Speaking, writing and reading are integral to everyday life, where language is the primary tool for expression and communication. Studying how people use language – what words and phrases they unconsciously choose and combine – can help us better understand ourselves and why we behave the way we do.
Linguistics scholars seek to determine what is unique and universal about the language we use, how it is acquired and the ways it changes over time. They consider language as a cultural, social and psychological phenomenon.
“Understanding why and how languages differ tells about the range of what is human,” said Dan Jurafsky, the Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor in Humanities and chair of the Department of Linguistics in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford. “Discovering what’s universal about languages can help us understand the core of our humanity.”
The stories below represent some of the ways linguists have investigated many aspects of language, including its semantics and syntax, phonetics and phonology, and its social, psychological and computational aspects.
concept of Republicans and Democrats thinking differently
Image credit: Getty Images
Understanding stereotypes
Stanford linguists and psychologists study how language is interpreted by people. Even the slightest differences in language use can correspond with biased beliefs of the speakers, according to research.
One study showed that a relatively harmless sentence, such as “girls are as good as boys at math,” can subtly perpetuate sexist stereotypes. Because of the statement’s grammatical structure, it implies that being good at math is more common or natural for boys than girls, the researchers said.
Language can play a big role in how we and others perceive the world, and linguists work to discover what words and phrases can influence us, unknowingly.
Image credit: Getty Images
How well-meaning statements can spread stereotypes unintentionally
New Stanford research shows that sentences that frame one gender as the standard for the other can unintentionally perpetuate biases.
Algorithms reveal changes in stereotypes
New Stanford research shows that, over the past century, linguistic changes in gender and ethnic stereotypes correlated with major social movements and demographic changes in the U.S. Census data.
Exploring what an interruption is in conversation
Stanford doctoral candidate Katherine Hilton found that people perceive interruptions in conversation differently, and those perceptions differ depending on the listener’s own conversational style as well as gender.
Cops speak less respectfully to black community members
Professors Jennifer Eberhardt and Dan Jurafsky, along with other Stanford researchers, detected racial disparities in police officers’ speech after analyzing more than 100 hours of body camera footage from Oakland Police.
How other languages inform our own
People speak roughly 7,000 languages worldwide. Although there is a lot in common among languages, each one is unique, both in its structure and in the way it reflects the culture of the people who speak it.
Jurafsky said it’s important to study languages other than our own and how they develop over time because it can help scholars understand what lies at the foundation of humans’ unique way of communicating with one another.
“All this research can help us discover what it means to be human,” Jurafsky said.
Stanford PhD student documents indigenous language of Papua New Guinea
Fifth-year PhD student Kate Lindsey recently returned to the United States after a year of documenting an obscure language indigenous to the South Pacific nation.
Students explore Esperanto across Europe
In a research project spanning eight countries, two Stanford students search for Esperanto, a constructed language, against the backdrop of European populism.
Chris Manning: How computers are learning to understand language
A computer scientist discusses the evolution of computational linguistics and where it’s headed next.
Stanford research explores novel perspectives on the evolution of Spanish
Using digital tools and literature to explore the evolution of the Spanish language, Stanford researcher Cuauhtémoc García-García reveals a new historical perspective on linguistic changes in Latin America and Spain.
Language as a lens into behavior
Linguists analyze how certain speech patterns correspond to particular behaviors, including how language can impact people’s buying decisions or influence their social media use.
For example, in one research paper, a group of Stanford researchers examined the differences in how Republicans and Democrats express themselves online to better understand how a polarization of beliefs can occur on social media.
“We live in a very polarized time,” Jurafsky said. “Understanding what different groups of people say and why is the first step in determining how we can help bring people together.”
Analyzing the tweets of Republicans and Democrats
New research by Dora Demszky and colleagues examined how Republicans and Democrats express themselves online in an attempt to understand how polarization of beliefs occurs on social media.
Examining bilingual behavior of children at Texas preschool
A Stanford senior studied a group of bilingual children at a Spanish immersion preschool in Texas to understand how they distinguished between their two languages.
Predicting sales of online products from advertising language
Stanford linguist Dan Jurafsky and colleagues have found that products in Japan sell better if their advertising includes polite language and words that invoke cultural traditions or authority.
Language can help the elderly cope with the challenges of aging, says Stanford professor
By examining conversations of elderly Japanese women, linguist Yoshiko Matsumoto uncovers language techniques that help people move past traumatic events and regain a sense of normalcy.
FAQs
It embodies the rules of a culture and the aspirations of those who live in it. The language we speak, hear, and read, and with which our minds ponder our place in the world, shapes our reality.
How does language help shape culture? ›
Language is one of the most important parts of any culture. It is the way by which people communicate with one another, build relationships, and create a sense of community.
How does the power of language affect people? ›
Language impacts everyone starting from the day they are born. Words mirror how one feels and thinks. The moment people say something, they are already inevitably shaping the world — and even more so in the case of journalists, because they provide society with a frame of reference for interpreting reality.
How does language shape one's cultural identity? ›
Language shapes identity by influencing how individuals view the world, their cultural practices, and their sense of belonging to a particular community. Language shapes identity by reflecting personal, professional, gender, cultural, and national identities through choices in language use.
What is the role of language in shaping human culture and society? ›
The language that we speak influences our cultural identities and our social realities. We internalize norms and rules that help us function in our own culture but that can lead to misunderstanding when used in other cultural contexts. We can adapt to different cultural contexts by purposely changing our communication.
What is the connection between language and culture? ›
A particular language points to the culture of a particular social group. Learning a language, therefore, is not only learning the alphabet, the meaning, the grammar rules and the arrangement of words, but it is also learning the behavior of the society and its cultural customs.
How does language benefit culture? ›
Learning a foreign language builds cultural understanding and gives students great insight into other people's worldviews. Even in a community of local private schools, this knowledge helps children use the appropriate tone, pitch, volume, and body language befitting a specific culture.
How language plays an important role in culture? ›
Languages played an important role in developing the nationalist sentiments. i When Russia occupied Poland the Polish language was banned and it was replaced by the Russian language. ii Many members of the clergy in Poland began to use language as a weapon of national resistance.
How can language be powerful? ›
It alters what we remember, how we perceive ourselves and those around us, how we feel, the insights we have, the decisions we make and the actions we take. The Power of Language lays bare how the different codes we use to think about the world change our place within it.
How do words shape our lives? ›
It influences our thoughts, perceptions, relationships, and societal structures. By understanding the significance of our linguistic choices and the historical, philosophical, and practical aspects of language's influence, we gain a deeper appreciation for the world-altering power that words hold in our lives.
Speaking, writing and reading are integral to everyday life, where language is the primary tool for expression and communication. Studying how people use language – what words and phrases they unconsciously choose and combine – can help us better understand ourselves and why we behave the way we do.
How does language shape our lives? ›
The idea that our language shapes our thoughts and perceptions is known as linguistic relativity. This theory suggests that people who speak different languages may experience the world in unique ways because their language influences their thoughts. Some studies have found evidence to support this idea.
How is culture shaped by language? ›
What's deemed important enough to record speaks to cultural values. Thus, language is also used to transmit values, laws, and cultural norms, including taboos. Language, since it expresses and reinforces culture, influences the personal identity of those living within the culture and creates boundaries of behavior.
What is the relationship between language and power? ›
What is the relationship between language and power? Language can be used as a way of communicating ideas and for asserting or maintaining power over others. Power in discourse refers to the lexicon, strategies, and language structures used to create power.
How is language a symbol of cultural and personal identity? ›
Language serves as a reflection of cultural identity, capturing the shared values, traditions, and beliefs of a particular group. The vocabulary, grammar, and expressions used in a language often reflect the cultural nuances and experiences of its speakers.
What is the purpose of the power of language? ›
Language allows us to share our ideas, thoughts, and feelings with others. It has the power to build societies, but also tear them down.
How important is language in shaping the way people think? ›
Language changes how we see things
If you're familiar with the principle of linguistic relativity, it states that the way people think of the world is influenced directly by the language that people use to talk about it.
What is the role and power of communication in shaping culture and society? ›
The Relationship between Communication and Culture
First, cultures are created through communication; that is, communication is the means of human interaction through which cultural characteristics— whether customs, roles, rules, rituals, laws, or other patterns—are created and shared.
What is the role of language in shaping thoughts? ›
Linguistic determinism holds that language determines our thoughts and perceptions, shaping our worldview in profound ways. On the other hand, linguistic relativism argues that language is merely a reflection of our thoughts and beliefs, and does not shape them.
