1. Language and Culture Prof. R. Hickey
Language and Culture Prof. R. Hickey SS Sociolinguistics, Language and Culture
Nadine Bieniek (Hauptstudium LN) Alina Biesenbaum (Grundstudium LN) Maike Ebert (Grundstudium TN) Katharina Kraatz (Grundstudium TN) Lukas Rott (Hauptstudium LN) Magdalena Szuber (ECTS Punkte) Anna Zagermann (Grundstudium TN) Jessica Zeltner (Hauptstudium LN)

2. Content 1. Standard Languages and Linguistic Engineering
2. Building National Identities
3. Language and Social Position: Social Inequality
4. Social Deixis
5. Social Markers
6. Non-verbal communication
7. Expressive movements between cultures
8. Human Rituals

3. 1. Standard Languages and Linguistic Engineering The Concept of the Nation-State and the National Language
Magdalena Szuber

4. The notion of a ‘nation –state’
A result of economic and political developments in the 19th century, particularly the French and industrial revolutions, and from these via education of elites diffused throughout the world.

5. The notion of a ‘nation –state’
Shift of political communities from Gemeinschaft “community”
signifying relationships based on likeness, shared properties of kinship and descent or locality, e.g. home, farm, village
to Gesellschaft “association”
people of different backgrounds engaging in contracts of association and exchange, e.g. larger cities or industrial units as is clearly modern nation-state. (Toennis, 1955)
In this sense the nation-state is an “imagined community”, basis of which (or a powerful force for its forming) is a shared, mostly standard, national language.

6. The notion of a ‘nation –state’
Forces producing and molding standard national languages are various, but revolve mainly around politics and economy.
Standard national language is likely to reflect the speech of nation’s elite.

7. The Development of Standard English

8. The Development of Standard English
The idea of a standard English emerged in the London area, center of trade and commerce, around the 14th century; English spoken in 4 main dialect groupings:
Northern, above the Humber River
Midland, north of the Thames and Avon rivers, south of Humber
Southern, south of the Avon and Thames rivers, west of London
Kentish, south of the Thames River, mainly east of London

9. The Development of Standard English
The Dialect of English spoken in London has always been gradually seen as prestigious throughout the whole country:
14th century - the Southern dialect
15th century - the East Midland dialect (The Black Death, William Caxton)
16th century - the Northern dialect (wool trade & manufacture)
16th/17th century literacy solidifies position of the prestigious London dialect,
late 18th century - the rise of a nation-state ideology mounts full-scale attack on the minority languages of the British Isles

10. The Development of Standard English
Late 18th century - the rise of a nation-state ideology mounts full-scale attack on the minority languages of the British Isles
Unified British nation and people required acceptance of all of a standard British language
Spelling standardized, stigmatizing certain variant forms (development of prescriptive grammars and dictionaries)
The end result – Standard English we know today

11. Language standardization
Country’s economic and political power centralized
‘Standard’ likely to be based on speech of the higher social strata, ‘the elite’
Literate forms and cultural activities

12. Dutch as a Standard Language
Two different stories - Belgium and the Netherlands

13. Standard Dutch of Belgium and the Netherlands
In Belgium Dutch is one of the two official languages. Originally modern Belgium and the Netherlands spoke regional dialects of Dutch.
17th century revolt against Habsburg rule produce a new standard of the independent northern provinces (The Netherlands), based on the language of Amsterdam. Amsterdam – cultural and scientific center
The developments in Belgium differ.

14. Standard Dutch of Belgium and the Netherlands
Habsburg hegemony in Belgium continued until the 19th century, when the Kingdom of Belgium emerged.
French was than an prestigious language of courts from Paris to Moscow, also bulk of elite in Belgium.
Farmers and laboring classes continued to speak regional Dutch dialects.
Dutch received an official status in Belgium only in Belgian Dutch has never been officially recognized.
Real economic power lies in the hands of French speakers (Brussels and the European Union).

15. Standard Languages in Norway

16. Standard Languages in Norway
Story reflects the Romantic idea that nation’s unique identity and distinctive national language are closely intertwined.
From 15th century until 1814, Norway was ruled by Denmark;
official language – Danish. When Norway regained its independence in 1814, there was no Standard Norwegian.
Two Standard languages emerge.

17. Standard Languages in Norway
Bokmal, the ‘book language’,
developed on the basis of speech of the urban elite, but influenced by the language of the enemy – Danish.
Nynorsk, the new Norwegian
A school teacher Ivar Aasen introduces new standard, based on the rural western Norwegian dialects, which have had least Danish influence.

18. Conclusion
Language Standardization is primarily a political and economic process
Significant role of ideologies of statehood and nationalism

19. 2. Building National Identities
Alina Biesenbaum

20. Building National Identities
The concepts of nation and state:
State: any region governed under a central administration with its own legal and political institutions, and separated by the administration from surrounding regions.
Nation: community of people who see themselves as an ethnic and cultural unit, and contrast with other communities of people surrounding them.

21. Asia and Africa are multiethnic and multilingual
problems of developing a standard language
constructing a standard language is seen as an intrinsic part of building a modern nation-state
„one nation, one people, one language“

22. Asia and Africa
citizens are often divided by tribe, race, region, custom, religion and language
therefore struggles may arise ( conflict between Bantu and Nilotic tribes in 1970s and 1980s)
conflicts can lead to a collapse of the nation-state

23. Asia and Africa
according to Geertz conflicts are a result of integrative failure
important to bind people together into a state
centralization of a national media, national school curricula, national governmental bureaucracy

24. Asia and Africa
one of the major conflicts today is the struggle of communities (nations) to become states (Kurds)
ex colonies: they are states struggling to be nations

25. Standard language and Elite Hegemony
common identity of citizens = same national language
official languages are necessary for the functioning of the state and its central institutions
many ex-colonies have chosen English or French to be their national language

26. 2 main reasons for this situation
1. countries are highly multilingual
2. prior to independence, the political and economic elite were educated in the colonial languages
good and active control of these languages is essential to gaining access to power and prestige

27. Forging a Standard language - the case of Indonesian
not all ex-colonies have adopted French or English
Indonesia and Tanzania have raised regional languages to the status of official national languages
Indonesia: multiethnic, multilingual (over 300 languages)

28. The Malay language Malay: language of trade, also used by the Dutch
in 1928 Malay was claimed as official national language

29. The Malay language colloquial: aku tanam sayur di kabun
I plant vegetables in garden
standard:
saya men-(t) anam-i kebun dengun
I plant garden with
sayur
vegetables
prefix men- indicates active voice
suffix –i indicates that direct object is a location

30. The Malay language
the colloquial varieties employ word order to signal grammatical functions and are morphologically unelaborated
Standard Indonesian makes use of derivational morphology

31. Modernization in Language Standardization
standard Indonesian is under pressure to „modernize“
lack of words for concepts and practices connected with the modern world of technology, bureaucracy, economy

32. Modernization in Language Standardization
In coining new words for modern concepts, language planners look
1.for sources in Indonesian languages,
2. Sanskrit,
3. Indic languages,
4. European languages (English)

33. Modernization in Language Standardization
antropologi – anthropology
kwalitet quality
rasionalisasi – rationalization
politik politics
demokrasi - democracy
In the field of politics, economies, technology the words are borrowed from the English language

34. 3. Language and Social Position: Social Inequality
Jessica Zeltner

35. Contents: Language and Social Position
Social Inequality: Class, Power, and Prestige
Social Roles
Other Types of Social Structure
Conclusion

36. Social Inequality: Class, Power, and Prestige
Sociolinguistics:
“deals with the inter-relationships between language and society. It has strong connections […] to sociology, through the crucial role that language plays in the organization of social groups and institutions.” (Yule 1996: 239)

37. Social Inequality: Class, Power, and Prestige
Social Stratification:
“the arrangement of any social group or society into a hierarchy of positions that are unequal with regard to power, property, social evaluation […]” (Tumin 1967: 12)
Power:
The ability to realize one’s wants and interests even against resistance (according to Max Weber 1972)

38. Social Inequality: Class, Power, and Prestige
defined by occupation and educational level
people behave in ways appropriate to their class position
Class System:
positions people so that access to “scarce goods” is either given or denied

39. Social Inequality: Class, Power, and Prestige
Conflicts of interests: higher vs. lower class
Social Classes: “aggregates of people who have similar overall positions in the economic system” (Foley 1997: 308)
indicators: occupation, educational level

40. Social Inequality: Class, Power, and Prestige
Status:
“the hierarchical ranking of individuals along a dimension of social prestige, which leads to differentials in power and access to scarce goods” (according to Weber)

41. Social Inequality: Class, Power, and Prestige
Criteria of Status:
inferior / superior
Status entitlements are not fixed
determined by occupation and educational background
deference / avoidance
hierarchy

42. Social Roles Criteria of Roles: particular attitudes and practices
Influenced by class position and education
different contexts - different behavior

43. Social Roles Criteria of Roles: actors take on roles
different roles – differing status entitlements
asymmetrical power

44. Social Roles Criteria of Roles: expectations
asymmetry of power - strictness of roles
specific code of behavior: “styles of language”
highly pervasive roles

45. Social Roles
Society:
“network of fields of conventionalized interactive relationships of differential power, reward, and prestige” (Foley 1997: 311)

46. Other Types of Societies
Caste Society:
indicator: birth
no alteration
multidimensional
hierarchical

47. Other Types of Societies
Age Set Society:
biological features
hierarchy structured by age: age grades
political power: the eldest
younger must defer to older
alteration by aging

48. Conclusion Societies are structured in various ways
Most common way in Western Societies: class system
Social roles are linked to concept of class and status
Languages have various ways to indicate social class, status and roles

49. 4. Social Deixis
Maike Ebert

50. Contents: Social Deixis
T/V Phenomenon
Example Japanese
Example Javanese
Conclusion

51. T/V Phenomenon described by Brown and Gilman
best known type of social deixis
refers to the phenomenon that in almost every European language but also elsewhere second-person singular pronouns are used

52. T/V Phenomenon T from Latin tu, V from Latin vos T form  informal
V form  formal
Two dimensions how to use the forms:
Power
Solidarity

53. T/V Phenomenon Dimension of Power:
One has power over another to degree to which one can control or influence the behaviour of another
Asymmetrical
V form
Inferior uses V form, Superior T form
Expl. Teacher – Pupil
Employer – Employee

54. T/V Phenomenon Dimension of Solidarity: No asymmetry of power
Related to social roles
Two types: 1. equal and solidary  T form
2. equal and not solidary  V form

55. Japanese
Special class of words or grammatical morphemes, whose sole function is to indicate social deixis among the interlocutors or the referent of some participant in the utterance.
These grammatical units are called honorifics

56. Japanese
Boku kare ni au yo
I he meet
DAT
I’ll meet him
T form

57. Japanese Watakushi kare ni aimas u I he meet DAT I’ll meet him V form
I changes in V form (boku  watakushi)
Mas is added (au  aimas)

58. Japanese Referent honorifics:
-Deference is accorded by the speaker to the referent of a nominal participant in her utterance
Neutral, non-deferential form, used to a solidary or inferior addressee
Sakai drew a map for Suzuki

59. Japanese 2. Both are equal to the speaker
Mr Sakai drew a map for Mr Suzuki
3. Speaker is considerably lower in status than Sakai, special subject honorific forms must be used to indicate the relative high status entitlement
Mr Sakai came to draw a map for Mr Suzuki
4. Significant status differential between Sakai and Suzuki
 Mr Sakai did the drawing of a map for Mr Suzuki

60. Javanese
Most complex systems of honorifics, humbling, expressions and polite speech form indicating deference to the addressee
Two speech levels which exemplify lexical items for most items of basic vocabulary
Ngoko  T form
Krama  V form

61. Javanese Ngoko: apa kowé njupuk sega semono
Krama: menapa panjenengan mendhet sekul semanten
 Will you take that much rice?

62. Javanese Madya: Middle language Small vocabulary Disliked by nobility
Used by speakers that can’t speak krama
Krama-speakers mainly use it as an outgroup code

63. Javanese Napa sempéyan mendhet sekul semonten njupuk sega
Will you take that much rice?
Mixed form of both languages

64. Conclusion T/V Phenomenon: Use of second-person singular pronouns
Common in almost every European language
Dependent on dimension of
solidarity and power
Honorifics:
Special class of words or grammatical morphemes, whose sole function is to indicate social deixis among the interlocutors or the referent of some participant in the utterance  Japanese

65. Conclusion
Different language are used to show different speech level  Javanese

66. 5. Social Markers
Lukas Rott

67. Contents 1. Sociolinguistic Variables 2. Code Switching
3. Social Markers and Ethnicity

68. Sociolinguistic Variables
Definition:
- indexical linguistic feature present in most, if not all, languages

69. Sociolinguistic Variables
A linguistic feature that shows statistically significant variation along the lines of social variables (class, age, sex…)
- Most commonly involves phonological variation, but can involve any linguistic feature.

70. Example
Labov investigated differences in the phonetic realization of the phoneme /r/ in postvocalic position among speakers of New York City English:
- two different realizations:
a) retroflection of the vowel = /r/ -ed variety
b) phoneme “r” is absent = /r/ -less variety
After World War II the first realization became the standard pronunciation

71. Example
Labov’s research in three different New York City department stores revealed that higher-class speakers tend to pronounce the postvocalic /r/
lower- and working-class New Yorkers often leave out the /r/ in postvocalic position

72. Code Switching
Code Switching is the shifting from one language or variety of language to another in the course of verbal interaction.

73. Example
Almost all adults in Yimas village (Papua New Guinea) are bilingual.
They speak:
a) Tok Pisin: The major lingua franca of Papua New Guinea
→ is used for political affairs, means modernity, lacks intimacy, can show superiority
b) Yimas vernacular: carries social connotations of traditional cultural patterns, intimate relations and local conditions
→ shows solidarity, belonging

74. Diglossia
Diglossia is a language situation in which there is, in addition to the primary dialect of the language, a very divergent and extremely codified variety, which is learned in formal education and is only used for written and formal spoken purposes. It is basically the result of an early codification of a language.

75. Example
In Cairo there are two different varieties of the Arabic language:
- Classical Arabic of the Koran → prestigious variety, predominantly a written language
- Colloquial Arabic → predominantly an oral language, comprises several mutually unintelligible languages

76. Social Markers and Ethnicity
There is a strong relation between ethnicity/race and language in many societies.
Code switching is very popular among the different ethnic groups in hybrid countries
→ use of a shared local ethnic language is a claim to solidarity

77. Example
Vernacular Black English is very different from Standard American English:
- pronunciation is different in many cases (postvocalic /r/)
- grammatical differences ( 3rd pers. sg. present)
- different speech genres and styles of speaking

78. Conclusion
Languages have social markers: forms that differ according to the social category one belongs to.
Good examples of social markers are sociolinguistic variables, which is e.g. the difference in pronunciation of postvocalic /r/ among New Yorkers of different social classes.
Other social markers are code switching and disglossia in which languages or varieties of languages are shifted to index categories of status or solidarity
People of different ethnicities and races tend to talk differently because they want to label social identity.

79. 6. Non-verbal communication
Katharina Kraatz

80. Main non-verbal signals
Bodily contact:
like: hitting, pushing, stroking
involves a variety of areas of the body
extend depends on culture
Proximity:
how close people sit or stand
reflects relation between people

81. Main non-verbal signals
Orientation:
angle at which people sit or stand to each other
varies with the nature of the situation:
side-by-side position (cooperative situations/close friends)
head-on position (confronting/bargaining)
Appearance:
1. clothes, hair, skin  under voluntary control
2. physique and bodily condition  only partly under control
purpose of manipulating appearance is self-presentation
conveys information about personality and mood

82. Main non-verbal signals
Posture:
way of lying, standing, sitting
are culturally defined
conventions about posture have to be adopted in certain situations (e.g. church)
it can be a signal for status (upright posture), varies with emotional state (tense- relax)
is less well controlled than facial expression

83. Main non-verbal signals
Head- nods:
connection with speech
usually a reinforcer (e.g. permission to speak)
Facial expression:
cultural universal and independent of learning (e.g. smiling)
some aspects are hard to control (e.g. expansion of the pupils)
used in close combination with speech

84. Main non-verbal signals
Gestures:
movements of the hands
more expressive than movements of head or body
close connection with speech (e.g. illustrates)
can even replace speech: gesture languages
Looking:
people look about twice as much while listening as while speaking
looking sends a signal of interest
amount of looking seems to be a signal for intimacy
used to obtain information: feed-back while talking, extra information while listening

85. Non- verbal aspects of speech
paralinguistic signals: emotions expressed by tone of voice; group membership expressed by accent, personality characteristics expressed by voice quality, speech errors, etc.;
not closely linked with language

86. Functions of non-verbal communication
to communicate attitudes and emotions, to manage the immediate social situation
 cultural variations in the signals used and situational rules governing their use
to support and complement verbal communication
 coordinated with speech in a complex way
developed to replace verbal language

87. Sources of variations in non-verbal communication
there are different rules of behaviour in different situations
leads to different patterns of non-verbal
communication
different forms of groups:
family: intimacy, dependence, aggressions, affections  more bodily contact; less formality and politeness
work-groups: bodily contact helping; gesture language  where noise or distance prevents speech; facial expressions work performance
friendship- groups: more self-presentation and attention to appearance; behaviour is more polite

88. 7. Expressive movements between cultures
Nadine Bieniek

89. Similarities
Smiling
Crying
Laughing

90. Similarities Greeting: smiling nodding
raising eyebrows for 1/6th second (if friendly)
signals readiness for contact

91. Similarities Eyebrowflash:  greeting  flirting  approving
 thanking
 emphasizing a statement
 seeking information

92. Similarities Coyness / embarassment / flirting:
hiding the face/mouth behind one hand
 especially young children and flirting girls

93. Differences Yes – No: Central European: „yes“  nodding the head
„no“  shaking the head

94. Differences Ceylonese: factual question („Do you drink coffee?“)
„yes“  nodding the head
agreement to do something („Will you join me for a cup of coffee?“)
„yes“  swaying the head in slow sideway movements
„no“  shaking the head

95. Differences Greece: „yes“  nodding the head
„no“  jerking the head back, thus lifting the face

96. Differences
Darwin:
suggested that shaking the head originated from food-refusal
when a baby is satiated it refuses the breast by turning its head away
even deaf- and blind-born children refuse food in the same pattern

97. 8. Human Rituals
Anna Zagermann

98. Human Rituals Definition:
situation in which an individual actor puts on a performance
performance consists of symbolic actions
showing mutual statuses in relation to other persons/parties

99. Human Rituals cultural traditions characteristics of a certain group
take place within a cultural context
not an innate process
if you want to be part of a society you
have to learn the rituals

100. Why Rituals? rituals in human‘s and animal‘s life strategy to survive
individual wants that the society of which
it is part continues
to define its own group

101. Examples
Prayer: Hinduism

102. Examples
Salutations

103. Problem of Rituals problem of interpretation context of action
Private Arena
Public Arena
each code used in a ritual is unique

104. Conclusion many kinds of non-verbal signals are culturally dependent
non-verbal communication is used to communicate attitudes, to complement speech and to replace speech
non-verbal communication differs with the groups you communicate in and the rules which govern communication

105. References
Foley, William 1997: Anthropological Linguistics. An Introduction. Oxford:Blackwell
Tumin, Melvin M. 1967: Social Stratification. The Forms and Functions of Inequality. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, Inc.
Weber, Max 1972: Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft – Grundrisse der verstehenden Soziologie: Tübingen
Yule, George 1996: The Study of Language. Cambridge: CUP
Hinde, R.A. 1972: Non-Verbal Communication.Cambridge University Press.Cambridge

106. Thank you for your attention!