2.21 Language, Culture and Ethnicity in the US

As we saw during our last lesson, culture is made up of different components that shape how we think and act and what we assume is normal.  Another aspect of culture is language.

Symbolic culture is shared meaning that involves communication such as gestures and language.  

Gestures

What are examples of the importance of gestures?

Gestures are important to understanding and communicating within a culture.  Understanding a culture's gestures can also help us avoid ethnocentrism and culture shock.  Here is a guide for international business travelers to help them understand the impact gestures can have on their interaction with other cultures.  Here is a link to a list of some single-hand gestures from around the world.

Gestures are also an example that culture is a result of shared meaning among people.  And among groups of people, meaning can change over time.  Here is a post about the Bellamy Salute, a gesture that has changed its cultural meaning over time.  Another example of the changing meaning of symbols is the ok gesture which has become associated with white supremacy/white power and it is now listed as a hate symbol by the ADL.  See this link for a detail of that evolution.

Language itself is a cultural universal and part of human nature.  But the different meanings of language shared within each culture is an example of nurture.  People learn different meanings from their language.

Answer a few Questions about language without reading ahead:

Here is the Google Form for this lesson.

1.  One of the shapes below is called a "Takete" and the other is called a "Malunga."  Take a guess which one is which:

            Shape A                    Shape B

2. Which one of the color circles below does not belong with the other two?

3. Which word does not belong or is the most different for each set below:

Set 1. Auto, turtle, basket, bird

Set 2. Laundry, beer, clothing

Set 3. A chair, a spear, a couch 

4. WHAT ARE THREE WORDS TO DESCRIBE THIS BRIDGE:

5.  5.  If you speak a language other than English, what is a word that you really like in that language?

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE?

Language is important because it affects how we think. When we think about something, we are using language inside of our heads so if we use certain words or do not have certain words, it may affect how think about things especially how we categorize something.   We even think based on how words sound.  

For example, takete and malunga.  Takete sounds harsh and therefore angular.  Malunga sounds softer and rounded.  But these are just made up words.  

Shape A                    Shape B

What is the Saphir-Whorf hypothesis?

The importance of language was first highlighted by researchers, Saphir and Whorf.  Their hypothesis and conclusion was that language shapes how people think, especially when categorizing and naming.  For example, in the color samples above, Americans typically group the chips by blue and green, but Tarahumara people do not have a word for blue and green, instead they have words that mean the color of water and the color of night.  Because each group of people have different words with different meanings, it shapes how they think.

Another example of language's effects on our thinking is a lesson from Carol Mukhopadhyay on classifying in other cultures.  For each of the following sets, choose the item that does not belong:

Set 1. Auto, turtle, basket, bird

Students generally select auto or basket using the culturally familiar categorizing device of machines vs. non-machines or and movement vs. non-movement. At least some non-western cultural groups, however, would see birds as most different because their culture emphasizes shape and birds are relatively angular rather than rounded in shape. Our culture tends to emphasize use or functionality. Thus correctness would be culture-dependent.

Set 2. Laundry, beer, clothing

Students generally, with great assurance, select beer as most different. Functionality places clothing and washing machines together. Yet, at least one culture views clothing as different because laundry and beer are both “foamy”. Visual appearance is most salient. US slang for beer (“suds”) also recognizes the attribute of foaminess.

Set 3. A chair, a spear, a couch 

Students again select the “wrong” answer—at least from the perspective of traditional West African cultures. US Americans tend to emphasize use, thus placing couch and chair together as types of sitting devices (i.e. “furniture”). Ashanti apparently would see the “couch” as the most different because both a chair and a spear can symbolize authority.

Evidence of different languages with genderized nouns shaping how people think about those things:

Lera Boroditsky, professor of cognitive science and cultural psychology has published research that concludes language affects how we think.  Her evidence is in the genderization of nouns in different cultures.  Here she is explaining her research at Ted.  Here is an explanation from NPR about Boroditsky's research and how language shapes our description of bridges.  This Psychology Today article explains more about the importance of genderizing nouns in language.  This NPR story highlights how language affects our thinking, especially for bilingual speakers.  

University of Illinois Chicago's Language Lab provides some words that students most enjoy.  Here are three from Italian:

Here is a list of untranslatable ideas about love from around the world.

  

• In Other Words is a book that highlights untranslatable words from around the world.

More evidence for the effect of language on thinking:

• The NY Times ran a story about how the idea of language affecting our thoughts. See that article here. 
  
• The ASA's Society Pages shares research by sociologist Matt Wray highlighted on NPR's Code Switch.  Why would using the term "white trash" support white supremacy?
• This New Yorker article explains the research of professor Adam Alter on the hidden power of words and naming.
• Also, here is a study explaining that without language, numbers do not make sense.
• This episode of On Being from NPR is about Rabbi Heschel who insightfully explained "words create worlds."  Here is a link to a medium article about Heschel and words.  And this link to a passage about the importance of words from Heschel to William Blake. 
• David Treuer is an Ojibway translator who explains the power and importance of language on this episode of On Being.
• The episode Lost in Translation from NPR's Hidden Brain is a social science podcast from NPR and this episode explores how language shapes our thoughts.
• Also, see this post about politics and how the use of English frames every debate especially the debate over gun violence.

Cultural Diversity and Language in the US today

 

Where cultures in the US come from:

There are different types of people who are seeking to come to the U.S.

Migrant Workers - the US permits hundreds of thousands of seasonal workers to work temporarily (less than a year) in the country.

Asylum Seekers - people who are seeking asylum from oppression in another country. 

Immigrants - people who want to live in the U.S. so they file paperwork and wait for approval and then travel here. 

Refugees - people who are forced to flea due to violence or a threat of their basic needs. 

This post has a detailed and critical analysis of  immigration to the US.

6. What are the different ways that a person from another culture might come to the USA?


General Immigration to the US:

As detailed by the Pew (2015), the number of foreign-born people living in the US reached its peak at 14.8% in 1890.  Then, it slowly declined to a historic low of 4.7% before the 1965 Immigration Act.  It wasn’t until the 1965 Act took effect that immigration began to increase until this year, 2023 when, for the first time in the history of the US, there are more than 15% of the population who are foreign-born. 

The PEW (2020) provides a snapshot of what immigration looks like in the US.  Mexico, China and India make up the vast majority of new immigrants to the US.  And, the Kaiser Family Foundation published a 2023 study about immigrants here.

 

Research the cultures/ethnicities in a locale.  

If you are from outside of Chicago:

The relative number of foreign-born people

Statista shows the US states with the highest percentage of foreign-born people living there:

What languages do we speak in the US from the Census:

From the Census, A Geographic Analysis of the Languages Spoken at Home in the US:

https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/visualizations/2022/demo/Poster%20PAA%202022%20Language%20Geographic%20Distribution_20220323.pdf

The Migration Policy Institute provides details about who and how many immigrants are settling in different locales of the United States:

The Visual Capitalist which examines the most spoken languages besides English and Spanish in each state in the United States:

If You are From Chicago:

This graphic from Storymaps shows the most prominent languages in Chicago:

WBEZ reports on the languages in Chicago here:

Chicago Health Atlas shows the levels of  neighborhoods in Chicago that report not speaking English "very well".

7.  What are the largest immigrant groups/non-English speakers either where you are from - either in the US or in your neighborhood of Chicago?