language and culture大学英语语言学课件.ppt

Language and Culture Definitions of culture In Chinese, it is 文化 If a farmer says “ 我没文化,不识字”, here it means illiterate. If a person is looking at an abstract painting and says “我文化水平不够高,欣赏不了这幅画”, what he means is taste. What is culture? Culture, in a broad sense, means the total way of life of a people, including the patterns of belief, customs, objects, institutions, techniques, and language that characterizes the life of the human community. What is culture? In a narrow sense, culture may refer to local or specific practice, beliefs or customs, which can be mostly found in folk culture, enterprise culture or food culture etc. two types of culture material culture: Material culture, as the term itself suggests, is concrete, substantial and observable. spiritual culture: the products of mind (ideologies, beliefs, values and concepts of time and space, for example), abstract, ambiguous, and hidden. language and culture The same word may stir up different associations in people. An example In the United States, the word dog in most instances conjures up an image of a furry, domesticated family pet. In some areas of the world, such as Hong Kong, however, dogs are considered to be a culinary amenity and often are eaten. ‘Bomb’ In united states, it means that something is a massive failure. Thus, the sentence ‘The project is a bomb.” may mean ‘The project is a failure.’ In Britain, if a person says ‘The project went a bomb.’, he means it is a huge success. The relationship between language and culture The influence of language on culture: language symbolizes cultural reality. a language not only expresses facts, ideas, or events which represent similar world knowledge by its people, but also reflects the peoples attitudes, beliefs, world outlooks etc. The influence of language on culture Language as a reflection of environment: language reflects the environment we live. e.g. “camel” “snow” The relationship between langua