Language and Culture

Chapter 2

Part I

Language Reflects Culture

Language tends to reflect the larger culture

Example: Inuit have many words for snow and seal,

whereas English does not (pg.18)

Inuit language is an agglutinating language that strings ideas into long words

English is an isolating language that puts separate ideas into separate words

Language Reflects Culture

The Inuit deal much more with seals and snow than most English-speakers do, so this should make sense

This is called cultural emphasis: Languages have areas of linguistic emphasis

for aspects they deem important

Cultural Emphasis In Shinzwani (Comoro Islands off the coast of

Africa) There is one word (mama) that means

‘mother’ and ‘aunt’

In this culture, both women help raise the children and therefore there is not a distinction

In English, we have two words, but only one word for ‘cousin,’ though other languages make a distinction between male/female cousins or cousins on mother’s/father’s side of family

English

Hawaiian/Iroquois

Cultural Emphasis In Marshall Islands (Pacific)

There were traditionally only two words for birthing troubles or birth defects

After nuclear tests in the 40s and 50s, there are now many words to describe different birth defects because so many more exist

The language changed as the culture/environment changed

Language Change History of English language

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-did-english-evolve-kate-gardoqui

Ethnosemantics After studying cultural emphasis, the next

step is to try to understand how speakers see their world through understanding their language

Try to understand how they categorize things

This is ethnosemantics: identify how words people use reveal underlying meanings and perceptions

Different from ethnography, which is a detailed study of a culture because it focuses on language

Ethnosemantics 1. Identify the way people divide language

into cultural emphasis; this is called semantic domain

2. Determine the categorization system and use this as a model to understand the speaker’s mental map

3. Use this to create an ethnoscientific model that shows the scientific categorization of the speaker’s world

Ethnosemantics You can use this in the field to learn a new

language from the native perspective

The goal is to try to get from the etic (outside) perspective to the emic (inside) perspective Create a semantic domain

Collect as many words for each domain as possible

Create a taxonomy

Conduct a componential analysis to find culturally important aspects of the language

Prototype Theory Developed in the 70s and 80s to help explain

complications between categories in different languages

This theory says we categorize by prototypes, or the best examples of things, and then use these examples as a way to determine what words go into which categories

Prototype Theory Example: “bird”

Different Meanings Let’s go through some words that have

different meanings in different languages

Can you see how it is easy to have linguistic misunderstandings?

Linguistic Relativity Different languages have different semantic

domains

These seem arbitrary, meaning there is not really an obvious reason in the physical world that something is categorized in a certain way

Example: Sun/Moon

In French, moon/night/woman are connected and sun/day/man are connected

Why are these seen as male or female?

Linguistic Relativity The answer is worldview

Linguistic Relativity: languages are different, they use arbitrary categories, and knowing one language does not allow you to predict another

Example: Rainbow ROY G BIV

Do we really use indigo as a basic color term?

Most English speakers use six colors

Linguistic Relativity Let’s look more at color

Some languages combine color categories (blue/green) and some divide color categories into more specific colors (light blue/dark blue)

The semantic domain of color is not experience exactly the same in all humans

Are There Universals? Linguists want to know if there are universals

that are the same across all languages

In 1969 Berlin and Kay tried to find a universal pattern with colors

They compared focal points (main categories) of color across languages and stated that all languages had a common system to name colors

They also said that those with fewer categories were less advanced than those with many categories

Are There Universals? Stage I: Dark-cool and light-warm (this covers a

larger set of colors than English "black" and "white".)

Stage II: Red

Stage III: Either green or yellow

Stage IV: Both green and yellow

Stage V: Blue

Stage VI: Brown

Stage VII: Purple, pink, orange, or gray (English goes here)

Are There Universals? They showed that societies with few

categories (I, II, III) were technologically simpler than those with more categories

Also that modern industrialized societies were the only ones to reach stage VII

What are some problems with these results?

Are There Universals? It ranks (puts values) on cultures!

It is ethnocentric because English is in the most advanced category

It used categories with multiple meanings (orange is a color and a fruit)

It stated it would not use borrowed words, but “blue” is from French and therefore English should only be in stage IV

Assignment Video Log: Linguistic Relativity

(http://vimeo.com/42744105 ) Give a definition (in your own words) for this

term

Are some languages better than others? Explain

Article: Linguistic Relativity

HW: Do You Speak American?

Article 1. How does language affect people’s

perception of space?

2. What about the perception of time?

3. Shapes/substances?

4. Objects (specifically grammatical gender)?

5. Is it possible to understand another person’s perspective on the world? Explain

Part II

Review Remember from last lecture that language

and culture are interconnected

Linguistic Relativity: languages are different, they use arbitrary categories, and knowing one language does not allow you to predict another

In this view, your culture determines how you perceive the world, and therefore influences your language

Linguistic Determinism

A second view is linguistic determinism Language influences and can determine

people’s ability to perceive the world around them

Proposed by Sapir and Whorf

Sapir (student of Boaz) analyzed the “tyrannical hold that the linguistic form has upon our orientation of the world”

Whorf (student of Sapir) studied how words influenced actions

Sapir and Whorf Whorf created his principle of linguistic

relativity Different languages have different

grammatical structures and rules

These grammatical categories direct how speakers think and see the world

Example is Hopi Language (pg. 33) Single-action vs. Repeated-action verbs

English speakers would not understand these categories

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Another name for linguistic determinism

Two forms: Strong Whorf: language is a prison from

which you cannot escape

Weaker Whorf: language is a room that gives a specific perspective, but lets you leave or go to other rooms

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Cannot test the Strong Whorf form

Since we can learn and understand other languages, the Weaker Whorf form seems more correct

Example: Comparing English with Yucatec language

Yucatec group items by material (everything made of wood goes into one category)

English group items by shape (a table has a specific shape but could be wood, metal, plastic)

Space The way we describe space uses deictic concepts, or

those that name space around our bodies

These are egocentric, or always relating back to your own body (to the right of, above, in front of…). This creates relative systems of space

The description between the two pictures would be different because of the position of the bodies

Space Some languages use absolute reckoning systems,

such as cardinal directions, that are not dependent upon where the body is

North will always remain north, even, if you move

This is geographically based, not biologically based

How might this cause speakers from these different languages to see the world differently?

How can this be influenced by the physical environment?

Los Angeles

New York

Experiencing LD To fully experience language determination,

you must be aware that to use a new language comfortably, you must understand its concepts

This includes rules that are different from your native language

In English, if I give money, I lend it; if I get money, I borrow it

In Shinzwani (Comoros Islands), there is no distinction; money is just transferred (kopa)

Experiencing LD In the Ukraine, there are two types of love

Liubov (general love)

Kokhannia (romantic love)

For time: Czech: 9:15 is a quarter of ten

English: 9:15 is a quarter past nine (pg. 39)

The goal is to be able to think in these terms and switch back and forth

Language, Culture, and Thought

Video: Steven Pinker: Linguistics as a Window to Understanding the Brain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-B_ONJIEcE Min 1-13

How do we understand or remember language?

What did Sapir and Whorf contribute to this?

Language, Culture, and Thought

So research on color, shapes, time, and space has shown that language does affect how we see the world

Then there is the language that is symbolic and not straightforward

Example: Time English: a straight line with equal units (hour, day, week,

year, century, etc.)

Hopi: cyclical, remembering and connecting to past events

Non-observable things have only the present tense, so ‘two days’ is ‘one day and another day”

‘Five years from now’ would be ‘this year and the next year, and the year after that…’

Language, Culture, and Thought

The culture of American English is very time-oriented

We have many metaphors to show how valuable it is: Time is money

Wasting time

Running out of time

Other cultures don’t have this Africa Time

Metaphors and Frames

We see the world and speak about the world through frames

These help us understand the cultural meaning behind something Are attached to ideology, or ideas about how

things should be

Robert Levy analyzed hypocognition, or the lack of frames He suggested that high suicide rates in Tahiti

were influenced by the language not having words to express grief

Metaphors and Frames

If something does not fit your frame, it is easy to dismiss

The media can also persuade your opinion by the frames they use to present information

Native vs. Borrowed What is a native word?

What is a borrowed one?

Does English borrow from other languages or do other languages only borrow from English? “West to the Rest” fallacy

We will discuss this more in chapter 9

Guess which words are native or foreign

Moose

Bandage

Elixir

Bathroom

Delicatessen

Bonkers

Capital

Garage

Lemon

Skunk

Tapioca

Llama

Handbag

Typhoon

Stone

Canoe

Admiral

Nippy

Squash

Coffee

Syrup

Fahrenheit

Cliché

Futon

Floor

Guess which words are native or foreign

Moose

Bandage

Elixir

Bathroom

Delicatessen

Bonkers

Capital

Garage

Lemon

Skunk

Tapioca

Llama

Handbag

Typhoon

Stone

Canoe

Admiral

Nippy

Squash

Coffee

Syrup

Fahrenheit

Cliché

Futon

Floor

Guess which words are native or foreign

Moose (NA)

Bandage

Elixir (Greek)

Bathroom

Delicatessen (Ger)

Bonkers

Capital

Garage (Fr)

Lemon (Persian)

Skunk (NA)

Tapioca (SA Indian)

Llama (SA Quechua)

Handbag

Typhoon (Chi)

Stone

Canoe (NA Indian)

Admiral (Arabic)

Nippy

Squash (NA Indian)

Coffee (Arabic)

Syrup (Arabic)

Fahrenheit (Ger)

Cliché (Fr)

Futon (Japanese)

Floor

Globalization Estimated that up to 9,000 languages have

disappeared

Half the remaining 6,900 languages are endangered

Globalization affects this because it promotes the success of few languages that can be used widely

More people now speak English as their second language (350 million) than as their first language (320 million)

This is closely tied to national and ethnic identities so preservation is important

Why don’t we want to lose these languages?

Assignment Article “Does English Still Borrow Words” and

questions

Video Log: Endangered Languages (http://www.voanews.com/content/rosetta-project-preserves-key-to-endangered-languages/1713317.html)

Why is it important to document languages spoken by small groups?

How can this help us understand other languages (“decoder ring”)?

HW #3 “Lost for Words”

Questions (also on class webpage):

1. Everett argues “that the Piraha’s peculiar language is shaped not by some innante language instinct,… but by their extraordinary culture.” Do you agree with this? How does this connect to Whorf and linguistic relativity?

2. Describe how the Piraha have a “practical” view of their spiritual world. Give examples.

3.  How does their culture prevent them from using numbers or counting?

 4. How does this language provide evidence against universal grammar?

 5. The Piraha language has very few phonemes (sounds). Is it a simple or ‘less-evolved’ language?