Linguistic Universals and Folk Taxonomies

Language and Communication ANTH 2301 Linguistic Universals and Folk Taxonomies Some linguists are interested in how our shared human nature constrains all languages and in identifying universal linguistic patterns, whereas linguistic relativists study how various linguistic patterns influence various mental patterns (and vice versa). Certain linguistic areas are especially well-suited for this sort of investigation. Colour is one of them. This is because colour is a universal visual system that is directly dependent on human vision. Nonetheless, there is a great deal of variation in the ways that various civilizations categorise the spectrum of available colours. While some cultures have hundreds of terminology related to colour, others only have two or three. One set of laws governs the diversity of colour word systems, according to research by Brent Berlin and Paul Kay, who examined the colour term systems of 98 different languages. A few fundamental colours make up each of these colour word systems, and throughout time, additional colours are added to the palette (Kay 2015, Berlin and Kay 1969). Every culture's colour scheme is built on the contrast between white and black (or light and dark). A culture's two words will always be black and white if it has only two. Red is the second most significant colour. Black, white, and red are the three colour words used in that culture. Green and yellow follow, followed by blue, brown, purple, pink, orange, and grey, always in that sequence. According to Berlin and Kay, these guidelines provide a pattern for how all languages evolve over extended periods of time. The essential principles of the Berlin and Kay system have remained rather stable over the past fifty years, despite some revisions (Haynie and Bowern 2016). Strangely, despite the fact that this result provides compelling evidence in favour of language universals, linguistic relativity has also been advanced using the same study. Later, Paul Kay and Willet Kempton, a linguist, collaborated to examine how various colour schemes could impact how individuals perceive colour in their surroundings (1984). People were given colour chips that ranged from pure blue to real green. The respondents were instructed to categorise all the colours into two groups. Individuals who spoke languages with many names for blue and green made a clearer distinction between the two colours than those whose languages only had one word for each colour. It is evident that both universalism and relativity are features of human language. Human interaction with the world is influenced by our shared biology, which gives all languages a systematic way to classify not just colour but also plants, animals, weather, and other natural events. Folk taxonomies are the name given by researchers to the systems of categories individuals use to arrange their understanding of the world. Every field of human knowledge has a folk taxonomy that takes into account not just the environment and sociocultural activities, but also the biology of the human species. Folk taxonomies exist for foods, plants, animals, clouds, and even baby cries. Folk taxonomies are more than simply vocabulary phrases; they often organise any significant distinction within a culture, including ones that depend only on binary concepts like "good" and "bad." One instance that is undoubtedly universal is death. All around the world, societies make a distinction between "good" and "bad" deaths. These ideas mirror societal norms and beliefs, such as the idea that a decent death should be painless in America. A good death, according to the Akan people of Ghana, is the result of a long life filled with all the culturally significant achievements that people cherish, such marriage, parenthood, property accumulation, and helping friends and family (Adinkra 2020). Imagine an elderly great-grandmother lying on her bed, gently passing away and breathing her last breath in the company of her numerous descendants. That death was a nice one. A terrible death is violent and devastating; it is the untimely passing of someone who hasn't had the opportunity to truly live life to the fullest. Imagine a young individual perishing in a car crash or drowning. That is one awful death. If the right ceremonies are carried out, an individual who has had a nice death can become an ancestor. The deceased must be cleaned, laid to rest in a lovely coffin at a public cemetery, and given burial gifts such as cash and tools to aid the deceased in the hereafter. The role of ancestors is significant because they keep an eye on their living kin and may provide assistance when needed through ritualistic libations or other ways. On the other hand, if someone experienced a terrible death, they can turn into an enraged spirit that brings misfortune to their loved ones. In bad deaths, the burial ceremonies are short, simple, and secret so as not to honour the deceased or make contact with the restless soul. We think, act, speak, and see the world through categories. The limitations imposed by the functioning of our bodies and brains on human cognition lead to language universals such as the developmental system of colour words, which govern how people classify things and experiences. However, there is a considerable level of linguistic relativity due to the diverse meanings that are connected with different cultural categories. Although linguistic relativism and universalism are sometimes portrayed as opposing ideologies, they are both crucial aspects of human language that work in concert.