 The
course provides an introduction to the
way in which language and culture reflect
each other.
 It also aims to introduce arenas in which
language and culture are linked.
 We will examine how

language structures thought;

how people talk as a means of
accomplishing their goals;
and investigate connections between
language and social structures.
By the end of this course, you should be able
to:
 Understand the fundamental concepts used
in the study of language and culture.
 Discuss the notions of language and cultures.
 Understand how language and culture are
related or interconnected to one another.
 The
course will examine the relationship of
language and culture. It examines how
meaning is related to sign and action. It
investigates the spoken language and oral
culture; the print language and literate
culture; as well as the relationship between
language and cultural identity. It will also
discuss some current issues in relation to
language and culture.
 The
assessment requirements for the course
include:
An assignment:
30%
Mid-semester test:
30%
Final examination:
40%
Assignments
 The questions for the assignments will be
distributed during our first face-to-face.
Mid-semester Test
 The mid-semester test will cover units 1, 2, 3
and 4 of this module and chapters 1, 2 and 3
of your text.
Final Examination
 Questions for the final examination will be
based on units 5, 6, 7 and 8 of this module
and 4, 5, 6 and 7 of your text.
 ASSIGNMENTS
(30%)
 You are to complete both tasks.
Essay 1
 Write an essay of about 350 words on how
you learnt a language. It can be your first
language or your second language. Reflect
on your experience and learning and relate
them to at least THREE concepts in the
context of language and culture.
 Deadline for handing up the assignment:
Mid Semester Test Week
 Essay
2
 For this assignment, read four journal
articles related to language and culture
published from 2000 onwards. Do a critical
analysis of the articles and discuss what you
have learnt from the articles about language
and culture. Your discussion should be in
about 350 to 450 words.
 Your
discussion should be arranged according
to subheadings that reflect each of the
articles discussed. Hand up your essay
together with the articles read as an
appendix. Attach a reference list of the
articles read at the end of the essay using
the APA style.

 Deadline
for handing up the assignment:
12th Week of Semester.

Kramsch C. (1998). Language and Culture.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The text, Language and Culture by Claire
Kramsch (1998) OUP, provides a broad and
readable overview of a wide range of topics.
Topics in this text will be referred to throughout
the guide and you are to do the required reading
as stipulated at certain points in your reading of
the guide.

For other recommended reading, refer to the
section under references at the end of the
module.
Week








1
2-3
4-5
6-7
8-9
10-11
12-13
14
Topics
Unit 1 Introduction
Unit 2 The relationship of language
and culture
Unit 3 Meaning as sign
Unit 4 Meaning as action
Unit 5 Spoken language, oral culture
Unit 6 Print language, literate culture
Unit 7 Language and culture identity
Unit 8 Current issues
Hours
5
7
7
7
7
7
7
5
Prof Dr. Chan Swee Heng
I can be contacted at:
The Department of English Language
Faculty of Modern Language and Communication
Universiti Putra Malaysia
43400 UPM Serdang
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Telephone: 8986101 Ext. 8728 (Department Office)
Or 8707 (my office)
(You should try ringing my office first, failing which to reach me,
then you may call the department office and leave a message)
My email I.D. is shchan@upm.edu.my
You may also fax me at 03-89439951
What is Language?
 Knowledge
of a language includes knowing
‘the sound system, words, and the sentences
or non-sentences of that language’ (Fromkin
and Rodman, 1998: 4).
 Differentiate between the terms linguistic
competence (LC) and linguistic performance
(LP). LC refers to knowledge of a language.
LP refers to language in use.
 Language
is a ‘communication system that
has work to perform, a system that speakers
exploit purposefully’ and it is ‘used to do
things, not merely to report them or talk
about them.’ Finnegan (1994: 14),
 Core
and Scribner (1974: 8), argue that
‘language is said to be at one and the same
time a vital force and an individual tool of
communication and thought; it is, so speak,
on both sides of the culture-cognition
relationship.’
 Henslin
(2006:38-40) notes that language is
the primary way people communicate with
one another.
It’s a system of symbols which all us to
communicate abstract thought (Henslin,
2004:40).
 It’s a perspective which allows culture to
exist.
 Culture
is the totality of learned, socially
transmitted behavior.
 Culture
is all the values, norms, and customs
that people share with one another.
 Culture
 Culture
includes language and beliefs.
is all of the material objects such as
monuments, three-piece suites, the lottery,
fur coats, and fine automobiles.
 Culture
is ideas (like the belief in democracy
and freedom) found within a society.
 Culture
is what individuals think is right and
important as they interact
(Schaefer, 1992:67).
 Culture
is a way of life. When people talk
about "the way of life" of people with a
distinctive life style, whether they live in
Appalachia or Norway, they are talking about
culture.
 It
defines what is important and
unimportant. Culture refers to everything
that people create. Values, norms, goals, and
culture in general, develop as people
interact with one another over time.
Other Aspects of Communication:
 In
addition to language, we also
communicate in other ways.
 These auxiliary communication techniques
are known as use of paralanguage.
 Various forms of paralanguage -- include
kinesics, gesture, tone and character of
voice, and proxemics (O’Neil, 2000).
A. Kinesics
 Kinesics is body language, that is the
language of gestures, expressions and
postures.
Gestures
 Some gestures are the same throughout the
world. e.g: a smile.
 Some gestures may be different in different
parts of the world.e.g: spitting on someone is
a symbol or sign of contempt in Malaysia but
it is an affectionate blessing if done in a
certain way among the Masai of Kenya
(O’Neil, 2000).
Tone and character of voice
 The meaning of an utterance can be altered
by tone and character of voice.
e.g: are you okay?
are you okay?
Proxemics
 Proxemics is the study of the distance
between individuals or groups when engaging
in conversation.
e.g: establishing a comfort zone
avoiding eye contact in a crowd
B. Use of Space
 Culture
tells us how to organise space in such
a way as to control the nature of interaction.
e.g: Japanese offices are set up with the
manager’s desk at the end of a row of desks
used by subordinate employees. This
maximises his interaction with the workers.
C. Use of Time
 Culture
tells us how to manipulate time in
order to communicate messages.
e.g: punctuality, power relationship
D. Communicating with Clothes
 The
clothes we wear have many functions.
e.g: worn to provide supernatural
protection, office wear, royal colour.
 The appearance of a person tells us their
gender, age, economic class and sometimes
their intentions.
Overview of Language & Culture
 Language
is one of the main ways by which
we send and receive messages.
 Throughout
the world there are some 5,000
different languages.

Only 20% have a written form; 80% are only
spoken.
 Our
language is a product of our culture,
and our culture is a product of our language.
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 The
language we speak influences what
we see and think, and what we see and
think, in part, influences our culture.
 Therefore,
one can not become truly fluent
in another language unless he also
understands the cultural context in which
to use that language.
Functions of Language:
1. language expresses cultural reality.
2. language embodies cultural reality.
3. Language symbolises cultural reality.
o
The ways that language and culture impose
on nature correspond to various forms of
socialisation or acculturation
o
Culture brings order and predictability into
our use of language.
o
Social conventions and norms of social
appropriateness are the products of speech
communities.
o
Culture liberates and at the same time,
constrains us socially, historically and
metaphorically.
Language and Thought Processes
The Whorfian Hypothesis:
 Linguistics
relativity and determinism.
If the environment and what it comprises
are known only through the varying
selective and organising mechanisms of
language, what we perceive and
experience would then be arbitrary.
 The
notion of linguistic relativity implies that
the world is differently experienced in
different language communities and more
strongly, that language causes these
differences.
 Certain
aspects of language behavior
challenge Whorf’s proposal that the absence
or presence of a lexical distinction can be
taken as an indicator of a corresponding
perceptual or conceptual distinction.
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
 The
central idea behind their theory, is
that language is not merely a tool for
reporting experience, but more
importantly it is a shaper of ideas.
 In other words, a language does not
merely record and transmit perceptions
and thoughts, it actually helps to shape
them.
 Language controls the way we think and
perceive the world. It is the guide for our
mental activity.
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COM 340
 S&W
went into Native America and saw that
people constructed their world differently,
and their language reflected that.
Navajo, for example, had "one, two, three,
some, and many" as counting categories
(where we typically have 2, singular and
plural). Lakota do not categorize green
separate from blue or black. Hopi divide
things into categories like "breathing things"
and "moving things" and "round things".
 All
of these have linguistic features. We have
an "s" we add to plurals. One tree, two trees,
three trees. A Navajo would have one tree,
two treeX, three treeA, some treeM and
many treeP (all different forms of the
plural).
 In English, verbs are treated the same
whether it's a laptop that "runs", an person
that "runs" or water that "runs". Each of
those would be conjugated differently in
Hopi due to the different category.
 So,
S &W see this, and wonder ”Did language
cause people to see the world in these
categories? Or did the way they see the
world effect language?".
Most linguists think they got much of it
wrong, but they put the seeds down for some
interesting work on how language and
culture are intertwined, and how a change in
the language necessitates a change in the
culture and vice versa.
What does it mean to mean something?
 Meaning
is related to social reality.
 Meaning is often manifested through
denotation, connotation and icon.
What are the conditions that are needed for
the sign to take on meaning?
1. reality has to be given a name for each of
the entity segmented. e.g.the dictionary
entry of the thousands of words from A-Z
that are used in English.
2. segments must be recognisable and have
applications that are repeatable. e.g. a car is
a car in any place.
3. There must be room for extension in the use
of the term. e.g. X is Y, X is a kind of Y and X
is like Y. e.g. Chomel is a cat. Chomel could
be is a special breed of cat. Chomel could
be a name for other kinds of cats.
Language and our View of Reality
 To
examine how language affects the way
people view the world one can look at the
words used in certain languages for certain
things.
 Reality must be captured in memory. Only
then can the linguistic in it be stored for
future use.
 For example, various cultures have different
ways of dividing the color spectrum, thereby
illustrating that they view the world
differently.
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COM 340
Color Spectrum
English
Shona
Bassa
38
Culturally Salient Words
 Each
culture has certain items which are very
salient (important) to that culture.
 Japanese: many words for fish and sea products.



Some names of a fish change as they grow.
English “seaweed” - Japanese nori, wakame, konbu,
mozuku, hijiki
Different words for rice depending on if it is raw or
cooked and how it is served.



Raw uncooked rice - kome
Cooked rice served in a bowl - gohan
Cooked rice served on a plate - raisu
39
COM 340
Japanese Seaweed
nori
wakame
konbu
mozuku
hijiki
40
COM 340
Japanese Names for Rice
kome
gohan
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COM 340
raisu
Culturally Salient Words
 English:
(con’t)
many words for types of meat, ways to
cut, and ways to cook.
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COM 340
Language-Culture Connection
 Some
words and phrases are so connected to
the language and culture that they are used,
that they are difficult to translate into
another language.
 English: fair play, privacy or independence
 Japanese: filled with language that humbles
the speaker and raises the level of the person
being spoken to.
 No single verb for “lock” - must say “close
with a key.” (kagi de shimeru)
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COM 340
Language-Culture Connection
(con’t)
 Each
language associates certain words with
certain ideas or concepts.
 Activity:
Write down the first words that
come to mind in the order that you think of
them, for the word you will see next.
44
COM 340
marriage
45
COM 340
 Americans
equality
love
sharing
togetherness
 French
passion
sexuality
 Japanese
children
end-of-the-line
family
pessimistic
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Survey of Japanese Univ. Students
Male
Female
baby
husband
banzai
independence
bridal party
life
bride
knife
cake
married life
ceremony
name change
child
partner’s parents
dowry
propose
dress
ring
engagement ring shotgun wedding
groom
wedding dress
happy
wife
honeymoon
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bouquet
cake
child
church
congratulations
divorce
flower
honeymoon
June bride
responsibility
ring
tears
wedding dress
Wedding
reception
white
 Connotations
are derived from how people
use the words and the associations. It goes
beyond literal meaning.
 e.g . the word theatre. In ancient times, it
was associated with disease, sin and
depravity – all negative in nature. Today, it
connotes high culture.
A. Similes
 As _____ as a peacock.
 As_____ as a church mouse.
 As_____ as a doll.
B. Metaphors
 She speaks in a _______voice to attract his
father’s attention. (very sweetly).
 He _________under her intense stare and
confessed the crime. (gave up resisting).
 He was raving _____to find out that his son
had cheated in the examination. (very angry)
C. Proverbs
 Too many cooks spoil the _____.
 An apple a day keeps the _____.
 A bird in the hand is worth two in _____.
Words and their meaning are also often
associated with sounds.
 e.g: the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, the
giant saying Fie, fa, fo, fum as he enters his
house and smells human blood.
 What kind of image does the sounds conjure?
OTHER INFLUENCING FACTORS IN LINKING
LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
1. Encoding
 Meaning is situated in experience.
2. Semantic Networks
 Some semantic properties are those related
to class of words, and their relationships.
e.g: woman, girl, lady belong to the same
word class.
 Some words are synonyms while others are
antonyms.
3. Discourse Communities and Practices
 Discourse communities are limitless.
 Groupings are identified with dialects,
registers, repertoires, roles and reputations.
 Dialects are affiliated to language users,
registers refer to varieties in the context of
situational use.
 Registers
may refer to very specific
terminology used only by a distinct
community or in a distinct environment.
 Register can be viewed along the continuum
of formality to informality.
e.g. In describing a person as nutty
illustrates intimate use, crazy is casual,
while demented would be formal.
Context of Situation:
 Within a community, different patterns of
speaking are evident depending on contexts.
e.g: there would be differences between
speakers according to status, like that of
children and adults, superior and
subordinates, difference in sexes, and
occupations.
 Interpretation
of the following utterance:
“I didn’t see the stop sign”.
- to a policeman
- to a friend after jamming on the brakes.
- to a friend who waited for your arrival.
Context of Situation and Context of Culture:
 The context of situation often cannot be
divorced from the context of culture.
 Behaviour which is culturally linked
accompanies the interpretation of signs
manifested through language.
 Together with verbal, paraverbal and nonverbal signs (contextualization cues),
interlocutors will be guided in making the
situated inferences.
 Actions that are carried out through verbal
means are called speech acts.
Coherence Breakdowns:
 Kramsch (1998) terms the act of imposing
meaning onto utterance according to the
situational and cultural context as
establishing pragmatic coherence.
 Coherence breakdowns arise as a result of
mismatch in expectations or discrepancies
in participants’ inferences and frames of
expectations’ (Kramsch 1998: 29)
 e.g: use of silence
The Co-operative Principle:
 Grice suggests that there is a set of
assumptions guiding the how people conduct
conversations.
 Grice proposes a general co-operative
principle which comprises four basic maxims
of conversation.
 The
four maxims are (Fromkin and Rodman:
1996; Levinson, 1983: 101):
Name of Maxim
 Quantity
 Relevance
Description of Maxim
Say neither more nor less than
the discourse requires.
Be relevant.
 Manner
Be brief and orderly; avoid
ambiguity and obscurity.
 Quality
Do not lie; do not make
unsupported claims; i.e. try
make your contribution one that
is true.
 The
topics covered are:
1. Introduction
to Language and Culture
2. Functions of Language
3. Meaning as Sign
4. Meaning as Action