Linguistics Across Cultures

How to Compare Two Cultures

Chapter 6

Prepared by Marwa M. Basheer

Supervised by:

Prof. Hala K. Najem (PhD)

2020_2021
Contents

• Introduction
• Definition of culture
• Functioning Units of Culture
• Transfer a Foreign Culture
• Comparing two Culture
• Trouble Spots in Comparing Cultures
• Preconceived Notions
• Gathering a Cultural Data for a Structural Description
• Conclusion
 Chapter 6

How to Compare Two Cultures

Introduction.

On culture. “ Culture” , as we understand it here, is synonymous with the “ Ways

of People”. More often, those ways might be praised by some people while looked
upon with suspicion or disapproval by the others, and often in both cases with
surprisingly little understanding of what those ways really are and mean.

When a visitor is in the United States to study the American culture, almost
everyone is glad to show him that way and that culture, but what do we show him
and what do we tell him? How do we know what to show and tell him? We may
show him the tourist spots, schools, and farms. And we may tell him the favorable
generalities that we have been taught about ourselves, which may happen to be the
same favorable generalities he too has learnt about himself in his culture.
Occasionally someone among us wishing to pose as a detached intellectual may
criticize a thing or two, or everything. But we are really helpless to interpret
ourselves accurately and to describe what we do because we have grown up doing
it through habit, almost acquired from our elders and our cultural environment.

Our inability to describe our culture parallels our inability to describe our
language, unless we have made a special study of it. We are able to use complex
structures but we struggle to explain why we use them. Therefore we cannot
compare two cultures unless we have an accurate understanding of each of the
cultures being compared.
Definition of Culture

Cultures are structured systems of patterned behavior.

Cultural anthropologist, during the last twenty-five years, have gradually moved
from an atomistic definition of culture, describing it as a more or less haphazard
collection of traits, to one which emphasizes pattern and configuration. Kluckhohn
and Kelly perhaps best express this modern concept of culture when they define it
as “ All those historically created designs for living explicit and implicit,
rational, irrational, non-rational, which exit at any given time as potential
guides for the behavior of men”. Traits, elements, or better patterns of culture in
this definition are organized or structured into a system or set of system, which,
because it is historically created, is therefore open and subject to constant change.

Edward Sapir stated that “ All cultural behavior is patterned”

Functioning Units of Culture

the individual acts of behavior through which a culture manifests itself are unique
they are never the same i.e. each culture has its own act of behavior. The
functioning units which are also called patterns of behavior work as mold or
design into which certain acts must fall. These units are Form, Meaning,
Distribution which differ from one culture into another and fall into classes
constituted by items treated as static units for example, doctor, teacher, man,
woman, school, house, Ideas, etc. Another class is constituted by items treated as
processes, for example, to rest, to eat, to study, to sing, etc. Still includes items
treated as qualities, as for example, fast, good, clean, close, slow, etc.
 • The form of these patterns of culture are identified functionally on
inspection by the members of that culture, although the same individuals
may not be able accurately to define the very forms that they can identify.
Even such a clear unit of behavior such as eating breakfast ( each
individual has his own idea about what breakfast is).

• Meaning is culturally determined or modified. They represent an analysis

of the universe as grasped in a culture. Patterned forms have complex
meanings, some as primary, others as secondary, tertiary, etc. breakfast
for example has a primary meaning which is providing food and drink for
the body.

• Distribution, all of these meanings of forms are distributed in patterned

ways. Their distribution is complex involves various time cycle, space
locations, and positions in relation to other units. Breakfast for example,
shows time distribution on a daily cycle, a weekly cycle, and a yearly
cycle.

It is necessary to mention that these units of behavior do not exist separately

i.e. they occur together within a culture.
Transfer to a Foreign culture

The patterning that make it possible for unique occurrences to operate as sames
among the members of a culture did not develop for operation across cultures.
Once they contact across cultures, many misinterpretations take place. We can
assume that when the individual of culture A trying to learn culture B observes a
form in culture B in particular distribution, he grasps the same complex of meaning
as in his own culture. And when he in turn engages actively in a unit of behavior in
culture B he chooses the form which he would choose in his own culture to achieve
that complex of meaning.

Comparing Two Cultures

If the native culture habits are transferred when learning a foreign culture, it is
clear that by comparing the two culture system, we can predict what the troubles
will be. Nevertheless, we cannot hope to compare two cultures unless we have
accurate understanding of each of the cultures being compared.

Trouble Spots in Comparing Cultures

1. Same form, different meaning

We will expect troubles when the same form has different classification or
meaning in two cultures. For example Horse Racing in both English and
Arabic culture, yet, each of them carries a different meaning.
 According to the English culture the description is the following:

• Form: two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without
riders) over a set distance.

• Meaning: sport/ betting on money (gambling)

• Distribution: Any year, mostly in Summer, during the day time, on a race
track.

According to the Arabic culture the description is the following:

• Form two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without
riders) over a set distance.

• Meaning Sport, entertainment / No gambling

• Distribution does not represent a problem to the Arabic culture since it

shares the same description with the English culture, Any year, mostly in
Summer, during the day time. On a race track.
2. Same meaning different form

We can expect another kind of trouble spot when the same meaning in two
cultures is associated with different forms. The alien observer seeking to act in
the culture being learned will select his own form to achieve the meaning , and
he may miss altogether the fact that a different form is required. For example:

taxi in the English culture

• Form : small, black car
• Meaning : transportation
• Distribution: anytime during the day, on the streets.

Taxi in the Arabic culture

• Form: small, yellow car
• Meaning: transportation
• Distribution: anytime during the day, on the streets.
3. Same form, same meaning Different distribution.

There is trouble in learning a foreign culture when a pattern that has the same
form and the same meaning shows different distribution. The observer of a
foreign culture assumes that the distribution of a pattern in the observed culture
is the same as in his native culture, and therefore on noticing more of, less of,
or absence of a feature in a single variant he generalizes his observation as if it
applied to all variants and therefore to the entire culture. Distribution is a
source of a great many problems. For Example:

Pajama in the English culture

• Form: clothes
• Meaning: comfortable clothes
• Distribution: inside the house, at bed time

Pajama in the Arabic culture

• Form: clothes
• Meaning: comfortable clothes
• Distribution: inside or sometimes outside the house, anytime.
More examples:

Form Meaning Distribution

Examples
Eng./Arab. Eng./Arab. Eng./Arab.
Marriage different Same Same
Death different Same Same
Symbols/the Different
same Same
color white Purity/equality
Phenomenon/ Different
same Same
rain Sadness/happiness
Different
Drinks/tea same same
Afternoon/morning
Food different Same Same

different Same Same

Art/dancing
Different
Animals/ rabbit Same Good luck/bad Same
luck
Different
Shapes/ star Same Same
Magic/Spirituality
Different
Shoes Same Same
Inside,outside/outside
gesture same Different Same
Parenting Different Same Same
Relationships Different Same Same
Preconceived notions. The notions filtered through the above types of
misinformation and through others become a part of the native culture as its
correct view of the reality of the foreign one, and as young members grow
up they receive these views as truth through verbal reports and all the other
vehicles of enculturation. These preconceived notions constitute very serious
obstacles to understanding of another culture.

Gathering Cultural Data for a Structural Description

A structural description needs a great attention to accurately identify the

possible patterns of behavior that constitute the functioning units in a various
cultures. In order to describe a culture we need to ask the informants about
various turning points in the life cycle, that is, birth, growing up, courtship
and marriage , raising their young, retiring, dying. And avoid asking about
individual activities such as : sleeping, eating, cleaning, studying, etc.
because they do not imply valid cultural categories or units . one must not
make the mistake of generalizing on inadequate sampling. The informants
should represent at least the major significant groups of the population.
Describing what any number of informants do in a culture does not
constitute a structural description.
Conclusion
We conclude that culture is the most problematic areas of comparison
especially between English and Arabic , since, they belong to entirely
different families. Each of them has an independent social, religious,
cultural, and linguistic systems. A contrastive analyst must be bicultural
which means mastering cultural 1 and 2 in order to be able to compare
between them. The raw material of cultural comparison should be carefully
selected; it should be general and common phenomenon shared by group of
people, not individual acts. Problems of comparing two cultures occur on
three levels or units: Form, Meaning, Distribution. The two cultures may
have same form but different meaning, same meaning different form, or
same form and meaning but different distribution. Generally, comparing
cultures is not an easy task, that’s why, the analyst should be careful when
describing and comparing them to avoid misinformation and
misinterpretation.
Reference

Linguistics Across Cultures / Robert Lado

With a Foreword by Charles C. Fries

https://study.com/academy/lesson/types-elements-subsets-of-culture.html