Language and Culture - Essay Example

? Language and Culture Language use analysis According to Anthony (2007:2), language refers to the mode of communication used within a society, while culture refers to the set of shared values and practices within the community such as language itself. The relation between culture and language is one of mutual effect in which both influence the nature of existence of the other. Culture affects language through the presence of words and certain language techniques. Such as languages have words for only those things that are available within that society, for instance during the ancient roman language there is no words that describe the computer or fighter jets as they never existed during those times but has words for wheals as they existed during those times. Language, on the other hand, can also affect the culture of a society, especially when the society borrows, and then modifies alien words from other cultures to fit in their own. As such this changes the culture making it evolve with time. Language use within a text refers to the combination of various forms of linguistic and grammatical technique used within the context with the aim of communicating a message to another party. Its uses can be in many different ways and purposes; it is spoken, written, and referred, from visual representations. Language is used to work, play, praise, insult, court and educe among other reasons. Throughout the use of language, various techniques are applied to simplify its meanings also to create interest and humor such as through the use of rhyme and repetition to create a musical effect. The use of language can be categorized into much broader uses categories which are the evocative, the expressive, the per formative, the evaluative and the informative. This is for clear communication of information and there the use of various linguistic techniques. Lexis This refers to the total collection of words and phrases of a societal language such as the use and application of lexical chunks or readymade sentences to produce a functioning language. This eliminates the need to deal with grammatical issues such as punctuations within the sentence. In other words, the use of lexis does, not have to give a grammatical concept. For instance, throughout the website the writer uses terms such as “you are not alone” in the start of a sentence when describing the occurrence, effects and handling of peer pressure. This is an already constructed phrase, and it passes information relating with most people within the society; thus, effectively and immediately passing the information to the readers. It also reduces the necessity of grammatical correction and the application of further grammatical techniques within this part of the text. Within the various passage texts in the website, there are various words used that are of other and similar linguistic background. These are words obtained from other languages, or are a combination of two or more different ancient language words that sum up to the meaning of the intended, in the English context. Words used such as microscope derived from the Greek words "mikros" referring to puny and "skopein" referring to look or see, the two combined in English forms the word microscope meaning an instrument used in the viewing and investigations of objects that minute, and cannot be seen by the naked eye. Semantics The linguistic statement semantics developed from the Greek word semantic, and it refers to the study of meaning focusing on the relation between the use of signifiers such as phrases, words, signs and what they denote in the text, in linguistics. It tries to denote meaning through the understanding of different human expressions through language. This includes the use puns and conations, among others, in an English language context to magnify the expressed message and to ensure the readers' undivided attention. It also acts as a way of reducing monotony, thus, lessening chances of the reader getting bored or destructed. We can say that the use of semantics makes language an easy to understand form of communication. Within the information texts in the talktofranc.com, various forms of semantics are used. For example, the use of metaphors which are literal figures of speech that use images, tangible things or stories to represent some less tangible items, quality or ideas. Metaphors are sometimes used as rhetorical figure of speech that achieves their purpose through association, comparison and resemblance. The term “The experience of taking LSD" is known as a "trip" within the article. The use of LSD drug on the websites page takes as an example of a metaphor. The word trip, which normally means a journey, represents a warm feeling of being on a joyous journey that one experiences upon taking the drug. This gives a sense of humor within the text and thus ensuring the absence of monotony and sense of freshness. As a result, it compels the reader’s attention to go on reading up to the end. The use of irony within the context passages to communicate the desired information better is also in the website page. In literature, the use irony is the use of a rhetorical device, or the use of words or devices to derive a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning of the words of phrases used. This brings humor to the intended meaning, and is usually used as a means to shun off negative behaviour, and as such more often traps the reader to have to agree with the message in the passage. Such as the use of the phrase “taking drugs is not illegal” is ironical because drugs in this context are themselves illegal. This statement is further used to intrigue the readers mind and to magnify the illegality of drug use further within the society. This softens the message in the content making it easily acceptable within the society. A presupposition refers to a direct assumption of the world or of background belief in accordance to statements made whose truth is taken for granted. They must be mutually known and assumed by the speaker and the reader for the utterance to be considered relevant in that context. This is a technique that throbs the mind to think hence generating more interest and understanding of the main value message. In this site, presuppositions are present in various instances such as the phrase “you will want to do it again and again” referring to the taking of drugs assumes that the person must have taken the drug at least once before. This is an insinuation shared by the writer and the reader and it initiates thoughts into the issue of addiction from the first introductory experiment of drugs taking. Phonology Phonology is also a Greek word that describes the different sounds within language. It is a section that deals with the function, organization and behaviour of different speech sounds within language context. Phonology is a subfield of linguistic concerned with the different sound systems of language. Thus, it describes the way different sounds function within different contexts, or across different languages to encode the meanings such as the use of syllables, articulatory words, and rhymes, among others, that structure sounds, to convey linguistic meanings (Anthony, 2007: 6). The use of repetition of words and phrases within the same context passage describes the urgency and importance of the message that it is conveying such as the using the phrase “worried about” in the subject headings, in a context passage. Repetition also acts as a highlighter of that phrase hence intriguing the reader’s interest to want to continue on with reading the context within. This interest aroused within the reader ensures that the intended information is conveyed and understood to as many target readers as possible and in the right manner. Repetition also influences the use of sounds to create a rhyming or musical effect within the context. As such, it also brings out humor and sounds that influence, and interests the readers to continue with the reading thus gaining more information. Grammar In the use of language, grammar refers to the study, use and adherence to a set of structural guidelines that outline the inclusion of certain words, clauses and phrases in any given language. Also, it involves the use of correct punctuations and words spellings. Grammar may be broadly classified as, adherence to parts of speech and putting up of words together to form grammatically correct sentences conveying intended purpose messages. It provides a ground on which the rules of all natural languages base on. Within the websites texts, various uses of grammar to communicate effectively and to increase the readers’ interests can be identified. For example, the use of short sentences and paragraphs within the text enhances easier understanding and reading and reduces the complexity of readers trying to decipher the information. This makes it easier to read the whole text faster and understand the contained information. This simplifies things making it more enjoyable to read and understand such a text, as opposed to a long sentenced and extensively paragraphed text that is tedious to read, and hard to decipher the information. The use of questions within the text is also a terrific way of initiating thoughts, pictures and prompts decision making by the reader. In the websites page, the writer uses various questions to pass information and to built images and to prompt subsequent questions within the readers mind that contribute to the attainment of the desired information. Questions such as “who is offering you drugs and why?” or other rhetorical questions such as “what more is there to say?” prompts the reader to think about, for instance, the person that is offering them drugs and what motives they could have. It also enables them to view and understand what sort of persons they are in the society and differentiate themselves to them realizing the difference and whether they would like themselves to be like the other persons in the society. The writer also makes use of the setting up of subject headings as questions thereby making it easier to find the information that the reader is after. It also enables one to understand in basic the information contained in the passage just by reading the heading. Such question shaped headings are usually designed through the identification and prediction of the information that readers may be after, and the questions that those affected by drugs may be asking themselves. The use of positivity in sentence construction within the passage and present continuous tense act as a means to provide hope for the future. It also shows the probability of success within this line of recovery even though it is extremely difficult and other people have failed. This positivity and the use of present continuous tense give hope and acts as a persuader to the reader to believe in themselves and have a quick recovery. Such hope helps the concerned person to make informed decisions on what to do knowing that it is a possible thing to do and that others are going through the same situations at the present moment. This makes them feel not alone and that the aim they can attain their goals. The use of positivity and provision of hope within the readers ensure that they gain the proper motivation to continue on reading, understanding and applying the information being given to them in the passage. An example of positivity in sentence construction and use within the passages of the website is the use of sentences such as “there is life after smack” and “rehab changed my life.” These messages give hope and inspire the readers under similar situations to continue reading the passage and believe in it, and apply the information in it. Also, the use of present continuous tense in the sentences construction such as “cannabis can mess with your mind” also serves to accomplish the same functions. Visuals The use of visuals in language refers to a system of information communication using visual elements. The use of words to present an idea can be well enhanced through the use of visual element presentations such as images. Moreover, vision can enhance the understanding of the term language when it comes to explain the parameters of perception, comprehension and the use of visible signs. This is to say that language and visuals support each other to describe the intended message better than without using them. There is the use of various forms of visual representation to describe processes and information within the website. This may be such as the use of a diagrammatic representation of a head to show the effects of LCD on the human brain. This form of communication ensures better understanding through the image and enables the reader to relate with the information. It acts as an effective way to communicate information and persuade the reader against such drugs consumption through instillation of fear from the image of what and how their brains are likely to be affected by such consumptions. The use of pictures to enhance explanations within the website is evident such as the different pictures of a variety of available drugs and their dosage. Such use of pictures ensures better and easier understanding of the communicated information. Pictures are also more appealing to the eye and enhance the attractiveness of a text page, as opposed to a page full of word explanations. Such appeal to the eye prompts many people to want to go through that article and to understand what exactly the author wants to pass. The use of horrific pictures sometimes is a convenient way to communicate and instil fear among people against something such as the health effects and contamination of deadly diseases such as HIV/AIDS. The image of a suffering, infected person would instill fear and understanding of the caution information on the consumption of the different type of drugs. There is the use of background visuals techniques to create attractiveness to the website main page to the potential readers. The main aim of the visual technique used in the front page is to attract potential readers and to prompt them to go further and be interested to read the various issues and information that the site addresses. As such, use of attractive mobile visual imagery creates attention and liveliness of the site. In this site, there is the use of images concerning the information and the intended target groups, such as pictures of affected youths, and unaffected well organized youths. Also, the use of large font short sentences as subject headings for easier view and understanding by the readers hence one can just by viewing the page understand the nature of the context within hence attracted to continue viewing the site and learning more. Sociolinguistics According to Anthony (2007:10) this is a term that includes the models of different languages applied towards the connection between different societies, and the different, effective languages within those societies, and its use within different social communication situations. It ranges from the wide variety of dialects within a specific region down to the manner in which different individuals within the society converse among them. The application of sociolinguistics demonstrates the humorous realities within social human speech thus further engaging the text; it codes the social functions of linguistics. It can also be described as the study of all aspects of society in relation to the society’s language of communication. The study of sociolinguistics ensures that the use of language within the society is understood, and the different interactions and issues affecting different age groups are addressed. This in turn, helps to develop the best ways in which to communicate to the different age groups and the best language use techniques to be applied. In conclusion, the use of various techniques in language to aid in the communication of messages and the application of sociolinguistics to determine the mode of communications and best means in which to reach the society target group is a common feature in many literature context passages. They ensure that the intended information reaches the desired group and those they actually pay attention to, understand, trust and apply the information where relevant. The language literature provides strong grounds techniques to attract the preferred reader’s attention and to communicate the intended information to them effectively. Bibliography Anthony, K. (2007). Language syntax: the use of language in literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Read More