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Title: Language: Much neglectd yet important in cross-cultural psychology?


1
Language Much neglectd yet important in
cross-cultural psychology?
  • Itesh Sachdev
  • SOAS, University of London, UK
  • Presentation at 19th International Congress of
    the International Association for Cross-Cultural
    Psychology (IACCP), Bremen, Germany, July 2008.

2
Plan Today
  • Introduction to culture, language identity
  • Conceptual framing, definitions etc
  • A little data from sunny bilingual Tunisia
  • Concluding notes

3
Language, Culture Identity in JCCP
(1970-2008)
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (1970-2008, 180 issues) Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (1970-2008, 180 issues)
In Titles (n2000) Keywords
Culture Cultural 176 342 59 69
Language Linguistic 34 3
Identity 24 9
4
Language, Culture, identity in JCCP
(1970-2008) Bremen IACCP (2008)
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (1970-2008, 180 issues) Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (1970-2008, 180 issues) Bremen IACCP (2008) Bremen IACCP (2008)
In Titles (n2000) Keywords Symposium Titles (n 100) In Abstracts
Culture Cultural 176 342 59 69 13 10 907 2201
Language Linguistic 34 3 1 227 (15 in titles)
Identity 24 9 4 275
5
Definitions framing
  • Language
  • Includes languages, dialects, accents, speech
    styles even non-verbal communication
  • Identity (group/cultural)
  • the individual's knowledge that s/he belongs
    to certain social groups together with the
    emotional and value significance to her/him of
    the group membership (Tajfel Turner, 1986)

6
What contributes to distinctive cultural identity?
  • Clothes? Geographic origin? ethnic origin?
    Religion? Food? Values? Occupation?...etc
  • Much previous research
  • .language is perhaps the most important - even
    more than cultural background and geographic
    origin, MDS studies by Giles et al in Wales,
    Canada USA

7
Language Cultural Identity
  • It is important to learn Gujarati to understand
    our culture. We have to keep Gujarati alive. By
    learning Gujarati we can keep our identity.
    (Gujarati Interviewee of Creese et al, 2006,
    Language and Education).
  • Mexican-Americans who cant speak Spanish should
    CHOKE on their CHILLI BEANS - New York subway
    graffiti
  • Our languages are the cornerstone of who we are
    as a People. Without our languages our cultures
    cannot survive
  • - Assembly of First Nations, 1990

8
Previous research
  • (i) Language is the place where actual and
    possible forms of social organization and their
    likely social and political consequences are
    defined and contested. Yet it is also the place
    where our sense of ourselves, our subjectivity,
    is constructed (p. 21, Weedon, 1997),
  • (ii) relationship between language and identity
    is not static and varies as a function of the
    power relations ... (Sachdev Bourhis, 1990)
  • (iii) next a model of multilingual
    communication (Sachdev Bourhis, 2001 Sachdev
    Giles, 2004)

9
  • MACRO
  • INTERGROUP
  • CONTEXT
  • - Ethnolinguistic vitality of
  • groups
  • State language policies
  • Ideologies
  • - Stability, legitimacy of
  • intergroup stratification

EVALUATION BEHAVIOUR - speech accommodation -
discourse - Non-verbal
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES -
Similarity-Attraction - Social Exchange -
Social Attribution - Intelligibility -
Predictability - Social identification -
Stereotyping - Vitality Beliefs - Acculturation
Beliefs
Additive- Subtractive Multilingualism
Multiculturalism
MICRO SOCIOLINGUISTIC SETTING - Norms rules -
Networks of linguistic contact
Language Culture Maintenance Shift
10
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11
Response to French AND Arabic use in streets of
Bilingual Tunisia (Lawson Sachdev, 1995, 2000)
  • Method procedure Trained Tunisian Researchers
    made requests from 1000 Tunisian Arab pedestrians
    randomly in streets of city
  • Excuse me, where is the post office?
  • IVs (i) Language of Question - Arabic or
    French
  • (ii) Ethnic Background of Tunisian
    Researchers - Arab, European African
  • DVs (i) Language of response convergence,
    divergence or code-switching

12
Response to French AND Arabic use in streets of
Bilingual Tunisia (n 1000, Lawson Sachdev,
1995, 2000)
13
Response to French AND Arabic use in streets of
bilingual Tunisia (n 1000, Lawson Sachdev,
1995, 2000)
14
Response to French AND Arabic use in streets of
bilingual Tunisia (n 1000, Lawson Sachdev,
1995, 2000)
15
Concluding notes
  • Ignore language(s) at your peril!!
  • Language-Culture-Identity intertwined
  • Effects on intercultural intergroup
    communication, acculturation, etc, etc
  • Language use reflects AND creates cultural
    identity
  • Language is key to expressing, conceptualising
    and constructing indigenous cultures and
    knowledge
  • . Methodologically, focus on language allows
    actual behavioural study good for
    cross-cultural/social psychologists, (etc) whose
    mainstay is paper and pencil measures
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