Language in Use 143-144
This unit considers the way in which many of our value judgements are embedded
in the very pattern of the language, because the categories which it makes available
have come to be used habitually in our culture for the expression of certain
assumptions about the world around us. The aim of the unit is to examine
where these categories can give the appearance of objectivity to something which
is properly a question of subjective assessment and therefore relative to the
position of the assessor.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] The aim of this session is to explore the basis of categories like nice/ nasty; like/dislike; approve/ disapprove. Circulate a collection of newspaper photographs of events, places and objects. Ask the class to make a note for each photograph of whether they like or dislike the subject. The subsequent discussion should focus upon their reasons for the assessment and the particular words they use in making it. Any comment like 'It's obvious', 'it's very natural', 'any/everybody would think so' should be sin-led out and collected. The next stage is to look at do's and don'ts as learnt from parental approval and disapproval.
[2] The aim of this session is to consider pairs of terms which we use without being at all conscious that their use depends upon unstated assumptions about what is, and is not, 'normal', even though they can be objectively measured. Examples include light/heavy short/tall; hot/cold. Ask the class to compare the kinds of people or things that the terms can refer to, and discuss the scale which is implicit in their own use of the words. Then consider whether or not this is derived from the culture. Is a 'tall' man in England taller than a 'tall' man in Japan? Is a 'hot' day hotter in Spain than in Scotland?
[3] In this session, the exploration should be extended to consider examples of categories which have widespread social implications, such as work/ play, male/female, normal/abnormal, young/old.
An interesting literary handling of the work of [1] will be found in Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey.
Related topics are explored in E 1 and E2.