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1、 1 / 6 1 / 6 Unit 4 Language and Culture Some Ideas Related to language and culture 1. Interrelationship between culture and language Each culture has its own peculiarities and throws special influence on the language system. For example, referring to the same common domestic animal, English chooses
2、 the word “dog”, while Chinese has its own character “狗”; Chinese has the phrase “走狗” while English has the expression “running dog”, but the meanings attributed to the two expressions are completely different according to Chinese culture and Western culture respectively. To Westerners, “running dog
3、” has a positive meaning since the word “dog”, in most cases, is associated with an image of an animal petthe favorite friend, thus they have the phrases “lucky dog” (幸运儿), “top dog” (胜利者), “old dog” (老手), “gay dog” (快乐的人), and it is usually used to describe everyday life and behavior, as in “Love m
4、e, love my dog” (爱屋及乌)， “Every dog has its day” (凡人皆有得意日). But in Chinese “走狗” refers to a lackey, an obsequious person. Since Chinese associates derogatory meaning to the character “狗” depending on the cultural difference, Chinese has such expressions as “狗东 西”， “狗腿子”， “狗仗人势”， “狗胆包天”， “狗嘴里吐不出象牙”， “
5、狼心狗肺”， “痛 打落水狗”，“狗急跳墙”. We can obviously see that the meaning attributed to language is cultural-specific. A great deal of cross-cultural misunderstanding occurs when the “meanings” of words in two languages are assumed to be the same, but actually reflect different cultural patterns. Some are humor
6、ous as when a Turkish visitor to the U.S. refused to eat a hot dog because it was against his beliefs to eat dog meat. Some are much more serious as when a French couple on a trip to China took their pet poodle into a restaurant and requested some dog food. The dog was cooked and returned to their t
7、able on a platter! We can summarize the relationship between culture and language as the following: language is a key component of culture. It is the primary medium for transmitting much of culture. Without language, culture would not be possible. Children learning their native language are learning
8、 their own culture; learning a second language also involves learning a second culture to varying degrees. On the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture. It reflects culture. Cultural differences are the most serious areas causing misunderstanding, unpleasantness and even conflict
9、in cross- cultural communication. 2. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis The Sapir-Whorf theory, named after the American linguists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf, is a mould theory of language. Writing in 1929, Sapir argued in a classic passage that: Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, n
10、or alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society. It is 2 / 6 2 / 6 quite an illusion to imagine that one adjusts to reality essentially without the use of language
11、 and that language is merely an incidental means of solving specific problems of communication or reflection. The fact of the matter is that the “real world” is to a large extent unconsciously built upon the language habits of the group. No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considere
12、d as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached. We see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choice
13、s of interpretation. (Sapir 1958 1929, p. 69) This position was extended in the 1930s by his student Whorf, who, in another widely cited passage, declared that: We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages. The categories and types that we isolate from the world of phenomena we do
14、 not find there because they stare every observer in the face; on the contrary, the world is presented in a kaleidoscopic flux of impressions which has to be organized by our minds and this means largely by the linguistic systems in our minds. We cut nature up, organize it into concepts, and ascribe
15、 significances as we do, largely because we are parties to an agreement to organize it in this way an agreement that holds throughout our speech community and is codified in the patterns of our language. The agreement is, of course, an implicit and unstated one, but its terms are absolutely obligato
16、ry; we cannot talk at all except by subscribing to the organization and classification of data which the agreement decrees. (Whorf 1940, pp. 213-14; his emphasis) 3. The Role of Words in Various Cultures Words are inventive tools for communication, and the enjoyment of using this toolbox of symbols varies from culture to culture. In low-context cultures, the role of words is of informational; meaning is encoded explicitly. Not to encode messages explicitly is to risk being misund
