Culture Blog

SHIKA

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Segment One Blog Project

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A: ENVIRONMENT

We live on flat land covered in thick vegetation that goes up to our upper legs. We call these plants Kantu. We are surrounded by it, and we have to cut it down to stop it from entering our homes. Their flowers, Kantu Ahi, are very pretty and smell very sweet, so our females pick them for their men to take and smell during their daily activities. Although we are surrounded by the Kantu,we do not eat them. They make our inner bodies burn like fire for a long time, and keep us from doing our work. Everything is flat except for the two big rocks far in the distance, but we do not go there because it is not safe away from home. They are so high, they can touch the sky god Pental himself. It is always hot where we live. It is so hot that we can't stay outside for a very long time without breaks. The only time it is not hot is when Pental cries. It does not happen often, but when it does, it lasts for a long time. This cools us all down from the unrelenting heat of the sky god and provides us with drink. The most common beast we have is the Largon. They are large wooly beasts the run in groups of six. They are our most valuable resource, but they are also our worst enemy. They are our main source of meat because so many that pass our home and two can feed our people for many meals. However, the Largon can kill us by charging at us. They are too fast for us to escape.

B: CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE

Norms- One of our norms is that our people eat all of our meals together. We all sit in the middle of the village and enjoy our food while we have conversations with each other. We begin eating when the last person is served and we leave for our daily work when the last person is done eating. Another norm is that our men are the farmers and soldiers, while the women are the hunters. The women are the ones that go out looking for Largon and other beasts for us to eat, while the men grow our food crops and protect our village from foreign peoples. It is also common for children under the age of five to follow and learn their parents’ work. The boys will follow the men and the girls will follow the women. We never insult each other. Insults are for foreigners. Also, it is common for everyone, including children, to drink Cao. Cao is a drink that our people make that helps us to have fun and relax after a hard day of work. The children especially enjoy it.

Values- One of our key values is that community comes first. It comes before yourself and your family. Every action we make is for all of us. This is because there are only one hundred of us and we want to preserve our people. We also value equality between all. Men are no more important than women. That is why our jobs are split so equally. We do this because we see no difference between man and women. We are all Shika. Peace between the Shika is extremely important to us. This is because we want as little conflict as possible and as much unity as possible. A united people are always stronger than a divided people. Lastly, we value the present. This is because there are only one hundred of us left and that we could be killed at any moment. We plan for only what is in front of us.

World View- We believe that the sky god Pental created everything we see and ourselves. He put us into our mothers to be born and his tears help us to grow our crops. However, we do not worship Pental. We simply acknowledge his existence and that he is our creator. We do not believe in anything after death. We do not have souls. We are simply another creation of Pental.

Symbols-

MARRIAGE

MARRIAGE http://www.alpinecountyca.gov/index.aspx?NID=318

MILITARY

EDUCATION

RELIGION

Classifications of Reality- One example of classification of reality is that we all agree that the Largon is food. We all understand that idea and we all eat the Largon. Also, we all agree that foreigners are all enemies. The Shika only consider other Shika as allies.

C: STRUCTURE/SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

· We have no formal institution of marriage. If two people care for each other, they will naturally have a bond together. However, there is no formal process to marry, nor is there any celebration. Two people simple choose to live together and start a family. They can separate at anytime except if they have children. If the couple has children, the children have to give the parents permission. The purpose of this is to keep the peace as much as possible. Our military is strictly for men. They begin training every day at the age of five. Their training began right after their first meal. The function of this is to keep the Shika safe. Our education system begins at the age of five as well. In class, the children learn various useful skills such as which plants are edible, how to create certain tools, and how to stay safe from the wildlife. Children attend classes until the age of fourteen before joining their parents and working. The purpose of this is to teach the children how to be functional members of society. We also have no religious institution. We believe that the sky god created us, but we do not worship him, nor do we believe in an after life.

· We have no class distinctions. We are all equal.

· We have forty eight males and fifty two females. There are no Shika over the age of fifty. Most of us are yound and strong.

· We have a Ritual called the Shika Runda. This is a large celebration the night before a child’s fifth birthday. Its purpose is to celebrate a person’s childhood before they enter the education and military systems that prepare them for adult life. Another ritual we have is when a person dies. When a Shika dies, their family finds a location outside the village to lay the dead. They are not buried, but are simply left on the ground while the entire village surrounds the body and hold hands in silence.

· We primarily eat the crops that the men grow in the village, and the Largon. The women hunt the Largon with sharpened rocks. The women lay on the ground and cover themselves in Kantu while they wait for the Largon. When one is close enough, the women jump out and rush the largon while stabbing it repeatedly until it dies.

· Before the age of five, children played with one another and followed their parents around. At the age of five, the boys begin training and their schooling, while the girls begin training to hunt and their schooling.The children finish their education the day they turn fourteen, where they become an adult. They work until they rach old age. Old age is reached, when a person is working noticibly slower than the rest. The old are allowed to stop working and spend their days doing whatever they want until death.

D: CULTURAL EMPHASIS

· Community: We emphasize community in everything we do. The women hunt for the entire village. The men undergo military training to protect the community. Community is important because of how few Shika are left.

· Happiness: the Shika emphasize Happiness. We want to keep everyone happy and peaceful. This is why see our women as equal to men and why respect is an important value to us.

· Structure: Structure is very important to the Shika. There is a specific time children enter and leave their schooling and training. This is to keep us working as smoothly as possible.

· The upbringing of children: The way that Shika children are raised is very important to the Shika. We want mold our children into great, working, adults. This is why we let them follow and watch their parents at a young age , and why schooling is mandatory.

· Living in the moment: Living in the moment is an important aspect of Shika culture. We have few people left, and we don’t know how much longer we have, so we decide to live in the moment.

Section III Essay

A. Language Enculturation

Children of the Shika people acquire language in a very similar way to children of the outside world. Their parents speak to them from the day they are born and they gradually pick up the language. They also learn the language by speaking with the other children in the tribe, when they play with each other. They become fluent by the age of six. However, some take until nine or ten years old to grasp the language. The Shika only speak one language and refuse to learn any others. This is due to the inclusiveness of the Shika. They see no reason to learn another tongue and in fact, any child or adult found trying to learn another language or study another culture could be banished. When a Shika child is first learning to speak, it is very common to hear a very blended up speech with maybe one or two clear words. The rest is a mumble. This usually occurs when children first learn to form words Literacy is where the boys and girls differ. At the age of five, the girls begin learning how to read and write in school. Boys however, begin military training and learn military tactics in their schooling. The men do not know how to read or write because the culture does not value literacy in men, only women so they can teach while the men fought as soldiers. Girls have to take literacy classes for two years before the elders in the community deem them as literate. Before then, the adults do not believe anything that the children read. They have to make sure and read it themselves. The women are the ones who write the speeches, and when the chief delivers one, the woman who wrote the speech actually reads it in the chief’s ear. He then recites it to the people.

B. History of Language

The Shika language has been passed down the same way for centuries, but the actual language was not always the same. The current form of the language has only been spoken and written for two hundred years. Before the current format of verb, subject, object, the Shika followed the subject, object, verb format. This is because the Shika community used to be an empire that stretched from the mid west United States to the east coast. In this time, the Shika were very selfish and individualistic because there were so many of them. At its height, the Shika numbered one million. This is why they say the subject first. They wanted to speak about themselves first. This is opposed to the current way of culture in which the community comes first and the concept of togetherness is a core value. Along with the change in format, the language also lost about half of its words. This is due to the loss of land when the Europeans arrived. They were driven back away from the coast and towards the center of the now United States. The Shika have no word for ocean, sand, fish, etc due to this fact. While the Shika lost many words, they did not pick up many new ones. They reject any western technology and words. They try to have as little contact with the outside world because the Shika blame all of the outside world for their lost of land and do not welcome outsiders. This trend is damaging the Shika language with many words leaving and no new words coming in. If they lose more land, they could also lose more and more words until it becomes a dead language.

C. Nonverbal Communication

The Shika language carries much more power than simply the ability to communicate. Their alphabet is made up of intricately drawn characters that require a lot of time and concentration to write correctly. This is different than the English language where every character can be written in one or two strokes. This shows the difference in the beliefs and values of the two different cultures. The many strokes, and thus more time needed to write in Shika show that they believe in meaning exactly what is said or written. There is no sarcasm or jokes in the Shika culture as opposed to the English speaking western world full of metaphors, puns, etc. The Shika also use many different nonverbal cues to show their emotions and ideas. To comfort another person, during hard times, they would touch foreheads. If there is extreme sadness, for instance in the case of a death in the family, then the two would touch foreheads and place their right arm on the shoulder of the other person. This is the ultimate gesture of comforting someone and is done in silence. This is different than most cultures today that often try to console people through words such as “Everything will be alright.” In times of sadness and anger, the Shika people do not make eye contact. It is common to see two individuals staring at the feet of one another while arguing. This is because the Shika people do not want to hold hate towards each other, so by not making eye contact, they are not putting a face with the person that they are quarreling with. This keeps them from holding grudges on other members of the community. Besides verbal and nonverbal communication, another distinct way that the Shika represent themselves is by using their appearance. Although other native tribes have ritualistic tattoos and piercings, the Shika express themselves through different hairstyles. It varies from a Mohawk to hair straight down to their knees to bald. Every person in the tribe is free to choose the hairstyle to best suits them.

D. Popular Culture

Although the Shika do not take in many new words, they have in recent history created several slang words. Due to the fact that some Shika are starting to become curious of the outside world and want to explore other cultures, Most of the slang is geared towards any members of the society who decide to embrace another community culture or try and leave the group. One slang word created by the Shika is Whanaga, which translates to sheep of the white skinned. The word is used to mock those who want to leave their land and try and live with the Americans. The Shika are a darker complexion and see the Americans today and the Europeans who settled the land as extremely pale. The sheep part is due to the fact that there are hundreds of millions of Americans as compared to the couple of hundred of the Shika that are left. The Shika who are called Whanaga are seen as simply blind followers of a different people. When the Shika greet one another, they say jhut. And grab each others forearms. Jhut means greetings from my heart. For leisure, the Shika compete in foot races, bow and arrow competitions, and other various physical activities. A semantic domain of the word love in the Shika language could be made to show that it is an extremely valued idea. The word shas means love for sister, the word sha means love for brother, the word Lima means love for mother, the word pima means love for father, and the word shol means love for a person outside of the family. This semantic domain shows that the Shika culture values love for other people.

E. How does your Language reflect your Culture

The Shika language reveals a lot about themselves. There are no past tense or future tense words in the language because the Shika’s population is so small that they cannot live in the past or the future, but in the present. The language also shows a lot about the everyday lives of the Shika such as what they eat. They have no words for any marine life such as fish, oysters, crab, etc. However, they have a word “largon.” This is the Shika word for the buffalo, which is their main source of meat. There used to be words for seafood when the Shika owned land on the coast, but they were driven back by the Europeans. Over time, they lost the words for marine life. Although the Shika are a very literal people, they have a couple of sayings that have been used by them for centuries. One is “Live as brothers and sisters,” which means to treat everyone as direct family. Another is “Before myself,” meaning that the village and the Shika people come before the individual. This is due to the fact that so few Shika are left. “Sitting is dying,” meant that doing nothing and relaxing is a waste of time. The Shika are always active. Even when they are not working, they are active competing in various physical activities. “Dreamers live in the future,” means that everyone needs to be realistic and live in the now because there is no need to think about the future. Lastly, “Human is human” means that men and women are all equal because they are simply human. There is no gender equality and the responsibilities are split between the two genders.

F. Reflective Essay

This project is extremely valuable to understanding the link between language and a culture. This assignment shows that there is a meaning behind every aspect of a culture’s language. The structure, pronunciation of words, alphabet and other subsections of language all tell stories of the culture itself. Language can show where societies lived in history by looking for missing words in a culture’s tongue; it can show what characteristics the society values through the use of semantic domains, etc. Before this assignment, I knew language and culture are intertwined, but I never knew to what extent. The uniqueness of every language reflects many distinct cultures around the world. It is not simply a way to communicate. I believe that it is also a form of identification and comfort, which is evident in countries such as the United States that take in many immigrants a year. When a family immigrates to the United States for the first time, they will most likely look for a neighborhood dominated by their same people who speak the same language. The family feels relatively comfortable around these people because they identify with them and can relate to them using the native tongue on a level that they cannot with other Americans. Before I started the second segment of the blog assignment we had to basically create a language for out culture, I thought that I could simply make up random characters, assign a random format, and simply fabricate a language with no relationship with the people who are supposed to speak it. It was difficult because as I was creating the language and alphabet, I had to make sure that it reflected the aspects of my culture that I created in the first segment of the project. For example, my culture, the Shika, did not live near a large body of water, so there are no words for ocean, fish, waves, etc. As I stated in an earlier paragraph, the way that each character in the language is written reflects the culture as well. The characters are very intricate and take a precise hand to write correctly. This relates to the culture because the Shika people are very literal and do not use sarcasm, puns, or any metaphors. I also learned the significance and effect of nonverbal communication. I did not know the effect that nonverbal communication has. It can be as powerful as speaking. The decision to make eye contact can have the same effect as having a full conversation with another human being. Not maintaining eye contact can mean that someone is lying, ashamed, or even guilty of a crime. I also never considered body modifications as a form of communication until now. Before, I only thought of them as a form of self-expression. However, certain body modifications could be linked with a certain culture and can communicate the story of that people through these tattoo, piercings, brandings, etc. This project showed me that language and culture could not last without one another.

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