Languages are not neutral tools for labeling the world—they are ontologies of construal. Each language provides a structured lattice of distinctions—processes, participants, circumstances, relations, and modality—through which potential experience is actualised.
This means that the way we perceive, think, and tell stories is shaped by the semiotic patterns of our language:
-
English foregrounds discrete events, agentive actions, and clear causal chains.
-
Hopi and Warlpiri emphasise relational processes, cyclical time, and environmental embedding.
-
Japanese highlights topicality, social perspective, and evidentiality.
In every case, language does not mirror a pre-given reality. Instead, it structures what can be experienced and how it is experienced. Meaning is reality: our world is what is actualised through the semiotic lattice of language.
Put simply: by studying languages as ontologies, we see the richness of human experience itself, and the multiple ways it can be realised, understood, and shared through stories, cognition, and culture.
Quick-Reference Lattice Summary
Key Insight: Each language is a semiotic lattice, actualising potential experience differently. This shapes perception, sociality, and storytelling, showing that meaning is reality: the world is what is construed through language.
No comments:
Post a Comment