Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

What is the power of language? Does the form of our language push us to think in certain ways? Does it mire us in unquestioned ideologies and pathways? Can it move us to think in new and different ways? Do the words and expressions of other cultures have something to teach us in the ways they articulate (or don’t) different concepts?

In this forum, Vicky Bergvall, a linguist, and Pete Ekstrom, an anthropologist, host a discussion on some of the many questions arising from the complicated interactions of language, culture, and thought as we consider: What is the influence of language on the shaping of thought and culture? Do thought and culture shape language, or are they shaped by it? Can we change the way we think and act by changing our language? As we consider our UU covenants and missions, how important is the wording?

Together, we will explore some of the liberatory promises by carefully examining our language, culture, and thought can bring us as UUs.

Vicky Bergvall is a professor emerita of linguistics, retiring from the Humanities Department at Michigan Tech in 2021. Her research and teaching focused on language and its cognitive, social, and political effects, starting with her senior thesis at Whitman College (Walla Walla, WA), and continuing through her PhD at Harvard (including a Fulbright to Kenya for 9 months in 1983-84), up to the present.

What is the power of language? Does the form of our language push us to think in certain ways? Does it mire us in unquestioned ideologies and pathways? Can it move us to think in new and different ways? Do the words and expressions of other cultures have something to teach us in the ways they articulate (or don’t) different concepts?
In this forum, Vicky Bergvall, a linguist, and Pete Ekstrom, an anthropologist, host a discussion on some of the many questions arising from the complicated interactions of language, culture, and thought as we consider: What is the influence of language on the shaping of thought and culture? Do thought and culture shape language, or are they shaped by it? Can we change the way we think and act by changing our language? As we consider our UU covenants and missions, how important is the wording?
Together, we will explore some of the liberatory promises by carefully examining our language, culture, and thought can bring us as UUs.
Vicky Bergvall is a professor emerita of linguistics, retiring from the Humanities Department at Michigan Tech in 2021. Her research and teaching focused on language and its cognitive, social, and political effects, starting with her senior thesis at Whitman College (Walla Walla, WA), and continuing through her PhD at Harvard (including a Fulbright to Kenya for 9 months in 1983-84), up to the present.