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1、1,Lecture NineChapter SevenLanguage,Culture,and Society,2,It has long been recognized that language is an essential and important part of a given culture and that the impact of culture upon a given language is something intrinsic and indispensible.This chapter is a multidisciplinary attempting to pr
2、ovide a different perspective to the study of language science in terms of some new tendencies and developments in the field of sociolinguistics.We pay our attention to:language and culture,Language and society,and language and cross-cultural communication.,3,7.1 language and cultureWhat is culture?
3、Broadly speaking,it means the total way of life of a people,including the patterns of belief,customs,objects,institutions,techniques,and language.In a narrow sense,it refers to local or specific practice,beliefs or customs.7.1.1 The relationship between L&C There exists a close relationship between
4、language and culture,generally,a relation of part to whole,for L is part of C.Language is an indispensible carrier of culture.The knowledge and beliefs that constitute a peoples culture are habitually encoded and transmitted in L.Culture finds a better representation through language use.Language an
5、d culture correlate with each other at different levels of linguistic structure.,4,A historical survey of the study of the relation between L and CAnthropological study of linguistics:a study of language in a socio-cultural context.According to Malinowski(1884-1942),the meaning of a word greatly dep
6、ends upon its occurrence in a given context,or rather,upon a real language situation in life.“In its primitive uses,language functions as a link in concerted human activity,a mode of action,and not an instrument of reflection.”The work of Malinowski paved the way for a cultural,rather,a contextual s
7、tudy of language use in Britain.Theory of the context of situationIn order to set up a model for illustrating the close relation between language use and its co-ocurrent factors,J.R.Firth(1890-1960)developed this theory.,5,(a)The relevant features of the participants,persons,and personalities.i.The
8、verbal action of the participants.ii.The non-verbal action of the participants.(b)The relevant objects.(c)The effects of the verbal actionTwo points can be made to show the strong culture-oriented implication of this theory.Firth seemed to suggest the creativity and diversity of linguistic idiosyncr
9、asy(特征，习性)in language use.On the other hand,what Firth emphasized in this theory is quite similar to a more updating sociological axiom(公理)in language use,namely,“who speaks(or writes)what language(or what language variety)to whom and when and to what end”.,6,Ethnography(人种论)of communicationan autho
10、ritative research framework of our time in a linguistic study of social and cultural factors.Dell Hymes(1927-)The essential elements suggested by the framework include:Speech community,Situation,event,and act.Mnemonic(帮助记忆的)SPEAKING components:situation(场景),participants(参与者),ends(目的),act sequence(相关
11、形式与内容,行为秩序),key(语气),instrumentalities(语式),norms(准则),and genres(体裁),7,Sapir-Whorf Hypothesisan influential but also controversial theory about the study of the relation-ships between language and culture,a unique understanding of linguistic relativity.It suggests that Our language helps mould our way
12、 of thinking and,consequently,different languages may probably express speakers unique ways of understanding the world.Following the theory,two important points can be captured:a.Linguistic determinism:L may determine our thinking patterns.b.Linguistic relativity:similarity between languages is rela
13、tive.For two different speech communities,the greater their structural differentiation is,the more diverse their conceptualization of the world will be.,8,According to Eugene Nida,to do a good job in cross-cultural communication,we should be aware of the following five types of sub-culture:Ecologica
14、l culture;Linguistic culture;Religious culture;Material culture;Social culture.7.1.2 More about the Sapir-Worf HypothesisWhat this hypothesis primarily suggests is that our language will mould our view of the world.Few people would possibly accept this original theory completely now.Two versions of
15、Sapir-Worf Hypothesis:The strong version the claim that the original hypothesis makes,emphasizing the decisive role of language as the shaper of our thinking patterns.,9,The weak version a modified type of the original one,suggesting that there is a correlation between language,culture,and thought,b
16、ut the cross-cultural differences thus produced in our ways of thinking are relative,rather than categorical.If we go over the literature concerning the hypothesis,well soon discover that it has aroused a lively controversy.Some researchers claim to have found reliable evidence to justify its validi
17、ty,while others argue that enough counterevidence has been obtained to jeopardize its feasibility.Two examples to show the complexity and controversy of the theory.,10,(a)Hopi,an American native language spoken in Arizona,does not recognize time as a linear dimension,and its verbs do not have tenses
18、 comparable to those of European language.it serves as a good example to show language may differ from each other.(b)Dugum Dani,a papuan language spoken in the central highlands of Irian Java,has two basic color words:modla for white,mili for black.The study of the color word system in Dani language
19、 shows that color word systems in different languages are not like what has been assumed by Sapir and Wolf hypothesis,being culturally determined and hence absolutely different from one another:different languages might well undergo a universal evolutionary process of development,which made the basi
20、c color system in one language different from that in another only in terms of the stages of theirevolution.,11,7.1.3 Case studiesA constellation of examples can be collected from different levels of language analysis to illustrate the interplay of language and culture.Kaplan claims that the structu
21、ral organization of a text tends to be culturally specific.Phonological differences or dialectal accents reveal more than geographical origins of speakers.A cross-cultural study of the meaning of some idioms or metaphorical uses in a given social context,however,will definitely provide an optimal op
22、portunity to examine the issue.“get your hands dirty”:engage in doing something“dumbbell”:stupid guy,12,The Eskimos have countless words for snow.The Arabs,for camels.Linguistic evidence of cultural differences terms of address,Greetings thanks and compliments,privacy and taboos,and color words.7.1.
23、4 to what extent do we need culture in our linguistic study?A study of linguistic issues in a cultural setting can greatly promote our understanding of motivation and directionality in language change and we will have an opportunity to show how to do linguistics in a cultural context.,13,A bunch of
24、derived words has been rushing into the English language after the disclosure of the notorious political scandal dubbed the watergate event:“Billygate”,“Debate gate”,“Cattle gate”A sociolinguistic study of the combining form gate and its derivations concludes that this suffix enjoys a rich productiv
25、ity in American English and words derived from this source inevitably take on a culturally pejorative implication to refer to“the disclosure of misconduct in high places.”and a variety of derivational processes can be explained in the study of the productivity of this compounding form.We can draw so
26、me tentative conclusions:,14,a.“Watergate”,as a word taking on a pejorative implication to refer to“the disclosures of misconduct in high places”,hence,a synonym to scandals of different types,will stay in English for quite a long time.b.Its structural status in the language becomes rather stable.c.
27、The semantic implication it has will stay with the word for quite a long time.7.1.5 Culture in Language Teaching ClassroomTo know another culture is a rather difficult job.To act or behave appropriately in a target culture is a more demanding task.There are mainly at least three objectives for us to
28、 teach culture in our classroom:,15,To get the students familiar with cultural differences;To help the students transcend their own culture and see things as the members of the target culture;To emphasize the inseparability of understanding language and understanding culture through various classroo
29、m practices.A good understanding of structural things in some cases has much to do with a conscious understanding of the cultural background of the target language for language learners.7.2 Language and Society7.2.1 How Does Language Relate to Society?Discrete evidence has been gathered from great p
30、hilosophers and grammarians works to show the relation between language and society.,16,A separation of the structural study of language from its social context of usage was claimed,justified,and reinforced.The resurrection of a dualistic view of linguistic inquiry came into being in the 1960s,along
31、 with the development of sociolinguistics,as an opposition to Chomskyan.Metaphorically,language is regarded as a mirror of society,through which we can understand social activities of a certain society better.Functionally,society provides language suitable context of use,in which we can enjoy aspect
32、s of language vividly and truthfully.7.2.2 A Situational and Social Variationist PerspectiveAn appropriate use of a language in any social interaction not only involves its structural rules,but also involves some socially institutionalized norms in usage.,17,The choice of one form over another is bo
33、th stylistically and socially governed.There has been a maxim in sociolinguistics claiming that“You are what you say”.In a social context,our language behaviors are influenced by some social factors,some major ones include:Class,gender,age,ethnic identity,education background,occupation,and religiou
34、s belief.About the relation between speakers social status and their phonological variations,in the 1960s,William Labov concluded that class and style are two major factors influencing the speakers choice of one phonological variant over another.,18,Scholars have also carried out the investigation o
35、f gender effects upon ones linguistic behavior.It is believed that there exists a WOMEN REGISTER in the language that takes on the following features.1.women use more“fancy”color terms such as mauve(淡紫色)and beige（米黄色）.2.Women use less powerful curse words.3.Women use more intensifier such as“terribl
36、e”and“awful”.4.Women use more tag questions.5.Women use more statement questions like“Diner will be ready at seven oclock?”6.Womens linguistic behavior is more indirect and hence more polite than mens.,19,These features of womens speech reflect womens social place.Women register is also used by powe
37、rless members in society.More cogently(令人信服地),the linguistic differences between men and women are culturally and socially governed.It is the society that makes men and women behave in different linguistic ways.Users of the same language in a sense all speak differently.What each of them chooses to
38、use is in part determined by ones social background.When we speak we cannot avoid giving our listeners clues about our origin and our background.,20,The social environment can also be reflected in language,and can often have an effect on the structure and the vocabulary.For example,a societys kinshi
39、p system is generally reflected in its kinship vocabulary.,21,7.2.3 What Should We Know More about Sociolinguistics?Sociolinguistics refers to any study of language in relation to society.Commonly,from the 1960s,of studies of variation in language by Labov and his followers.In that sense,sociolingui
40、stics might be defined as the study of correlations between linguistic variables and no-linguistic variables such as the social class of speakers,their age,sex,etc.Increasingly,from the end of 1970s,of a range of loosely connected investigations,including conversation analysis as conducted especiall
41、y by sociologists,the study of relations in general between language and ideology or language and power,linguistic aspects of social psychology.,22,We should focus on two important things:structural things and their uses in a socio-cultural context.We mainly deal with two things:how the above two fa
42、ctors are related to each other and why it should be so.It is interdisciplinary and the pluralism and diversity make it difficult to delineate the scope of this field.Overlapping with other types of scientific research is another striking property.We can either classify sociolinguistics studies by m
43、eans of a hierarchical division,or by means of an orientational categorization.It can be specified as two related but different perspectives of observation:SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDY OF SOCIETY and SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDY OF LANGUAGE.,23,The differences between the two approaches are thatIf we want to know
44、 more about a given society or community by examining the linguistic behavior of its members,we are doing a sociolinguistic study of society at a macro level of investigation.The subjects to study include bilingualism,language attitudes,language choice,language maintenance and shift,language plannin
45、g and standardization,vernacular(方言)language education,etc.If we want to know more about some linguistic variations in language use by turning to potential socio-cultural factors for a description and explanation,we are doing a sociolinguistic study of language at a micro level of investigation.,24,
46、The subjects to study include Structural variants,address forms,gender differences,discourse analysis,pidgin and creole language,etc.7.2.4 what implications can we get from sociolinguistics?The past decades have witnessed a rapid development in sociolinguistics and the findings have greatly enriched
47、 our understanding of the relation between language and society.Along with the gradual maturity and acceptance,A new daughter discipline,“applied sociolinguistics”emerges.Some more successful practices have been found in language classrooms,law courts,and clinical settings respectively:In language c
48、lassrooms,there are two different views of philosophy in language teaching:,25,traditionally,language teaching is treated as a process of acquiring knowledge,in which students know something of language as the linguists do.But after the introduction of Hymes theory of Communicative Competence into l
49、anguage teaching,language teachers have begun to pay more attention to the question of how to train their students as active and successful language users in a real language contest.Sociolinguistic is believed to have made some important contributions in language teaching:It has contributed to a cha
50、nge of emphasis in the content of language teaching.It has contributed to innovations in materials and activities for the classroom.,26,It has contributed to fresh look at the nature of language development and use.It has contributed to a more fruitful research in this field.In law courts,the inquir
