2. VII language, culture and society

3. Contents 7.0 Introduction 7.1 Language and culture 7.2 Language and society 7.3 Cross-cultural communication 7.4 Summary

4. 7.0 Introduction Language, culture and society Language and culture: Cross-cultural communication Language and society: Sociolinguistics

5. 7. 1 Language and culture The anthropological orientation in the study of language Bronislaw Malinowski and John P. Firth in England. Franz Boas, Edward Sapir, and Benjiamin Lee Whorf in North America. Anthropological study of linguisitcs: Malinowski: wood in the speech community on the Trobriand Islands. The “canoe” meaning can be heavily situationally or culturally specified. This paved way for a cultural or a contextual study of lg in Britain.

6. CONTEXT OF SITUATION Firth, the close relationship between lg use and its co- occurrent factors: A. the relevant features of the participants, persons, personalities: (i) the verbal action of the participants; (ii) the non-verbal action of the participants B. The relevant objects C. The effect of the verbal action. “who speaks what lg or lg variety to whom and when and to what end.

7. Sapir-Whorf Hypotheses Our lg helps mould our way of thinking and, consequently, different lgs may probably express the speakers’ unique way of understanding the world. Lg may determine our thinking patterns; similarities between lgs is relative. For to different speech communities, the greater their cultural differentiation is, the more diverse their conceptualization of the world will be. Linguistic Determinism and Linguistic Relativity

8. Sapir-Whorf Hypotheses: two versions The strong version:emphasize the decisive role of lg as the shaper of our thinking is patterns The weak version: there is a correlation between lg, culture and thought, but the cross-cultural differences thus produced in our way of thinking are relative, rather than categorical. run—very runs (Hopi):languages differ from each other Brent Berlin & Paul Kay: a cross-cultural study of color system: White/black—red---green/yellow—blue—brown— purple/pink/orange/gray Dani: white (warmness)---black(coldness)

9. Culture in linguistic study Watergate -gate: 1. productivity in American English 2.pejorative implication to refer to “the disclosure of misconduct in high places” (Barnhart & Barnhart 1981:2364) 3. a variety of processes can be explained in the study of the productivity of the compounding form conclusion: -gate as a pejorative –long while in English --Structural status stable through derivational processes --Semantic implicature will remain for quite a long time. --New development: 艳照门

10. Culture in lg teaching classroom A good understanding of structural things in some case has much to do with a conscious understanding of the cultural background of the target lg for lg learner. That is to say, successful mastery of a given lg has much to do with an understanding of that culture.

11. 7.2 Language and society Monistic / autonomous pursuit Dualistic pursuit Linguistic variations: --Socially institutionalized: 先生－老公－男人 --Stylistically governed

12. Social factors that influence lg behaviour: “you are what you say.” (Lakoff 1991) class, gender, age, ethnic identity, education background, religious belief. Class: William Labov: The Social Stratification of English in New York City (1966) ： --Relation between social status and phonological variations Fourth floor

13. Gender How differently do women speak from men --Fancy color terms --Less powerful curse terms --More intensifiers --Tag questions --Rising tone with statement --Linguistic behaviour is more indirect, polite Why is this so? --Women’s place in society --Women register Sex--gender

14. How to conduct Sociolingusitic study Structural things and their uses in a sociocultural context: 1. The description of the phenomenon (what): how they are related: we want to look at structural things by paying attention to lg use in a social context 2. The explanation for the phenomenon (why): Why this is so: we try to understand sociological things of society by examining linguistic phenomena of a speaking community. Difficulties in sociolinguistic study: 1. Pluralism and diversity 2. Over-lapping with other types of scientific research

15. Two studies Sociolinguistic study of society: gaining knowledge of a given society or community by examining the linguistic behaviour of its members, a macro level of study: bilingualism, lg attitude, lg choice, lg maintenance, lg planning and standardization, education, etc. Sociolingusitic study of language: gaining knowledge about some variation in lg use by turning to potential sociocultural factors for a description and explanation. Micro linguistic phenomenon, structural variants, address forms, gender difference, etc.

16. Practical sociolinguistics Sociolinguistics in language classroom: to train the student as grammarian or as competent, active and successful lg user? Communicative competence Sociolinguistics has contributed to lg teaching(Berns 1990:339): 1. A change of emphasis in the content of lg. Teaching 2. Innovations in the material and activities for the classroom 3. A fresh look at the nature of lg development and use 4.more fruitful research in this field. Sociolingusitics in law court Sociolingusitics in clinic setting

17. 7.3 Cross-cultural communication Language plays a decisive role when we communicate with others, but he diversity in lg and culture makes cross-cultural communication a highly risky mission. Rogers (1961): 1. Try to look at things from other person’s point of view 2. Try to sense their feeling to a given issue 3. Try to understand their way of knowing the world Principles in cross-cultural communication 1. See, feel and understand issues from the speaker’s point of view 2. Speaker and hearers know each other’s intention 3. Two parties adopt a dynamic dialogue pattern

18. Case studies 你－－您 You—thou I’m Mr. Green. I’m Green. I’m John. Greeting in English and Chinese: weather— food/health

19. Sensible interpretation and prediction of what the other party will think, feel and behave when some crucial things occur can be challenging. 1. Your linguistic knowledge in the target lg. 2. Your understanding of the target culture 3. Your consciousness of the nature of the target nation 4. Your caution to the occurrence of rash and risky assumptions

20. Summary Important figures of anthropological study of language Context of situation Sapir-Whorf hypothesis Factors that influence language Two studies of sociolinguistics Practical sociolingusitics Your own experience