Ask your own question, for FREE!
Language and Culture 17 Online
OpenStudy (anonymous):

how language is connected with culture?

OpenStudy (anonymous):

Language is one of the main tools by which culture is passed on to each successive generation. In all cultures, the stories that are told, the things that are said are the things that are taught, they are the things are literally the culture of the people. Language, communication, is exactly what maintains a culture generationally.

OpenStudy (anonymous):

There is a debate about the connection between language and culture. According to Whorffian linguistics, the language you use influences the way you see the world, and the way you see the world influences what kind of language you use. So if your language has many many words for colour, arguably, you would actually differentiate between colours in a more detailed way than a person whose language has a simpler list of colours. And obviously, we're constantly creating new words to define and categorize the world around us (think about all the new words we've created in relation to computers in the past couple decades). Your language and your culture would be intrinsically connected, then. If your culture has no computers, your language wiill reflect that by having no words for computers. And if your language has no words for 'friends who deserve more pie', then you're not likely to think very often about whether your friends deserve pie. Yours is a culture that has significantly less pie than it could. On the other hand, Chomskian linguistics talks more about universal grammar, and the idea that underneath surface differences between languages, they've all got one of only a few different structures. So according to Chomsky, culture influences language in that it specifies the variations that you'd use, but essentially, all the human languages come from the same biological mechanisms.

Can't find your answer? Make a FREE account and ask your own questions, OR help others and earn volunteer hours!

Join our real-time social learning platform and learn together with your friends!
Can't find your answer? Make a FREE account and ask your own questions, OR help others and earn volunteer hours!

Join our real-time social learning platform and learn together with your friends!