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The power of language: how words shape people, cultures

by Alex Shashkevich

from Stanford News

"Speaking, writing and reading are integral to everyday life, where language is the primary tool for expression and communication. Studying how people use language – what words and phrases they unconsciously choose and combine – can help us better understand ourselves and why we behave the way we do."

 

The power of language: we translate our thoughts into words, but words also affect the way we think

by Guillaume Thierry

from The Conversation

"Linguistic relativity is the idea that language, which most people agree originates in and expresses human thought, can feedback to thinking, influencing thought in return. So, could different words or different grammatical constructs “shape” thinking differently in speakers of different languages?"

 

The power of language

by Child Rights International Network

from Medium

"...language serves the social practice of understanding one another, which, as a species, is important to us, but it’s not the only reason why we do it. Essentially, language is used to communicate ideas, and because of this, it harbours a power we’re rarely conscious of."

 

Language and power

by Sik Hung Ng and Fei Deng

from Communication

"Five dynamic language–power relationships in communication have emerged from critical language studies, sociolinguistics, conversation analysis, and the social psychology of language and communication... [one of these is] the power of language to maintain existing dominance in legal, sexist, racist, and ageist discourses that favor particular groups of language users over others."