The document contrasts culture with nature, defining nature as organic growth and culture as a product of grooming and development. It discusses how language serves as a tool through which culture shapes perceptions and socialization within a community. The norms of language use are described as rituals that dictate interaction and interpretation among speakers.

1. Nature, Culture, Language
One way of thinking about
culture is to contrast it with
nature.
Nature refers to what is born
and grows organically.
Culture refers to what has
been grown and groomed.
The word and the technology
of the word have
immortalized nature.
Particular meanings are
adopted by the speech
community and imposed in
turn on its members.
The screws that language and
culture impose on nature
correspond to various form of
Socialization or
acculturation.
These ways with language, or
norms of interaction and
interpretation, form part of
the invisible ritual imposed by
culture on language users.