Language as a Way of Knowing: Perspectives on the brain, thought and culture

What is the role of language in creating and reinforcing social distinctions, such as class, ethnicity and gender?

Language plays a large part of who are. In my IB Spanish class, I have learned about the difference between the two different yous, tú, and usted. Tú is used among friends, while Usted is used for teachers, strangers, and people older than you are. This is a form of respect between people.
Similarly, the Korean language is full of respect, and your matter of speaking changes depending on whom you are speaking with. People are never called by just their given name, they are either called by both their family and given names or another title. To a girl, an older female is called Unni. Different names for both boys and girls separate the genders, and create a distinction between the two. This is very different from the American society , where we see many unisex names like guys and dude. This level of respect goes farther than just the language. The respect that they use in their language runs in their society, showing up in the way that they act. A waeguken, or foreigner will never feel like they will be a part of Korean society, becuase they will always be a waeguken, and they will therefore never be a Korean.
In my life, I see examples of class and ethnic separation very often. When someone says Yo, they are often associating themselves with lower class African Americans. My use of language, and my pet peeve of when to use adjectives and when to use verbs often makes me seem like a very educated, upper class white girl. However, often times, these assumptions can dig people into a hole, and cause them to make wrong judgments.


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