BBI 3301 INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE The course provides an introduction to the

way in which language and culture reflect each other.

It also aims to introduce arenas in which language and culture are linked.

We will examine how language structures thought; how people talk as a means of accomplishing their goals; and investigate connections between language and social structures.

AIMS OF THE COURSEBy the end of this course, you should be

able to: Understand the fundamental concepts

used in the study of language and culture.

Discuss the notions of language and cultures.

Understand how language and culture are related or interconnected to one another.

SYNOPSIS

The course will examine the relationship of language and culture. It examines how meaning is related to sign and action. It investigates the spoken language and oral culture; the print language and literate culture; as well as the relationship between language and cultural identity. It will also discuss some current issues in relation to language and culture.

ASSESSMENT

The assessment requirements for the course include:

An assignment: 25%Mid-semester test: 35%Final examination: 40%

Assignment The question or topic for the assignment

will be distributed during our first face-to-face.

Mid-semester Test The mid-semester test will cover units 1,

2, 3 and 4 of this module and chapters 1, 2 and 3 of your text.

Final Examination Questions for the final examination will be

based on units 5, 6, 7 and 8 of this module and 4, 5, 6 and 7 of your text.

TEXT Kramsch C. (1998). Language and Culture.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The text, Language and Culture by Claire Kramsch (1998) OUP, provides a broad and readable overview of a wide range of topics. Topics in this text will be referred to throughout the guide and you are to do the required reading as stipulated at certain points in your reading of the guide.

For other recommended reading, refer to the section under references at the end of the module.

LEARNING SCHEDULEWeek Topics Hours   1 Unit 1 Introduction 5 2-3 Unit 2 The relationship of language

and culture 7 4-5 Unit 3 Meaning as sign 7 6-7 Unit 4 Meaning as action 7 8-9 Unit 5 Spoken language, oral culture 7 10-11 Unit 6 Print language, literate culture

7 12-13 Unit 7 Language and culture identity

7 14 Unit 8 Current issues 5

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORProf Dr. Chan Swee Heng I can be contacted at: The Department of English LanguageFaculty of Modern Language and CommunicationUniversiti Putra Malaysia43400 UPM SerdangSelangor Darul Ehsan Telephone: 8986101 Ext. 8728 (Department Office) Or 8707 (my office)

(You should try ringing my office first, failing which to reach me, then you may call the department office and leave a message)

My email I.D. is shchan@fbmk.upm.edu.myYou may also fax me at 03-89439951

UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

What is Language?

Knowledge of a language includes knowing ‘the sound system, words, and the sentences or non-sentences of that language’ (Fromkin and Rodman, 1998: 4)

Differentiate between the terms linguistic competence and linguistic performance that refer to knowledge of a language.

According to Finnegan (1994: 14), language is a ‘communication system that has work to perform, a system that speakers exploit purposefully’ and it is ‘used to do things, not merely to report them or talk about them.’

Core and Scribner (1974: 8), argue that ‘language is said to be at one and the same time a vital force and an individual tool of communication and thought; it is, so speak, on both sides of the culture-cognition relationship.’

Henslin (2006:38-40) notes that language is the primary way people communicate with one another.

It’s a system of symbols which all us to communicate abstract thought (Henslin, 2004:40).

It’s a perspective which allows culture to exist.

What is Culture? Culture is the totality of learned, socially

transmitted behavior. Culture is all the values, norms, and customs

that people share with one another. Culture includes language and beliefs Culture is all of the material objects such as

monuments, three-piece suites, the lottery, fur coats, and fine automobiles.

Culture is ideas (like the belief in democracy and freedom) found within a society.

Culture is what individuals think is right and important as they interact

(Schaefer, 1992:67).

Culture is a way of life. When people talk about "the way of life" of people with a distinctive life style, whether they live in Appalachia or Norway, they are talking about culture.

It defines what is important and unimportant. Culture refers to everything that people create. Values, norms, goals, and culture in general, develop as people interact with one another over time.

Other Aspects of Communication:

In addition to language, we also communicate in other ways.

These auxiliary communication techniques are known as use of paralanguage.

Various forms of paralanguage include kinesics, tone and character of voice, and proxemics (O’Neil, 2000).

A. Kinesics Kinesics is body language, that is the

language of gestures, expressions and postures.

B. Gestures Some gestures are the same throughout

the world. e.g: a smile. Some gestures may be different in

different parts of the world.e.g: spitting on someone is a symbol or sign of contempt in Malaysia but it is an affectionate blessing if done in a certain way among the Masai of Kenya (O’Neil, 2000).

C. Tone and character of voice The meaning of an utterance can be

altered by tone and character of voice. e.g: are you okay? are you okay?

D. Proxemics Proxemics is the study of the distance

between individuals or groups when engaging in conversation.

e.g: establishing a comfort zone avoiding eye contact in a crowd

E. Use of Space:

Culture tells us how to organise space in such a way as to control the nature of interaction.

e.g: Japanese offices are set up with the manager’s desk at the end of a row of desks used by subordinate employees. This maximises his interaction with the workers.

F. Use of Time:

Culture tells us how to manipulate time in order to communicate messages.

e.g: punctuality, power relationship

G. Communicating with Clothes:

The clothes we wear have many functions.

e.g: worn to provide supernatural protection, office wear, royal colour.

The appearance of a person tells us their gender, age, economic class and sometimes their intentions.

UNIT 2: THE RELATIONSHIP OF LANGUAGE AND CULTUREFunctions of Language:

1. language expresses cultural reality.2. language embodies cultural reality.3. Language symbolises cultural reality.

o The ways that language and culture impose on nature correspond to various forms of socialisation or acculturation

o Culture brings order and predictability into our use of language.

o Social conventions and norms of social appropriateness are the products of speech communities.

o Culture liberates and at the same time, constrains us socially, historically and metaphorically.

Language and Thought ProcessesThe Whorfian Hypothesis:

Language is not a way of expressing or packaging thought.

It is a mould that shapes our thoughts. Linguistics relativity and determinism. If the environment and what it

comprises are known only through the varying selective and organising mechanisms

of language, what we perceive and experience would then be arbitrary.

The notion of linguistic relativity implies that the world is differently experienced in different language communities and more strongly, that language causes these differences.

Certain aspects of language behavior challenge Whorf’s proposal that the absence or presence of a lexical distinction can be taken as an indicator of a corresponding perceptual or conceptual distinction.

Basically, S&W went into Native America and saw that people constructed their world differently, and their language reflected that.

Navajo, for example, had "one, two, three, some, and many" as counting categories (where we typically have 2, singular and plural). Lakota do not categorize green separate from blue or black. Hopi divide things into categories like "breathing things" and "moving things" and "round things".

All of these have linguistic features. We have an "s" we add to plurals. One tree, two trees, three trees. A Navajo would have (this is made up, cause i no longer remember Navajo endings) one tree, two treeX, three treeA, some treeM and many treeP. In English, verbs are treated the same whether it's a lap top that "runs", an person that "runs" or water that "runs". Each of those would be conjugated differently in Hopi due to the different category.

So, S &W see this, and wonder "did language cause people to see the world in these categories. Or did the way they see the world effect language".

Most linguists think they got much of it wrong, but they put the seeds down for some interesting work on how language and culture are intertwined, and how a change in the language necessitates a change in the culture and vice versa.

UNIT 3: MEANING AS SIGNWhat does it mean to mean something? Meaning is related to social reality. Meaning is often manifested through

denotation, connotation and icon.

Denotation: What are the conditions that are needed

for the sign to take on meaning?They are:1. reality has to be given a name for each of

the entity segmented. Therefore we have the dictionary entry of the thousands of words from A-Z that are used in English.

2. segments must be recognisable and have applications that are repeatable. e.g. a car is a car in any place.

3. There must be room for extension in the use of the term. e.g. X is Y, X is a kind of Y and X is like Y. Chomel is a cat. Chomel could be a name for other kinds of cats.

Reality must be captured in memory. Only then can the linguistic in it be stored for future use.

Connotations: Connotations are derived from how

people use the words and the associations. It goes beyond literal meaning.

e.g . the word theatre. In ancient times, it was associated with disease, sin and depravity – all negative in nature. Today, it connotes high culture.

A. Similes As_____as a peacock. As_____as a church mouse. As_____as a doll.

B. Metaphors She speaks in a _______voice to attract

his father’s attention. (very sweetly). He _________under her intense stare and

confessed the crime. (gave up resisting).

He was raving _____to find out that his son had cheated in the examination. (very angry)

C. Proverbs Too many cooks spoil the _____. An apple a day keeps the _____. A bird in the hand is worth two in _____.

Icons Words and their meaning are also often

associated with sounds. e.g: the story of Jack and the Beanstalk,

the giant saying Fie, fa, fo, fum as he enters his house and smells the human blood.

What kind of image does he sounds conjure?

OTHER INFLUENCING FACTORS

1. Encoding Meaning is situated in experience.

2. Semantic Networks Some semantic properties are those

related to class of words, and their relationships

e.g: woman, girl, lady belong to the same word class.

Some words are synonyms while others are antonyms.

3. Discourse Communities and Practices

Discourse communities are limitless. Groupings, are identified with dialect,

registers, repertoires, roles and reputations.

Dialects are affiliated to language users, register refers to varieties in the context of situational use.

Registers may refer to very specific terminology used only by a distinct community or in a distinct environment.

Register can be viewed along the continuum of formality to informality.

e.g. In describing a person as nutty illustrates intimate use, crazy is casual, while demented would be formal.

UNIT 4: MEANING AS ACTION

Context of Situation: Within a community, different patterns

of speaking are evident depending on contexts.

e.g: there would bi differences between speakers according to status, like that of children and adults, superior and subordinates, difference in sexes, and occupations.

Interpretation of the following utterance: “I didn’t see the stop sign. - to a policeman - to a friend after jamming on the bucks. - to a friend who waited for your arrival.

Context of Situation and Context of Culture:

The context of situation often cannot be divorced from the context of culture.

Behaviour which is culturally linked accompanies the interpretation of signs manifested through language.

Together with verbal, paraverbal and non-verbal signs (contextualization cues), interlocutors will be guided in making the situated inferences.

Actions that are carried out through verbal means are called speech acts.

Coherence Breakdowns: Kramsch (1998) terms the act of

imposing meaning onto utterance according to the situational and cultural context as establishing pragmatic coherence.

Coherence breakdowns arise as a result of mismatch in expectations or discrepancies in participants’ inferences and frames of expectations’ (Kramsch 1998: 29)

e.g: use of silence

The Co-operative Principle: Grice suggests that there is a set of

assumptions guiding the how people conduct conversations.

Grice proposes a general co-operative principle which comprises four basic maxims of conversation.

The four maxims are (Fromkin and Rodman: 1996; Levinson, 1983: 101):

Name of Maxim Description of Maxim Quantity Say neither more nor less than

the discourse requires. Relevance Be relevant.

Manner Be brief and orderly; avoid ambiguity and obscurity.

Quality Do not lie; do not make unsupported claims; i.e. try make your contribution one that is true.

CONCLUSION The topics covered are:

1. Introduction to Language and Culture

2. Functions of Language3. Meaning as Sign 4. Meaning as Action