毕业论文（设计）An Analysis on the Relationship between Culture and Language.doc

An Analysis on the Relationship between Culture and Language 1. Introduction In recent years, with the development of transportation and communication, the world is shrinking to be a “global village”. Opportunities which people from different cultures may take to contact with each other are quickly growing. When they communicate, language becomes essential and the need for further understanding of cultural differences has arisen. Therefore, the relationship between culture and language has become a hot topic. There are at present many linguistics and cultural experts doing their researching on it. In order to make a good discussion about the close relationship of these two, I will first make it clear what is culture and what is language respectively, and further make a sound analysis on their relationship. 2. Culture 2.1 Definition of culture Many philosophers, sociologists, anthropologists and linguists tried from different fields to make a definition for culture as perfect as possible. Geertz defines culture as a historically transmitted semiotic network constructed by human which allows them to develop, communicate and perpetuate their knowledge, beliefs and attitudes about the world.(Geertz, 1973:89) Pioneering anthropologist Edward Tylor in 1920 put forward a classic definition of culture which defines that culture is a compound which includes knowledge, belief, geography, art, law, morals, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.(Chang Zhonglin, 2003:21) Kramsch offers three definitions in her book language and culture in the following: 1.Membership in a discourse community that shares a common social space and history, and a common system of standards for perceiving, believing , evaluating and acting. 2. The discourse community itself. 3. The system of standards itself. (Kramsch, 1998:127) Culture is more or less synonymous with civilization. It rests ultimately upon the classical conception of wha