Week 1 - Culture, Communication & Context

Question 1

Linguistics Definition

Answer 1

Scientific study of Human languages

• SIMILARITIES
• DIFFERENCES
• STRUCTURE
• HOW USED & LEARNED

Question 2

Communication is…

Answer 2

• COMPLEX (multimodal)
• AMBIGUOUS (say and mean)
• CULTURALLY EMBEDDED (cross-cultural diffs.
  EG That’s not bad [i.e. That’s good] > That’s poor?

“Lets get Lunch some time” Chinese American example

Question 3

Successful Communication

inferences

Answer 3

• Draw INFERENCES about MEANING “its rather hot in here”
  
  • INFERENCES fixed
  • INFERENCES quickly

Fixation + Speed = Socialisation into PARTICULAR WAY of drawing inferences

Question 4

Language in relation to CULTURE?

Answer 4

LANG is PRINCIPAL MEANS whereby we conduct SOCIAL LIVES. When used in communication, BOUND UP with CULTURE in multiple/complex ways (KRAMSCH, 1998)

Ppl EXPRESS and CREATE experience
   - convo style
   - gestures
   - facial expressions
VERBAL + NON-VERBAL aspects, Lang EMBODIES CULTURAL REALITY

CULTURAL BACKGROUND IS KEY IN INFORMING HOW MESSAGES ARE ENCODED AND INTERPRETED

Question 5

Culture DEfinition

Answer 5

“That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (Tylor 1871: 1)

Culture not only in reference to people living in ‘other places’ but to refer to different groups within society (e.g., youth culture; gay culture) (Goddard 2005: 58)

Question 6

Pluricentric Languages

Answer 6

a language with several interacting codified standard versions, often corresponding to different countries.
(Spanish, English, German, Arabic)