Language and Culture: Languacultur E

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

LANGUACULTUR
E:
THE Language –culture nexus
in transnational perspective
JESSICA I. LAXAMANA
THE Language –culture nexus in transnational perspective
Historical perspectives
• Culture is a kind of extension of language
• culture relation in a combined anthropological–linguistic

perspective.
• The primary perspective is anthropological and draws on

theories of culture and globalization.
• The secondary perspective is linguistic focusing on

transnational linguistic flows (also known as language spread)
as cultural flows among others in the world, and then direct the
attention to the culturally of language in the midst of these
flows.
• The concept of linguaculture is a recent
offshoot of the cultural movement mainly
represented by the works of Johann
Gottfried von Herder and Wilhelm von
Humboldt.
• This movement introduced the idea that

language should be seen as related to
nation, people, and culture.

• Humboldt was particularly interested in language
as a creative activity that was made possible
because of the power of the human mind.
• :Language is the formative organ of thought

(Humboldt, 1907: 53)
• Thus he was the first to formulate the basic idea

of linguistic relativity.

• Humboldt was particularly interested in language
as a creative activity that was made possible
because of the power of the human mind.
• Language is the formative organ of thought

(Humboldt, 1907: 53)
• Thus he was the first to formulate the basic idea

of linguistic relativity.

LINGUACULTURE : THE Language –culture nexus in transnational perspective
Current contributions and research :Origins of the concept of ‘linguaculture’ in anthropology: Paul Friedrich
and Michael Agar
Linguaculture was introduced by

the linguistic anthropologist Paul
Friedrich in an article on the
relationship between political
economy, ideology, and
language in 1989
and Michael Agar
Linguaculture :
‘a domain of experience that fuses

and intermingles the vocabulary,
many semantic aspects of grammar,
and the verbal aspects of culture’

and Michael Agar
Languaculture :
‘Michael Agar coined the term

‘languaculture’.
‘I modified it to “langua” to bring it in line

with the more commonly used “language”’

and Michael Agar
Languaculture :
He deals with the misunderstandings and

cultural awareness that can arise in
connection with conversations, both when it
is a question of ‘different languages’, and
when it is a question of ‘the same language’

and Michael Agar
Languaculture :
The langua in languaculture is about

discourse, not just about words and
sentences. And the culture in languaculture
is about meanings that include, but go well
beyond, what the dictionary and the
grammar offer’

and Michael Agar
Languaculture :
Agar also introduces the concept of ‘rich

points’, meaning the places in conversation
where
people misunderstand one another. It is in this
that there is the opportunity to glimpse
‘culture’, to become conscious of cultural
differences

Current contributions and research :Origins of the concept of ‘linguaculture’ in anthropology: Karen Risager
Ulf Hannerz (1992) Understanding of Culture:
1. ideas and modes of thought as entities and

processes of the mind – the entire array of
concepts, propositions, values, and the like which
people within some social unit carry together, as
well as their various ways of handling their ideas in
characteristic modes of mental operation;

2. forms of externalization, the different ways in which

meaning is made accessible to the senses, made public;
and
3. social distribution, the ways in which the collective

cultural inventory of meanings and meaningful external
forms – that is, (1) and (2) together – is spread over a
population and its social relationships.

culture has two loci, an external and an internal:
the external locus is meaningful, externalized forms such

as speech, gestures, song, dance, and decoration.
The internal locus of culture is meaning in consciousness

– not perceived as an idealized consciousness but as that
of concrete human beings.

Transnational view of language: linguistic flows and linguistic complexity
loci of language presuppose each other:
linguistic practice cannot be produced

and received without linguistic resources
carried by individual people, and the
linguistic resources of the individual
cannot be developed without the
experience of linguistic practice.

The third locus of language:
The ‘language system’ is a construct or, in other words, a

family of historically and discursively constructed
notions (‘French’, ‘Arabic’, etc.).
The idea of the language system interacts with both

linguistic practice and linguistic resources, being a kind
of – more or less conscious – normative factor.

The transnational linguistic flows of a large

number of different languages create local
multilingual situations of great complexity,
characterized by language hierarchies and
struggles among language users for power
and recognition.

Linguaculture: three interrelated dimensions
linguistic flows has implicitly focused on

language codes:
it is codes that are seen as flowing and
intermingling in social networks –
irrespective of the meanings to which they
give rise.

Three interrelated dimensions:
1. semantics and pragmatics of

language
2. poetics of language
3. identity dimension

1. semantics and pragmatics of language

practices of specific languages as opposed to other
languages: as regards constancy;
Ex. ‘sister’ and ‘brother’, between ‘he’ and ‘she’, between

‘red’ and ‘orange’, between ‘hello’ and ‘how are you’, and
the denotative (dictionary) meanings of culturally specific
words like ‘Christmas’, ‘race’, ‘lecturer’, ‘done’.

2. Poetics of language
related to the kinds of meaning created in the

exploitation of the interplay between form and
content in the language in question –
Ex. rhymes, literary poetics, style, puns based on the
relationship between speech and writing, etc.

3. identity dimension
also called social meaning. It is related to the

social and personal variation of the
language in question, not least its
pronunciation: with a specific accent.

Linguaculture in first, second, and foreign language use
-the inseparability of language and culture

refers to the language used as a first language.
-language is used as a second or foreign

language, it still produces and reproduces
meaning, although the relationship between
language and culture is of a different nature

Discursive flows – translingual and intralingual
Translingual
Discourses are characterized by topics constructed in relation to

perspectives, and more specifically ideological positions.
This means that discourses may transmit content from one
language community ornetwork to another.
Discourses may spread from language community to language

community by processes of translation and other kinds of
transformation. Ex. nationalism, on agriculture, on Islam, on
education, on democracy, on culture, on health, on language

Discursive flows – translingual and intralingual
Translingual
intralingual circulates in a
particular language community
and never get out.

The language–culture nexus in transnational perspective
The language–culture nexus as a communicative event has been

defined in Risager (2006) as follows:
it is a local integration of linguistic, languacultural, discursive

and other cultural flows in more or less differing social networks;
in written language it is normally divided into a production and

reception phase that can be more or less staggered in time and/or
place;
it takes place in a complex micro- and macro-context (or in

several, in the case of written language);

The language–culture nexus in transnational perspective
The language–culture nexus as a communicative event has been

defined in Risager (2006) as follows:
it is characterized by a discursive content of more or less cohesive

nature, possibly including references and representations, internal or
external;
it can be multilingual, i.e. characterized by diverse forms of code-

switching;
it has place in each of the entire life-contexts of the participants

(subs. Producers and receivers) and it is interpreted by each of them
in the light of this life context.
Related research
Mackerras (2007), who includes the

concept of linguaculture in a discussion of
how a sociocultural approach can help
students become intercultural learners
who can weave together everyday and
scholarly concepts.

Related research
The expression ‘culture-in-language’ may be used in
opposition to another expression:
‘language-in-culture’, which focuses on the role of

language in the wider culture.
A third kind of expression is ‘language-and-culture’ (also

with an adjectival form: ‘language and- cultural’).This term
emphasizes the general inseparability of language and
culture,

Language and Culture: Languacultur E

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Language and Culture: Languacultur E

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Language and Culture: Languacultur E

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

• Culture is a kind of extension of language

• culture relation in a combined anthropological–linguistic

• The primary perspective is anthropological and draws on

• The secondary perspective is linguistic focusing on

• This movement introduced the idea that

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

• :Language is the formative organ of thought

• Thus he was the first to formulate the basic idea

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

• Language is the formative organ of thought

• Thus he was the first to formulate the basic idea

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Linguaculture was introduced by

‘a domain of experience that fuses

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

‘Michael Agar coined the term

‘I modified it to “langua” to bring it in line

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

He deals with the misunderstandings and

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

The langua in languaculture is about

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Agar also introduces the concept of ‘rich

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Ulf Hannerz (1992) Understanding of Culture:

1. ideas and modes of thought as entities and

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Ulf Hannerz (1992) Understanding of Culture:

2. forms of externalization, the different ways in which

3. social distribution, the ways in which the collective

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Ulf Hannerz (1992) Understanding of Culture:

culture has two loci, an external and an internal:

the external locus is meaningful, externalized forms such

The internal locus of culture is meaning in consciousness

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

loci of language presuppose each other:

linguistic practice cannot be produced

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

The third locus of language:

The ‘language system’ is a construct or, in other words, a

The idea of the language system interacts with both

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

The transnational linguistic flows of a large

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

linguistic flows has implicitly focused on

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Three interrelated dimensions:

1. semantics and pragmatics of

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Three interrelated dimensions:

1. semantics and pragmatics of language

Ex. ‘sister’ and ‘brother’, between ‘he’ and ‘she’, between

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Three interrelated dimensions:

related to the kinds of meaning created in the