being associated with various contexts, may then prime us in specific ways and in specific contexts, influencing our experience of the world.