9.language-and-culture

ing ---- a meaning that can be found in a dictionary. Connotative meaning ---- a meaning or idea suggested by a word or thing in addition to the formal meaning or nature of the word or thing.
beliefs
customs
others objects institutions
techniques
语言与文化之我见
What do you think the relation between language and thought is?
Language is the outward form of thought.
The hypothesis may be typically represented by the statement “If Aristotle had spoken Chinese, his logic would have been different.” If follows from this strong version of the hypothesis that there is no real translation and that it is impossible to learn the language of a different culture unless the learner abandons his or her own mode of thinking and acquires the thought patterns of the native speakers of the target language.
Thought exists independently of language since people can exchange their thought through ways other than language.
萨丕尔-沃尔夫假设
A very influential and extremely controversial theory concerning language and thought:
Strong version believes that the language patterns determine people’s thinking and behavior. Weak version holds that the language patterns influence people’s thinking and behavior. The study of the linguistic relativity or SWH has shed two important insights: (P129)
Iconic meaning ---- the image or icon invoked in mind by a word.
For example, “rose”. (P130)
Some cultural differences in language use
1) Greetings and terms of address 2) Thanks and compliments 3) Color words 4) Privacy and taboos 5) Rounding off numbers 6) Words and cultural-specific connotations
Thanks and compliments
What do you know about the differences in expressing one’s gratitude and compliments in China and in western countries? How do we Chinese often respond to others’ gratitude and compliments? What about westerners?
7) Cultural-related idioms, proverbs and metaphor
9.6 The significance of cultural teaching and learning (P137)
Can you have any questions to ask about this topic before reading anything about it? What are they?
1. Is it necessary to learn its culture when learning a foreign language? Why? 2. How should learners learn the culture of a language? 3. How should teachers treat culture in their language teaching process? …
9.7 Cultural contact
(P135)
Three forms of cultural contact: 1. acculturation (文化传入) 2. assimilation (文化同化) 3. amalgamation (文化融合)
9.7 Cultural overlap
文化扩散 (P136)
Through communication, some elements of culture A enter culture B and become part of culture B, this phenomenon is known as cultural diffusion. （examples? reasons?）
4. Culture also affects its people’s imagination or common dreams which are mediated through the language and reflected in their life. 5. Culture is a wider system that completely includes language as a subsystem. 1. language in culture 2. language and culture Bright (1976) big culture / small culture
(P125)
1. scope (broad / narrow) 2. content (material / spiritual)
Please translate the following sentences into Chinese: 1. Where there is fear, there is modesty. 2. Modest dogs miss much meal. 3. The lady went up the aisle with one man and came back with another.
For example, the superior tends to refer to himself or herself by means of kinship terms, such as “Have daddy/mummy/teacher told you that?”
9.7 Cultural diffusion
The attitude towards cultural diffusion 1. cultural imperialism owing to linguistic imperialism (文化中的帝国主义)（P137） 2. linguistic nationalism (民族语种自豪感)
linguistic determinism 语言决定论: all higher levels of thinking are dependent on language. Or put it more bluntly, language determines thought. linguistic relativism 语言相对论: speakers of different languages perceive and experience the world differently, i.e. relative to their linguistic background. There is no limit to the structural diversity of language.
Greetings and terms of address
Please compare the differences in China and in English-speaking countries in the following situations:
1. How do you address a stranger (25, female; 68, male) on the road? 2. How do you address a neighbor (25, female; 68 male) of you?
文化重迭 (P136)
Cultural overlap refers to the identical part of culture between two societies owing to some similarities in the natural environment and psychology of human beings.