‘The vocabulary we have does more than communicate our knowledge; it shapes what we can know’. Evaluate this claim with reference to different areas of knowledge.
When mankind created vocabulary little did they know of its complications in the 21st century world. Knowledge acquisition and vocabulary has a unique relationship, which is directly linked to Language as a Way of Knowing. The claim discusses whether our vocabulary is a simple reaction to our previous knowledge or is our knowledge acquisition shaped by the vocabulary we know. On one hand, our vocabulary had become so influential that our world is completely built and dependent on it, which is the pinnacle point of Whorfarianism. On the other hand, our language acts as a metaphoric cloak for our knowledge and communicates it rather than have any influence of what knowledge we can attain which is the main belief of linguistic universalism and Pinker, believes in vocabulary’s ability to influence knowledge acquisition rather than define it. This assignment will evaluate, first of all, the validity of the claim through these three theories and furthermore, if this claim is to be true, does our vocabulary promote or limit our knowledge acquisition. Vocabulary is a “body of words that provide a medium of expression for mental habits” (“Vocabulary”); however in order to evaluate the function ‘vocabulary’ plays on knowledge acquisition in the different areas of knowledge, we can assume that vocabulary is any system of symbols that communicates thoughts, concepts and emotions which vary from alphabetical characters to mathematical symbols. Daniel Chandler claimed, “Language is a cloak conforming to the customary categories of thought of its speakers”. This presents vocabulary as “a dress of thought” (Chandler) rather than a ‘mould’ for knowledge. In evaluating the claim, one can argue that although our vocabulary may be able to communicate our knowledge, it does not shape our knowledge acquisition. For example, shooting a basketball consists of the following steps: bring the ball up, aim at the hoop and throwing the ball at the hoop. If someone says shoot the ball,
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