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Language, culture and thought
The document explores the interrelationship between language and culture, emphasizing the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which suggests that language influences thought processes. It discusses various linguistic concepts such as kinship terms, taxonomies, and color perception, illustrating how different languages can reflect distinctive cultural values. Additionally, it addresses critiques of linguistic determinism and highlights the significant role of language in shaping identity and social organization.
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Language, culture and thought
- 1. Language, Culture and Thought 1 SOCIOLINGUISTICS ZUBAIR A. BAJWA 12/11/2017 Department of English, University of Gujrat, Gujrat, Pakistan M. Phil English Linguistics(scholar) [email protected] By Zubair.A.Bjawa
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- 3. GOALS 12/11/2017 3 To lookat various ways in which language and culture have been said to be related Sapir-Whorf hypothesis Kinship terms Taxonomies colour Prototypes Taboo and Euphemism
- 4. 12/11/2017 4 LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT Doesour perception shape the structure of language? Does structure of our language shape our thinking? Is thought possible without language? • Languages and cultures are superficial. • Language and cognition run deep
- 5. REVIEWING LANGUAGE &CULTURE 12/11/2017 5 • whatever a person must know in order to function in a particular society • socially acquired • necessary behaviors are learned and do not come from any kind of genetic endowment Culture Culture, therefore, is the ‘know-how’ that a person must possess to get through the task of daily living • The identity • The vehicle to transfer culture from generation to generation • Preserves culture • Expresses culture Language
- 6. 12/11/2017 6 • Language isparticular way of conceptualizing the world and has close ties to culture
- 7. RELATIONSHIPS 12/11/2017 7 Whorf Linguistic Determinism Strong version onot determine the world- view but is still extremely influential in predisposing speakers of a language toward adopting a particular world-view o Different languages represent different ways of thinking about the world around us. Weaker version o structure of a language determines the way in which speakers of that language view the world Linguistic Relativity• two basic principles • 1930s Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
- 8. 12/11/2017 8 • Opposite claim:culture of a people finds reflection in the language they employ: because they value certain things and do them in a certain way. Their use of language reflects what they value and what they do • cultural requirements do not determine the structure of a language • A third, ‘neutral,’ claim would be that there is little or no relationship between language and culture Linguistic relativity hypothesis, Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, the Whorfian hypothesis Chinese ,there is only a single term luotuo, in English there is a camel. But in Arabic, there are more than 400 words for the animal . In Eskimo language there are number of words involving snow. For example ,apun=“snow on the ground”, qanikca=“hard snow on the ground”, utak= “block of snow”. • Certain cultural concepts حالل ،غیرت
- 9. 12/11/2017 9 • Sapir acknowledgedthe close relationship between language and culture that both cannot be understood without separately • Whorf extended these ideas • in Whorf’s view, the relationship between language and culture was a deterministic one Linguistic Determinism Hopi language vs Western Languages Days in Hopi are cyclical “They stayed four days” cannot be said in Hopi Must be “They left after four days”
- 10. 12/11/2017 10 • Do youthink you cannot talk about something for which your language lacks vocabulary? • What is the exact middle of America? • If there are three apples, you took two away, how many do you have? • How can you lift an elephant with one hand? • When do you stop at green and go at red? • This reflects: if language is hardwired in our brains, then our thought works according to the language. But • Paying great attention can override hardwiring to innovative thinking • A truck driver is going down a one way street the wrong way, and passes at least ten cops. Why is he not caught? • The letter ‘r’ • 2 • There is no elephant with one finger • Eating watermelon • Because he is not driving; he is walking
- 11. 12/11/2017 11 • if speakersof one language have certain words to describe things and speakers of another language lack similar words, then speakers of the first language will find it easier to talk about those things • The strongest claim of all is that the grammatical categories available in a particular language not only help the users of that language to perceive the world in a certain way but also at the same time limit such perception. • They act as blinkers: • you perceive only what your language allows you to perceive. • Your language controls your ‘world-view.’ Speakers of different languages will, therefore, have different world- views In the Whorfian view, language provides a screen or filter to reality • Gender construction in Urdu, Punjabi
- 12. 12/11/2017 12 Linguistic Relativity Futureand past Aymara language Mother’s tongue vs Father’s tongue Balti language Reverse order of gender Pashto o Different languages represent different ways of thinking about the world around us. For example
- 13. huṇḍeeṛáa oóra phareeṛáa índa aǰeṛáa táa phaareeṛáa bhuneeṛáa ”here” ”there” eeṛáa COMPLEX SPATIALDIFFERENTIATION (PALULA, CHITRAL, INDO-ARYAN)
- 14. 12/11/2017 14 Note: These examplemay be useful but cannot be fully authentic as they have been taken from an unpublished term paper.
- 15. 12/11/2017 15 Days ofWeek in Chitrali/Khowar There are only two basic terms for days. Means Chitrali does not focus the names of days like Urdu. in Urdu we have separate term for each day. In other words Urdu has 7 basic terms
- 16. SUPPORTERS’ VIEW 12/11/2017 16 •language a person speaks affects that person’s relationship to the external world in one or more ways • Pronouns inclusive exclusive
- 17. 12/11/2017 17 • Certain culturalconcepts حالل ،غیرت • Encoding of Pluralization in Urdu Vs Arabic Syntactic evidence can also mislead investigators • literal translation o Over-literal translation is very dangerous, particularly of metaphoric language. English is full of metaphors: ‘I see what you mean,’ ‘He grasped the idea,’ ‘You’re behind the times,’ and so on • Article Structural coding English: singular cow-Ø, plural cow-s No infl for sg, infl for pl Some lgs express both sg and pl Other lgs make no sg-pl distinction But lgs don’t express singular inflectionally but not plural
- 18. 12/11/2017 18 NON-SUPPORTERS’ VIEW- CRITICISM • Pinker (1994) has no patience at all for any of Whorf’s ideas Linguistic Determinism is far too strong a claim and thus false. “Peoples’ thoughts and perceptions are not determined by the words and structures of their language. We are not prisoners of our linguistic system” (Fromkin et al. 2007) We may not have the exact word but are able to express their ideas and thoughts using others words combinations The Dani tribe, who have only a two colour system , black/dark and white/ light , were successfully trained to identify and name different shades of red .
- 19. 12/11/2017 19 • Broader attemptsto relate types of language structure to patterns of social organization have also met with failure • Finally, the claim that it would be impossible to describe certain things in a particular language because that language lacks the necessary resources is only partially valid at best.
- 20. 12/11/2017 20 • The mostvalid conclusion concerning the Whorfian hypothesis is that it is still unproved CONCLUSION • There is relationship between language and thought • But, stronger version of Sapri-Whorf Hypothesis seems to reject creativity • Has been rejected
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- 22. KINSHIP TERMS 12/11/2017 22 • Kinshipterms describes how people in the various parts of the world refer to relatives by blood and marriage. • Kinship systems are universal features of language, because kinship is so important in social organization. • Some systems are much richer than others, but all make use of such factors as gender, age , generation , blood ,and marriage in their organization.
- 23. 12/11/2017 23 Parents’ Brothers Father’s/Mother’s Brother English Urdu Punjabi Mother’s Brother ماموں Habitual KINSHIP TERMS Father’s Brotherچچا Uncle Mother’s Brother Father’s Brother Mother’s Brother ماموں Father’s Brother تایاElder brother Younger brother چاچا
- 24. 12/11/2017 24 CONCLUSION It isthe kinship system which determines who is called what; it is not the behaviour of individuals which leads them to be called this or that.
- 25. 12/11/2017 25 TAXONOMIES • People alsouse language to classify and categorize various aspects of the world in which they live, but they do not always classify things the way scientists do
- 26. 12/11/2017 26 COLOUR color is allaround but it is not everywhere treated in the same way The terms people use to describe color give us another means of exploring the relationships between different languages and cultures sometimes cannot directly translate color words from one language to another without introducing subtle changes in meaning o black and white (or dark and light). o Black, white, red. o Black, white, red, yellow o Black, white, red, yellow, green, (but the order may be reversed). o The sixth and seventh terms are blue and brown. o Finally, English, gray, pink, orange, and purple, (but not in any particular order). only eleven basic color terms
- 27. CONCEPTUAL SPACE FORBASIC COLOUR TERMS BRIGHTNE SS COOL WARM ACHROMAT IC CHROMATI C
- 28. Summary of colorterms Language type 1 2 3 4 5 6 White, Black< Red, Green< Brown/ Yellow< Brown/ Yellow/ Blue< Blue/Br own/Yel low/Silv er/Gold en/Ora nge/Pur ple< Brown, Blue, Yellow, Silver, Golden, orange, Pink, Purple, Grey No of color terms 2 4 5 6 & 7 8 13 Language Wangri Hindko, Pahari, Saraiki, Punjabi Pothwar i Shina, Sindhi, Urdu, Balti, Pushto, Wakhi Khawar, Brahvi Brushu ski Note: This example may be useful but cannot be fully authentic as it has been taken from an unpublished term paper.
- 29. 12/11/2017 29 PROTOTYPES Rosch (1976) hasproposed an alternative to the view that concepts are composed from sets of features which necessarily and sufficiently define instances of a concept
- 30. 12/11/2017 30 TABOO AND EUPHEMISM •language is used to avoid saying certain things as well as to express them • linguistic taboo o Taboo is an expression that causes anxiety, embarrassment, or shame to members of a society deliberate circumlocutions Tabooed subjects can vary widely: sex; death; excretion; bodily functions; religious matters; and politics oساالo sex
- 31. 12/11/2017 31 o euphemisms • Euphemisticexpressions allow us to talk about unpleasant things and disguise or neutralize the unpleasantness, e.g., the subjects of sickness, death and dying, unemployment, and criminality.
- 32. 12/11/2017 32 REFERENCES • Trudgill, P.(2000). Sociolinguistics: An introduction to language and society. London: Penguin. • Holmes, J. (2012). An introduction to sociolinguistics. Harlow: Pearson. • Wardhaugh, R. (2006). An introduction to Sociolinguistics. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing.
Editor's Notes
- #9 if speakers of one language have certain words to describe things and speakers of another language lack similar words, then speakers of the first language will find it easier to talk about those things Talking about linguistic terms and medical terms