Chapter 9 Language and Culture 1．General Introduction1.1 The Relationship between Language and Culture●Relevant Language Use Observations and Questions to Ponder over1) In the following two conversations, the second speaker respondeddifferently towards the same question. And what do you think aChinese speaker will answer the same question?Conversation 1: between English speakersA: I like your sweater!B: Thank you!Conversation 2: between an English speaker and a Frenchspeaker.A: I like your sweater!B: Ah bon? Mais c’est très vieux ! (Oh, really? It’s very old!)2) Look at the following English words. Is there some connection between these words?bash, mash, smash, crash, dash, lash, clash, trash, splash, flash☺ /ʃ/: this sound suggests a sudden, violent movement/action foran English speaker3) The following lines are taken from a Singapore film I Not Stupid. Can you draw a conclusion from what you have read about Singlish?☺ Singlish/Singaporean: an English variety popular in SingaporeMom: Selina, where is all the ang pow that you got for yourbirthday?Selina（Daughter）: That’s my money. Why I must give it to youevery time?Terry（Son）: Yeah, lah. 为什么都要给你？Mom: 我知道这是你们的钱，but I will help you save, invest, hah. Don’t worry. I will give it back to you when you are old enough.Selina: When can you give it back to us?Terry: I know. 55岁。

Mom: Terry，you think you very funny, is it? Stop talking nonsense. Ai, girl, do you really think it that ai suitable for your room, huh? Don’t you think that this is much nicer? See, ai, make of cane, na.Selina: Mom, I thought you see that I can decorate my own room in any way I want? I want to try this one. I don’t like that one, that’s old-fashioned.Mom: Yes, yes.Selina: So can I do it in my own way, please?Mom: I know. Whatever I say you won’t like it. But one day you will appreciate it. This is for your own good. Trust me, hah!●Summaries to Make and Linguistic Viewpoints to LearnEvery language is inseparable from a culture; it has to serve and reflect cultural needs. People from different cultural background find themselves with different customs, such as the different responses to the same compliment in the above observation. Culture, on the other hand, is constantly conditioning language with time, take the Singaporean for example, they have covered a long way to shape in form their own language; and it is too rash for us to take it for granted that their language is simply a variety of the English language. Language expresses, embodies and symbolizes cultural reality (Claire Kramsch: 2000), which we can find good illustration in onomatopoeias. Can you find other examples to demonstrate the relationship between culture and language?The word “culture”, in its origin, means to cultivate, which can be taken to refer to any human knowledge. Any language will be unintelligible once it is taken out of the appropriate cultural context. The following quote, from the linguist F. de Saussure’s book Course in General Linguistics, is an explanation of the relationship between culture and language.F. de Saussure (1857-1913)—It is the social part of the language, external to the individual, who by himself is powerless either to create it or to modify it. It exists only in virtue of a kind of contract agreed between the members of a community.●Definitions to ClarifySpeech community: That is composed of people who use thesame linguistic code;Discourse communities: The common ways in which members of a social group use language to meet their social needs.1.2 The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis● Relevant Language Use Observations and Questions to Ponder over1) While Whorf was working as a fireinsurance risk assessor, he noticed that the waypeople behaved toward things was oftendangerously correlated to the way these thingswere called. For example, the sight of the sign“EMPTY”on empty gasoline drums wouldprompt passersby to toss cigarette butts into these drums, notrealizing that the remaining gasoline fumes would be likely tocause an explosion. In this case, the English sign “EMPTY” evoked a neutral space, free of danger.2) As Chinese speakers learning English as a foreign language, it is not rare for theteacher to catch them misusing “he” and “she” in oral English practice. In comparison, French speakers are used to attaching gender to most of the objects in their lives. For example, le chocolat (chocolat), la lettre (letter), le téléphone (telephone), la radio (radio).What do you think is the possible reason for this phenomenon?● Summaries to Make and Linguistic Viewpoints to LearnIn their study of American Indian languages, the American linguist Edward Sapir and his pupil Benjamin Lee Whorf had hypothesized that language has a relatively strong impact on its speakers’ mode of thought. The strong version oftheir hypothesis is named linguistic determinism. It posits thatlanguage determines the way we think, or in other words, we actuallylive in language instead of other way round. Today, it is generallybelieved that the strong version denies our activity in learning tounderstand people from different speech communities. For instance,though it is true that the Chinese language doesn’t attach gender to its characters, it is definitely false to assume that Chinese-users are unable to adopt the French vocabulary with the correct gender attached to it. What’s more, most of the linguists refuted the strong version by claiming that if Sapir were right with his theory, then how could he successfully understand the native languages spoken by AmericanIndians？The weak version that is generally accepted nowadays proposed that there are cultural differences in the semantic associations evoked by seemingly common concepts. For instance, a Chinese professor, in his speech on Chinese characters, once suggested that the character “笑” is related to a smiling face immediately while other foreign words, say, smile, sourire, わらう, can not. In Professor Claire Kramsch’s book, he noticed a German woman farmer who believed that the German language isa much more natural and correct expression of one’s emotions or thoughts.2. Cross-Cultural Communication2.1 Meaning as Sign●Relevant Language Use Observations and Questions to Ponder over1) Please compare the following two groups of words:A: laugh, smile, grin, giggle, beamB: 大笑、微笑、咧开嘴笑、咯咯地笑、眉开眼笑It is obvious that the Chinese language encodes the physical facialexpression through one sign—“笑”, but the English language adopts a richer vocabulary for the same expression. Different signs denote reality by cutting it up in different ways.2) A: What is the Chinese equivalent for the English word “hell”?B: 地狱，I think.Question: Do you think that “hell” and “地狱”evoke the same associations in your mind? Do you think they share the same connotation?3) Do you notice different onomatopoeias in different languages? What are the echoic words used in English and Chinese to refer to a loud sound made by a rooster?4) Although it is believed that different languages predispose their speakers to viewreality in different ways through the different metaphors they use, more similarities can be found cross different languages.a. ARGUMENT IS WAR.b. 唇枪舌剑；舌战群儒a. To think out of box.b. 不落窠臼a. A man never goes back upon his own word.b. 大丈夫一言既出，驷马难追。