Linguistic Dissonance
(excerpt)
Crocker, Chester A., Fen Olser Hampson, and Pamela Aall. eds. Turbulent Peace. United States Institute of Peace: Washington D.C., 2001, pg. 470.
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But reliance on a single language with its built-in cultural viewpoint imposes a misleadingly uniform structure and excludes deviant possibilities. For example, if modern English has no use for terms associated with group conciliation in a situation of endemic feuding or bargaining distinctions at different hierarchical levels, then the observer restricted to English may overlook relevant non-Anglo-Saxon dimensions of negotiating behavior. Negotiation possesses both universal and particular features reflecting local traditions and needs. Specific understanding of and approaches to it are embedded within given cultural settings. Imagine trying to describe the U.S. approach to law and governance in the language of a society unfamiliar with individual rights and the adversarial system-without once resorting to the English language.