"The Gileadites seized the fords of the Jordan before the Ephriamites arrived. And when any Ephriamite who escaped said, "Let me cross over," the men of Gilead would say to him, "Are you an Ephriamite?" If he said "no," then they would say to him, "Then say 'Shibboleth'!" And he would say "Sibboleth," for he could not pronounce it right. Then they would take him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time forty-two thousand Ephriamites." Judges 12:5-7 NKJV
I never came across this Bible story in Sunday School. I didn't even come across it in Christian Scriptures class in college. I have to credit the book I'm currently reading, You Are What You Speak, for bringing this particular gem to my attention (even if the author didn't quite cite it right.) In the book, the author, Robert Lane Greene, uses the term "shibboleth" to refer to any linguistic cure that a person can use to differentiate between an insider and an outsider. And he comes up with quite a few modern examples.
I don't mean to pass judgement on people who use language to categorize people. "Shibboleth" was a useful term from the Gileadites' standpoint. It helped them to differentiate between fellow tribesman and tribal enemy. It was a useful tool of war, even if we are supposed to be rooting for the Ephriamites (they were a tribe of the people of Israel).
It's a very extreme example, but the story shows us how defining our idiolect (the way each individual speaks, like a dialect for one person) can be. Whether they know it or not and whether they mean to or not, other people are constantly putting you and I into categories based on the way we speak. And it can be based on something as small as how we say a single sound.
Update: Just read a post in Language Log where the author uses the term "shibboleth" in the same way. Apparently, this term is more widespread than I thought.
I never came across this Bible story in Sunday School. I didn't even come across it in Christian Scriptures class in college. I have to credit the book I'm currently reading, You Are What You Speak, for bringing this particular gem to my attention (even if the author didn't quite cite it right.) In the book, the author, Robert Lane Greene, uses the term "shibboleth" to refer to any linguistic cure that a person can use to differentiate between an insider and an outsider. And he comes up with quite a few modern examples.
I don't mean to pass judgement on people who use language to categorize people. "Shibboleth" was a useful term from the Gileadites' standpoint. It helped them to differentiate between fellow tribesman and tribal enemy. It was a useful tool of war, even if we are supposed to be rooting for the Ephriamites (they were a tribe of the people of Israel).
It's a very extreme example, but the story shows us how defining our idiolect (the way each individual speaks, like a dialect for one person) can be. Whether they know it or not and whether they mean to or not, other people are constantly putting you and I into categories based on the way we speak. And it can be based on something as small as how we say a single sound.
Update: Just read a post in Language Log where the author uses the term "shibboleth" in the same way. Apparently, this term is more widespread than I thought.
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