
LinguisticLecture#4 Language,Culture,Society Feb10th,2011
1. Outline
a. The“whorfhypothesis”–language,culture,thought
b. Languageassymptomofsocialconditions
c. Usinglanguageasapartoflivinginsociety
d. Socialidentityandlanguage
e. Hegemony(awayofdominatingpplsotheyconsenttotheirdomination)
Signifier–hellokittysandals
Signified–cuteness,feminist,girlish
2. TheHelloKittyBurglar
a. MasakazuKandaissuspectedofinvolvementin452burglarycasesinvolvingatotalof55.5millionyen
b. Sandals:symbol,icon,indexofKanda
c. Significationalwaysdependsonthecontext
d. Languageisalwaysactualizedasabehavior,inalivingcontext
3. TheWhorfHypothesis
a. BenjaminWhorf[1897–1941]
b. Emptyoildrumvs.usedoildrum
c. Strongwhorfhypothesis=languagesdeterminesthought
d. Weakwhorfhypothesis=languagesinfluencesthought
4. Warning!
a. Linguisticrelativism
i. Donotexaggeratetheinfluenceoflanguage
b. J’aimelepoulet
i. Likeorlove
c. False:Frenchcan’sdifferentiatebetweenlikingfoodandlovingpeople
d. Spanish
i. Quierocomer–Iwanttoeat
ii. Tequiero–Iloveyou
iii. False:Desireandlove
5. CulturalMeaning
a. Howeverlanguagedoesrelatetoculture–specifichabitsofthinking
b. Vocabulary/metaphor
6. Vocabulary
a. Polynesian:
i. mana=animpersonalforceosupernaturalorigin,foundinallobjects,personandanimalsanda
sourceofpower
b. Polynesianorigin,importantconceptinearlieranthropology
c. Englishhadtoimportthewordinordertohaveclearerconcept
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d. Example2(English)
i. MarcelDuchamp1919(LHOOQ)
ii. Hot
iii. Shehasahotass(?)
iv. MarcelDuchamp1919LHOOQ(elleachaudaucul)
v. Cool
vi. Nice
vii. Weird
e. Example3(Love)
i. Doyouloveme?
ii. Isitlovedifyoudon’tsay“Iloveyou”?
iii. Isitpossibletobeinlovewithoutawordforlove?
f. Thehistoryoflove
i. Ahistoricallysituatedconcept
ii. AncientGreek:erosandagape
iii. Medievaltroubadours:loveoutsidemarriage
iv. Developingabout1450:“bourgeois”love
v. Thepreconditionformarriage
g. Thecapitalisteconomyandbourgeoislove
i. Mobile,wagelabour
ii. Weakerkinshipties
iii. Weakerfriendshipties
iv. Strongernuclearfamilyties
v. Thehusbandrwifer’shiptakesonsomeofthefunctionsoftheseweakenedties
h. Summary(love)
i. Iloveyou–thestatementispartofourexperienceoflove
ii. Iloveyou–alsomeansbywhichthesocioeconomicsystemproducesandreproducesitself
iii. Languagedoesnotdeterminecultureandculturedoesnotdeterminelanguage,but…
iv. Languageisapartofcultureandsociallife
7. Metaphorandculture
a. Sociolinguistic
i. Studyoflanguageinsociety
ii. Studyoflanguageinsocialbehavior
iii. Usually,thefocusisonlanguagevariation
b. Languagesvarieties
i. Languages,dialects,accents–popular;notscientificterms
8. Nation,language,dialect(importantforMCQ)
a. Languageisadialectwithanarmy
b. Languages–Danish,Norwegian,Russian,Ukrainian,Malay,Indonesian;Serbian,Croatian–languages
withastate
c. Dialects–Cantonese,Fukinese,Mandarin,etc…;Tagalog,Ilokano–nostate
d. Languageswithareligion(andscript)–Serbian,Croatian,Hindi,Urdu
e. LanguagesIdeology
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