CLB 320 – Meal Time

Part 1

Language is defined as a system of signs in which people use for interaction in terms of
written or spoken gestures. Signs are the units that consist of forms and meanings that is
presence in language. Thus, to acquire the language without having to learn the content is
impossible due to the fact that the content of a language is constantly related to the culture.
(Doye,1996). It cannot be said that language is being used by an individual as of because,
language is centred on meanings and it is shared in the culture of the certain group that
practice it.

Culture is dynamic and can be defined as the way of living where most of the people
agreed on. They usually have reached the same interpretation on how do they see the world,
how do they behave and the interactions with one another (O’Sullivan, 1994). For many people,
they do not see the real values of culture as they would normally see what is visible to the eyes.
The iceberg is a good example of how certain people view a culture. On the surface of the
iceberg is where most of the culture that can be seen with the naked eyes such as food, music
and dress while the real culture is hidden beneath the surface of the iceberg.

Language is a part of culture (Emmit & Pollock, 1997) and it is inseparable (Risager,
2007) as it reflects one another. Language can be said as one of the stems of the tree, which
supports the element of culture. Culture does determine language or at least part of it (Steven
Pinker, xxxx). Clearly, the indigenous people in Malaysia did not have the word for bendahara
and laksamana because the Malay language was not part of their culture.

Part 2

Having meal together as a family is really exciting and enjoyable at the same time. My
family and I did not have meal time together for almost every meal because of time constrains.
We normally sit down and enjoy the meal together every night. We normally have a talk at the
dinner table but with some restrictions to what can be said and what the things is allowed and
not allowed during that time.

My younger brother, who is six and an active lad, loves to share about his daily routine
playing in the yard. He sometimes talks about things which might not be appropriate during
meal, mainly about him getting wounded and things that gross us out. Dad will warn him about
not to mention such thing again at the dinner table. Normally dad would initiate the talk as he
would first talks about our family.
 Most of the time, all of us would participate in the talk and share things that we are
currently working on. Sometimes we, the children, are not allowed to talk so much during meal
time because it is rude to talk and eat at the same time. We have to control our voice and talk
slowly each time we have something to say so that everyone could get the meaning. Usually,
mom would remind us not to go too far with talking. The talk is one of the ways for us to
strengthen the bond between us as a family.

Part 3

I have no idea on how to write part three , should I relate the language and culture together
with what i’ve said in part 2 regarding the meal time with my family ?

Make some connection between those altogether ? do help if im on the right track for both part
1 and 2 