Title: LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
1LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
2TAXONOMIES
- Language has its own classes of units (vowels
and consonants nouns and verbs statements and
questions) - used to classify and categorize various aspects
of the world - People do not always classify things the way
scientists do - folk taxonomies scientific classifications
3- folk etymology- way of classifying a certain part
of reality so that it makes some kind of sense to
those who have to deal with it. - Typically, taxonomies of the flora and fauna
4- Frakes study of folk taxonomy account of the
terms that the Subanun (southern Philippines) use
to describe disease - considerable amount of disease among the Subanun,
discussed at length (d. of the skin). - a variety of categories when discussing a
particular set of symptoms - nuka can refer to skin disease in general but
also to eruption. - further distinguished as a beldut sore rather
than a me?abag inflammation, or buni
ringworm, and then the particular beldut can be
further distinguished as a telemaw distal ulcer
or even a telemaw glai shallow distal ulcer - a hierarchy of terms with a term like nuka at the
top and telemaw glai at the bottom.
5COLOR TERMINOLOGY
- Also used to explore relationship between
different languages and cultures. The color
spectrum- physical continuum that doesn't show
any breaks. Still, humans divide it into bits and
assign names to the component parts green, blue,
yellow, red. - Are color terms arbitrary, or is there a general
pattern? If there is a pattern, what are its
characteristics?
6- All languages make use of basic color terms. A
basic color term must be a single word (blue or
yellow) and not some combination of words (light
blue or pale yellow). It mustn't be a
sub-division of some higher-order term (crimson
(dark red) scarlet (bright red)- higher-order
term is red). A basic color must also have a
general use- it mustn't be applied to a narrow
range of objects (blond- only for color of hair
and wood).
7BERLIN KAYs findings
- L. with 2 color terms- equivalent in English
black and white. 3rd is red. The 4th and the 5th-
yellow and green. The 6th and the 7th are blue
and brown. And then gray, pink, orange and
purple - relationship between the extent of color
terminology in a l. and the level of technical
complexity of that society not technologically
advanced communities- fewest color terms, e.g.
the JALÉ of New Guinea words corresponding only
to black (dark) and white (light).
Technologically advanced societies have terms
corresponding to all eleven mentioned above.
Societies in intermediate stages have
intermediate numbers, e.g. the TIV of Nigeria (3
terms), the GARO of Assam and the HANUNÓO of the
Philippines have 4, while the BURMESE have 7
8Symbolism of colors
- BLACK- seen in its cold and negative aspect
black comedy, black economy, black eye, black
look, black magic, black sheep (of the family),
black mood, the pot calls the kettle black
(rugala se sova sjenici). - WHITE- associated with purity, innocence,
chastity, recognition, cowardice, defeat white
Christmas, white elephant (expensive, but not
useful), white lie, white hair (old person, also
euphemistic), white handed (honest man), white
horses (waves white at the top), white magic
(used to do good), white wedding (traditional
Christian marriage in a church at which the woman
wears a white dress). - RED- symbolically related to fire, blood, love,
spirit, beauty, strength, health, energy, joy,
sex, success, anger, courage, and patriotism
red-letter day (special, important), red tape,
red-blooded (energetic, sex-loving), red-hot
(successful), red-light district, in the red,
paint the town red, see red.
9PROTOTYPE THEORY
- Rosch concepts are best viewed as prototypes a
bird is not best defined by reference to a set
of features that refer to such matters as wings,
warm-bloodedness, and egg-laying characteristics,
but rather by reference to typical instances, so
that a prototypical bird is something more like
a robin than it is like a penguin, ostrich, or
even eagle. This is the theory of prototypes.
10- People classify objects according to what they
regard as being typical instances (a chair is a
typical item of furniture, an ashtray is not
apples and plums are typical fruit, coconuts and
olives are not) - Hudson prototype theory has much to offer
sociolinguistics
11TABOO AND EUPHEMISM
- Language- used to express things, but avoid
saying certain things as well. - Certain things are not said, because people
refuse to talk about those things?taboo - if those things are talked about, they are talked
about in very roundabout ways?euphemism
12TABOO
- refers to things that are simply not talked
about- one way in which a society expresses its
disapproval of certain kinds of behavior believed
to be harmful to its members, either for
supernatural reasons, or because such behavior is
thought to violate a moral code - Tabooed subjects sex, death, excretion, bodily
functions, religious matters and politics - In some cultures they even include names of
animals
13- when someone breaks the rules, it might cause
problems, although maybe not as much today as in
the past (Shaw's use of bloody in Pygmalion, or
damn in "Gone With the Wind" Taboos- violated to
claim free speech, draw attention to yourself, - Freud breaking a taboo (a sex one) is a form of
verbal seduction-"talking dirty". - The penalty for breaking a linguistic taboo can
be severe- blasphemy and obscenity are still
crimes in many jurisdictions (but hardly likely
to cost you your life) - violation of certain non-linguistic taboos (e.g.
incest ones) might have severe consequences in
certain places in the world.
14- Haas certain l. taboos arise from bilingual
situations the Creeks of Oklahoma- as they use
more English, they avoid Creek words resembling
English taboo words fakki (soil), apiswa (meat),
apissi (fat). - Similarly Thai students learning English avoid
using words like fag (sheath) in the presence of
Anglophones also avoid using yet and key- sound
like the Thai words jed (to have intercourse) and
khîi (excrement). Even personal names might cause
embarrassment in a different l. environment the
Vietnamese name Phuc in an anglophone group
15EUPHEMISMS
- Euphemism (Gr. euwell, phemespeak)- a
metaphorical or metonymic use of an expression in
place of another expression that is offensive. - Eupheme- originally a word or a phrase used in
place of a religious word or phrase that should
not be spoken aloud (unspeakable names for a
deity, such as Nemesis or Yahweh). By using
euphemisms, the speaker was believed to please
gods and stay in their good fortune. - e.g. medvjed- the term avoids the association
with a beast by describing it as a "honey eater.
16- used to deliberately cloud an issue or to
misdirect attention - used to "dress up" certain areas of life and
neutralize the unpleasantness (sex, bodily
functions, dying, unemployment, criminality and
many others) - allow us to give labels to unpleasant tasks and
jobs in an attempt to make them sound almost
attractive - number of areas in which we can find e. is
increasing all the time (being fat, getting
old-especially in the States).
17- Nadel the Nupe of West Africa- the most prudish
people in the world (sharp distinctions between
expressions that are suitable for polite
conversation and that are not) - constantly resort to circumlocutions and
euphemisms to avoid direct mention of sex, body
parts or bodily functions. They have developed
indirect ways of referring to tabooed matters
(rich system of metaphors). - the Nupe have developed indirect ways of
referring to tabooed matters, ways they can
employ on these occasions when it is possible to
free themselves from normal constraints, e.g. in
certain kinds of story-telling or on specific
festive occasions.
18Classification of euphemisms
- terms of foreign origin (copulation, perspire,
urinate) - abbreviations (SOB-son of a bitch, BS-bullshit,
TS-tough shit) - abstractions (it, the situation)
- indirections (sleep together, privates, go to the
bathroom) - mispronunciations (goldarnit-God damn it,
freakin'-fucking) - plays on abbreviations (barbecue sauce-BS, sugar
honey ice tea-SHIT, Maryland Farmer-MF)
19Euphemisms for death
- The English l. has many e. related to death,
dying, burial and the people and places which
deal with death. This is connected with the
magical belief that to speak the word 'death'
meant inviting death. - Some colloquial euphemisms
- pass away, pass on, meet the maker, go to sleep,
go to the other side, go to rest, go to the final
reward, go West, croak, kick the bucket, bite the
dust of pets put away, put to sleep gangsters'
jargon deep six (six feet under), rub out,
erase, waste, make sb. sleep with the fish
20Euphemisms in political correctness
- intellectually challenged, slow- stupid
- differently-abled- handicapped
- needy, under-privileged, disadvantaged- poor
people - underdeveloped, developing, emergent, Third
World- poor countries
21Euphemism unawarereness
- darn-damn
- heck-hell
- life insurance-death insurance
- dentures-false teeth
- ethnic cleansing-genocide
- collateral damage-killing of innocents
- perspire-sweat
- bathroom-toilet
- social disease-venereal disease
22ALPHABET EUPHEMISMS
- A1- amphetamine ingested illegally
- AC/DC- behaving both heterosexually and
homosexually - B- bloody, as in B fool bitch, as in silly B
- BO- body odor
- C- cancer, as in the big C cocaine crack
- D- damn, damned, damnable big D is death
- DCM- notice of dismissal from employment (Don't
come Monday) - G- gee, jeez, Jesus G-man- federal agent working
for the U.S.Government - H- hell (what the H?) heroine
- M- marijuana
- N- nigger, (the N-word)
- O- not oxygen, but opium
- P- piss, p off
23Euphemisms vs. Doublespeak
- What distinguishes doublespeak from other
euphemisms is its deliberate usage by
governmental and military institutions.
Commentators such as Noam Chomsky and George
Orwell have written a lot about the dangers of
allowing such euphemisms to shape public
perceptions and national policy. - Examples of doublespeakcasualties for deaths
taking friendly fire for being attacked by your
own troops "the Final Solution" for Nazi's plan
to murder the world's Jews.
24- the Croats laugh and scorn euphemisms more than
the Americans do- there are fewer ethnic and
social group in Croatia and it isn't absolutely
necessary to be politically correct. - some of the new euphemisms (particularly those
invented in the USA) are silly and unnecessary
vertically challenged- short person carnal
knowledge- sexual intercourse service the
target- kill the enemy immortally challenged-
dead.
25- Euphemisms can influence memory as well as
perception - after seeing a film of a multiple-car accident,
50 subjects were asked How fast were the cars
going when they hit?, and 50 were asked How fast
were the cars going when they smashed? The hit
subjects averaged 8 miles/h, and the smash
subjects 11 miles/h. Both groups were also asked
Did you see any broken glass? (There was none in
the film.) Of the hit subjects, 7 said yes, and
of the smash subjects 16.