ABSTRACT
The phonetic side of language beautifully illustrates both the selective nature of culture and the omnipresence of patterning. Language is as consistently nonrational as any aspect of culture. Groups within a culture emphasize their unity by a special language. The essential aroma of each culture or subculture may be caught as a fragrance of language. From the anthropological point of view there are as many different worlds upon the earth as there are languages. Each language is an instrument which guides people in observing, in reacting, in expressing themselves in a special way. The most important contribution of anthropological linguistics has come from the difficulties the anthropologist goes through in trying to express the meanings contained in speech structures completely foreign to the pattern of all European tongues. Every language is also a special way of looking at the world and interpreting experience.
