CHAPTER 2:

CULTURAL
DEFINITION OF
LANGUAGE
Culture is a product of the human mind and it is defined, propagated and sustained through
language. The relation between language and culture is indisputably symbiotic. Language
serves as an expression of culture without being entirely synonymous with it. In most cases,
a language forms a basis for ethnic, regional, national or international identity. The concept
of nationhood finds resonance in the adoption of a national language around which the
diverse ethnic communities can rally. In France, for instance, the forceful adoption of French
as the national language significantly reduced the import and value of the ten-plus regional
dialects. As a result, France could boast of a true national culture; nationhood had been
secured thanks to a unifying language. The same could be said of the adoption of Kiswahili
in Tanzania. In Kenya, the concept of nationhood remains elusive, probably due to the
ambivalent status accorded to Kiswahili.
 CULTURAL DEFINITIONS OF
LANGUAGE
called el silbo in the Canary Islands, and smoke signals were once used to communicate over long distances.
Language can be defined broadly to include all forms of speech, signing, writing, song, drumming, horn
calling, gesturing, and so forth. In the case of signed languages, properties of a visual language modality
include not only the manual sign system. Facial expression also conveys important grammatical, affective,
and other information. Non-manual expressions such as head movement and eye movement convey
important meanings.

Some signers in the U.S. also use the mouth in certain conventionalized ways, including in some cases to
form the shape of English words together with American Sign Language (ASL) as another resource for adding
meaning. Although grammatical structures are often privileged in the formal study of language, intonation is a
crucial feature in spoken languages influencing how people communicate emotion or affect and other
meanings, such as enthusiasm or boredom. Intonation is a complex combination of rhythm, volume, and pitch
overlaying entire utterances.
The role of space in communication can be very important, for example, who is allowed to be in what
spaces and who sits where can affect rights and opportunities to talk. Gestures convey important
information and can even replace words and serve as an entire communication, but can also be
sanctioned in certain contexts, and vary considerable cross-culturally in form, expression, and appropriateness
of use.

There are universal aspects of language and language use and aspects that are entirely culture specific. For
example, some languages have a means for grammatically marking status relations, as in the well-known
examples of the French tu/vous and German du/Sie as well as the far more complex Japanese honorific system,
but all societies differentiate between specified roles and relations through language. This can take the form of
address forms (title ) which delineate marital status, occupation, or gender, or can take other forms.
 POHNPEIAN ALPHABET AND PRONUNCIATION
A single utterance in Pohnpeian, a Micronesian language, can index two separate levels of status aimed at two
separate individuals, and one participant's status can be differently constructed by two different speakers in the
same interaction. Speakers often face difficulties in deciding which grammatical forms to use to convey relative
social position, since a wrong choice can offend the addressee, or indicate incompetence on the part of the
user. Even when grammatical forms for expressing social status are not present in a language,
utterances can be designed to signal deference and hierarchy.

As Dell Hymes pointed out any general theory of the interaction of language and social life must encompass
the multiple relations between linguistic means and social meaning.
The number of languages in the world is diminishing at a rapid rate with half of the current
inventory of languages estimated in danger of extinction, as a result of culture contact,
colonization, status and more recently globalization processes. When a language dies out there
is a significant loss to the world community and to the next generations in knowledge and
culture, since language is a primary means of cultural maintenance and transmission.

An understanding of linguistic diversity serves the understanding of human linguistic processes.

Most of the endangered languages in the world have, unfortunately, not yet been well
documented. Identity, race, class, education policies, and economic stratification all can
influence processes of language extinction or preservation. When a language is adopted for
trade, as in the case of Swahili, or is the language of the most powerful group in the case of
colonization, this can have an effect on how speakers view the acquisition or maintenance of
such a language.

Language revitalization efforts encounter many complex challenges, including how a “speaker”
of the language is defined, who is authorized to make decisions about language policies and
goals for the community, the fact that no written texts may exist in some languages,
orthographic issues, the views of the younger generation or younger speakers, and the
perceived relationship between the native language and global linguistic markets.
CULTURE MEANS DIVERSITY – SO DOES LANGUAGE!
Speaking of “a” language and giving it a label such as “Polish” suggests a certain unity. However, within this
unity there is also a lot of diversity: the speech of an elder peasant from southern Poland, a young worker
from Gdańsk, or a university professor from Poznań is certainly not identical, yet they all speak “Polish”. Or
think of various texts, such as a poem by the classic poet Adam Mickiewicz, a newspaper report, a
discussion in an Internet forum – the language in each of them has different characteristics.

The same holds for a culture. According to the definitions given above, “Polish culture” is the set of ideas,
customs, traditions of Polish people. Evidently, not all people in Poland share all these ideas and customs,
and a particular custom shared by a larger group of people usually shows some variation. At a closer look
the set that defines a culture or a language thus consists of several overlapping subsets.

 Linguistic Varieties – the different ways of using a language – can broadly be divided into three classes:
 Geographical Varieties – varieties used only in certain parts of the territory where the language is
spoken;
 Social Varieties – varieties used by parts of the society, defined by factors such as age, gender, or
occupation;

A given variety often does not fit neatly into one of these classes – for example, it may be used within a
certain region only by a certain social group, or by a socially defined group only in certain situations and for
certain functions. In this section we will mainly be concerned with geographical and social varieties, while
DIALECT VERSUS STANDARD
In Europe, dialects are usually opposed to a standard language that is common to all speakers
regardless of the region they come from. It is important to recognize that the standard language is a
variety, too – it is not “the language”, but only part of it. Apart from the geographical spread, several
other features tend to distinguish dialect and standard, for example:

 SPEAKERS: dialects are spoken with people one knows well, with family, friends, or neighbours,
while the standard language is used with other people;

 SITUATION: dialects are used in informal situations – private conversations, free time activities –,
while in formal settings people rather use the standard variety;

 MEDIUM: dialects are mostly spoken, seldom written, while the standard language exists in spoken
and written form – note that in several European languages the concept standard language is
expressed as “literary language”;
 ACQUISITION: dialects are acquired in a natural way, without any explicit “learning” or studying, while
the standard language is additionally taught in school (especially the writing);

 STANDARDIZATION: as the term indicates, the standard language is a standardized variety, which
means that its form is consciously developed. Dialects, in contrast, are non-standardized varieties of a
language – only the actual use, the speakers’ unconscious choices of words and constructions decides
about what is right and what is wrong.

The standard variety is associated with education and schools, with writing and books, with the public
sphere of life, and with formal situations that require a conscious and planned use of language. A dialect
is associated with the private sphere, informal situations and spontaneous language use. Partly
because of these oppositions, dialects sometimes become stigmatized as an “uneducated” variety and
only the standard variety is held to be “cultivated” (compare the discussion of culture and cultivation
above).
Such a view was held by many people all over Europe at various times during the 19th and 20th century.
Especially in the decades 1950-1980 many parents didn’t speak the local dialect with their children although it
was their own first language, because they thought that raising the children in the standard variety would be the
key to a better education and their getting on in life.

They probably weren’t aware that children are perfectly capable of managing more than one variety of a
language and that speaking a dialect at home should not prevent them from learning to speak and write in the
standard variety when attending school.

Because of this tendency, many dialects of European languages became endangered. For the children of these
parents, the dialect wasn’t the most natural language any more. Maybe they still picked it up to some degree
from their grandparents or from neighbours and friends, but they didn’t speak it fluently. In linguistic studies,
these people have been described as “semi-speakers”. Of course this generation then didn’t speak the dialect
with their children. This is a typical scenario that quickly leads to severe endangerment of languages and
dialects.
DIALECTS DON’T DIE!
Fortunately for the dialects, attitudes have now widely changed and local varieties have become popular
again. People are no longer ashamed of their accent, and words and popular sayings are used as markers of
a cultural region to which people are proud to belong. They often turn up in advertisements for local products,
or in information for tourists.

*Example of an advertisement using a dialect*

Dialects, as any language, change over time. The different attitudes described on the left side, ongoing
industrialization and urbanisation, individuals’ increasing mobility, and the expansion of mass media are
factors that heavily influenced the development of European dialects during the past 100 years. Many
dialects have become more similar to the standard language, and sometimes all that is left is a couple of
different words and a regional accent. A “true” dialect differs from the standard variety also grammatically. A
popular misconception in Europe is that a dialect has no grammar. Of course it has, for there is no language
without grammar! Only the grammatical system of a dialect is not the same as that of the standard language,
and sometimes all that is left is a couple of different words and a regional accent. A “true” dialect differs from
the standard variety also grammatically.
THANK YOU !!