Posts
The relationship between culture and language
 |
Jumat, 25 Maret 2011
POINT I
Introduction
A. Background
Appearing
of the culture always be supported by many languages. In any culture or
region, language is much more than semantics, much more than what the
written page or the spoken word can contain. This especially becomes
clear when studying a foreign language and learning the ways of a
particular culture. For example, the use of introductions, salutations,
everyday sayings, etc. This area in particular gives more weight to
culture then to the words themselves. Anyone studying a foreign language
has to be bicultural as well as bilingual to speak the new language in a
way that it is not disparaging to the culture and its origin. Language
does not end at the meaning or the use of words associated to a culture"
words represent beliefs, history, and the culture of their origin and
they must be used accordingly.
B. Setting of problem
1. What is culture and language?
2. What is the relationship between language and culture?
3. What role does culture play with language?
POINT II
The relationship between culture and language
A. What’s language.
Language
as one element of culture has a very important role in human life.
Language allows a person communicating with others in meeting their
needs. Thus, it can be said is the main function of language as a
communication tool. This does not mean that the language has only one
function. Another function is as a tool to express self-expression, a
tool to make integration and social adaptation, as well as a tool to
hold social control. (Keraf, 1980: 3)
Based
on these functions, also mentioned that "Language is a means of
communication between members of the public symbol of the sound produced
by means of said human" (Keraf, 1980: 1). Similar opinion was also
expressed by Sitindoan (1984: 17) states "Language is a symbol of the
sound produced by means of said human, and the system has means that are
arbitrary; used by men in her life as a means of communication between
each other to form, express , and communicate thoughts and feelings.
Cultural social nature".
Based
on the notions described above, it is clear that the language was
intended in this paper is a communication tool produced by the tool man
has said symbol, system, meaning, and social are arbitrary and
culturally. Every language has a symbol. With the symbol will facilitate
communication, although not directly dealing with the object. This is
because each symbol already contains a concept or understanding. In
order for the meaning of the symbols are understood, every language user
must understand and follow the system language is used. Language system
contains rules or rules that must be obeyed by the user's language. If
not obeyed, the delivery information may be chaotic or communication
cannot happen.
Languages
are arbitrary means no direct relationship between the symbol with the
symbolized. Symbolic emergence of an object is based on the convention.
However, even so to be able to understand a language must be studied and
used as a communication tool.
B. What’s Culture
Culture
is the whole communication system that binds and allows operation of a
set of people called the public. Thus culture can be defined as a
"system of rules of communication and interaction that allows a society
occurs, preserved, and preserved". Culture that gives meaning to all
business and human movements. (Nababan, 1984: 49)
Based
on the above definition, clearly shows that between humans and culture
are inseparable. Similarly, between the Indonesian and Indonesian
culture. This is because human beings live alongside Indonesia in a unit
area of ethnic communities, also live in a unity of the Republic of
Indonesia. In this regard, they hold one culture, according to the
conception of insight archipelago, Indonesia is the national culture
(Geriya, 1996: 71).
Furthermore
formally Indonesia normative cultural system and set the whole human
Indonesian society. There are two functions of cultural systems that
Indonesia is very important, namely: the giver's identity and as a
communication that unites and integrates the Indonesian community that
is diverse.
Culture
can also be interpreted as "the activities and the creation of the mind
(reason) people like: faith, art, etc." For example, Chinese Culture,
Culture of Indonesia, and Javanese culture. (Poerwadarminta, 1983: 157).
Based on this understanding, we can say that only humans have culture.
This is due to living things is people who have sense and reason to
generate culture.
In
addition to the above two terms, the notion of culture can also be
viewed from the corner of Sciences Anthropology. In this regard, culture
(the culture) is defined as "the entirety of the conduct and results of
regular human behavior by the administration that must be acquired
behaviors by learning and all are arranged in life". (Koentjaraninggrat
Ed., 1985: 77).
Culture
in this case is understood as a learned behavior and conducted by a
group of people, cultures obtained from others by learning from the
community. Culture also includes everything that is the result of
creativity, initiative, and the work of humans in an effort to improve
the standard of living and adapt to their environment. As a system, the
culture needs to be seen from the embodiment of human life associated
with the ideas, behaviors, and material that are influenced by various
aspects.
Based
on the notions above can be concluded is meant by culture is a result
of creative initiative, and the work of humans in an effort to improve
the standard of living and adapt to their environment. These limits are
more emphasized on the fact that humans are capable of producing
culture, because humans are living beings who have mind and reason.
C. Relationship between culture and language.
According
to Sapir (1921), “language is a purely human and non-instinctive method
of communicating ideas, emotions and desire by means of voluntarily
produced symbols.” Language is a part of culture and a part of human
behavior.
It
is often held that the function of language is to express thought and
to communicate information. Language also fulfills many other tasks such
as greeting people, conducting religious service, etc.
Krech（1962）explained the major functions of language from the following three aspects:
1. Language is the primary vehicle of communication;
2. Language
reflects both the personality of the individual and the culture of his
history. In turn, it helps shape both personality and culture;
3. Language
makes possible the growth and transmission of culture, the continuity
of societies, and the effective functioning and control of social group.
It
is obvious that language plays a paramount role in developing,
elaborating and transmitting culture and language, enabling us to store
meanings and experience to facilitate communication. The function of
language is so important in communication that it is even exaggerated by
some scholars. The most famous one is the hypothesis of linguistic
determinism concerning the relationship between language and culture,
which Nida regards as misconceptions constituting serious difficulties
for cross-cultural understanding.
The
problem of the relationship between language, culture and thought
bothered many linguists and philosophers since ancient time. To think
about this problem, we need to begin with the definition of language and
culture. Language is generally accepted as a system of arbitrary vocal
symbols used for human communication. And there is a most widely
accepted definition of culture: culture is the total accumulation of
beliefs, customs, values, behaviors, institutions and communication
patterns that are shared, learned and passed down through the generation
in an identifiable group of people. (Linell Davis) The definitions of
language and culture imply that the two are closely connected to each
other. On one hand, culture seems so inclusive, it permeates almost
every aspect of human life including languages people use. On the other
hand, when people need to share a culture, they communicate through
language.
However
, the definition alone can not provide us with a clear understanding on
the relationship between language and culture. Problems remains
unsolved as: how does culture influence people’s linguistic behavior?
And does language influence the culture in return? If so , in what way?
Varies studies have been carried out, among them, a well known
hypothesis is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis made by two American linguists
Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis describes
the relationship between language, culture and thought. The core idea is
that man’s language moulds his perception of reality. We see the world
in the way that our language describes it, so that the world we live in
is a linguistic construct(Liu Runqing). The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis has
two major components: linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity.
The former holds the idea that the way one thinks is determined by the
language one speaks, because one can only perceive the world in terms of
the categories and distinctions encoded in the language. The latter
means that the categories and distinctions encoded in one language
system are unique to that system and incommensurable with those of
others, therefore, the difference among languages must be reflected in
the differences in the worldviews of their speakers. Since the
formulation of the hypothesis, discussions have never been ended. Many
linguists and philosophers are against the linguistic determinism. They
argue if language determines thought totally, and if there is no thought
without language, speakers of different languages will never understand
each other. Nevertheless, the weak interpretation of the hypothesis is
now widely accepted that language do have influence on thought and
culture. Evidence is easy to be found. A well known example is that
Eskimos have countless words for snow while there is only one word
‘snow’ in English. Therefore, a ‘snow world’ in a Eskimo’s eye and an
English speaker’s eye would be so different. This example shows that
people’s perceptions of their surroundings are modified by the
conceptual categories their languages happen to provide(Liu Runqing).
Questions still remains: which goes first, the language or the culture?
Is it the native language gives people different perceptions? Or on
contrary, is the different worldviews and cultures determine the
language?
The
problem get more and more philosophical, as Winston Churchill once
said, ‘ we shaped our buildings and afterwards our buildings shaped us.’
We describe our experience and culture by using language, and the
categories built into language, its structures influence our
perceptions--language in turn shapes our thought and culture. Therefore,
we should take a dialectical point of view on the relationship between
language and culture. As is mentioned at the beginning, language and
culture are inextricably intertwined. On one hand, language is a part of
human being. It reflects people’s attitudes, beliefs, worldviews.
Language both expressed and embodies cultural reality. On the other
hand, language is a part of culture. It helps perpetuate the culture and
it can influence the culture to a certain extent.
- Evidence on the dialectical relationship between language and culture
There
is plenty of linguistic evidence of culture difference. We take
relationship issue for example to explain the cultural difference
between Chinese people and English speakers. In Chinese ,there are more
precise terms for describing relationships than in English. Chinese
people distinguish relatives on mother’s side from those on father’s
side. We have the word ‘biao’ to call the brothers and sisters on
mother’s side and the word ‘tang’ for the father’s side. Also, the
uncles and aunts are addressed differently on each side. On the
contrary, in English, there are limited words to describe relationships.
This difference indicates that relationships play an important role in
Chinese culture. In a narrow sense, relatives are always vital elements
in Chinese people’s life. In a broad sense, the relationships among
people around are generally considered important for Chinese people. The
precise terms for describing family and other relationships reflect the
Chinese culture, and the language may in turn influence the Chinese way
of thinking. Therefore, relationships are paid great attention in
China. The Chinese ‘ relationship net’ is hard to explain, but it do
works in China. Talking about relationships, in English, we have the
phrase ‘-in law’ to address a certain kind of relatives, this may
indicates that compared to relationships, law plays a more important
role in the western culture.
Another
example can be found between English and French. English borrows a lot
of words from French, and a large part of them are the names of food.
Pork, veal, mutton are all French words. Even the word ‘cuisine’ is from
French. Judging from the language, we can tell that French cuisine must
be more famous than English food, and the catering culture is more
important in France than in English speaking countries.
There
is one thing should be pointed out that although different languages
reflect and influence different culture, there are many concepts that
are universal. Also, take the relationship issue for example, people
from the English speaking countries can distinguish relatives on
mother’s side from those on father’s side, although they do not do so,
the concepts are there. People from different cultures can understand
each other although they speak different languages and have different
worldviews, because many of the basic concepts are universal.
- Pedagogical implication
Since
language and cultures are intertwined with each other, learning a
language can not be separated from learning its culture. only by
learning the culture, the L2 learners can better understand the language
and use it in communication as native speakers do. Educators now
generally believes that it is important to help the L2 learners to
achieve the communicative competence as well as the linguistic
competence. In pedagogy there is a method of foreign language teaching
called communicative language teaching(CLT), and the goal of CLT is to
develop students’ communicative competence, which includes both the
knowledge about the language and knowledge about how to use the language
appropriately in communicative situation. In CLT, culture teaching
plays an important role.
In
language teaching, on one hand, teachers and learners should pay
attention to the culture difference since different languages reflect
the different value system and worldviews of its speaker. By knowing the
culture difference, one can avoid some mistake in communicating. On the
other hand, the same concepts of the two cultures should not be
neglected. By sharing the same concept, language learning may become
easier and happier. More importantly, since languages have influence on
thought, when learning a second language, the L2 learners should at the
same time strengthen their mother tongue. Therefore, the native culture
is protected.
POINT III
Closing
- Conclusion
Note:- Visit in site address given below:
http://barthimeous.blogspot.in/2011/03/relationship-between-culture-and.html
No comments:
Post a Comment