LanguageCulture-and-identity

1. Introduction
The interrelationships between these terms: language, identity and cultural differences have become a major
focus for many cultural researchers and social theorists. It is known that language, identity and cultural
differences influence each other and are connected closely to each other. Stuart Hall explained the
relationship between them which provided a deeper understanding between the interrelationships among
them. This assignment aims at offering a deeper understanding of the connections between Language,
identity and cultural differences which could assist learners to equip more knowledge about these concepts for
their future studies or works.

2. Hall's Notions of Language, Identity, and Culture
• According to Hall (1997), there is a strong relationship between the concepts of language, identity, and
cultural differences. He argued that while culture is concerned about ‘sharing meaning’, language is a
link that is used to ‘make sense’ of things, and meaning can be exchanged and produced. He also
mentioned that language is essential to culture and meaning and can be considered the key container
of the values and meanings of culture.​
• In order to understand the connections between these phenomena, first of all, we should become
acquainted with these concepts.​

3. Relationship Between Language, Identity and Cultural Differences
1.Understanding Identity
The word identity stems from the Latin word idem, which means sameness. Identity, in the social sciences,
may refer to the instinctive perception of self or a badge enlightening group memberships (Holland, 2001;
Norton, 2010​
2.Language as a Representational System
Hall explains, language is a representational system. This means that,​
We use signs and symbols – whether they are sounds, written words, electronically produced images, musical
notes, even objects – to stand for or represent to other people our concepts, ideas and feelings”.​
Every time we speak, we are negotiating and renegotiating our sense of self in relation to the larger social
world, and reorganizing that relationship across time and space. Our gender, race, class, ethnicity, sexual
orientations, among other characteristics, are all implicated in this negotiation of identity.​

4. Ways Of Viewing Identity
Identity as negotiated experience
We define who we are by the ways we experience our selves through participation as well as by the ways we
and others reify ourselves.
Identity as community membership
We define who we are by the familiar and the unfamiliar. Community membership provides individuals with a
framework for understanding themselves and their place in the world, shaping their perceptions, experiences,
and interactions with others.
Identity as learning trajectory
We define who we are by where we have been and where we are going.

5. Ways Of Viewing Identity
Identity as nexus of multimembership
We define who we are by the ways we reconcile our various forms of membership into one identity.
Identity as a relation between the local and the global
We define who we are by negotiating local ways of belonging to broader constellations and of manifesting
broader styles and discourses.

6. Culture
Judd (2002:10) suggests that “[c]ulture can be defined as the system of shared objects, activities and beliefs
of a given group of people.”
Hall examines the problem of ‘cultural identity’ by proposing that there are two ways of approaching it:
• “There are at least two different ways of thinking about 'cultural identity'. The first position defines 'cultural
identity' in terms of one, shared culture, a sort of collective 'one true self', hiding inside the many other, more
superficial or artificially imposed 'selves'.
• There is, however, a second, related but different view of cultural identity. This second position recognizes
that, as well as the many points of similarity, there are also critical points of deep and significant difference
which constitute 'what we really are'; or rather - since history has intervened - 'what we have become'.

7. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf
Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf, two writers whose works would appear to be somewhat
unfashionable at the present time.
According to the strong version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
According to the strong version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, we cannot see what we cannot name. Thus,
according to the hypothesis, the Hopi Indians have no conception of time because the Hopi language has no
tenses or time expressions. The notion that the way we talk conditions how we think, and, in fact, controls our
perception of reality, has been hugely controversial.

8. Language and Identity: a critique
Accordingly, sociolinguists are interested in the interactions between the identity of the speaker and
the social context within which the speaking happens (Carranza, 2017).
The pioneer of sociolinguistic studies William Labov (1972) conducted a series of studies regarding the
confluence of American vernacular and social identity. He concluded that divergent use of language is the
reflection of identities people adopt as a result of their membership in the different groups characterized by
their race, ethnicity, gender and social class (Labov, 1972; Moore, 2004).

9. Social Constructivism Theory
1.Rooted mainly in the works of Vygotsky (1967)
Social Constructivism Theory views the relationship between human behavior and societal factors mutually
constitutive.
2. From this perspective, people continuously create and recreate social reality and in turn, are
shaped by it in a dialectical process.
From this perspective, people continuously create and recreate social reality and in turn, are shaped by it in a
dialectical process.

10. THANKYOU!