THE CORRELATION BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND REALITY

Abstract

The correlation between language and reality is investigated in this article. The question whether language shapes the way we think or it is the reality which defines what we say is highly disputable. Any language is a complex structure of vocabulary and grammar which serves as the main means of communication, and with the help of which people can render their thoughts, achieve their goals, or simply socialize. The influence of language on our way of thinking can be observed on the example of the process of word formation in different languages or the usage of specific words, which describe phenomena common to this or that culture. However, at the same time, the reality influences lexicon as well and plays a significant role in building a culture. Moreover, grammatical categories of time and gender, which differ from language to language, may also affect the way people perceive the world. As for the category of gender, it may restrict human beings in the choice of adjectives they attribute to different entities, depending on the word being masculine or feminine. Meanwhile, the very essence of time vary from language to language, depending on it, speakers may give prominence to different chunks of information expressed in a sentence. To achieve these not only grammatical structures but also certain words may be used. Due to the differences in world images that speakers of different languages have, some cultural misunderstanding may arise. It has to be mentioned that a culture is a combination of values, moral principles, customers and traditions of a nation which are reflected in its language. Moreover, great emphasis was put on the process of acquiring a new language which has the power to alter human perception of the universe. Therefore, learning a foreign language a person as well studies its culture and begins to see the world from a different perspective. Thus, language has an impact on the human perception of the world, but at the same time, the reality has an influence on what we say.