语言与文化.doc

11.1 introduction Language is related to cognition, and cognition is in turn related to the cultural setting. 11.2 What is culture Culture, in a broad sense, means the total way of life of a people, including the patterns of belief, customs, objects, institutions, techniques, and language that characterizes the life of the human community. In a narrow sense, culture may refer to local or specific practice, beliefs or customs, which can be mostly found in folk culture, enterprise culture or food culture etc. 11.3The relationship between language and culture 11.1 introduction dog dragon red green A language not only expresses facts, ideas, or events which represent similar world knowledge by its people, but also reflects the peoples attitudes, beliefs, world outlooks etc. In a word, language expresses cultural reality. Language embodies cultural identity. Language symbolizes cultural reality. 11.3The relationship between language and culture On the other hand, as peoples language uses express the culture, to be more specific, their community culture represented by its social conventions, norms and social appropriateness, the culture both emancipates and constrains people socially, historically and metaphorically. 11.3The relationship between language and culture Sharing a same community culture, people have acquired common ways of viewing the world through their speech interactions with other members of some same group. While the commonness is constantly reinforced, the discourse community converges. Speech community: a group of people who form a community,e.g. a village, a region, a nation, and who have at least one speech variety in common. 11.3The relationship between language and culture The uniqueness of each groups language uses in grammatical, lexical, and phonological aspects, etc, constitute different discourse accents. Different discourse accents suggest different social status. 11.3The relationship between language and culture The interplay between language and culture may result in various forms of socialization and people with different cultures may be socialized in different ways with different acculturation. 11.3The relationship between language and culture 社会化概念 (socialization)社会化涉及社会及个体两方面。从社会视角看，社会化即社会对个体进行教化的过程；从个体视角看，社会化即个体与其他社会成员互动，成为合格的社会成员的过程。社会化过程，传统观点认为到成人期即告结束，而现代观点则主张，社会化伴随人的一生，即终生社会化。 11.3The relationship between language and culture 语言社会化个体社会化是从掌握语言开始，全部社会化是以语言社会化为前提的。语言是人们相互理解的手段，个体掌握一种语言后，才能接受社会习俗和态度，并以此塑造自己的人格。语言是个体联系他人与社会的纽带；语言集中反映了文化，掌握某种语言的过程就是社会化的过程。因为语言中蕴含的知识、规范与观念必然对掌握这种语言的个体产生深刻的影响。语言社会化在个体社会化中占据特别重要的地位。 11.3The relationship between language and culture Acculturation (文化移入,文化适应;同化) : a process in which changes in the language, culture and system of values of a group happen through interaction with another group with a different language , culture and system of values. 一群体的语言文化和价值体系在与另一不同语言文化和价值体系的群体相互交流中产生变化的过程。 11.3The relationship between language and culture To sum up: on the one hand, language as an integral part of human being, permeates his thinking and way of viewing the world, language both expresses and embodies cultural reality. On the other , language, as a product of culture, helps perpetuate the culture, and the changes in language uses reflect the cultural changes in return. 11.4 Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (萨丕尔-沃尔夫假设) Different languages offer people different ways of expressing the world around, they think and speak differently, this is also known as linguistic relativity. Sapir and Whorf believe that language filters peoples perception and the way they categorize experiences. This interdependence of language and thought is now known as Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis 11.4 Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis The hypothesis is now interpreted mainly in two different ways: a strong version and a weak one. The strong version believes that the language patterns determine peoples thinking and behavior. The weak one holds that the former influences the latter. 11.5 linguistic evidence of cultural differences Any linguistic sign may be simultaneously of a denotative, connotative, or iconic kind of meaning. My love is a red, red rose. 11.5.1 Greetings and terms of address Hi. Hello. How are you getting on? Hows everything with you? How do you do? Kinship terms Granny Li Uncle Zhang Chairman Jiang Premier Zhou 11.5.2 Thanks and compliments Im glad to hear that. Im glad to be of help. Not at all. Its nothing. false humility or pretended modesty 11.5.3 Color words green with envy (envy, jealousy) green-eyes Blue, blue is my love. He is in a blue mood. (sentimental, unhappy) Hes a real blue blood. (high social position or aristocratic ) 11.5.4 Privacy and taboos A mans home is his castle. age, family background, salary, marriage life 毛主席问陈妻：“你们俩感情好不好？”陈妻答：“好”。主席听了感到非常高兴。 Chairman Mao talked with Chens wife. He was pleased to know that they had a happy life. Only the key message is retained. (conversion of emptiness and entity虚实转换) 11.5.6 Words and cultural-specific connotation The same word in different languages may be entailed with different connotations. Generally the semantic differences between two languages may be grouped as the following: a) A term in one language does not have a counterpart in another language. 11.5.6 Words and cultural-specific connotation b) Words or terms in both languages that appear to refer to the same object or concept on the surface, but which actually refer to quite different things. “ weekend” in English and “周末” in Chinese “year” in English and “岁” in Chinese “farmer” and “农民” 11.5.6 Words and cultural-specific connotation c) Things or concepts that are represented by one or perhaps two terms in one language, but many more terms in another language, that is, finer distinctions exist in the other language. snow in English and Eskimo uncle, aunt, cousin, brother, sister in English and Chinese d) Terms that have more or less the same primary meaning, but which have considerably different secondary or additional meaning. dog dragon 11.5.7 Cultural-related idioms, proverbs and metaphors Every dog has his day. Dog does not eat dog. Give a dog an ill name and hang him. Barking dogs seldom bite. Be aware of a silent dog and still water. Love me, love my dog. 11.5.7 Cultural-related idioms, proverbs and metaphors “An old dog like him never barks in vain. Whenever he barks, he always has some wise counsel worth listening to.” 像他这样的行家里手，从来不会随便发表意见。一旦发表，总有高见值得一听。 11.5.7 Cultural-related idioms, proverbs and metaphors as timid as hare, as timid as rabbit(胆小如兔)。 “胆小如鼠” To swim like a duck游得像条鱼(游得像只鸭子)。 like a duck to water如鱼得水(如鸭子得水)。 in like a lion, out like a lamb虎头蛇尾(来时像狮，去时像羊羔)。 like a cat on hot bricks像热锅上的蚂蚁(像热砖上的猫)。 like a drowned rat像落汤鸡(像落水的老鼠)。 11.5.7 Cultural-related idioms, proverbs and metaphors as thirsty as a camel像条渴龙(像头渴骆驼)。 as stupid as a goose蠢得像猪(笨得像鹅)。 as stubborn as a mule犟得像头驴(顽固得像头骡子)。 as cunning as a dead pig狡猾得像狐狸(狡猾得像头死猪)。 as industrious as an ant像蜜蜂一样勤劳(像蚂蚁一样勤劳)。 11.5.7 Cultural-related idioms, proverbs and metaphorsto kill two birds with one stone 一石二鸟 一箭双雕 /一举两得 All roads leads to Rome. 条条大路通罗马。 殊途同归。 crocodile tears 猫哭老鼠假慈悲/假惺惺的眼泪 鳄鱼眼泪 11.5.7 Cultural-related idioms, proverbs and metaphorsarm to the teeth武装到牙齿; 全副武装In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is King.盲人国里，独眼人称王;山中无老虎，猴子称霸王。Achilles heel 致命的弱点/要害; 阿基里斯致命的脚踵 (from Greek Mythology) domino effect多米诺（骨牌）效应;连锁反应 11.5.7 Cultural-related idioms, proverbs and metaphors你不要班门弄斧了。Dont show your skill with axe at the door of LuBanthe master carpenter.Dont teach your grandmother to suck eggs.Never offer to teach a fish to swim.三个臭皮匠，顶个诸葛亮。Two heads are better than one.Three cobblers with their wits combined equalZhuge Liang, the mastermind. 11.5.7 Cultural-related idioms, proverbs and metaphors 天有不测风云，人有旦夕祸福。 Storms gather without warning in nature, and bad luck befalls men overnight. The weather and human life are both unpredictable. as gay as lark(云雀) 像云雀一样快活 兴高采烈/非常快活 Pandoras box 潘多拉的盒子 灾难和罪恶的根源 11.5.7 Cultural-related idioms, proverbs and metaphors teach a pig to play on a flute 教猪吹笛; 对牛弹琴 There is no smoke without fire. 无火不生烟; 无风不起浪。 The leopard cannot change his spots. 豹子改变不了身上的斑纹。 江山易改，本性难移 狗改不了吃屎。 11.6 The significance of cultural teaching and learning When learning a foreign or second language, we should not only learn the mere imitation of the pronunciation, grammar, words and idioms, but also learn to see the world as native speakers do, that is to say, learn the ways in which the foreign language reflects the ideas, customs and behavior of that society, learn to understand their “language of the mind”, or acculturation. 11.7 Cultural overlap and diffusion Despite the cultural differences, there exist a gr