The idea that language shapes awareness goes back to the idea that language is arbitrary. Spoken words have no meaning tied to them, they only have meaning once society gives them meaning. Language or spoken words are symbols that people use to communicate with each other. This brings up the idea that symbolic thought is the foundation of human communication. The reason I say this is because people use symbols such as words to communicate. The words that are used have no meaning until people give them meaning. Therefore, without symbolic thought it would be very hard, if not impossible for humans to communicate because symbols wouldn’t have any meaning. People wouldn’t understand what people are trying to express because the symbols they are using would have no meaning to others.
Since people live in different cultures all over the world, the meaning of the words used can vary from culture to culture. If people or people within cultures shape the meaning of words or language that is used, than language people are using can shape awareness in a culture.
This means that if there is something that goes on that has no name people may not be as aware of it. Once something is given a name, and it has meaning, people will start being more aware of it. An example of this from our text book is the term sexual harassment. Before this term was given meaning, sexual harassment was not considered serious in the work place. People would say someone was being pushy and usually nothing would happen. Once the term sexual harassment was given meaning it became a much more serious issue. This is how language can shape awareness and awareness of gender issues. Until something is given meaning it is easy for people to overlook it. But once symbols such as words or language are attached to something to give it meaning, it starts to shape people’s awareness of an issue.
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