Towards a Vocabulary of Commons
"There is a world of difference between the commons and common property. There is an intimate linkage between language used to describe the commons and the perception and use of commons???how ???the commons??? have been translated from practice to restrictive usage. The words used to describe o...
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ftdlc:oai:http://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu:10535/7107 2023-05-15T16:07:24+02:00 Towards a Vocabulary of Commons Cheria, Anita Edwin 2011 http://hdl.handle.net/10535/7107 English eng http://hdl.handle.net/10535/7107 Sustaining Commons: Sustaining Our Future, the Thirteenth Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons January 10-14 Hyderabad, India commons language Social Organization Conference Paper unpublished Theory 2011 ftdlc 2021-03-11T16:18:13Z "There is a world of difference between the commons and common property. There is an intimate linkage between language used to describe the commons and the perception and use of commons???how ???the commons??? have been translated from practice to restrictive usage. The words used to describe often become the gateway to perception. Language is a good indicator of how we think, and how we define the physical, and psychosocial universe around us. Language not only expresses what we think, but to a large degree shapes our perceptions, self-perception and in constructing how we think. Languages are knowledge systems, not merely a collection of words. The individual addressed by an honorific is more likely to feel respected than one addressed by a demeaning one. Used continuously, these descriptors are internalised. Languages of peoples in tropical lands seldom have words for snow, but the Eskimo have more than a dozen words for it. Similarly, warlike peoples, feudal societies have no words for democracy and consensual decision making or polity. Eminent domain and terra nullius are carryovers from a feudal era. Though language influences how we think, it is not deterministic. There is a popular misconception that language determines thought, and we cannot go beyond the limits of language. The fallacious view is largely based on the work of Benjamin Lee Whoft. Peoples do go beyond the limitations of language in countless ways???by creating new words, using old words creatively and by importing words from other languages. A person from a tropical land, with a mother tongue that does not have a word for snow can know what snow is. However, language does direct what we must think of when we use it and the richness of our perceptions." Conference Object eskimo* Indiana University: Digital Library of the Commons (DLC) |
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Indiana University: Digital Library of the Commons (DLC) |
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English |
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commons language Social Organization |
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commons language Social Organization Cheria, Anita Edwin Towards a Vocabulary of Commons |
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commons language Social Organization |
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"There is a world of difference between the commons and common property. There is an intimate linkage between language used to describe the commons and the perception and use of commons???how ???the commons??? have been translated from practice to restrictive usage. The words used to describe often become the gateway to perception. Language is a good indicator of how we think, and how we define the physical, and psychosocial universe around us. Language not only expresses what we think, but to a large degree shapes our perceptions, self-perception and in constructing how we think. Languages are knowledge systems, not merely a collection of words. The individual addressed by an honorific is more likely to feel respected than one addressed by a demeaning one. Used continuously, these descriptors are internalised. Languages of peoples in tropical lands seldom have words for snow, but the Eskimo have more than a dozen words for it. Similarly, warlike peoples, feudal societies have no words for democracy and consensual decision making or polity. Eminent domain and terra nullius are carryovers from a feudal era. Though language influences how we think, it is not deterministic. There is a popular misconception that language determines thought, and we cannot go beyond the limits of language. The fallacious view is largely based on the work of Benjamin Lee Whoft. Peoples do go beyond the limitations of language in countless ways???by creating new words, using old words creatively and by importing words from other languages. A person from a tropical land, with a mother tongue that does not have a word for snow can know what snow is. However, language does direct what we must think of when we use it and the richness of our perceptions." |
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Conference Object |
author |
Cheria, Anita Edwin |
author_facet |
Cheria, Anita Edwin |
author_sort |
Cheria, Anita |
title |
Towards a Vocabulary of Commons |
title_short |
Towards a Vocabulary of Commons |
title_full |
Towards a Vocabulary of Commons |
title_fullStr |
Towards a Vocabulary of Commons |
title_full_unstemmed |
Towards a Vocabulary of Commons |
title_sort |
towards a vocabulary of commons |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10535/7107 |
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eskimo* |
genre_facet |
eskimo* |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/10535/7107 Sustaining Commons: Sustaining Our Future, the Thirteenth Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons January 10-14 Hyderabad, India |
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1766403505054023680 |