新编简明英语语言学教程 第二版 戴炜栋9 Language and Culture.

1、Chapter 9 Language and culture What is culture? In a broad sense, culture means the total way of life of a people, including the patterns of belief, customs, institutions, techniques, language and etc. that characterizes the life of the human community. In a narrow sense, culture may refer to local

2、or specific practice, beliefs or customs, which can be mostly found in folk culture, enterprise culture or food culture, etc. There are generally two types of culture: material and spiritual. The relationship between language and culture The same word may stir up different associations in people und

3、er different cultural background, e.g. the word “dog”. 2. Language expresses cultural reality, reflects the peoples attitudes, beliefs, world outlooks, etc. 3. The culture both emancipates (解放；解脱) and constrains people socially, historically and metaphorically. 4. Culture also affects its peoples im

4、agination or common dreams which are mediated through the language and reflected in their life. 5. On the one hand, as an integral part of human being, language permeates (渗透) in his thinking and way of viewing the world, and language both expresses and embodies cultural reality; on the other, langu

5、age, as a product of culture, helps perpetuate the culture, and the changes in language uses reflect the cultural changes in return. Sapir-Whorf hypothesis Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf, proclaimed that the structure of the language people habitually use influences the ways they think and behave,

6、i.e. 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 langua

7、ge and thought is now known as Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. Two Interpretations about SWH Strong version believes that the language patterns determine peoples thinking and behavior; Weak version holds that the former influence the latter. -The study of the linguistic relativity or SWH has shed two import

8、ant insights (领悟) : There is nowadays a recognition that language, as code, reflects cultural preoccupations (偏见，成见) and constrains the way people think. More than in Whorfs days, however, we recognize how important context is in complementing the meanings encoded in the language. Linguistic evidenc

9、e of cultural differences Denotative meaning (指示的，外延的，表示的) - a meaning that can be found in a dictionary. Connotative meaning(内涵的) - a meaning or idea suggested by a word or thing in addition to the formal meaning or nature of the word or thing. Iconic（图象的） meaning - the image or icon invoked（援引） in

10、 mind by a word. For example, “dog”. Some cultural differences in language use Greetings and terms of address Thanks and compliments Color words Privacy and taboos * Euphemism Rounding off numbers （四舍五入 ） Words and cultural-specific connotations Cultural-related idioms, proverbs and metaphor P134-13

11、5 Euphemism(委婉委婉) It is to substitute agreeable or inoffensive expressions for those that may offend or suggest something unpleasant in order to show politeness. It conveys the writers attitude. There are traditional and contextual euphemism e.g. I understand if you cant stay married to me. - If you

12、 want to divorce me, Ill understand-you have every reason to do so. (B1 L2 Going Home) He had done his business like a dog at the roadside(B3 L10 Diogenes and Alexander) to die - to pass away; to depart; to go to sleep; to go to heaven toilet - bathroom, restroom, to go to the toilet - to powder one

13、s nose “In private I should merely call him a liar. In the Press you should use the words reckless disregard for truth and in Parliament-that you regret he should have been so misinformed” *Similar Chinese figure: 婉曲婉曲 e.g. 尤氏道：“我也暗暗地叫人预备了。-就是 那件东西，不得好木头，且慢慢地办着罢。” The significance of cultural teachi

14、ng and learning Learning a foreign language is inseparable from learning its culture. We need to learn enough about the languages culture so that we can communicate in the target language properly to achieve not only the linguistic competence but also the pragmatic or communicative competence as wel

15、l. Cultural overlap Cultural overlap refers to the identical part of culture between two societies owing to some similarities in the natural environment and psychology of human beings. For example, the superior tends to refer to himself or herself by means of kinship terms, such as “Have daddy/mummy

16、/teacher told you that?” Cultural diffusion（扩散）（扩散） Through communication, some elements of culture A enter culture B and become part of culture B, this phenomenon is known as cultural diffusion. One typical example of cultural diffusion is the appearance of loan words. The practice of observing hol

17、idays of foreign origins and accepting concepts from other cultures. The attitude towards cultural diffusion (esp. cultural imperialism owing to linguistic imperialism) Intercultural communication Intercultural or cross-cultural communication is communication between people from different cultures (their cultural perceptions and symbols systems are distinct enough to alter the communication event.) In cross-cultural communication, we need to pay special attenti