LANGUAGE AND CULTURAL MEANING

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LANGUAGE AND CULTURAL MEANING

• Cultural behavior is not essentially different
  from other forms of learned behavior it is a
  consequence of the dynamic of social living over
  many generations, while individual members of the
  social system are replaced (Foley, 1997 12)

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Questions

• How do members of different cultures express
  their worldviews?
• How do members of different cultures express
  events, experiences, and intentions through
  language?
• How do speakers express their way of being in the
  world through a particular use of their
  languages?

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By the way a speaker frames intentions and
activities through language

• Usage of contrasting words (Blue/white, good/bad)
• Grammatical forms (Example the structuring
  properties of sentences)

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The framing of intentions and activities

• English I must go there.
• English I make the horse run.
• Navajo It is only good that I shall go.
• Navajo The horse is running for me.

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Language expresses and reflects worldviews

• Cultural models shared cultural attitudes
• Language key for transmitting cultural models
• Language ----Proverbs, stories, etc.
• -- conveying a way of being in the world
• --guiding human thought and action
• -- provides moral lessons

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Dime con quien andas y te dire quien eres.
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Concrete and symbolic meanings

• The horse is running for me
• concrete object (horse)
• Dont cry over spilt milk
• symbolic meaning, metaphorical

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Why do we study language?

• To identify cultural models
• Understand the relationship between language and
  environment
• language and society

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The Foundations of Linguistic Anthropology

• Edward Sapir (18841939) and his student Benjamin
  Whorf (18971941)
• Linguistic research among Native Americans
• Sapir lexicon or vocabulary
• Whorf Grammatical structures

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Edward Sapir

• physical environment and social environment
  through the use of language
• Elements of vocabulary influence speakers
  perceptions
• Different experience of our world
• The Paiute utilize unique words for valuable
  geographical locations

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Sand flat, semicircular valley or hollow, spot
for level ground in mountains surrounded by
ridges.
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Benjamin Whorf

• Influences on though and behaviour
• Grammatical structures of language
• Grammatical structure and conceptualization of
  time, number, duration

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Whorf studies among the Hopi

• Time, number and duration fundamental for Hopi
  culture
• Hopi Emphasis continuity, cyclicity and
  intensity
• English Emphasis on boundedness and
  objectification
• Morning
• While morning-phase is occurring

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Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

• Language influences peoples perception of the
  world
• Weak version
• Strong version

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Lexical and Cultural Categories

• Taxonomic systems The classification system that
  orders things in a logical hierarchical way, a
  system that orders by indicating natural
  relationships
• Semantic domains a summative of words (words put
  together). All sharing a core meaning, related to
  a specific topic Example Kinship terms,
  body-parts words, or colours

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Language expresses

• Cultural focus cultural priorities Horse versus
  chipmunk
• Transformative gun and bow
• Not static changes over time

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Why are semantic domains important in the study
of culture?
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Semantic domains are important because

• Speakers perception of his/her cultural universe
• Degree of cultural interest
• innovation, extension of semantic domains
• Shows how language and meaning changes over time

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Lexical (vocabulary) components

• Kinship terminology comparison
• Peoples priorities in social relations
• Usage of words to name relatives
• Mother, father, son, daughter, etc

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The analysis of these contrasts reveals that

• First there is a distinction between generations
  grandmother/mother, father/son
• Two there is a distinction of sex
  father/mother, son/daughter
• Third there is also a distinction between direct
  and collateral relatives mother/aunt, son/nephew

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Componential analysis

• Determines significance of contrast by isolating
  components of meanings
• Example kinship terminology
• ---Younger generation-female-lineal daughter
• ---Older generation-male-lineal grandfather

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Kinship terminology not a universal

• (Seneca ) Iroquoian languages (Quebec, Ontario,
  and New York)
• My Grandmother and her sister (s) one word
• My Grandfather and his brother (s) one word
• My Mother and her sister (s) one word
• My Father and hiss brother (s) one word

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Seneca Kinship Terminology

• Different terms for for older and younger
  siblings
• My mothers sisters daughter sister
• My mothers sisters son brother
• My Fathers brothers daughter sister
• My fathers brothers son brother

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Lexical classifications

• Classification of words to make sense of speech
• Degrees of complexity
• Ambiguity Whale fish or mammal
• Classification indicates
• cultural interest
• discrimination

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Ethnoscience

• A classification system in a given domain that
  organizes peoples knowledge of aspects of their
  universe, as, for example, botanical or
  zoological terminologies. Ethnoscientific systems
  are based on taxonomic hierarchies of similarity
  and contrast.

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The classification of words is culturally specific

• Papagos (Arizona)
• Life is divided living things and plants
• Word for living animals
• Animals are the prototype (best example) of
  living things among the Papagos

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Focal points and prototypes

• Focal point of a word is its central sense, its
  best example, agreed upon by culture
• Prototype idealized, internalized
  conceptualization of an object, quality or
  activity, needs to be understood in the context
  of culture

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Cultural Presuppositions

• . Cultural presupposition is the notion that
  participants in speech interactions come to
  interactive situations with certain cultural
  knowledge.
• . Transmitted language
• . Some more complex symbolic, rhetorical

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Summary

• Members of different cultures express different
  worldviews through a particular use of their
  languages (language frames)
• Cultural models are expressed and reflected
  primarily through language
• Proverb
• The early bird catches the worm.
• Worldviews are expressed through language use
• Language frames intentions and activities
• Framing accomplished through contrasting of
  words, classification of words

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Discussion Question

• How do cultural models provide frameworks for
  understanding the physical and social world we
  live in?