The Biola community made it clear that religion, family, and hard work were important aspects of their daily lives. They conveyed this point of view in the way they spoke about themselves. I thought it was interesting how the age gap between an older woman and her son changed the way they viewed their religion. One of the women, Virginia, explained, "I see tradition fading a little...The morals and the values aren't there like they used to be at one time" Her son explains how he has started going to another church, different than the one he grew up with. Clearly, just by listening to both the mother and son talk about themselves, religion and family play a big part in their lives. Their perception of life is different than other cultures, even in the way they speak. This culture talks a lot about religion and family while another culture may talk more about social status, etc. Their perception of what is important in life is changed, and comes through in their speech.
The study of the Kuuk Thaayorre community proves again that language can truly affect perception. Because in their language there is no "left" or "right", they use directional language such as "northwest" or "south". When they were told to put pictures in order, each time facing a different direction, the way in which they placed the pictures changed because they were following the directional terms. I thought this was especially interesting because it proved that they literally viewed the world in a different way. They viewed it in a more spatially-oriented way than other cultures.
In both these readings, the way in which one lives and one views the world is greatly influenced by language. It really has led me to believe that language controls a good portion of perception.
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