Sublime

This matters, because language is a form of power. It creates categories that help us interpret the world, and that which is not easily available in language is often ignored in thought itself. A shared vocabulary makes ideas more accessible while a lack of language can render an experience illegible. It can isolate.

our culture has configured women’s liberty as corrosion, and for a long time, there was no way for a woman to be both free and good.

Linguists endlessly remind us that these rules are arbitrary, unconnected to clarity or logic. Yet no linguist denies the other reality, which is that these rules, having been entrenched in society as measures of formality and social worth, must be followed in formal contexts and taught to young people.

Physical and cultural basis:

These two scenes show us the value-shifting magic of language. Language can shape how we frame our experiences. Language can make us pay extra attention to what we consume and direct our attention to specific parts of the experience.

speak from a position of collective identity, to forge an alliance with a community of others in defense of tastes which, as a

From a young age, I learned to speak for my mother as authoritatively as I could. Not only did I want to dispel the derision I saw behind that woman’s eyes, I wanted to shame her with my sobering fluency for thinking what she was thinking. I have been partly drawn to writing, I realize, to judge those who have unfairly judged my family; to prove th

Language is a sometimes surprisingly flexible regime.