I’ve been reading ahead for Week 2, and loved Lera Boroditsky’s talk on how language shapes the way we think. I didn’t know that there were some languages that did not have words for numbers or that there were so many differences in verb nuance!
In my own context, I remember how my journey as a student in Cantonese school came to a huge hurdle when we got to the unit on learning about addressing our family members. The way I would address my aunts, uncles, and cousins depends on their relationship to my parents:
- is the person on my mom’s side or my dad’s side?
- what’s the birth order of the family member and how is that relative to my parent?
- is this person related by marriage or by birth?
This video might make this more clear, but I am still so confused:
It’s fascinating to see how word choice is like a specific tool setting within language. Depending on the words chosen and how they are constructed, the narrative and perception of the message shifts.
Connection to ETEC 565 C (Ableism, equity and technology)
In our week 1 discussion, there was conversation about triage protocols in response to CoVID-19. I’ve been thinking a lot about my initial response to a colleague’s post that the original triage suggests disrespect and disregard towards disabled populations. In my post, I’d mentioned that I wasn’t sure how useful changing the word choice would be given that decisions on distributing resources would likely be based on likelihood of survival.
However, given Lera Boroditsky’s talk, it’s more clear that word choice is important. It changes our perception and consequently our thoughts and actions. It is important that the letter of the law reflects that of respect and involves consultation with disabled communities (rather than making decisions on their behalf). Although this may have been difficult to do given how fast things need to move during a pandemic, stakeholder consultation offers new perspectives and hence new vocabulary to be used. This enriches the language, the technology, and can build new texts.