Words
Building blocks of a language describing local realities for shared understanding and expression. The evolving speech and multiple literacies bond people to their environment. They express both literal and figurative meanings.
Story: Do You Have a Word for It?
Lerato: I’m having a hard time explaining this to you. There’s no word for it in your language.
Andrew: What are you trying to explain?
Lerato: It’s a critical concept in my culture, but I don’t know how to translate it.
Andrew: Try anyway. Maybe I’ll understand.
Lerato: Okay, in my culture, we believe everything on earth is connected. It’s like a web; every strand is connected to one another.
Andrew: So, it’s like a network?
Lerato: Not exactly. It’s more than that. It’s like a living, breathing thing. And each part represents a different aspect of the whole – the sun, the moon, the stars, the animals, the plants, and everything in between.
Andrew: I see. So it’s like a global ecosystem?
Lerato: Yes! That’s an excellent way to put it. But it’s more than just an ecosystem. It’s a spiritual connection that we have with everything around us. It’s hard to explain, but it’s a feeling you get when you’re in touch with nature and the spirits.
Andrew: I think I understand what you’re saying. It’s like a sense of oneness with the earth and everything in it.
Lerato: Exactly! That’s it. In our language, there is a specific word for it. It’s hard to describe, but I’m glad you understand.
Examples from the Bible
- God’s words accomplish their intended outcome (Isaiah 55:11). The best example of such a speech act is the creation itself that came into being by God’s spoken word (Genesis 1:1).
- The Gospel writers prioritized understandability over precision. Mark, addressing Gentiles, used “I” (Mark 8:27), while Matthew, writing for Jews, likely used the more accurate term “Son of Man” (Matthew 16:13), assuming his audience understood its significance.1
- To avoid being offensive to his Jewish audience, Matthew minimized the use of “God” in his Gospel. He opted to use “Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 3:2). Conversely, Mark and Luke, addressing Gentiles, consistently used “Kingdom of God” (Mark 1:15, Luke 4:43) throughout their gospels.2
- Paul specified the word love to explain how the church in Corinth can be united (1 Corinthians 13).
- Words like “light, word, flesh” were loaded with cultural meanings from the Old Testament. John used their rich meaning to introduce Jesus (John 1:1-5).
- James writes extensively about the power of words. He uses the rudder of a ship as an example of the tongue of something small having a significant impact (James 3:1-12).
- In the Bible, the meanings of names are very important. Declaring something in the name of a powerful person was considered a Speech Act (Acts 4:7).
- As a sorcerer, Simon knew that curses have power and was scared by the words of Peter (Acts 8:20-24).
Real-life examples
- HOR cultures tend to be more ambiguous in their expression. In contrast, LOR people are much more precise when expressing ideas. However, HOR cultures often have precise words that are used in relationships. For example, in Tagalog, the term “bilas” is the spouse’s sibling’s spouse, not just “sister-in-law or brother-in-law.” “Balae” is the word for the parent-in-law of your child.
- Many people describe finding a place using landmarks, not street names. They also use ambiguous terms like ‘two rides on public transportation’ or ‘it takes long’ instead of imperial measurements like minutes and kilometers.
- The traffic sign in the Philippines and Indonesia, “Reduce Speed,” is ambiguous compared to a sign clearly stating the allowed maximum speed.
- Indonesians would use the word “Mas” to address an older brother and, in general, to approach a stranger or someone unknown to the first person. However, the term “pak” would appropriately address a person with a reputation in a formal setting, even though “Pak” means father or Sir. Also, an older person would use “Mas” to address anyone younger than the first person as a sign of respect since most Indonesians will not directly use a person’s first name.
- People in East Timor prefer to use the general term “belakang” (literally means at the back) whenever they want to go to the toilet. Using the specific word toilet would be taboo since it connotes a dirty place for them.
- In preaching, some Pastors would use general words like “be Holy” instead of specific terms to help their parishioners live a holy life.
Relevance
The meaning of words changes over time in all cultures (etymology). We must know what words mean to the demographic we are working with. Understanding the different jargon for the specific context in society will secure a cross-cultural witness to appropriately communicate to his host culture for a particular age and social group. It allows him to avoid misunderstanding with the people around him as well. It, like language, evolves as people deal with it as life increasingly gets more complex. And so words may be used in various ways according to age, location, economic status, social group, etc.
Messiah has a different meaning in Christianity and Islam. Knowing the difference is essential to avoid misunderstanding and clarify the message.
Some languages have unique words that are generally used, even for similar circumstances. In contrast, others have more specific and new words for particular situations. The use of words for certain cultures can also be categorized as formal or non-formal.
Orality preference continuum
The spectrum between LOR and HOR cultures can be seen in different ways. LOR cultures have highly developed literary tools, while some HOR people don’t even have an alphabet for their language.
While people on the HOR side of the continuum tend to have more ambiguous words that need to be understood in context, they also use precise words to describe relationships. On this end of the spectrum, people also believe that spoken words have power.
On the LOR side of the continuum, people have more precise/technical terms, and for them, words tend to be seen just as a communication tool.
The table below gives us a more detailed understanding of how words are used.
| Very high | High | Low | Very low |
|---|---|---|---|
| High ambiguity – general terms can be used in various ways, and the context is critical to understand the meaning. | High ambiguity is dealt with when talking about issues of strong relationship values. | Choice of words critically analyzed and a developed art of “word-smithing.” | Very precise – printed communication must go through several revisions to ensure just the right words and expressions. |
| People may have an alphabet but no dictionary. | Entry-level dictionary for elementary understanding. | Printed dictionary for multiple uses of any given word. | Words defined in multiple language derivatives (Latin, Greek, French, etc.). |
| Very little, if any, print/text literature is available. | Literacy for higher education is usually in a trade or international language. | Local literature exists, but technical and scientific material is loaded with foreign terms. | Multiple dictionaries, thesauruses, and libraries. |
| Words are believed to have power. | Words can be deliberately used to exert power. | Words are primarily for communication but can also be used to manipulate. | Words are just a communication tool. |
What has been discovered?
The spoken word is more than words. Words have power – especially blessings and curses.3 It’s not just that when someone says something nice, it makes us feel good, but we also get wounded when they say something harmful. As the Hebrew word “Davar” implies, the utterance speaks something into existence.4
Jewish rhetoric, unlike Greek rhetoric, sets forth an ethical as opposed to utilitarian approach to communication.
We lose a significant amount of communication when we attempt to take a multi-dimensional oral message and reduce it into 2-dimensional text. The first is a performance. The latter is a reduction.
Jargon evolves mostly from the main capital of a country. That jargon becomes the standard of new vocabulary being passed to the other youth group and society.5
High and low-context cultures use words differently and are comfortable with different levels of ambiguity. Some (Western) need exactness, hence the need for writing and wordsmithing. Others live comfortably with low ambiguity in words and communication because they mutually understand the “unspoken.”6
Additional resources
- Discover more about Words through our training materials on the I-OS website!
- An interesting video that explains How Some Words Get Forgetted.
- In her TED talk, Lera Boroditsky explains How language shapes the way we think.
- Dye, T. Wayne. 2024. “Language: Unleashing Its Hidden Powers.” Webinar presented at the OralityTalks, Virtual. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d1aMTOze-s. ↩︎
- Dye, T. Wayne. 2024. “Language: Unleashing Its Hidden Powers.” Webinar presented at the OralityTalks, Virtual. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d1aMTOze-s. ↩︎
- Dye, T. Wayne. “On tribal conservationists.” Current Anthropology 39, no. 3 (1998): 352-353.
Wisse, Maarten. “Words in Action: Speech Act Theory and Biblical Interpretation.” Ars Disputandi 4, no. 1 (2004): 78-84. ↩︎ - Steffen, Tom. “Discoveries made while reconnecting God’s story to scripture and service.” Christian Education Journal 14, no. 1 (2017): 160-183. Swarr, David, Ricki Gidoomal, Psalm Arouja. The Master Storyteller. Center for Oral Scriptures: Richmond, VA. 2017. ↩︎
- Saxby, David. “Youth Indonesian.” Inside Indonesia, 15 July 2007, https://www.insideindonesia.org/youth-indonesian. ↩︎
- Hofstede’s Uncertainty Avoidance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_avoidance
What Is The Difference Between a High-Context and Low-Context Culture? ↩︎
