Re: THEORY: language and philosophy [was Re: A question andintroduction]

>From: Marcus Smith <smithma@...>
>
>I little bit of hear-say on this point. A friend of mine who worked on
>languages of Australia once told me that he knew of a language that had a
>system very like gender that was based on tribe/clan affiliation. I don't
>know any more about it than that it was an Australian language, and I have
>never tried to confirm this.
>
I am particularly curious about the degree to which Australian languages may
be influenced by their worldview.  In one of my anthro classes we looked
pretty closely at Warnindilyagwa spirituality (a group living on Darwin
Island, North-Western Australia).  Not only is their philosophy extremely
interesting (and very different from Western / European thinking); it is
also quite deliberate - many of the things they do are done not just because
they are traditional (i.e. out of cultural habit), but have logical
arguments behind them as well that people remain quite concious of.  Also -
the Australian peoples were more or less isolated from the rest of the world
for a very long time (apparently like 70,000+ years, conservatively), so I'd
love to know if the Australian languages really stand out in any way (and
how).

Andy















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