Hi!! I'm new to this website so I'm not sure what to expect, but from the posts I've read everyone seems helpful and intelligent
So I was thinking about linguistic determinism recently ["Linguistic determinism is the idea that language shapes thought." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_determinism] and it seems clear to me how particular languages would shape one's mind much differently from English (Kaluhli, Samoan, Chinese, Nepali, etc).
Actually I came across this website today and it was really interesting [http://www.cerezo.name/archives/000005.html]... so take the following example:
"In Tzeltal, the general word for EAT is TUN, but it changes depending in what it is eaten: K’UX for beans, LO’ for bananas, WE’ for tortillas and bread, TI’ for meat and chilis, TZ’U’ for sugarcane and UCH’ for corngruel and liquids."
So I think that if your language creates such a distinction among the types of food you eat, that your mind will also emphasize this distinction. Inversely, in most European languages we have one word for "to eat". Maybe this limits us in how we perceive eating, and how little we distinguish between eating various foods? Just food for thought.
So I've come here with a question. What are some language differences between BCS and English? Here's one that I'll consider: in Serbian there's no word equivalent to "boyfriend"; there's "decko" or "momak" but those are simply words meaning boy or man. Neither of them imply a relationship without context. I'm not sure what implications this has, but it's interesting.
If you would, fellow multilingual "linguists", give me more examples like this? I would love to ponder the implications of language differences.