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1、Chapter 9 Language and culture What is culture? wIn a broad sense, culture means the total way of life of a people, including the patterns of belief, customs, objects, institutions, techniques, and language that characterizes the life of the human community. wIn a narrow sense, culture may refer to
2、local or specific practice, beliefs or customs, which can be mostly found in folk culture, enterprise culture or food culture, etc. wThere are generally two types of culture: material and spiritual.language and culture wThe same word may stir up different associations in people under different cultu
3、ral background, e.g. the word “dog”.wLanguage expresses cultural reality, reflects the peoples attitudes, beliefs, world outlooks, etc.wThe culture both emancipates and constrains people socially, historically and metaphorically.wCulture also affects its peoples imagination or common dreams which ar
4、e mediated through the language and reflected in their life. wOn the one hand, language as an integral part of human being, permeates in his thinking and way of viewing the world, language both expresses and embodies cultural reality; on the other, language, as a product of culture, helps perpetuate
5、 the culture, and the changes in language uses reflect the cultural changes in return.Sapir-Whorf hypothesis wEdward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf, proclaimed that the structure of the language people habitually use influences the ways they think and behave, i.e. different languages offer people differen
6、t ways of expressing the world around, they think and speak differently, this is also known as linguistic relativity.wSapir and Whorf believe that language filters peoples perception and the way they categorize experiences. This interdependence of language and thought is now known as Sapir-Whorf Hyp
7、othesis.wWhat do you think of this hypothesis? Give examples to support your view. FullEmptywEnglish: horseshoeFrench: fer a cheval iron for horseGerman: hufeisen hoof ironwThe Eskimos have countless words for snow. The Arabs, for camels.Strong version & weak version wStrong version believes that th
8、e language patterns determine peoples thinking and behavior;wWeak version holds that the former influences the latter. wWhich version do you support ?Contributions of SWH-The study of the linguistic relativity or SWH has shed two important insights:wThere is nowadays a recognition that language, as
9、code, reflects cultural preoccupations and constrains the way people think.wMore than in Whorfs days, however, we recognize how important context is in complementing the meanings encoded in the language.Linguistic evidence of cultural differences wDenotative meaning - a meaning that can be found in
10、a dictionary.wConnotative meaning - a meaning or idea suggested by a word or thing in addition to the formal meaning or nature of the word or thing.wIconic meaning - the image or icon invoked in mind by a word.wFor example, “rose”. a flower love，fragrance, passion, beauty. image of a person: “My lov
11、e is like a red red rose”Some cultural differences in language usewGreetings and terms of address wThanks and compliments wColor words wPrivacy and taboos wNumbers wWords and cultural-specific connotations wCultural-related idioms, proverbs and metaphor Greetings and terms of addresswHow do you do?
12、How are you? VS. 你好！wHave you eaten? VS. 你吃了么？wKinship Terms: Uncle, Aunt VS. 叔叔，阿姨Gratitude and compliments wThank you!wAmerican: you are welcome.wChinese: Its nothing.wYou speak good English.wAmerican: ThankswChinese: no, no !Color wordsw7 color terms in Chinese.w2 in some languages.wCultural hint
13、 of colors: white, red.wIdioms: green with envy, green eyes.Privacy and tabooswAge, family, background, salary.wHow old are you?wAre you married?wHow much do you earn?NumberswCultural associations: 4, 8.wRounding off numbers: American: 4 ounces in a quarter pound, 4 quarts in a gallon. Age: year old
14、s VS. 岁Words and cultural-specific connotationswA term in one language that does not have a counterpart in another language. (大表哥，father in law.)wTerms in both languages that appear to refer to be the same may arouse different connotations. (dragon,weekend)wThings or concepts expressed by one term i
15、n one language may be expressed by two or more terms in another language. (potato)wTerms that have more or less the same primary meaning may have considerably different secondary meanings.(你觉得你是个洋芋，其实你只是个土豆)Cultural-related idioms, proverbs and metaphorwkill the goose that lays the golden eggs” vs.“
16、杀鸡取卵杀鸡取卵” wCold words vs. 冷言冷语冷言冷语wConstant dropping wears the stone. 滴水滴水穿石穿石wDiamond cut diamond. 棋逢对手棋逢对手wKill a man when he is down. 落井下石落井下石Culture ContactwAcculturation (同化) (French words in English)wAssimilation （吸收） (the melting pot)wAmalgamation （混合）w(Mexico: Spanish+Indian)Cultural overlap
17、 wCultural overlap refers to the identical parts of different cultures owing to some similarities in the natural environment and psychology of human beings. For example, the superior tends to refer to himself or herself by means of kinship terms, such as “Have daddy/mummy/teacher told you that?”Cult
18、ural diffusionwThrough communication, some elements of culture A enter culture B and become part of culture B, this phenomenon is known as cultural diffusion. wOne typical example of cultural diffusion is the appearance of loan words.wThe practice of observing holidays of foreign origins and accepti
19、ng concepts from other cultures.wThe attitude towards cultural diffusion (esp. cultural imperialism owing to linguistic imperialism)The significance of cultural teaching and learning wLearning a foreign language is inseparable from learning its culture.wWe need to learn enough about the languages cu
20、lture so that we can communicate in the target language properly to achieve not only the linguistic competence but also the pragmatic or communicative competence as well.wWhat is “culture shock”? How do we solve this problem?Culture in language teaching classroomwThree objectives for us to teach cul
21、ture in our language class:w1) To get students familiar with cultural differences;w2) To help students transcend their own culture and see things as the members of the target culture will;w3) To emphasize the inseparability of understanding language and understanding culture through various classroo
22、m practices.Intercultural communication wIntercultural or cross-cultural communication is communication between people from different cultures (their cultural perceptions and symbolic systems are distinct enough to alter the communication event.)wIn cross-cultural communication, we need to pay special attention to the significant differences regarding social relations and concept of universe from different perspectives such as language, food, dress, attitude towards time, work habits, social behavior and religious belief that can cause frustrations in communications and contacts.