Title: Language: Much neglectd yet important in cross-cultural psychology?
1Language 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.
2Plan Today
- Introduction to culture, language identity
- Conceptual framing, definitions etc
- A little data from sunny bilingual Tunisia
- Concluding notes
3Language, 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
4Language, 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
5Definitions 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)
6What 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
7Language 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
8Previous 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(No Transcript)
11Response 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
12Response to French AND Arabic use in streets of
Bilingual Tunisia (n 1000, Lawson Sachdev,
1995, 2000)
13Response to French AND Arabic use in streets of
bilingual Tunisia (n 1000, Lawson Sachdev,
1995, 2000)
14Response to French AND Arabic use in streets of
bilingual Tunisia (n 1000, Lawson Sachdev,
1995, 2000)
15Concluding 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