Language, Culture and Society Flashcards
1
Q
Ethnolinguistics
A
- seek to understand:
- whether grammatical categories and structures affect speakers’ worldviews, influence, direct, and reflect people’s thoughts
- the direct and indirect meaning of words
- two most influential figures is : Edward Sapir, and Benjamin Whorf
2
Q
Sapir argued:
A
- the vocabulary of language can be the “inventory of all ideas, interest, and occupations
- all human experience is, to some extend, mediated through culture and language
- objects or forces in the physical environment become labeled in a language only if they have cultural significance
- a linguistic lag can account for the fact that words may reflect previous rather than current cultural interests
3
Q
Whorf argued:
A
- the influence of language on thinking can be seen both through vocabulary and through more complex grammatical relations
- our impression of the world is organized by the linguistic system in our minds
4
Q
The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
A
- broken down into two basic ideas:
- linguistic relativity
- linguistic determinism
5
Q
linguistic relativity
A
- the differences between languages, and claims that because of these differences each language is likely to categorize the world in a unique fashion
6
Q
linguistic determinism
A
- champions the idea that language can determine how we think about the world
- there are two versions of linguistic determinism: weak version, strong version
- the degree of which language is assumed to influence our thought and behaviour
7
Q
“weak version”
A
- maintains that some elements of language influence speakers’ perception and can affect their attitude and behaviour, but do not determine it completely
8
Q
“strong version”
A
- claims that language really does determine thought, so that language and thought are effectively one and the same
- not widely supported
9
Q
Sapri and Whorf conclusion
A
- “the picture of the world is different because the languages are different”
10
Q
counter arguments against Sapri and Whorf hypothesis
A
- the possibility of translation from one language to another, using descriptive way of naming or labeling objects, processes etc.
- the usage of not only grammatical means, but also lexical means to express grammatical categories
- the differences of the pictures of the world do not emerge in a language but they are manifested in a language, because of different experiences of different people
- the perception of colours influences language and not vice versa
- language does not completely determine though, because most thoughts are unconscious
- the choice of language for the advertisement purposes is trying to influence thought
- different geographical, historical factors are also manifested in languages
- the same objects, events, actions, entities can be named/coined or labeled on different levels of categorization
- each object have different motivations in different languages
- language myths
11
Q
do women and men speak differently?
A
- women speak more correctly than men
- women speak more politely than men
- who talks more: men or woman? depends on the situation
12
Q
women speak more correctly than men
A
- men use more of vernacular (non-standard) forms than woman
- due to covert prestige = linguistic “street credibility” to prove their masculinity
- women use more standard forms, especially in formal speech
- overt ‘official’ prestige, may because of linguistic insecurity
- the forms the women use become the standard form because the community expects women to model the ‘correct’ forms
- if women adopt a new form, it becomes a change, because children grow up hearing it from women
13
Q
women speak more politely than men
A
- women tend to swear less that men
- there are reasons why more societies accept swearing from men more readily than from women
- women are more likely to use language to build and maintain relationships, while men are more likely to use language to communicate factual information
14
Q
who talks more men or women?
A
- men tend to dominate public in formal context, they talk more in public meetings
- women talk more in private settings
- men tend to see talk as a means of getting things done, organized, convey or obtain information
- women use talk to build, develop and maintain relationships
- men interrupt women more in situations where the men hold a more powerful position
15
Q
signals of gender identity
A
- people usually wear specific clothes that signal their gender identity
- behaviour is another way of signalling
- speech is a very important way of gender identity
16
Q
sexism and language
A
- language is able to create and promote unfair distinction between women and men
- language reinforces the widespread assumption that the basic, default or normal human being is male
17
Q
interaction in multicultural and multilingual communities
A
- when people interact in multilingual communities they often use more than one language in a particular domain
- people are able to lose the language (mother tongue) in specific circumstances
- language choice is a subtle but powerful means of conveying not only identity, but also attitudes and values
- people are changing their speech styles in different social contexts
- government involvement in language planning often includes the declaration of official language for a particular region or entire country
18
Q
code-switching
A
- switching between languages
19
Q
attitudes in dialect
A
- other varieties in different regions
- the local region dialect is used in everyday conversation
- it is assumed that everyone will learn the local variety in the home and acquire the stand language at school
ex. AAE - African American English
20
Q
can your accent affect your life chances?
A
- negative attitudes towards accented speech
- RP (received pronunciation) is regarded as a prestige accent and an advantge by many employers in English
- certain regional accents are now an advantage if someone wants to get a job
- have to fight a battle with irrational prejudice in getting a job
21
Q
mutual intelligibility
A
- used by linguists to determine whether people speak ‘the same language’
22
Q
pronouns of power and solidarity
A
- many languages have different second person pronouns which express the social relationship between the participants
- singular forms of the pronoun express familiarity and solidarity
- plural forms are more distant forms -> express formality
- the choice of pronouns differs in different cultures, in different societies, and in different eras or time periods
23
Q
T and V
A
- T = powerful referred to the unpowerful with the singular form
- V = unpowerful referred to the powerful with the plural form
- to violate this usage would be worse than bad manners
- Use V as a sign of respect to elders and accept T
- between equals, people give and receive the same form
- upper classes use V to refer to equals
- lower classes use T to refer to equals
the power semantic and the solidarity semantic sometimes conflict
- if a person wishes to communicate power, it’s necessary to use the T forms -> indicate solidarity
- if a person doesn’t want to indicate solidarity, it’s necessary to use the V forms -> indicate the lack of power
24
Q
The English Case
A
- english also has two pronouns which signaled power
- the singular thou (thee) used by the powerful when addressing the powerless
- plural you (ye) used by the powerless when addressing the powerful
- thou disappeared and you became an all-purpose person pronoun
25
Q
why did thou disappear?
A
- antagonism against many of the new religious groups of the time
- thou was shifted to express mood and tone than the pronouns of the continental languages
- desire not to offend
- thou was a more demanding pronound
