Posted by Suan Yong on July 15, 1999 at 13:59:22:
In Reply to: "What a word's worth" - Part 1 posted by Martin G. on July 14, 1999 at 15:51:56:
Martin:
>... think of the Hawaiians, with a huge number of vowels, very few
>consonants, a very liquid-sounding language, lots of reduplication - you
>might say the Haw. lang. sounds very relaxed and peaceful...
... and why might you say so? Because your way of thinking (as shaped by
your language?) associates such sounds with such concepts? :-D
The way I see it, culture influences language, which in turn influences
(or reinforces) culture. Pao exagerrates an interesting concept for the
purpose of telling a (IMO uninteresting) story, which is why it ranks
among my least favourite works of Vance.
Suan