Introduction to Linguoculture Studies

1.

Candidate of Pedagogical Science
Abdrakhmanova Ainiya
Kurmangaliyevna

2.

Subject Outline
The lecture will answer the following questions:
Why is culture considered important in the study of
Language?
What are the aims of Linguo Cultural Studies?
Why do accents affect perceptions?
Why is culture important in learning language?
Why do values affect language learning?
Why do dialects exist?

3.

Cultural linguistics
Language
Culture
Conceptualization
(to from an idea about what
something is like and how it
should work)
Integrating CL with 3 traditions
present in Linguistics
Anthropology
(the study of human societies,
customs and beliefs)
Linguistics
Ethnography
(the study and description
of different human
societies)
Ethnosemantic
(study of words and their
meanings different of ethno)

4.

Cultural Linguistics is a multidisciplinary
area of research that explores the
relationship between language, culture, and
conceptualization.
Linguistics is a major that is dedicated
to the scientific study of language and its
applications. Within this major, students
can specialize in a range of different areas
within two dedicated streams: Linguistics
and applied linguistics and English as an
international language.

5.

Language is the principal means whereby
we conduct our social lives. When it is used in
contexts of communication, it is bound up with
culture in multiple and complex ways. The words
people utter refer to common experience. They
express facts, ideas or events that are
communicable because they refer to a stock of
knowledge about the world that other people
share. Words reflect their authors’ attitudes and
beliefs, their point of view, that are also those of
others. In both cases, language expresses cultural
reality.

6.

(Actual
meaning of
the word)
Connotation
(not an actual
or literary
meaning but
emotions and
idea that is
connected with
a word)
///////
Denotation
////////////
/////////
Cultural resonance
(an emotional effect produced by something that
reminds you of something else)
Correlation of
culture and
Language
(To show that
two things are
connected)

7.

When we're talking about going from one
culture to another culture we often have to change our
perspectives and our perceptions to think of things
maybe in a little different way than we may have
before. But again there could be things in other
cultures that might be surprising to us or might be
something that we had not considered.
Buon appetito in English there is no
satisfactory equivalent to this common phrase in
other languages. A waiter may say Enjoy your meal
when bringing your food but the phrase is never used
between the diners in a restaurant or when eating in
someone`s home.

8.

The elements of national picture of the world
Image bearing means
Metaphor
Figurative use
Idioms
Phraseology
The way of using
language that
makes the
description
interesting and
impressive
Tropes
Reflect people’s
cultural historical
experience

9.

Currently, consideration of correlation between
language and culture is regarded as one of the central issues in the
process of learning foreign languages. This urges teachers to be
aware of learners’ cultural background and knowledge. The effective
interaction between a foreigner and a native speaker is built on
possession of specific cultural information that includes knowledge
of traditions, customs and values, symbols and ways of living.
According to Krasner (1999), “linguistic competence
alone is not enough for learners of a language to be competent in that
language” (p. 80). Therefore, it is impossible to fully master a second
language without proper knowledge of its culture. Whenever,
English as a second language educator implicitly integrates culture
norms in language teaching, s/he enables learners to acquire the
language more effectively. Usually, the words in a literary text carry
figurative and symbolic cultural associations leading to creation of
images.
An image is a form of figurative expression used to
produce a certain impression based on subjective description of an
object (Galperin, 2010). A problem arises when a learner while
reading a text encounters images and comprehends their meanings
wrongly due to unawareness of foreign language culture.

10.

As the peoples’ worldview has a linguistic
determination based on fixed images of language units,
the language reflects mythological, religious views of
nation, social-historical, moral, practical and life
experience of people. Mostly, national-cultural originality
of language is demonstrated in image-bearing means of
language (Maslov, 2001).
Image-bearing means include a wide range of
tropes (a trope is a figurative or metaphorical use of a
word or expression (Oxford University Press, 2016) and
their study from the position of Linguoculturology
(Maslov, 2001) is considered as the elements of national
language picture of the world.
Overall, images reflect peoples’ culturalhistorical experience.

11.

In the process of language teaching, it is critical to
take into account that a large amount of cultural phenomena
cannot be properly comprehended without knowing the
connotative meanings of the colours. Colour, for instance, has a
very significant role in many cultures. Specifically, Kazakh
people associate the red and white colours with happiness and
marriage, but they perceive the black colour as a sign of
sadness and death. People get offended if a person, who does
not know these associations, presents them, for example, with
black scarf, kerchief or dress.
Therefore, knowing about them can be quite
helpful in learning about the culture of the foreign country
whose language we are teaching/learning. Other research has
also proven that colour is one of the key categories of culture
that reflects “different national and historical background, the
different traditions and habits, the different peoples’ life
experience, and aesthetic psychology of culture” (He, 2009,
p.160).

12.

As people’s perception of colours is
subjective, the definite colour may reflect the peculiarities
of a nation. The linguo-cultural knowledge of a colour can
assist in revealing the historical, intellectual and social
data of a specific nation.
From the ancient times, people have
used definite colours to symbolize happiness, life,
sadness, or evil and these colours have communicated
specific messages to people of different cultures.
The images used with the definite colour
may reveal the national vision of people and their attitude
towards this colour and associations; in this case, the
language aids to deliver the features of national mentality.

13.

To illustrate my point more clearly, here I have
chosen the following colours: black and brown. The
denotative meaning of these colours is similar in both
languages, but the connotative meaning, taking into
consideration linguistic and extra-linguistic factors, is
different.
In English, the following images are used with
the lexeme Black– as black: as a crow, as a crow’s wing, as
a raven, as a raven’s wing, as coal, as ink, as jet, as my hat,
as your hat, as night, as your boots, as hell, as midnight,
as print, as the grave, as sin, as thunder, as a thunder
cloud (Kunin, 2005).

14.

Cultural reality
Pragmatics
(study of how people
use language, describes
the connection between
language and life. We
also use info from the
situation)
Discourse
(a serious speech, talk
on a particular subject
either spoken or
written)

15.

Pragmatic differences can result in positive
transfer if the speech act is similar in the 1 and 2 languages, it
can also result in negative transfer if there are cultural and
pragmatic differences between the two languages. For example,
when Russians and Moroccans were asked to react to the idea
of someone stealing their parking space, the Russians
responded with warnings and threats, while the Moroccans
either opted not to complain or used much softer strategies. The
Russians felt that people should ‘’play fair’’ in a parking lot,
while the Moroccans felt that it was not a serious offence and
something that they might even do themselves.
Similarly, Eslami @005 tells the story of a
female graduate student in the United States feeling offended
after being complimented on her appearance by a male office
because in her country, ‘compliments on looks and appearances
by a male to a female can have intimate connection. These
examples show that different cultural and language
backgrounds can lead to miscommunication and pragmatic
errors for l2 learners.

16.

For instance, Americans have been socialized
into responding “Thank you’ to any compliment,
as if they were acknowledging a friendly gift: I
like your sweater!’ – ‘Oh, thank you!’ The
French, who tend to perceive such a compliment
as an intrusion in their privacy, would rather
downplay the compliment and minimize its value:
‘Oh really? It’s already quite old!’The reactions
of both groups are based on the differing values
given to compliments in both cultures and on the
differing degrees of embarrassment caused by
personal comments.

17.

Linguistic relativity by Sapir Whorf
hypothesis
linguistic relativity
Relativity
Things like truth , morals change
depending on a particular culture or
situation.
Language differences reflect differences
in culture
People of the world have developed
different ways of viewing the world
Language differences reflect differences in conceptual structure

18.

Compare the different ways that speakers of English and Navajo express their
intentions and actions (note that Navajo utterances have been translated into
English):
Navajo or Navaho (nævəhoʊ) which it is related to languages spoken across the
western areas of North America. Navajo is spoken primarily in the Southwestern
United States, especially on the Navajo Nation. It is one of the most widely spoken
Native American languages and is most widely spoken north of the Mexico–United
States border,
ENGLISH SPEAKER: I must go there.
NAVAJO SPEAKER: It is only good that l shall go there.
ENGLISH SPEAKER: I make the horse run.
NAVAJO SPEAKER: The horse is running for me.
In their use of language, speakers of English and Navajo express different views of
experiences. By framing their intentions, they show in these examples that they
have different attitudes about people's rights and obligations. English speakers
encode the rights of people to control other beings (people or animals) or to be
controlled or compelled themselves. In contrast, Navajo speakers give all beings the
ability to decide for themselves, without compulsion or control from others. The
words used by speakers of English and Navajo express and reflect attitudes about
the world that come from their own cultures.
Linguistic relativity claims that:
Peoples of the world have developed different ways of viewing the world.
Language differences reflect differences in culture (a rarely made claim now).
Language differences reflect differences in conceptual structure.
Language can create some aspects of reality.