2021年英语四级美文赏析：Is There a Backward Language思维导图

Cultureisthesumtotalofallthetraditions,customs,beliefs,andwaysoflifeofagivengroupofhumanbeings.Inthissense,everygrouphasaculture,howeversavage,underdeveloped,oruncivilizeditmayseemtous.Totheprofessionalanthropologist,thereisnointrinsicsuperiorityofonecultureoveranother,justastotheprofessionallinguistthereisnointrinsicrankamonglanguages.

Peopleoncethoughtofthelanguagesofbackwardgroupsassavage,underdevelopedformsofspeech,consistinglargelyofgruntsandgroans.Whileitispossiblethatlanguageingeneralbeganasaseriesofgruntsandgroans,itisafactestablished,bythestudyof“backward”languagesthatnospokentongueanswersthatdescriptiontoday.Mostlanguagesofuncivilizedgroupsare,byourmostseverestandards,extremelycomplex,delicate,andingeniouspiecesofmachineryforthetransferofideas.

TheyfallbehindourWesternlanguagesnotintheirsoundpatternsorgrammaticalstructures,whichusuallyarefullyadequateforalllanguageneeds,butonlyintheirvocabularies,whichreflecttheobjectsandactivitiesknowntotheirspeakers.Eveninthisdepartment,however,twothingsaretobenoted:Alllanguagesseemtopossessthemachineryforvocabularyexpansioneitherbyputtingtogetherwordsalreadyinexistenceorbyborrowingthemfromotherlanguagesandadaptingthemtotheirownsystem.

Theobjectsandactivitiesrequiringnamesanddistinctionsin“backward”languages,whiledifferentfromours,areoftensurprisinglynumerousandcomplicated.AWesternlanguageisdistinguishesmerelybetweentwodegreesofremoteness(“this”and“that”);somelanguagesoftheAmericanIndiansdistinguishbetweenwhatisclosetothespeaker,ortothepersonaddressed,orremovedfromboth,oroutofsight,orinthepast,orinthefuture.Thisstudyoflanguage,inturn,castsanewlightupontheclaimoftheanthropologiststhatallculturesaretobeviewedindependently,andwithoutideasofrank.