Language Shaping Awareness

As we discussed in class this week, language shapes awareness more than we realize. One way that language shapes awareness is how we give names to things that matter to us, more in the way of naming things brings more power to it. The example the book gives is a perfect one. Before we named sexual harassment, it was not visible. It was simply described as being pushy or out of line. Once we put a name to it, there was more awareness and people realized it was not okay. The same goes for date rape. Before it was named as actual rape, girls let it go without getting help. Again, once a name was attached to the act, people became more aware and realized they could do something about it. It is interesting to me to see how these two simple things go hand in hand. Another topic we discussed in class was how we shape meaning of our culture. The example we talked about in class was how as time progresses, our language needs to be modified, which shows that language is not static. As new things are invented, we have to be clear and define our language. As humans, we create meaning through symbols. Again, it was so interesting and such an eye opener when we discussed how this is what makes us human. I love seeing that correlation between language, naming and symbols.