Naming and Categorising

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that language and culture are inseparable as the acquisition of language almost always involves the acquisition of culture. All human infants are born without any culture and therefore they need to be socialized to acquire their own culture from their immediate environment. The writer points out that this suggests that language can be the most powerful means of socialization as culture is largely communicated through language. This study identifies and discusses different cultural values underling the language where it is spoken, primarily focusing on how things and people are named and categorised. This paper includes an appendix of interview questions.

From the Paper:

"Ewage children are named after an animal or a type of plant and they are expected to respect the entity that shares the same name for entire their life. These might have resulted from their philosophical tradition where individuals are seen as an extension of the universe and nature is complementary to the individual, suggesting it is important to live in harmony with it. A Ewage child can be named after other people in the community and those who share the same name have an obligation to attend ritual ceremonies involving the child. Therefore people who share the same name would develop a distinct social relationship in the community, which is specific to the culture."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bonvillain, N. (2003). Language and culture, and communication: the meaning of messages. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
• O'Grady, W. (1991). Categories and case: the sentence structure of Korean. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins.
• Farb , P. (1975). Word play: what happens when people talk. New York: Bantam Book.
• Hickerson, N. P. (1980). Linguistic anthropology. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
• Matlin, M.W. (2005). Cognition. (6th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

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