The Idea of Language and its Importance to Culture - Report Example

Discuss the Idеа of Lаnguаgе and its Imроrtаnсе to Culture Student’s Name Course Professor Date Language differentiate human from all other animals and is an important aspect of communication in all cultures. According to Salzmann, Stanlaw & Adachi (2014), language does not only serve a mere purpose of communication but is inseparable part of any culture. It is possible to note the close connection between language and culture particularly by the way language influences the thought process of a community. Language and culture share a lot of aspect. For instance, they are equally influenced by change such that, when culture changes, the language also changes. Linguists like Naomi Chomsky have carried a number of researches about different language. The most important phenomena she noted was that, despite the differences seen between languages, they are very similar. However, different cultures have different fashions of using their language. This discussion attempts to look at the idea of language in general and demystify the importance of language to culture. According to Wang (2011), language is the mainstay of culture as it is the avenue through which people pass ideas, attitudes, knowledge and skills to the next generation. Language is a tool of socialization and allows children to learn how to take differentiate gender roles and interact well with other people in the community. Culture constitutes of a myriad of aspects that are central to life and most of these aspects have a very long history in most communities. It is possible to lose that knowledge without a language that can describe it. According to Lun, Fischer & Ward (2010), language is used to describe situations and objects and helps its users to recall situations, objects and experiences. Even for a community that has lost significant artifacts or is distanced from its past experiences due to displacement, they use language to recreate such situations and experiences. A good example is Australian Aboriginals who were largely displaced from their ancestral land but still recall things like paintings and aspects on nature; flora and fauna that are significant to their culture. Without language, there would be limited memories of the past. It helps to recall dates and times. One distinct aspect of language is that it is not limited in time and space. It promotes the culture of any community to develop and free people beyond the current hindrances allowing them to move beyond immediate experiences (Kasper & Omori, 2010). Every culture progresses and that is a fact for the human race. People have gradually moved from primitive ways of life into sophistication. Everything that is concrete today was once an abstract idea conveyed and perceived through language. Imagination can only be shared through language. Additionally, supernatural experiences that relate to religion, beliefs and existence of human beings can only be known and shared through language. In turn, language is potentially effective in promoting cultural change, map aspiration and help people to navigate through life by offering explanation about people’s experiences and aspirations. Through language, humans become cumulative and it is through language that people perfect their understanding of thinking. As Salzmann, Stanlaw & Adachi (2014) points out; language is not limited to grunts and gestures that do not cover a larger array of expression in all cultures. It provides social, psychological fulfillment and economic outlooks that are shared in a community. It is expected that communities that live near lakes and seas use words to developed competency in boat making, fishing and understanding their environment and they would significantly differ from communities living in the arid areas. Language allow every culture to have a shared past through memories preserved through paintings, singing and parabolic language. As Holtgraves (2013) observes, language allows a culture to exist because through it people can plan events and activities among themselves. The choice of words used differentiates events and in turn causes people to continuously re-adapt to different environment. For instance, during burials or after tragic events, a sober mood requires all participants to adjust their facial expression, choose the right words and present themselves in a restrained manner. Language expresses people’s feelings, intentions and relationship between them. Every culture learns to use all these aspects of language in its own way. Though expression of feelings and intentions may differ between groups, tonal variation, the pitch and pace can help even an outsider to understand and relate those expressions with the environment. It is possible to take this functionality of language for granted but it becomes meaningful when people are exposed to different cultures that use one or more expression differently than the usual way of an outsider. Lun, Fischer & Ward (2010) explains the variation of language between cultures by noting the differences that arises depending on whether a culture is inclined to direct or indirect styles. For instance, United States or Western Europe cultures value verbal precision and self-expression. Children are socialized to be direct and speak what is in their mind at early age. In these cultures, people tend to frequently use words like ‘yes’, ‘for sure’ or ‘no’. In other cultures like Japan or most countries in East Asia, indirect style in communication is more applicable. The choice of their words and frequent use of works like “maybe” ”perhaps” result from the manner in which they were socialized. East Asian cultures overly demand precise articulation of ideas and rarely appreciate communicating between the lines. It is manifest that in some cultures a person can be understood without words than in others. Eventually, language use is quite different from one culture to the other. Geert-Hostede 6-dimension model explore cultures and can still give a greater overview of how the language of one culture differs relative to others. For instance, power distance dimension notes how individuals in a society understand equality. In some cultures, inequalities between individuals mean that some powerful members are addressed differently or with reverence than others. Hierarchical cultures like Chinese and Japanese requires people to learn how to address people depending on social setting. Foreigners doing business in these countries have noted painstakingly slow processes before making a decision. Language will significantly differ between individualistic and collectivistic cultures. The differences are also remarkable in all other dimensions like masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation and indulgence. According to Brophy (2012), different cultures can be noted by the way they apply personal or contextual styles in communication. Individualistic cultures like United States and most European countries, people tend to use personal pronouns “I” and ‘you’. It is impossible for a typical American to engage in a conversation without the use of these pronouns. When compared to other cultures that are distanced from it, American culture is more informal. In turn, they find it appropriate to address their boss, stranger, spouse or even the President by ‘you’. Others like most African and East Asian cultures that are highly collective tend to use contextual style. Linguists have pointed out that, in Thai language the use of “you” is differentiated in many contexts and is used accordingly depending on underlying factors like the level of intimacy and status. Kasper & Omori (2010) claims that, it would be impossible to learn Japanese without learning their culture first as they pay more attention on people’s status and identity that help to use linguistic forms used according to the speaker’s rank and the audience spoken to. Without language it would have been difficult for societies to be where they are today. It is through language that we are able to pass ideas, attitudes and knowledge from one culture to the next. As Wang (2011) observes, recent globalization has led to many developed countries focus their attention to nations with emerging economies like China. However, even the most competent human resource managers working with Multinational Corporation have confessed that it is hard to use domestic approach to handle managerial roles in these markets. Psychic distance is commonly used to describe the differences in cultural, political and social orientations between nations. Productive operations in these regions require the expatriates to adjust their languages in order to share their skills, technology and profit out of their operations. Language has not only improved distinct cultures but has also allowed influences in different regions (Blenkinsopp & Shademan Pajouh, 2010). Salzmann, Stanlaw & Adachi (2014) further observed that, language is a very important aspect that allows different people to have a purpose of getting together. Each culture has its own language which makes people to identify themselves and get closer to one another. It is used as the central tool of cultural identity and intimacy. Even in countries with national language like U.S, there are distinct groups identifiable through a different dialect and like Black American English. The way African American uses language reveal a lot about their culture and socialization. Culture develops from the past experiences and ultimately shapes the morality, personalities and expression of emotions for a group of people or a community (Kasper & Omori, 2010). Looking further at African American use of language, most people have a high tendency of using word with negative connotation such as “nigga” rather that the use of euphemism. They also raise their voice compared to their white counterparts and the variations are related to their exploitation during slavery and current segregation. Brophy (2012) focused on untranslatable words and their importance to different cultures. Language is important in that, there are vocabularies used by certain culture and cannot be translated in any way in other languages. The major reasons for such phenomena are that one language may have plenty of words that do not exist in the other culture. For instance, ‘shopping’, a common noun among Americans does not exist in Russian language as a noun. One reason behind untranslatable words is because, in one culture, a certain words is not applicable or does not contribute to the way the people live. As Korkeakivi (2010) observes, one interesting example of untranslatable word in all other cultures is ‘ilunga’. The word is used in Republic of Congo to describe a person who readily forgive for the first and second time but will never do it thrice in Tshiluba language. Changes in culture are replicated and indicated in the language. Language changes along with existing culture. For instance, there is minimal use of words “he” and “she” in modern English; both in speech and writing than it was in the past. The major reason is because, the major cultures that use English language such as United States and Western Europe have continually become less male-dominated societies (Talbot, 2010). Grammar rules have changed to reflect the current gender agreement rules. Less than a century ago, the words “father” and “mother” were used without any controversy. However, it has become difficult to use the same in a culture with different forms of marriage and concept of family. The change has led to development of neutral word “parent” which is agreed in some schools (Powell, Blozendahl, Geist & Steelman, 2010). Socio-economic status of people also determines the choice of words used in formal contexts like schools, religious congregation and political debates (Arikan, 2011). Children become sensitive and are able to identify their parents’ social class and are also sensitive by how other people use language to describe them. In conclusion, great deal of literature has shown why a language is important to a culture. The understanding is really encouraging as it can help us cherish ones language even more. It is possible to note the need to appreciate other cultures noting how they possess distinct ways of identifying events and experiences that we might find hard to explain in our culture. In a globalized world where interactions between cultures are inevitable, an understanding of the functionality of language in a culture can help to develop competent actors and ensure more development and sharing. Furthermore, we can look forward to the future and note how our language will change to accommodate changes in culture. In turn, individuals are cultural actors and can facilitate the development of culture and language to ensure stability in the society and meaningful interactions. References Arikan, A. (2011). Prospective English Language Teachers' Perceptions of the Target Language and Culture in Relation to Their Socioeconomic Status. Online Submission, 4(3), 232-242. Blenkinsopp, J., & Shademan Pajouh, M. (2010). Lost in translation? Culture, language and the role of the translator in international business. Critical perspectives on international business, 6(1), 38-52. Brophy, N. (2012). Reasons Language is Important to Any Culture. Bright Hub Inc. Accessed [6 April 2015] from http://www.brighthubeducation.com/language-learning-tips/99894 Holtgraves, T. M. (2013). Language as social action: Social psychology and language use. Psychology Press. Kasper, G., & Omori, M. (2010). Language and culture. Sociolinguistics and language education, 18, 455. Korkeakivi, A. (2010). ILUNGA. The Yale Review, 98(3), 118-131. Lun, V. M. C., Fischer, R., & Ward, C. (2010). Exploring cultural differences in critical thinking: Is it about my thinking style or the language I speak? Learning and Individual differences, 20(6), 604-616. Powell, B., Blozendahl, C., Geist, C., & Steelman, L. C. (2010). Counted out: Same-sex relations and Americans' definitions of family. Russell Sage Foundation. Salzmann, Z., Stanlaw, J., & Adachi, N. (2014). Language, culture, and society: An introduction to linguistic anthropology. Westview Press. Talbot, M. (2010). Language and gender. Polity. Wang, J. (2011). Culture differences and English teaching. English Language Teaching, 4(2), p223. Read More

oltgraves (2013) observes, language allows a culture to exist because through it people can plan events and activities among themselves. The choice of words used differentiates events and in turn causes people to continuously re-adapt to different environment. For instance, during burials or after tragic events, a sober mood requires all participants to adjust their facial expression, choose the right words and present themselves in a restrained manner. Language expresses people’s feelings, intentions and relationship between them.

Every culture learns to use all these aspects of language in its own way. Though expression of feelings and intentions may differ between groups, tonal variation, the pitch and pace can help even an outsider to understand and relate those expressions with the environment. It is possible to take this functionality of language for granted but it becomes meaningful when people are exposed to different cultures that use one or more expression differently than the usual way of an outsider. Lun, Fischer & Ward (2010) explains the variation of language between cultures by noting the differences that arises depending on whether a culture is inclined to direct or indirect styles.

For instance, United States or Western Europe cultures value verbal precision and self-expression. Children are socialized to be direct and speak what is in their mind at early age. In these cultures, people tend to frequently use words like ‘yes’, ‘for sure’ or ‘no’. In other cultures like Japan or most countries in East Asia, indirect style in communication is more applicable. The choice of their words and frequent use of works like “maybe” ”perhaps” result from the manner in which they were socialized.

East Asian cultures overly demand precise articulation of ideas and rarely appreciate communicating between the lines. It is manifest that in some cultures a person can be understood without words than in others. Eventually, language use is quite different from one culture to the other. Geert-Hostede 6-dimension model explore cultures and can still give a greater overview of how the language of one culture differs relative to others. For instance, power distance dimension notes how individuals in a society understand equality.

In some cultures, inequalities between individuals mean that some powerful members are addressed differently or with reverence than others. Hierarchical cultures like Chinese and Japanese requires people to learn how to address people depending on social setting. Foreigners doing business in these countries have noted painstakingly slow processes before making a decision. Language will significantly differ between individualistic and collectivistic cultures. The differences are also remarkable in all other dimensions like masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation and indulgence.

According to Brophy (2012), different cultures can be noted by the way they apply personal or contextual styles in communication. Individualistic cultures like United States and most European countries, people tend to use personal pronouns “I” and ‘you’. It is impossible for a typical American to engage in a conversation without the use of these pronouns. When compared to other cultures that are distanced from it, American culture is more informal. In turn, they find it appropriate to address their boss, stranger, spouse or even the President by ‘you’.

Others like most African and East Asian cultures that are highly collective tend to use contextual style. Linguists have pointed out that, in Thai language the use of “you” is differentiated in many contexts and is used accordingly depending on underlying factors like the level of intimacy and status. Kasper & Omori (2010) claims that, it would be impossible to learn Japanese without learning their culture first as they pay more attention on people’s status and identity that help to use linguistic forms used according to the speaker’s rank and the audience spoken to.

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