Language and Women

Essay by shreya998High School, 11th gradeA-, May 2006

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'If a woman is swept off a ship into the water, the cry is "Man overboard!" If she is killed by a hit and run driver, the charge is manslaughter." If she is injured on the job, the coverage is "Workmen's compensation." But if she arrives at a threshold marked "Men only," she knows the admonition is not intended to bar animals or plants or inanimate objects. It is meant for her'; as quoted by Alma Graham. Language is the main source of power in our modern society, it shapes our thinking. The English language can have an effect on women with vocabulary containing bias, misogyny, stereotyping and chauvinism. There is unique dominance of the masculine viewpoint in the development of English.

Of all the things that can control our thinking, language is the most dominate. Language is in fact the bridge to our thinking. The relationship between words and thoughts are the same, as one cannot think without words.

French philosopher Etinne Bonnet De Condillac says, "We think only in the medium of words. The art of reasoning is nothing more than language well arranged." One can argue that feelings from your senses can determine your thoughts, but it is more difficult to know what you are feeling if you cannot identify the linguistic terms. In the seventeenth century, philosophers, linguists, scholars and theologians began to examine the relationship of language and thought. Hebrew scholar William Chomsky writes: "We do not first have thoughts,ideas, feelings, and then put them into a verbal framework. We think in words, by means of words. Language and experience are inextricably interwoven." Johann Gottfried Von Herder adds that Language sets limits and contour for all human cognition. There are over a thousand languages being spoken today, some more complex than others. The basic principle...