interesting parts from readings about language and representation

In the readings for my class, this paragraph struck me.

"He goes on to point out that the word 'barbarian' is simply the Greek word for foreigner (1987: 2); it does not necessarily imply anything negative. And yet, 'every man calls barbarous anything he is not accustomed to; it is indeed the case that we have no other criterion of truth or right-reason than the example and form of the opinions and customs of our own country' (1987: 8). Those opinions and customs are embedded in and expressed in language. So as Montaigne shows, the word for 'barbarian' that in fact means simply 'not Greek' becomes a signal fo everything 'outside', everything 'not like us'. It sets in place an idea of a world structured along lines of inclusion (us) and exclusion (barbarians); of that which is reasonable set against that which is reduced to an unassimilable otherness.

It is also, of course, an example of the capacity of language to fit us to the dominant local views of the world, and to (re)produce the world for us.

- J. Webb, Understanding Representation

Language is delicate and has been shaped over the years by the societies in which we live. It is interesting to think of the original meaning of barbarian and how it has been formed over the years to become something quite negative in nature over our association of dealing with things foreign to oneself.

Foucault considered that human subjects are produced and not simply born. Insisted that there could be no "essential tendencies" because human subjectivity is entirely constructed. Language is an excellent example of this.

Words relate to some more than others. In my class, a student brought up the poignant example of stand-up comedy. Some people may get the jokes while others are left not laughing because the language is either foreign to them or the very material of the comedy act may be directed toward them as a race or societal standing.