Language and Culture

Language and Culture Language, Communication, and Culture

Introduction to Language, Communication, and Culture
How is language related to culture?
How is a language related to a culture?
Both questions are valid, and we look at the issues through several lenses:
Kinesics and paralanguage
Ethnolinguistics and code switching
Similarities and differences between human and animal communication.

Nonverbal Communication
There are two basic types of nonverbal communication
Kinesics involves the all-too-familiar body language: facial expression, gestures, even eye contact
Paralanguage are the vocalizations that often accompany speech: slurs, tones of voice, nonmeaningful utterances including “um” and “uh”

Kinesics: Gestures
Kinesics: System of analyzing postures, facial expressions, “body language”
See that thumbs up? This gent likes whatever you’re doing. Buying his brand of coffee, perhaps?
In other countries, it would mean—well, you know! (Need a hint? Think middle finger)
This is one example how the same gesture might mean different things in different cultures.

Kinesics: Facial Expressions
Social smiles are commonplace, though women may do so more than men—a matter of expected social sensitivity
Frowns express frustration, sometime cynicism, as this cartoon suggests—if you smile, you’re naïve
Facial expressions and eye contact are the most widely used forms of kinesics; gestures are also frequent

Gesture Call Systems: Paralanguage
Paralanguage consists of extralinguistic noises accompanying language
Voice qualities: tone, slur (cartoon), other background noises
Vocalizations : Identifiable noises turned on and off at short intervals—”uh,” “um,” other kinds of hesitation

More Paralanguage
Vocal characteristics: Sound production such as laughing
Vocal qualifiers: Tone or pitch-”Get Out!”
Segregates: “Shh!” “Oh oh,” “hmmm!” (cartoon) among others

Historical Linguistic Techniques
When tracing the history of language, linguists have no writing to rely upon
Several techniques have been developed to trace the probable changes
Glottochronology: the reconstruction of past languages on the assumption that 14% of a language changes every 1000 years
Core vocabulary: Comparison of words for common objects based on similarity
A list of words is compiled for each of two languages that refer to objects that are common everywhere: body parts, sun, rain, stones, trees, and others
The closer the vocabulary—cognates or similar words between two languages, the more closely related the two languages are thought to be.

Models of Language Change
Language Family
Group of languages descended from a single ancestral language
Example: Indo-European is descended from Proto-Indo-European
Family Tree Model: a model that emphasizes the derivation of language from a common source
Wave Model: A model that emphasizes borrowing across contemporary languages

Ethnolinguistics
Definition: Study of relationship between language and culture
Named after Edward Sapir (top) and Benjamin Lee Whorf (bottom), the
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis states that language,
By providing habitual “grooves” of expression
Predisposes people to see world in certain ways
Thus guiding thinking and behavior

Ethnolinguistics: Do Languages Structure Cultures. . .
Example of Sapir-Whorf hypothesis;
Hopi: Conception of time as processes, not discrete units
For example, Hopi would not divide time into seconds or hours
Nor would they perceive time as object, such as wasting time

Or Do Cultures Structure Language
The Nuer of the Sudan are cattle herders
Children are named after cattle, and poetry is composed about them
More than 400 words are related to cattle
In our own culture, we have a militaristic vocabulary; we make a killing on Wall Street, we bomb the exam, we have a war on drugs, cancer, poverty, you name it
So we have a chicken and egg question
Does language condition culture
Or does culture condition language?

Ethnolinguistics: Some Areas of Research
Kinship terms : The terms father and mother may be extended to uncles and aunts. More on this later
Gender-based meanings : When women say “I’m sorry,” are they taking responsibility for the problem or are they regretting the situation, as Deborah Tannen argues.
We have several social dialects in this country, ranging from Afro-American speech to “Spanglish” (Spanish-English word combinations) to regional dialects from the U.S. South, y’all, to Bostonian bahgains.

Code Switching: Martin Luther King
We change our speech styles to fit the occasion
Code Switching: Switching style of speech according to occasion and audience
Martin Luther King, Jr., was a master in code switching, ranging from standard discourse in formal settings (Washington Monument, 1963, I Have a Dream speech upper photo)
To informal discourse in black settings (Here delivering a sermon at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia)

Language Origins: Interspecies Comparison
When language began is anyone’s guess
Defining communication and comparing different communication systems is a first step
Chimpanzees have used American Sign Language and computer buttons to convey messages somewhat like languages
But speech organs have long since deteriorated, so we have at best indirect evidence.

Language Origins: Fossil Evidence
Did Neanderthals have language? A humanlike hyoid bone, which anchors the tongue, was found in Kebara Cave, Israel
Endocasts indicating size of cerebrum and possible Broca’s area have been found among Homo habilis remains
Another indication is the flat surface at the skull base, suggesting the larynx was too high to enable language; nonhuman primates also have a flat skull base and high larynxes
Basic conclusion: no one really knows when language got its start

Features of Language Shared with Other Species
Nevertheless, language does share some features with the communication systems of other animals.
We look at some examples, such as gibbons, stickleback courtship, and bee dances indicating the location of a nectar source

Common Features of Language and Nonhuman Communication
Arbitrariness
Productivity
Interchangeability
Displacement
Specialization
Cultural Transmission

Arbitrariness
Definition: Absence of intrinsic relation between communication element (speech sound) and thing or event to which it refers (referent)
Iconic Relationship: Existence of such a relationship between element (e.g. gesture) and its referent
Importance: Utterance is not “married” to meaning, such as this gibbon’s warning call

Arbitrariness (Examples)
Example [k], [æ], and [t] are not meaningful in and of themselves
Meaning emerges when sounds are combined:
[kæt] “cat” has one meaning (feline, the one who caught a mouse)
[tæk] “tack” has another (small nail)
[ækt] “act” has a third (dog and pony show)
Even then, this string is language specific (English), not intrinsic

Arbitrariness (Across Languages)
Evidence of Arbitrariness: Diverse Languages
“ Cat” has different pronunciations in different languages
Similarities are the product of common roots and/or diffusion from one language to another

Productivity (Definition)
Productivity is the capacity for elements of communication system to be combined to form new meanings which the speaker and listener may never have learned before, yet understands perfectly
Try this exercise: the top figure is a wug
Now here are two of them
There are two ____
If your response was [w əgz] you produced an entirely new—and correct--utterance

Productivity: Jabberwocky Riddle
From Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll (see illustration}
‘ Twas brillig and the sllthy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe
Identify:
The nouns
The verbs
The adjectives

Productivity: The Answers
The nouns: surely the article the is a dead giveaway for toves and wabe
The verbs: ‘ twas is poetic English for “ it was,” and the helping verb did uncovers gyre and gimble
The adjectives: Doesn’t the –y ending of slithy suggest an adjective, similar to slimy ? And ’twas suggests brillig to be another one.

Productivity: Language Learning
Language drills use the principle of productivity
English: I am, you are. . .
Spanish: Yo soy, tu eres. .
Productivity simply involves taking a few elements (phonemes, morphemes, even syntax) and generate unlimited combinations of expressions

Productivity Among Other Species: Bee Dance
When a scout bee has discovered a flower or other nectar source, she returns and tell the other bees where it is with a dance
Their figure-eight tell the other bees the direction and distance of the pollen source
The waggle of the tail also indicates the direction
Amount of pollen brought back indicates pollen available there
Productivity involves variations of speed of the dance, the amount brought back, and the waggle.

Interchangeability
Definition: Use of same communication system to send and receive messages
Illustrative Counterexample : Three-spined stickleback fish courtship (see diagram)
Female elicits male response by presenting distended belly
Male performs zigzag dance around female
She follow him to nest
Male point to nest on arrival
Female enters nest, male rubs abdomen,
She discharges eggs, and male fertilizes them with sperm

Displacement (Definition)
Ability to refer to things and events not present, nonvisible, intangible, or nonexistent
Not present: Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco
Not visible: Termites in sealed mound
Intangible: math equations, square roots
Nonexistent: dragons, unicorns

Displacement (Importance)
Ability to represent unseen parts of world
Part of toolmaking ability : to conceive a design (above)
Bee Dance
Scouting bee gives information on non-present blossoms
Direction of dance relative to sun: indicates direction of source
Length of tail waggle: distance of source
Other bees act on this information even though they cannot see the flower or blossom

Cultural Transmission
Learning of an element of communication (speech sound, gestures)
Bees and stickleback acquire behavior genetically
Dogs learn by conditioning, do not pass learning on
Chimpanzees do learn by imitation and pass it on: e.g., termite fishing.

Specialization
Definition: Ability to transmit message with minimal physical effort
Language is the most specialized of all communication systems
Examples of unspecialized communication
Chimpanzee displays
Bee dance
Stickleback courtship

Conclusion
Language is the basis of culture
Knowledge of linguistics is prerequisite to knowing how cultures function
We have looked at the following:
Descriptive Linguistics
Language, Culture, and Society
Comparative Human-nonhuman Communication
One question remains: does culture condition language, or does language condition culture: the old chicken-egg question.
There are many similarities between human and animal communication

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Language and Culture

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