The readings this week gave me insight and appreciation for just how complex language is. Language isn't just vocabulary or grammar, its' context, meaning, reference, syntax, etc. I foresee this effecting my language learning by causing me to slow down and engage more dynamically with the language. It will lead to questions such as how words may be used in questions versus exclamations or how reversing the order of words would affect meaning.
I think the authors' points about meaning with language are important because I think words are often reflective of cultural values or norms. In the article she talks about how in English cousins can refer to both boys or girls and that we don't specify whether an aunt or uncle is on the maternal or paternal side, we use the same word. This is different than in other cultures such as the Australian diaiect pitjanjatara where they have specific words for maternal aunt, maternal uncle etc. I think these differences are often indicative of the values in that society. It may be that the family unit is less valued in our society and thus we have fewer words to describe those relationships. I've learned that in some collectivist cultures they have many words for "team" or "group" but very few words for "I." These cultures represent their ideas and values through vocabulary and language.
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