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Unit24TheCulturalPatterningofTimeInhisbookTheSilentlanguage,anthropologistEdawadHalltheorizesthatperceptionsoftimeandspacearedifferentindifferentcultureandthattheseperceptionareculturallypatterned.Hallcalledthesedimensionsofcultureoutofawareness,becausepeoplearenotconsciousofhavinglearnedthem.Itmaywellbeturethatmostimportantaspectsofculture,suchasourperceptionsofphysicalenvironmentofourfoodtastes,arelearnedoutofawareness.Andcertianlyourperceptionsoftimeandspaceareamongthemostdeeplyinstilledofourculturalvalues.Forexample,menbersofmodern,industrializesWesternsocietiesareconditionedtoviewtimespaceandmatterinNewtonianterms.SirIsaacNewton,theseventeenth-centuryEnglishscientist,teansformedmathematicsandsciencetosuchanextentthateventhoughwemaynotbeabletolistoraxplainhisdiscoveries,weareinfluencedthem.NewtonformulatedseverallawsofmotionthatarebasictotheWestern'sunderstandingoftheuniverse,continuesatrestorinuniformmotioninastraightlineunlessitiscompelledtochangethatstatebyotherforcesactinguponit.ThisnotionalsounderliestheconceptoftimeinWesternculture,andtoWesternersitappearsthatitshouldbeanintuitiveconceptoftimesheredbyallpeopleeverywhere,Butasanthropologistshavedemonstratedthroughtheirstudiesofothercultures,theseNewtonianlawsarenotuniversal.Theyareinstilledbyaspecificculture,thoughtsystem,andlanguage.在著作《无声的语言》中，人类学家爱德华霍尔的理论认为不同文化观念的人对时间和空间的看法是不同的。霍尔将这些维度的文化称为“无意识”，因为人们在学习他们的时候是潜移默化的。很可能文化真正的最重要的方面，比如我对食物的味道的生理认知，也来自于“无意识”。我们对时间和空间的看法深深来自我们文化价值观的灌输。例如，现代工业化西方社会的成员习惯于从牛顿的时空物质观来看待世界。17世纪的英国科学家艾萨克·牛顿爵士将数学和科学发展到如此程度，即使我们可能无法罗列或者解释他的发现，我们也深受其影响。牛顿制定了几个基本的西方人理解宇宙的运动定律，即物体会继续静止或匀速直线运动，除非它因为其他力被迫改变这一状态。这个概念也成了西方文化中时间概念的根基。西方人认为这种时间概念应该被所有地方的所有人所接受。但人类学家已经通过对其他文化的研究认识到这些牛顿“法则”并不是普遍的。他们被一个特定的文化、思想体系和语言所灌输。Timeishuman,natureknowsonlychange.Infact,tellingtimeisastrictlyhumaninvention.Allcultureshavesomesystemofmeasuringduration,orkeepingtime,butinwesternindustrializedsocieties,wekeeptrackoftimeinwhatseemstootherpeoplesalmostanobsessivefashion.Weviewtimeasmotiononaspace,akindoflinearprogressionmeasuredbytheclockandthecalendar.Oursenseoftimeleadsustoimagineitasaribbonorascrollmarkedoffintoequalblankspaces,suggestingthateachofthesespacescanbefilledwithanentry.Thisperceptioncontributestooursenseofhistoryandthekeepingofrecords,whicharetypicalaspectsofwesterncultures.InWesternindustrializedsocieties,records,annals,diaries,andaccoutingledgersplayanimportantrole,Wearefascinatedbythesequenceingdating,charting,andmeasuringpiecesoftime.Wecalculatebotonlytheseasonsbutalsotheyears,months,weeks,days,hours,minutes,seconds,andeventhousandthsofseconds.WefinditusefultodividethepastintonamedperiodssuchastheRenaissanceortheclassicalage.Andourlinguistictreatmentoftimehasguidedmanyotheraspectsofourlives.Forexample,literatureistaughtinschoolbybeingdividedintoperiods——orframedtimeslots——ratherthanbybeingtreatedinathematicfashionthatcutsacrosstimeboundaries.“时间是一个人，自然只知道改变。”事实上，“告知时间”严格上来讲是人类的一种创造。所有的文化中都有测量时间或者保存时间的系统，但在西方工业化国家，我们以别人看来几乎是一种令人痴迷的时尚的态度来跟踪时间。我们把时间看作是空间上的移动，一种由时钟和日历衡量的线性增加。我们对时间的感觉引导我们把它想象成一条划分有等间隔空间的缎带或卷轴，告诉我们这些这些空间是可以用条目来填充的。这种感觉有助于我们的历史感和做好记录，这些是西方文化的典型方面。在西方工业化社会，记录、编年史、日记和账目扮演着非常重要的角色。我们沉迷于记录，图画和测量时间的片段。我们不仅仅通过季节，也通过年、月、周、日、小时、分钟、秒甚至是微秒来计算进度。我们发现将过去的时间命名为“文艺复兴”或者“古典时代”这样的有名字的时间段是很有用的。我们对时间的口头描述也会影响我们生活的其他方面。例如，学校的文学教育是按照时间段来分的——或者是按照时间周期来分的——而不是以跨越时间段的专题的方式对待的。Althoughourperceptionsoftimeseemnaturaltous,wemustnotassumethatotherculturesoperateonthesametimesystem.Forinstance,whyshouldweassumethataHopiraisedintheHopiculturewouldhavethesameintuitionsabouttimethatwehave?InHopihistory,ifrecordshadbeenwritten,wewouldfindadifferentsetofculturalandenvironmentalinfluencesworkingtogether.TheHopipeopleareapeacefulagriculturalsocietyisolatedbygeographicfeaturesandnomadenemiesinalandoflittlerainfall.Theiragricultureissuccessfulonlybythegreatestperseverance.Extensivepreparationsareneededtoensurecropgrowth.ThustheHopivaluepersistenceandrepetitioninactivity.Theyhaveasenseofthecumulativevalueofnumerous,small,repeatedmovements,fortothemsuchmovementsarenotwastedbutarestoreduptomakechangesinlaterevents.TheHopihavenointuitionoftimeasmotion,asasmoothflowinglineonwhicheverythingintheuniverseproceedsatanequalrateawayfromapast,throughapresent,intoaforeseeablefuture.LongandcarefulstudyoftheHopilanguagehasrevealedthatitcontainsnowords,grammaticalforms,constructions,orexpressionsthatrefertowhatwecalltime-thepast,present,orfuture-ortothedurationorlastingaspectoftime.TotheHopi,timeisagettinglaterofeverythingthathasbeendone,sothatpastandpresentmergetogether.TheHopidonotspeak,aswedoinEnglish,ofanewdayoranotherdaycomingeverytwenty-fourhours;amongtheHopi,thereturnofthedayislikethereturnofaperson,alittleolderbutwithallthecharacteristicsofyesterday.ThisHopiconception,withitsemphasisontherepetitiveaspectoftimeratherthanitsonwardflow,maybeclearlyseenintheirritualdancesforrainandgoodcrops,inwhichthebasicstepisashort,quickstampingofthefootrepeatedthousandsoftimes,hourafterhour.虽然我们的时间观念对我们来说是很自然的，我们不能假定其他文化和我们基于同样的时间系统。例如，为什么我们要假设在霍皮语文化下成长的霍皮人和我们有相同的时间观念？如果记录被写在霍皮人的历史上，我们会