Language and Culture

1. Language and Culture Osher Class, Spring, 2016

2. Topics for the Class • Brief History of Linguistics • Brief History of Cultural Studies • Aspects of Language • Properties of Language • Language competence vs Language performance • Linguistic components of Language • Non-linguistic components of Language • Body language and animal language • Language vs dialect • Number of languages today • Status of languages today • What is Culture? • Aspects of Culture • Where is Culture? • Numbers of Cultures today • Past cultures and their influence • Cultural competence vs cultural performance • Languages with no Culture • Translation • Can language influence culture?

3. Definitions • Language • The words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a community • A systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings (non-verbal)

4. Definitions (con’t) • Culture • Acquaintance with and taste in fine arts, humanities, and broad aspects of science • The integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations • The customary beliefs, social forms and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group • The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization

5. Definitions (con’t) -- Communication • A process by which information is exchanged thru a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior • Information transmitted or conveyed • A verbal or written message

6. CULTURE Communication Language Linguistic ComponentsNon-linguistic components Sounds Words Syntax Kinesics Gestures Proxemics Semantics

7. A Brief History of Linguistics • Sumarians • Hindu • Greeks • Romans • Arabs • Hebrews • Europe in the Middle Ages • European explorers

9. History of Linguistics (con’t) • Grammars of known languages (19th century) • 20th century • Ferdinand de Saussure – father of modern linguistics • Noam Chomsky – created generative grammar of universal rules

10. A Brief History of Cultural Studies • Franz Boas – father of American anthropology • Creation of Centre for Cultural Studies (1964) • Richard Dawkins proposed the term “meme” • Can be a word or concept – STOP or • Can be a sound, picture, movie, a speech, etc.

11. Aspects of Language (Bollinger) • Language is: • Human • Behavior • Sound • Hierarchic • Embedded in gesture • Both arbitrary and non-arbitrary • Vertical and horizontal • Language changes to outwit change • Languages are similarly structured • Language is heard as well as spoken

12. Properties of Language (Bolton) • Language is productive/creative • Language is arbitrary • Language has duality • Language is discrete

13. How we know and use Language • Ferdinand de Saussure • Langue + parole = language • Noam Chomsky • Competence + performance = language

14. Linguistic Components of Language • Phonology (sounds) - /map/ /cap/ • Morphology (words) – map-s • Syntax (grammar) – The map is big. • Semantics (meanings) – John wears a cap. There is a salary cap.

15. Why we need the IPA • Cough Enough • Dough Through • Thought Plough • Hiccough Hough • Lough Thorough • A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.

16. Three levels of meaning • Lexical – the dictionary meaning • Structural or grammatical meaning • Socio-cultural meaning

17. Non-Linguistic Components of Language – Body Language • Kinesics • Gestures • Proxemics

19. Dialects of the U. S.

22. Dialects of Spain

23. Dialects of England

24. Number of World Languages • Population of the world - 7,106,865,254 • Number of Living Languages – 7,102 • 95% of the world’s people speak fewer than 100 of the world’s different languages • By 2050, many linguists predict that half of the world’s languages will disappear • An entire way of thinking is lost each time a language becomes extinct

25. Definition of Culture • Acquaintance with and taste in fine arts, humanities, and broad aspects of science • The integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations • The customary beliefs, social forms and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group • The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization

26. Guernica by P. Picasso

27. Aspects of Culture • It is learned • Language is the medium of transmission • It is applicable to all people • It is active and dynamic • It changes over time • It is multilayered • It is malleable/adaptive • It is always considered within a context • It is thick, thin, or compartmentalized • It structures our perceptions

28. Where is Culture? • Food/health • Personal hygiene • Transportation • Personal space • Moral code • Modesty • Meals • Social gatherings • Birthdays/holidays • Clothing • Family • Time • Religion • Humor • Attractions/revulsions • Entertainment • Gender roles • Etc.

29. Examples of 21st Century Language • Texting • OMG • IMHO • BAY • BTW • CUL • OTOH • PAW • BRB

30. Examples (cont.) • Totesing (short for “totally”) • Totes tradge (tragic) • Totes emosh (emotional) • Bluebs • Subconch • Aphrodeez • Imposh • Fosh

31. Cultural Competence vs Cultural Performance • Knowing about – the gathering of cultural information • Knowing how – acquiring cultural behaviors • Knowing why – discovering cultural explanations • Knowing oneself – developing self-awareness

33. Dialects of the U. S.

34. Cultures of Europe

35. Cultures of the U. S.

36. Past Cultures and their Influence • Celts – whiskey, bog, shindig • Anglo-Saxon – be, strong, water, the, you • Latin & Greek – bishop, angel, demon • Vikings – get, hit, leg, low, root, want, wrong • Normans/French – many • New World – hurricane, hammock • Spanish – rodeo, avocado, algebra, arroyo

37. Origins of English Words

38. Created Languages • The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien • Lapine – Watership Down • Newspeak – 1984 by George Orwell • Atlantean – Atlantis: The Lost Empire • Ku – The Interpreter • Klingon, Vulcan – Star Trek • Na’vi - Avatar • Valyrian – The Game of Thrones

39. Esperanto • Alphabet – 26 letters: a b c ĉ d e f g ĝ h ĥ i j ĵ k l m n o p r s ŝ t u ŭ v z • Sample structures: • Good morning – Bonanmatenon • Good evening – Bonanvesperon • What is your name? – Kio estas via nomo? • Thank you – Dankon • Excuse me – Pardonu min

40. Basic Principles of Language • Language consists of a systematically organized set of oral/aural symbols. • Writing only imperfectly represents language • Associations between symbols and referents are essentially arbitrary. • The segmentation of experience by speech symbols is essentially arbitrary. • No two languages exhibit identical systems of organizing symbols into meaningful expressions

41. Grammar Differences • La lecheesbuena. El hermano de David esguapo. • Milk is good. David’s brother is handsome. Correspondence • Differences

42. What is involved

43. Language Influences Culture • Use of geographical location to express all locations and lapse of time • Perceptions, e.g., color affected by mother tongue • Gender-system languages where animate and inanimate things must have gender

44. Recap • Language and culture are inexorably intertwined • The combination allows us to communicate and be understood • We are linguistically and culturally competent • L & C can and do influence each other (more research needed) • Languages and Cultures are unique