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Language, Theory and Society. Essays in English Linguistics and Culture

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Balirano, Giuseppe / Nisco, Maria Cristina (eds) 2015. Language, Theory & Society: Essays on English Linguistics and Culture. Napoli: Liguori Editore. ISBN: 978-88-207-6605-4.

Giuseppe Balirano

This book is an exploration of current approaches to the linguistic, cultural and social interpretation of texts in diverse contexts of English. By investigating an array of different discourses, we aim to bring to the fore a variety of social and cultural representations and to illustrate the way in which represented participants are generally embedded in social, political, and cultural practices through and in the language. A glance at the contents of the book will immediately reveal that this is an unusual, and maybe uncomfortable, type of academic publication, at least within the complex Italian academic context. Indeed, corpus linguists may well define the volume as an un-‘principled’ collection of texts. However, the rationale behind this purposefully unsystematic assortment of essays resides in the fact that it is only by adopting different, though somewhat contiguous, linguistic, cultural and social perspectives that researchers can comprehensively approach a variety of texts when seeking out the covert meaning-making structures of different discourses.

Balirano, G. 2015. “Framing Identities in Advertising: Multimodal Discourse Analysis”. In Balirano, G. / Nisco, M.C. (eds), Language, Theory & Society: Essays on English Linguistics and Culture, pp. 2-40. Napoli: Liguori Editore.

This chapter explores the theoretical framework used in social semiotic studies through some analytical instantiations based on the Multi-Modal Discourse Analysis (MMDA) of issues connected to gender and race in advertising. By means of a discursive/social semiotic perspective, print adverts are here investigated as a global discourse worthy of critical investigation. In particular, the exploitation of the human body, in promotional discourses, is seen as having an important role in the construction of gendered and racial identity representation. Drawing on Kress and van Leeuwen’s ground-breaking volume, Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design (1996), the chapter does not aim, however, to present a complete and exhaustive account or theory of visual grammar. Rather, it simply attempts to introduce some rudimentary visual elements that can be used to classify iconic images and, especially, verifiably detect the visual means adopted in the mediated construction of stereotyped gendered and racial identities. My main aim is to observe and analyse the different types of identities construed in promotional discourse from a diachronic perspective, paying particular attention to the way the representation of the human body is used as a semiotic resource as well as a promotional strategy. After a preliminary methodological overview of the underpinning theories informing this chapter, which briefly range from Halliday’s SFL to recent developments in the field of Multimodal Discourse Analysis, a practical recapitulating grid for establishing some important criteria in the analysis of ‘semiotic metafunctions’ is provided in paragraph 2. The VINCorpus, a diachronic multimodal corpus of magazine and newspaper ads comprising print ads produced from the 40s to the 60s in the Anglophone contexts of Britain, the US and Canada, is introduced and analysed in the third paragraph. The MMDA of three ‘vintage’ print adverts highlights the strict connection between advertising and the way promotional discourses are culturally dependent and able to influence important aspects of social practice. In particular, a diachronic approach to the biased construction of identities in ads proves to be very informative to contemporary society’s understanding of the resilience, whether intentional or not, of gender and racial prejudice still perpetrated in our cultures and societies today. Indeed, if such strict categories of gender and race are still upheld, despite “a kind of stubborn ‘weight’ of history” (Pitcher, 2014: 145), within complex and complicated discourses of injustices and inequalities, power and hegemony, it then becomes compulsory to persistently reiterate how gendered and racial stereotypes keep on construing negative meanings in social representations.

Transnational Subjects: Linguistic Encounters - Selected papers from XXVII AIA Conference Volume II

Antonio Fruttaldo

Culture has been traditionally seen as the by-product of a particular society in a clearly defined territory (Yengoyan 1986). However, the elusive concept of culture, seen as both a merging and dichotomising force, has been called into question due to the increasing entanglement of contemporary societies (Welsch 1999). Indeed, territories can no longer be seen as containing cultures, since people move with their meanings, and meanings find ways of travelling and flourishing even when people stay in their territories (Hannerz 1996). The increasing development of communications systems (Hepp 2009) and economic interdependencies and dependencies plays an important role in challenging the traditional view of culture. Thus, the concept of transculturality can better characterise contemporary cultures and their ability to move beyond material and immaterial borders. One of the ways through which cultural-specific phenomena cross borders and find a new life in a different environment is represented by forms of hybridisation (Bhatia 2004), seen as vehicles which can help popularise given genres. The hybridisation of broadcast news, for instance, has produced forms of docu-fictions, which can be placed in the blurred generic area of story-telling and news reporting, mixing together facts and fictions (Baym 2009). However, as vessels, these narrative hybrid forms bring together with them cultural-specific elements, which are difficult to re-enact in a new context. This is the case, for instance, of the TV series Gomorrah, which is based on the Italian novel Gomorra written in 2006 by the Neapolitan author Roberto Saviano. As Saviano has repeatedly underlined (Caliendo 2012), most of the news stories linked to the Neapolitan Mafia, known as Camorra, stay local and remain largely unknown to most Italians. Further, as Cavaliere (2010) states, international books and movies generally focus on the Sicilian Mafia, while little has been written about the Camorra. Saviano’s exposé, first, and its popularised adaptations have shed light on the criminal activities of the Camorra and, while some elements of fiction are undeniably present in both the book and its adaptations, they succeeded in raising awareness on the problems linked to the Neapolitan context, something that journalism has failed to highlight from a national and an international point of view. In order to achieve this, from a national point of view, the TV series, for instance, premiered in Italy with Italian subtitles, since the language of Gomorrah – The Series (from now on referred to as GTS) is a mix of both Italian and Neapolitan dialogues. While representing a third step in the translation of the original script, the UK subtitles of the TV series, on the other hand, have helped draw attention to the criminal activities plaguing Naples’ hinterland from an international point of view. However, since translation is central in the process of identity formation (Gentzler 2008), the aim of this contribution is to focus on the transcultural reception of the series. In particular, based on the concept of translation repercussion (Chesterman 2007), the proposed analysis will firstly focus on a particular aspect of the TV series, that is, how the producers of the series have created their target audience in the Italian and English versions of the DVD blurbs. Based on the work of Bednarek (2010, 2014), this preliminary analysis of the TV series will help us see how this specific type of advertising discourse construes its target audience. Since these texts “must take care to engage with what can be a diverse audience in an appropriate way” (Baker 2006: 50) by, for instance, “deciding what aspects [...] are foregrounded (or backgrounded) and what assumptions are made about the interests and lifestyles of the target audience” (Baker 2006: 50), the analysis of DVD blurbs can help us better understand what values are specifically constructed in discourse, thus, highlighting the type of universe that producers want to create when addressing their target audience. Additionally, since this type of persuasive discourse will eventually result in a financial exchange, language plays a fundamental role in the representation of the TV series as a whole and, thus, how it should be interpreted by its viewers. The second part of our investigation will focus on how the main characters linguistically construct themselves in the context of the Italian and English subtitles of the TV series. We have decided to focus specifically on the subtitles of the TV series since, in the English adaptation, GTS was not dubbed and, thus, in order to make the comparison between the original and its re-adaptation more productive, we have decided to avoid taking under consideration also the original script of the TV series, since this would have insulated given differences that were not strictly linked to the translation process but due to the different media. The analysis was carried out thanks to corpus linguistic methodologies and these have allowed us to see how the “individual linguistic thumbprint” (Culpeper 2014: 166) of each character in the source text was construed in the target text. As we will see, given characteristics of specific characters seem to be stereotyped in the target text, while others seem to highlight given peculiarities in the target texts that were not particularly underlined in the source texts, thus, offering the audience new personas in the translation of the original text.

La questione Romantica

Gioia Angeletti

Gioia Angeletti ranslation of the Letters of a Hindoo Rajah (1796) is an epistolary novel composed of a series of letters written from England by Zããrmilla, the Hindu rajah of Almora, to his friend Kisheen Neeay Mããndããra in India, about his experiences in and ...

Stefano Ondelli , Gianluca Pontrandolfo

Negative sentences have been extensively studied in European and Asian languages (cf., for example, Jespersen 1917, Pullum & Huddleston 200, Manzotti & Rigamonti 1991, Bosque 1980, Sánchez López 1999) as a ‘pragmatic universal’: every language has some means of expressing negation (Bernini & Ramat 1996: 1). However, so far few studies have been devoted to double or multiple negatives, especially from a cross-linguistic perspective in languages for special purposes. As far as legal language is concerned, the topic has been tackled almost exclusively with relation to the simplification of legal and judicial writing (cf., among others, Charrow et al. 1986, Cortelazzo & Pellegrino 2003, CMDS 2011). Many scholars agree that it is a striking feature of legalese (cf. Mellinkoff 1963), but there seem to be a gap in the literature on the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of this trait, particularly from a contrastive perspective. The present quali-quantative study relies on an extensive trilingual corpus of legal texts providing the test bed for semi-automatic discourse analyses. By identifying and classifying the typical constructs of multiple negation in English, Italian and Spanish legal texts, the paper provides evidence of the linguistic resources leading to one of the main distinctive features of legal language. Furthermore, the pragmatic and rhetorical effects achieved through multiple negatives in all three languages are compared and contrasted. In the wake of the plain language movement, the results yielded from the analysis will also be used to put forward proposals for the simplification of legal texts, when multiple negation seems to be a feature adopted for stylistic rather than functional purposes.

Marta Cariello

Balirano, Giuseppe / Nisco, Maria Cristina (eds) 2015. Languaging Diversity: Identities, Genres, Discourses. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN: 9781443871228.

Giuseppe Balirano , Maria Cristina Nisco

Languaging Diversity: Identities, Genres, Discourses is a suggestive title for another book in the field of linguistics, but what does it actually mean? By choosing to speak of Languaging Diversity and not just of difference, otherness, varieties, multiplicity, hybridity or alterity, the editors cover the whole range of meanings in the entire field of diversity. They do not wish to limit themselves by using such specific words with increasingly specialised connotations as Alterity or Other, but rather to allow an eclectic range of perspectives and issues to come to the fore. This volume brings together some of the manifold discourses emerging as bearers of the values of alterity, by exploring the thorny relationship between Language and Diversity. Drawing on the crucial assumption that speakers identities are dynamically negotiated as discourse unfolds, Languaging Diversity explores the wide theme of identity in discourse, an area of investigation which has become increasingly popular in recent years.

Raffaele Zago , Monika Bednarek

Balirano, G. / Baker, P. (eds) 2018. Queering Masculinities in Language and Culture. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Giuseppe Balirano , Paul Baker

‘By exploring the entire gamut of the representation of masculinity in both old and new media and across a wide range of disciplines, Baker and Balirano get readers really thinking about what it means to be a man in today’s liquid society. Guaranteed to raise awareness about the diverse ways of being and performing masculinity, the book provides a novel contribution to an exciting new field opening up new avenues for other researchers.’ —Delia Chiaro, Professor of English Linguistics and Translation, University of Bologna, Italy, and President of the International Society of Humor Studies ‘Exploring the interface of queer studies with the fields of linguistics, anthropology, semiotics, critical discourse analysis, literary and film studies, the articles in this collection draw a multifaceted picture of the discursive construction and representation of queer masculinities in a range of text genres and contexts. They engage in fascinating analyses of various aspects of queer masculinities, including issues such as consumer culture, representation in TV series, films, literature and art, intersectionality with trans and racial identities, homophobic discourse and subordination through hegemonic masculinity.’ —Heiko Motschenbacher, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen

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Balirano, G. 2015. “Language, Identity and Diversity”. In Balirano, G. / Nisco, M.C. (eds) 2015. Languaging Diversity: Identities, Genres, Discourses, pp. 325-331. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

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Balirano, G. / Baker, P. 2018. “Introduction – Queer Masculinities: By Way of Introduction”. In Balirano, G. / Baker, P. (eds), Queering Masculinities in Language and Culture, pp. 1-17. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

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Society in Language, Language in Society

Essays in Honour of Ruqaiya Hasan

• © 2016
• Wendy L. Bowcher 0 ,
• Jennifer Yameng Liang 1

Sun Yat-sen University, China

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University of Science and Technology Beijing, China

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Twenty-Seven Views (Plus One) of Language Socialization

Hebrew in the Daily Life of Israelis

• Systemic Functional Linguistics
• social semiotics
• semantic networks
• context of situation
• language and society
• cohesive harmony
• reflection literacy
• generic structure potential
• Ruqaiya Hasan
• ontogenesis
• social distance
• communication

Table of contents (17 chapters)

Front matter, hasan’s linguistics, the ontogenesis of rationality: nigel revisited.

• M. A. K. Halliday

‘Construe My Meaning’: Performance, Poetry and Semiotic Distance

• David G. Butt

Jakobson’s Place in Hasan’s Social Semiotic Stylistics: ‘Pervasive Parallelism as Symbolic Articulation of Theme

• Donna R. Miller

Semantic Networks

Can semantic networks capture intra-and inter-registerial variation palliative care discourse interrogates hasan’s message semantics.

• Alison Rotha Moore

Hasan’s Semantic Networks Revisited: a Cantonese Systemic Functional Approach

Context of situation, language and society, context and text: the contributions of ruqaiya hasan.

• Annabelle Lukin

Multiscalar Modelling of Context: Some Questions Raised by the Category of Mode

• Tom Bartlett

On Describing Contexts of Situation

• Margaret Berry

Interfacing Field with Tenor: Hasan’s Notion of Personal Distance

Studying language in society and society through language: context and multimodal communication.

• Rebekah Wegener

Structure and Texture: Two Kinds of Unity

Gsp and multimodal texts.

• Wendy L. Bowcher, Jennifer Yameng Liang

Construing Instructional Contexts

• Carmel Cloran

‘Threads of Continuity’ and Interaction: Coherence, Texture and Cohesive Harmony

• Kristin M. Khoo

Literacy and Education

Editors and affiliations.

Wendy L. Bowcher

Jennifer Yameng Liang

About the editors

Bibliographic information.

Book Title : Society in Language, Language in Society

Book Subtitle : Essays in Honour of Ruqaiya Hasan

Editors : Wendy L. Bowcher, Jennifer Yameng Liang

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137402868

Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan London

eBook Packages : Social Sciences , Social Sciences (R0)

Copyright Information : The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016

Hardcover ISBN : 978-1-137-40285-1 Published: 21 October 2015

eBook ISBN : 978-1-137-40286-8 Published: 26 January 2016

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XVIII, 452

Topics : Sociolinguistics , Discourse Analysis , Semantics

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3.4 Language, Society, and Culture

Learning objectives.

• Discuss some of the social norms that guide conversational interaction.
• Identify some of the ways in which language varies based on cultural context.
• Explain the role that accommodation and code-switching play in communication.
• Discuss cultural bias in relation to specific cultural identities.

Society and culture influence the words that we speak, and the words that we speak influence society and culture. Such a cyclical relationship can be difficult to understand, but many of the examples throughout this chapter and examples from our own lives help illustrate this point. One of the best ways to learn about society, culture, and language is to seek out opportunities to go beyond our typical comfort zones. Studying abroad, for example, brings many challenges that can turn into valuable lessons. The following example of such a lesson comes from my friend who studied abroad in Vienna, Austria.

Although English used to employ formal ( thou , thee ) and informal pronouns ( you ), today you can be used when speaking to a professor, a parent, or a casual acquaintance. Other languages still have social norms and rules about who is to be referred to informally and formally. My friend, as was typical in the German language, referred to his professor with the formal pronoun Sie but used the informal pronoun Du with his fellow students since they were peers. When the professor invited some of the American exchange students to dinner, they didn’t know they were about to participate in a cultural ritual that would change the way they spoke to their professor from that night on. Their professor informed them that they were going to duzen , which meant they were going to now be able to refer to her with the informal pronoun—an honor and sign of closeness for the American students. As they went around the table, each student introduced himself or herself to the professor using the formal pronoun, locked arms with her and drank (similar to the champagne toast ritual at some wedding ceremonies), and reintroduced himself or herself using the informal pronoun. For the rest of the semester, the American students still respectfully referred to the professor with her title, which translated to “Mrs. Doctor,” but used informal pronouns, even in class, while the other students not included in the ceremony had to continue using the formal. Given that we do not use formal and informal pronouns in English anymore, there is no equivalent ritual to the German duzen , but as we will learn next, there are many rituals in English that may be just as foreign to someone else.

Language and Social Context

We arrive at meaning through conversational interaction, which follows many social norms and rules. As we’ve already learned, rules are explicitly stated conventions (“Look at me when I’m talking to you.”) and norms are implicit (saying you’ve got to leave before you actually do to politely initiate the end to a conversation). To help conversations function meaningfully, we have learned social norms and internalized them to such an extent that we do not often consciously enact them. Instead, we rely on routines and roles (as determined by social forces) to help us proceed with verbal interaction, which also helps determine how a conversation will unfold. Our various social roles influence meaning and how we speak. For example, a person may say, “As a longtime member of this community…” or “As a first-generation college student…” Such statements cue others into the personal and social context from which we are speaking, which helps them better interpret our meaning.

One social norm that structures our communication is turn taking. People need to feel like they are contributing something to an interaction, so turn taking is a central part of how conversations play out (Crystal, 2005). Although we sometimes talk at the same time as others or interrupt them, there are numerous verbal and nonverbal cues, almost like a dance, that are exchanged between speakers that let people know when their turn will begin or end. Conversations do not always neatly progress from beginning to end with shared understanding along the way. There is a back and forth that is often verbally managed through rephrasing (“Let me try that again,”) and clarification (“Does that make sense?”) (Crystal, 2005)

We also have certain units of speech that facilitate turn taking. Adjacency pairs are related communication structures that come one after the other (adjacent to each other) in an interaction (Crystal, 2005). For example, questions are followed by answers, greetings are followed by responses, compliments are followed by a thank you, and informative comments are followed by an acknowledgment. These are the skeletal components that make up our verbal interactions, and they are largely social in that they facilitate our interactions. When these sequences don’t work out, confusion, miscommunication, or frustration may result, as you can see in the following sequences:

Travis: “How are you?”

Wanda: “Did someone tell you I’m sick?”

Darrell: “I just wanted to let you know the meeting has been moved to three o’clock.”

Leigh: “I had cake for breakfast this morning.”

Some conversational elements are highly scripted or ritualized, especially the beginning and end of an exchange and topic changes (Crystal, 2005). Conversations often begin with a standard greeting and then proceed to “safe” exchanges about things in the immediate field of experience of the communicators (a comment on the weather or noting something going on in the scene). At this point, once the ice is broken, people can move on to other more content-specific exchanges. Once conversing, before we can initiate a topic change, it is a social norm that we let the current topic being discussed play itself out or continue until the person who introduced the topic seems satisfied. We then usually try to find a relevant tie-in or segue that acknowledges the previous topic, in turn acknowledging the speaker, before actually moving on. Changing the topic without following such social conventions might indicate to the other person that you were not listening or are simply rude.

Social norms influence how conversations start and end and how speakers take turns to keep the conversation going.

Felipe Cabrera – conversation – CC BY 2.0.

Ending a conversation is similarly complex. I’m sure we’ve all been in a situation where we are “trapped” in a conversation that we need or want to get out of. Just walking away or ending a conversation without engaging in socially acceptable “leave-taking behaviors” would be considered a breach of social norms. Topic changes are often places where people can leave a conversation, but it is still routine for us to give a special reason for leaving, often in an apologetic tone (whether we mean it or not). Generally though, conversations come to an end through the cooperation of both people, as they offer and recognize typical signals that a topic area has been satisfactorily covered or that one or both people need to leave. It is customary in the United States for people to say they have to leave before they actually do and for that statement to be dismissed or ignored by the other person until additional leave-taking behaviors are enacted. When such cooperation is lacking, an awkward silence or abrupt ending can result, and as we’ve already learned, US Americans are not big fans of silence. Silence is not viewed the same way in other cultures, which leads us to our discussion of cultural context.

Language and Cultural Context

Culture isn’t solely determined by a person’s native language or nationality. It’s true that languages vary by country and region and that the language we speak influences our realities, but even people who speak the same language experience cultural differences because of their various intersecting cultural identities and personal experiences. We have a tendency to view our language as a whole more favorably than other languages. Although people may make persuasive arguments regarding which languages are more pleasing to the ear or difficult or easy to learn than others, no one language enables speakers to communicate more effectively than another (McCornack, 2007).

From birth we are socialized into our various cultural identities. As with the social context, this acculturation process is a combination of explicit and implicit lessons. A child in Colombia, which is considered a more collectivist country in which people value group membership and cohesion over individualism, may not be explicitly told, “You are a member of a collectivistic culture, so you should care more about the family and community than yourself.” This cultural value would be transmitted through daily actions and through language use. Just as babies acquire knowledge of language practices at an astonishing rate in their first two years of life, so do they acquire cultural knowledge and values that are embedded in those language practices. At nine months old, it is possible to distinguish babies based on their language. Even at this early stage of development, when most babies are babbling and just learning to recognize but not wholly reproduce verbal interaction patterns, a Colombian baby would sound different from a Brazilian baby, even though neither would actually be using words from their native languages of Spanish and Portuguese (Crystal, 2005).

The actual language we speak plays an important role in shaping our reality. Comparing languages, we can see differences in how we are able to talk about the world. In English, we have the words grandfather and grandmother , but no single word that distinguishes between a maternal grandfather and a paternal grandfather. But in Swedish, there’s a specific word for each grandparent: morfar is mother’s father, farfar is father’s father, farmor is father’s mother, and mormor is mother’s mother (Crystal, 2005). In this example, we can see that the words available to us, based on the language we speak, influence how we talk about the world due to differences in and limitations of vocabulary. The notion that language shapes our view of reality and our cultural patterns is best represented by the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Although some scholars argue that our reality is determined by our language, we will take a more qualified view and presume that language plays a central role in influencing our realities but doesn’t determine them (Martin & Nakayama, 2010).

Culturally influenced differences in language and meaning can lead to some interesting encounters, ranging from awkward to informative to disastrous. In terms of awkwardness, you have likely heard stories of companies that failed to exhibit communication competence in their naming and/or advertising of products in another language. For example, in Taiwan, Pepsi used the slogan “Come Alive with Pepsi” only to later find out that when translated it meant, “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead” (Kwintessential Limited, 2012). Similarly, American Motors introduced a new car called the Matador to the Puerto Rico market only to learn that Matador means “killer,” which wasn’t very comforting to potential buyers (Kwintessential, 2012). At a more informative level, the words we use to give positive reinforcement are culturally relative. In the United States and England, parents commonly positively and negatively reinforce their child’s behavior by saying, “Good girl” or “Good boy.” There isn’t an equivalent for such a phrase in other European languages, so the usage in only these two countries has been traced back to the puritan influence on beliefs about good and bad behavior (Wierzbicka, 2004). In terms of disastrous consequences, one of the most publicized and deadliest cross-cultural business mistakes occurred in India in 1984. Union Carbide, an American company, controlled a plant used to make pesticides. The company underestimated the amount of cross-cultural training that would be needed to allow the local workers, many of whom were not familiar with the technology or language/jargon used in the instructions for plant operations to do their jobs. This lack of competent communication led to a gas leak that immediately killed more than two thousand people and over time led to more than five hundred thousand injuries (Varma, 2012).

Accents and Dialects

The documentary American Tongues , although dated at this point, is still a fascinating look at the rich tapestry of accents and dialects that makes up American English. Dialects are versions of languages that have distinct words, grammar, and pronunciation. Accents are distinct styles of pronunciation (Lustig & Koester, 2006). There can be multiple accents within one dialect. For example, people in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States speak a dialect of American English that is characterized by remnants of the linguistic styles of Europeans who settled the area a couple hundred years earlier. Even though they speak this similar dialect, a person in Kentucky could still have an accent that is distinguishable from a person in western North Carolina.

American English has several dialects that vary based on region, class, and ancestry.

Wikimedia Commons – CC BY-SA 4.0.

Dialects and accents can vary by region, class, or ancestry, and they influence the impressions that we make of others. When I moved to Colorado from North Carolina, I was met with a very strange look when I used the word buggy to refer to a shopping cart. Research shows that people tend to think more positively about others who speak with a dialect similar to their own and think more negatively about people who speak differently. Of course, many people think they speak normally and perceive others to have an accent or dialect. Although dialects include the use of different words and phrases, it’s the tone of voice that often creates the strongest impression. For example, a person who speaks with a Southern accent may perceive a New Englander’s accent to be grating, harsh, or rude because the pitch is more nasal and the rate faster. Conversely, a New Englander may perceive a Southerner’s accent to be syrupy and slow, leading to an impression that the person speaking is uneducated.

Customs and Norms

Social norms are culturally relative. The words used in politeness rituals in one culture can mean something completely different in another. For example, thank you in American English acknowledges receiving something (a gift, a favor, a compliment), in British English it can mean “yes” similar to American English’s yes, please , and in French merci can mean “no” as in “no, thank you” (Crystal, 2005). Additionally, what is considered a powerful language style varies from culture to culture. Confrontational language, such as swearing, can be seen as powerful in Western cultures, even though it violates some language taboos, but would be seen as immature and weak in Japan (Wetzel, 1988).

Gender also affects how we use language, but not to the extent that most people think. Although there is a widespread belief that men are more likely to communicate in a clear and straightforward way and women are more likely to communicate in an emotional and indirect way, a meta-analysis of research findings from more than two hundred studies found only small differences in the personal disclosures of men and women (Dindia & Allen, 1992). Men and women’s levels of disclosure are even more similar when engaging in cross-gender communication, meaning men and woman are more similar when speaking to each other than when men speak to men or women speak to women. This could be due to the internalized pressure to speak about the other gender in socially sanctioned ways, in essence reinforcing the stereotypes when speaking to the same gender but challenging them in cross-gender encounters. Researchers also dispelled the belief that men interrupt more than women do, finding that men and women interrupt each other with similar frequency in cross-gender encounters (Dindia, 1987). These findings, which state that men and women communicate more similarly during cross-gender encounters and then communicate in more stereotypical ways in same-gender encounters, can be explained with communication accommodation theory.

Communication Accommodation and Code-Switching

Communication accommodation theory is a theory that explores why and how people modify their communication to fit situational, social, cultural, and relational contexts (Giles, Taylor, & Bourhis, 1973). Within communication accommodation, conversational partners may use convergence , meaning a person makes his or her communication more like another person’s. People who are accommodating in their communication style are seen as more competent, which illustrates the benefits of communicative flexibility. In order to be flexible, of course, people have to be aware of and monitor their own and others’ communication patterns. Conversely, conversational partners may use divergence , meaning a person uses communication to emphasize the differences between his or her conversational partner and his or herself.

Convergence and divergence can take place within the same conversation and may be used by one or both conversational partners. Convergence functions to make others feel at ease, to increase understanding, and to enhance social bonds. Divergence may be used to intentionally make another person feel unwelcome or perhaps to highlight a personal, group, or cultural identity. For example, African American women use certain verbal communication patterns when communicating with other African American women as a way to highlight their racial identity and create group solidarity. In situations where multiple races interact, the women usually don’t use those same patterns, instead accommodating the language patterns of the larger group. While communication accommodation might involve anything from adjusting how fast or slow you talk to how long you speak during each turn, code-switching refers to changes in accent, dialect, or language (Martin & Nakayama, 2010). There are many reasons that people might code-switch. Regarding accents, some people hire vocal coaches or speech-language pathologists to help them alter their accent. If a Southern person thinks their accent is leading others to form unfavorable impressions, they can consciously change their accent with much practice and effort. Once their ability to speak without their Southern accent is honed, they may be able to switch very quickly between their native accent when speaking with friends and family and their modified accent when speaking in professional settings.

People who work or live in multilingual settings may engage in code-switching several times a day.

Eltpics – Welsh – CC BY-NC 2.0.

Additionally, people who work or live in multilingual settings may code-switch many times throughout the day, or even within a single conversation. Increasing outsourcing and globalization have produced heightened pressures for code-switching. Call center workers in India have faced strong negative reactions from British and American customers who insist on “speaking to someone who speaks English.” Although many Indians learn English in schools as a result of British colonization, their accents prove to be off-putting to people who want to get their cable package changed or book an airline ticket. Now some Indian call center workers are going through intense training to be able to code-switch and accommodate the speaking style of their customers. What is being called the “Anglo-Americanization of India” entails “accent-neutralization,” lessons on American culture (using things like Sex and the City DVDs), and the use of Anglo-American-sounding names like Sean and Peggy (Pal, 2004). As our interactions continue to occur in more multinational contexts, the expectations for code-switching and accommodation are sure to increase. It is important for us to consider the intersection of culture and power and think critically about the ways in which expectations for code-switching may be based on cultural biases.

Language and Cultural Bias

In the previous example about code-switching and communication accommodation in Indian call centers, the move toward accent neutralization is a response to the “racist abuse” these workers receive from customers (Nadeem, 2012). Anger in Western countries about job losses and economic uncertainty has increased the amount of racially targeted verbal attacks on international call center employees. It was recently reported that more call center workers are now quitting their jobs as a result of the verbal abuse and that 25 percent of workers who have recently quit say such abuse was a major source of stress (Gentleman, 2005). Such verbal attacks are not new; they represent a common but negative way that cultural bias explicitly manifests in our language use.

Cultural bias is a skewed way of viewing or talking about a group that is typically negative. Bias has a way of creeping into our daily language use, often under our awareness. Culturally biased language can make reference to one or more cultural identities, including race, gender, age, sexual orientation, and ability. There are other sociocultural identities that can be the subject of biased language, but we will focus our discussion on these five. Much biased language is based on stereotypes and myths that influence the words we use. Bias is both intentional and unintentional, but as we’ve already discussed, we have to be accountable for what we say even if we didn’t “intend” a particular meaning—remember, meaning is generated; it doesn’t exist inside our thoughts or words. We will discuss specific ways in which cultural bias manifests in our language and ways to become more aware of bias. Becoming aware of and addressing cultural bias is not the same thing as engaging in “political correctness.” Political correctness takes awareness to the extreme but doesn’t do much to address cultural bias aside from make people feel like they are walking on eggshells. That kind of pressure can lead people to avoid discussions about cultural identities or avoid people with different cultural identities. Our goal is not to eliminate all cultural bias from verbal communication or to never offend anyone, intentionally or otherwise. Instead, we will continue to use guidelines for ethical communication that we have already discussed and strive to increase our competence. The following discussion also focuses on bias rather than preferred terminology or outright discriminatory language, which will be addressed more in Chapter 8 “Culture and Communication” , which discusses culture and communication.

People sometimes use euphemisms for race that illustrate bias because the terms are usually implicitly compared to the dominant group (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 2010). For example, referring to a person as “urban” or a neighborhood as “inner city” can be an accurate descriptor, but when such words are used as a substitute for racial identity, they illustrate cultural biases that equate certain races with cities and poverty. Using adjectives like articulate or well-dressed in statements like “My black coworker is articulate” reinforces negative stereotypes even though these words are typically viewed as positive. Terms like nonwhite set up whiteness as the norm, which implies that white people are the norm against which all other races should be compared. Biased language also reduces the diversity within certain racial groups—for example, referring to anyone who looks like they are of Asian descent as Chinese or everyone who “looks” Latino/a as Mexicans. Some people with racial identities other than white, including people who are multiracial, use the label person/people of color to indicate solidarity among groups, but it is likely that they still prefer a more specific label when referring to an individual or referencing a specific racial group.

Language has a tendency to exaggerate perceived and stereotypical differences between men and women. The use of the term opposite sex presumes that men and women are opposites, like positive and negative poles of a magnet, which is obviously not true or men and women wouldn’t be able to have successful interactions or relationships. A term like other gender doesn’t presume opposites and acknowledges that male and female identities and communication are more influenced by gender, which is the social and cultural meanings and norms associated with males and females, than sex, which is the physiology and genetic makeup of a male and female. One key to avoiding gendered bias in language is to avoid the generic use of he when referring to something relevant to males and females. Instead, you can informally use a gender-neutral pronoun like they or their or you can use his or her (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 2010). When giving a series of examples, you can alternate usage of masculine and feminine pronouns, switching with each example. We have lasting gendered associations with certain occupations that have tended to be male or female dominated, which erase the presence of both genders. Other words reflect the general masculine bias present in English. The following word pairs show the gender-biased term followed by an unbiased term: waitress/server, chairman / chair or chairperson, mankind/people, cameraman / camera operator, mailman / postal worker, sportsmanship / fair play. Common language practices also tend to infantilize women but not men, when, for example, women are referred to as chicks , girls , or babes . Since there is no linguistic equivalent that indicates the marital status of men before their name, using Ms. instead of Miss or Mrs. helps reduce bias.

Language that includes age bias can be directed toward older or younger people. Descriptions of younger people often presume recklessness or inexperience, while those of older people presume frailty or disconnection. The term elderly generally refers to people over sixty-five, but it has connotations of weakness, which isn’t accurate because there are plenty of people over sixty-five who are stronger and more athletic than people in their twenties and thirties. Even though it’s generic, older people doesn’t really have negative implications. More specific words that describe groups of older people include grandmothers/grandfathers (even though they can be fairly young too), retirees , or people over sixty-five (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 2010). Referring to people over the age of eighteen as boys or girls isn’t typically viewed as appropriate.

Age bias can appear in language directed toward younger or older people.

Davide Mauro – Old and young – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Sexual Orientation

Discussions of sexual and affectional orientation range from everyday conversations to contentious political and personal debates. The negative stereotypes that have been associated with homosexuality, including deviance, mental illness, and criminal behavior, continue to influence our language use (American Psychological Association, 2012). Terminology related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and asexual (LGBTQA+) people can be confusing, so let’s spend some time raise our awareness about preferred labels. First, sexual orientation is the term preferred to sexual preference . Preference suggests a voluntary choice, as in someone has a preference for cheddar or American cheese, which doesn’t reflect the experience of most LGBTQA+ people or research findings that show sexuality is more complex. You may also see affectional orientation included with sexual orientation because it acknowledges that LGBTQA+ relationships, like heterosexual relationships, are about intimacy and closeness (affection) that is not just sexually based. Most people also prefer the labels gay , lesbian , or bisexual to homosexual , which is clinical and doesn’t so much refer to an identity as a sex act. Language regarding romantic relationships contains bias when heterosexuality is assumed. Keep in mind that individuals are not allowed to marry someone of the same gender in most states in the United States. For example, if you ask a gay man who has been in a committed partnership for ten years if he is “married or single,” how should he answer that question? Comments comparing LGBTQA+ people to “normal” people, although possibly intended to be positive, reinforces the stereotype that LGBTQA+ people are abnormal. Don’t presume you can identify a person’s sexual orientation by looking at them or talking to them. Don’t assume that LGBTQA+ people will “come out” to you. Given that many LGBTQA+ people have faced and continue to face regular discrimination, they may be cautious about disclosing their identities. However, using gender neutral terminology like partner and avoiding other biased language mentioned previously may create a climate in which a LGBTQA+ person feels comfortable disclosing his or her sexual orientation identity. Conversely, the casual use of phrases like that’s gay to mean “that’s stupid” may create an environment in which LGBTQA+ people do not feel comfortable. Even though people don’t often use the phrase to actually refer to sexual orientation, campaigns like “ThinkB4YouSpeak.com” try to educate people about the power that language has and how we should all be more conscious of the words we use.

People with disabilities make up a diverse group that has increasingly come to be viewed as a cultural/social identity group. People without disabilities are often referred to as able-bodied . As with sexual orientation, comparing people with disabilities to “normal” people implies that there is an agreed-on definition of what “normal” is and that people with disabilities are “abnormal.” Disability is also preferred to the word handicap . Just because someone is disabled doesn’t mean he or she is also handicapped. The environment around them rather than their disability often handicaps people with disabilities (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 2010). Ignoring the environment as the source of a handicap and placing it on the person fits into a pattern of reducing people with disabilities to their disability—for example, calling someone a paraplegic instead of a person with paraplegia. In many cases, as with sexual orientation, race, age, and gender, verbally marking a person as disabled isn’t relevant and doesn’t need spotlighting. Language used in conjunction with disabilities also tends to portray people as victims of their disability and paint pictures of their lives as gloomy, dreadful, or painful. Such descriptors are often generalizations or completely inaccurate.

“Getting Critical”

Hate Speech

Hate is a term that has many different meanings and can be used to communicate teasing, mild annoyance, or anger. The term hate , as it relates to hate speech, has a much more complex and serious meaning. Hate refers to extreme negative beliefs and feelings toward a group or member of a group because of their race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or ability (Waltman & Haas, 2011). We can get a better understanding of the intensity of hate by distinguishing it from anger, which is an emotion that we experience much more regularly. First, anger is directed toward an individual, while hate is directed toward a social or cultural group. Second, anger doesn’t prevent a person from having sympathy for the target of his or her anger, but hate erases sympathy for the target. Third, anger is usually the result of personal insult or injury, but hate can exist and grow even with no direct interaction with the target. Fourth, anger isn’t an emotion that people typically find pleasure in, while hatred can create feelings of self-righteousness and superiority that lead to pleasure. Last, anger is an emotion that usually dissipates as time passes, eventually going away, while hate can endure for much longer (Waltman & Haas, 2011). Hate speech is a verbal manifestation of this intense emotional and mental state.

Hate speech is usually used by people who have a polarized view of their own group (the in-group) and another group (the out-group). Hate speech is then used to intimidate people in the out-group and to motivate and influence members of the in-group. Hate speech often promotes hate-based violence and is also used to solidify in-group identification and attract new members (Waltman & Haas, 2011). Perpetrators of hate speech often engage in totalizing, which means they define a person or a group based on one quality or characteristic, ignoring all others. A Lebanese American may be the target of hate speech because the perpetrators reduce him to a Muslim—whether he actually is Muslim or not would be irrelevant. Grouping all Middle Eastern- or Arab-looking people together is a dehumanizing activity that is typical to hate speech.

Incidents of hate speech and hate crimes have increased over the past fifteen years. Hate crimes, in particular, have gotten more attention due to the passage of more laws against hate crimes and the increased amount of tracking by various levels of law enforcement. The Internet has also made it easier for hate groups to organize and spread their hateful messages. As these changes have taken place over the past fifteen years, there has been much discussion about hate speech and its legal and constitutional implications. While hate crimes resulting in damage to a person or property are regularly prosecuted, it is sometimes argued that hate speech that doesn’t result in such damage is protected under the US Constitution’s First Amendment, which guarantees free speech. Just recently, in 2011, the Supreme Court found in the Snyder v. Phelps case that speech and actions of the members of the Westboro Baptist Church, who regularly protest the funerals of American soldiers with signs reading things like “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” and “Fag Sin = 9/11,” were protected and not criminal. Chief Justice Roberts wrote in the decision, “We cannot react to [the Snyder family’s] pain by punishing the speaker. As a nation we have chosen a different course—to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate” (Exploring Constitutional Conflicts, 2012).

• Do you think the First Amendment of the Constitution, guaranteeing free speech to US citizens, should protect hate speech? Why or why not?
• Visit the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Hate Map” (Southern Poverty Law Center, 2012) (http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/hate-map) to see what hate groups they have identified in your state. Are you surprised by the number/nature of the groups listed in your state? Briefly describe a group that you didn’t know about and identify the target of its hate and the reasons it gives for its hate speech.

Key Takeaways

• Getting integrated: Social context influences the ways in which we use language, and we have been socialized to follow implicit social rules like those that guide the flow of conversations, including how we start and end our interactions and how we change topics. The way we use language changes as we shift among academic, professional, personal, and civic contexts.
• The language that we speak influences our cultural identities and our social realities. We internalize norms and rules that help us function in our own culture but that can lead to misunderstanding when used in other cultural contexts.
• We can adapt to different cultural contexts by purposely changing our communication. Communication accommodation theory explains that people may adapt their communication to be more similar to or different from others based on various contexts.
• We should become aware of how our verbal communication reveals biases toward various cultural identities based on race, gender, age, sexual orientation, and ability.
• Recall a conversation that became awkward when you or the other person deviated from the social norms that manage conversation flow. Was the awkwardness at the beginning, end, or during a topic change? After reviewing some of the common norms discussed in the chapter, what do you think was the source of the awkwardness?
• Describe an accent or a dialect that you find pleasing/interesting. Describe an accent/dialect that you do not find pleasing/interesting. Why do you think you evaluate one positively and the other negatively?
• Review how cultural bias relates to the five cultural identities discussed earlier. Identify something you learned about bias related to one of these identities that you didn’t know before. What can you do now to be more aware of how verbal communication can reinforce cultural biases?

American Psychological Association, “Supplemental Material: Writing Clearly and Concisely,” accessed June 7, 2012, http://www.apastyle.org/manual/supplement/redirects/pubman-ch03.13.aspx .

Crystal, D., How Language Works: How Babies Babble, Words Change Meaning, and Languages Live or Die (Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 2005), 155.

Dindia, K., “The Effect of Sex of Subject and Sex of Partner on Interruptions,” Human Communication Research 13, no. 3 (1987): 345–71.

Dindia, K. and Mike Allen, “Sex Differences in Self-Disclosure: A Meta Analysis,” Psychological Bulletin 112, no. 1 (1992): 106–24.

Exploring Constitutional Conflicts , “Regulation of Fighting Words and Hate Speech,” accessed June 7, 2012, http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/hatespeech.htm .

Gentleman, A., “Indiana Call Staff Quit over Abuse on the Line,” The Guardian , May 28, 2005, accessed June 7, 2012, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/may/29/india.ameliagentleman .

Giles, H., Donald M. Taylor, and Richard Bourhis, “Toward a Theory of Interpersonal Accommodation through Language: Some Canadian Data,” Language and Society 2, no. 2 (1973): 177–92.

Kwintessential Limited , “Results of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness,” accessed June 7, 2012, http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cultural-services/articles/Results of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness.html .

Lustig, M. W. and Jolene Koester, Intercultural Competence: Interpersonal Communication across Cultures , 2nd ed. (Boston, MA: Pearson, 2006), 199–200.

Martin, J. N. and Thomas K. Nakayama, Intercultural Communication in Contexts , 5th ed. (Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2010), 222–24.

McCornack, S., Reflect and Relate: An Introduction to Interpersonal Communication (Boston, MA: Bedford/St Martin’s, 2007), 224–25.

Nadeem, S., “Accent Neutralisation and a Crisis of Identity in India’s Call Centres,” The Guardian , February 9, 2011, accessed June 7, 2012, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/09/india-call-centres-accent-neutralisation .

Pal, A., “Indian by Day, American by Night,” The Progressive , August 2004, accessed June 7, 2012, http://www.progressive.org/mag_pal0804 .

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2010), 71–76.

Southern Poverty Law Center , “Hate Map,” accessed June 7, 2012, http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/hate-map.

Varma, S., “Arbitrary? 92% of All Injuries Termed Minor,” The Times of India , June 20, 2010, accessed June 7, 2012, http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-06-20/india/28309628_1_injuries-gases-cases .

Waltman, M. and John Haas, The Communication of Hate (New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing, 2011), 33.

Wetzel, P. J., “Are ‘Powerless’ Communication Strategies the Japanese Norm?” Language in Society 17, no. 4 (1988): 555–64.

Wierzbicka, A., “The English Expressions Good Boy and Good Girl and Cultural Models of Child Rearing,” Culture and Psychology 10, no. 3 (2004): 251–78.

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Speaking, writing and reading are integral to everyday life, where language is the primary tool for expression and communication. Studying how people use language – what words and phrases they unconsciously choose and combine – can help us better understand ourselves and why we behave the way we do.

Linguistics scholars seek to determine what is unique and universal about the language we use, how it is acquired and the ways it changes over time. They consider language as a cultural, social and psychological phenomenon.

“Understanding why and how languages differ tells about the range of what is human,” said Dan Jurafsky , the Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor in Humanities and chair of the Department of Linguistics in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford . “Discovering what’s universal about languages can help us understand the core of our humanity.”

The stories below represent some of the ways linguists have investigated many aspects of language, including its semantics and syntax, phonetics and phonology, and its social, psychological and computational aspects.

Understanding stereotypes

Stanford linguists and psychologists study how language is interpreted by people. Even the slightest differences in language use can correspond with biased beliefs of the speakers, according to research.

One study showed that a relatively harmless sentence, such as “girls are as good as boys at math,” can subtly perpetuate sexist stereotypes. Because of the statement’s grammatical structure, it implies that being good at math is more common or natural for boys than girls, the researchers said.

Language can play a big role in how we and others perceive the world, and linguists work to discover what words and phrases can influence us, unknowingly.

How well-meaning statements can spread stereotypes unintentionally

New Stanford research shows that sentences that frame one gender as the standard for the other can unintentionally perpetuate biases.

Algorithms reveal changes in stereotypes

New Stanford research shows that, over the past century, linguistic changes in gender and ethnic stereotypes correlated with major social movements and demographic changes in the U.S. Census data.

Exploring what an interruption is in conversation

Stanford doctoral candidate Katherine Hilton found that people perceive interruptions in conversation differently, and those perceptions differ depending on the listener’s own conversational style as well as gender.

Cops speak less respectfully to black community members

Professors Jennifer Eberhardt and Dan Jurafsky, along with other Stanford researchers, detected racial disparities in police officers’ speech after analyzing more than 100 hours of body camera footage from Oakland Police.

How other languages inform our own

People speak roughly 7,000 languages worldwide. Although there is a lot in common among languages, each one is unique, both in its structure and in the way it reflects the culture of the people who speak it.

Jurafsky said it’s important to study languages other than our own and how they develop over time because it can help scholars understand what lies at the foundation of humans’ unique way of communicating with one another.

“All this research can help us discover what it means to be human,” Jurafsky said.

Stanford PhD student documents indigenous language of Papua New Guinea

Fifth-year PhD student Kate Lindsey recently returned to the United States after a year of documenting an obscure language indigenous to the South Pacific nation.

Students explore Esperanto across Europe

In a research project spanning eight countries, two Stanford students search for Esperanto, a constructed language, against the backdrop of European populism.

Chris Manning: How computers are learning to understand language​

A computer scientist discusses the evolution of computational linguistics and where it’s headed next.

Stanford research explores novel perspectives on the evolution of Spanish

Using digital tools and literature to explore the evolution of the Spanish language, Stanford researcher Cuauhtémoc García-García reveals a new historical perspective on linguistic changes in Latin America and Spain.

Language as a lens into behavior

Linguists analyze how certain speech patterns correspond to particular behaviors, including how language can impact people’s buying decisions or influence their social media use.

For example, in one research paper, a group of Stanford researchers examined the differences in how Republicans and Democrats express themselves online to better understand how a polarization of beliefs can occur on social media.

“We live in a very polarized time,” Jurafsky said. “Understanding what different groups of people say and why is the first step in determining how we can help bring people together.”

Analyzing the tweets of Republicans and Democrats

New research by Dora Demszky and colleagues examined how Republicans and Democrats express themselves online in an attempt to understand how polarization of beliefs occurs on social media.

Examining bilingual behavior of children at Texas preschool

A Stanford senior studied a group of bilingual children at a Spanish immersion preschool in Texas to understand how they distinguished between their two languages.

Predicting sales of online products from advertising language

Stanford linguist Dan Jurafsky and colleagues have found that products in Japan sell better if their advertising includes polite language and words that invoke cultural traditions or authority.

Language can help the elderly cope with the challenges of aging, says Stanford professor

By examining conversations of elderly Japanese women, linguist Yoshiko Matsumoto uncovers language techniques that help people move past traumatic events and regain a sense of normalcy.

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Relationship Between Language and Society

The relationship between language and society is multifaceted, as language plays a crucial role in shaping and reflecting various aspects of identity, power dynamics, and discrimination within a society.

Here are some key points to consider:

• Identity: Language is closely intertwined with individual and group identities. The language(s) we speak often reflect our cultural, ethnic, and regional affiliations. It serves as a means of self-expression and helps to define who we are. Language can reinforce a sense of belonging and community among those who share a common linguistic heritage. For example, speaking a particular dialect or language can signify membership in a specific cultural or ethnic group, and it can foster a sense of pride and solidarity within that community.
• Power: Language is a tool of power that can both empower and marginalize individuals and groups. Dominant languages associated with political, economic, or cultural power tend to exert influence over marginalized languages and communities. The control and dominance of certain languages can create power imbalances. Those who speak the dominant language often have access to greater opportunities, resources, and social privileges, while those who do not may face marginalization, exclusion, and limited access to education, employment, and public services. Language can be used as a means of asserting authority, maintaining social hierarchies, and perpetuating inequalities.
• Discrimination: Language discrimination refers to unfair treatment or exclusion based on an individual’s language use or proficiency. Discrimination can take various forms, including linguistic profiling, language-based stereotypes, or unequal access to opportunities due to language barriers. For example, individuals who speak with a non-standard accent or dialect may be subjected to prejudice or negative assumptions about their intelligence or competence. Language discrimination often intersects with other forms of discrimination, such as racial, ethnic, or national discrimination, amplifying marginalization and reinforcing social inequalities.

Language discrimination can also be institutionalized through language policies that prioritize certain languages over others. Language policies may impose the use of a dominant language in educational, governmental, or business settings, effectively excluding individuals who do not speak the dominant language fluently. Such policies can limit opportunities for social mobility and reinforce existing power structures.

• Language Policies: Language policies play a significant role in shaping the linguistic landscape of a society. Governments, educational institutions, and organizations implement language policies to regulate language use, promote linguistic diversity, or impose the dominance of a particular language. Language policies can have both positive and negative impacts on society.

Positive language policies may aim to protect and promote endangered languages, support bilingual education, or recognize linguistic rights. These policies acknowledge the value of diverse linguistic expressions, foster cultural diversity, and promote inclusivity.

However, language policies can also be used as tools of assimilation, oppression, or exclusion. For instance, policies that impose a dominant language as the medium of instruction in schools may suppress the use of minority languages, eroding cultural heritage and undermining the educational opportunities of marginalized communities. Discriminatory language policies can contribute to social divisions, reinforce power imbalances, and hinder the social, political, and economic advancement of affected groups.

• Linguistic Relativity: Linguistic relativity, also known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, suggests that the language we speak influences our perception of the world and our cognitive processes. Different languages encode and emphasize different concepts, shaping how individuals within a society perceive and interpret reality. For example, languages with grammatical gender may influence perceptions of objects or people based on their assigned gender. Linguistic relativity can impact social dynamics, cultural practices, and worldviews within a society.
• Language as a Vehicle for Social Change: Language can also be a powerful tool for social change, resistance, and empowerment. Communities may reclaim and revitalize marginalized languages as a means of asserting their identities and challenging dominant power structures. Linguistic activism seeks to combat language discrimination, promote linguistic rights, and advocate for linguistic diversity. Inclusive

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Relationship Between Language and Culture Essay

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Introduction

What is culture, relationship between language and culture, role of language in cultural diversity, reference list.

How does culture influence language? An essay isn’t enough to answer this question in detail. The purpose of the paper is to clearly highlight the issue of intercultural communication with reference to language and identity.

Language and culture are intertwined. One cannot define or identify cultural orientations without citing variations in how we speak and write. Thus, to explore the relationship between language and culture, this essay will start by defining the terms separately.

Culture describes variations in values, beliefs, as well as differences in the way people behave (DeVito 2007). Culture encompasses everything that a social group develops or produces.

Element of culture are not genetically transmitted and as such, they have to be passed down from one generation the next through communication. This explains why it is easy to adopt a certain language depending on the shared beliefs, attitudes and values.

The existence of different cultures can be explained using the cultural relativism approach which stipulates that although cultures tend to vary, none is superior to the other (DeVito 2007).

Learning of cultural values can be done through enculturation whereby individuals learn the culture of their birth. Alternatively, one can be acculturated into a culture that is divergent from their basic culture (DeVito 2007).

Language is the verbal channel of communication by articulating words that an individual is conversant with. This is aimed at relaying information. In other words, it is the expression of one’s culture verbally (Jandt 2009).

Language is the first element that helps an individual to distinguish the cultural orientations of individuals. Through language, we are able to differentiate between for example, a Chinese national and a Briton. The main functions of language are generally for information purposes and for the establishment of relationships.

Different cultures perceive the use of language differently. Whereas an American regards it as a useful communication tool, a Chinese will use their language to relay their feelings and to establish relationships.

It is through such variances of language that different cultures have placed on the usage of their language show the link between the two study variables (Jandt 2009).

Intercultural communication refers to communication between people from different cultural backgrounds. Due to the differences in cultures, there is a high probability that a message will be misunderstood and distorted.

Difference in languages leads to challenges in the interpretation of for example, politeness, acts of speech and interaction management. Normally, differences in languages lead to impediments in understanding. This is due to the difference in perception in as far as values are concerned.

Language shapes our lines of thought and as such, it is the core element that shapes how people perceive the world. The way people communicate is largely due to their cultures of origin. Language increases the rate of ethnocentrism in individuals thus furthering their self-centeredness in culture.

As a result, they are less responsive to the different means of communication that are not similar to their own values and beliefs (McGregor eta al 2007).

Language further heightens the aspect of accelerating cultural differences as it openly showcases the variations in communication. In turn, this view tends to impede negatively on intercultural efforts, thereby having a negative impact on the communication between individuals of different cultural orientations.

There is need for individuals to evaluate the usage of language in order to effectively interpret the shared meanings that are meant to be communicated. It is important therefore that individuals from a multi cultural context look at each other beyond their differences in order to enable effective communication.

DeVito, J A. (2006) Human communication the basic course, 10 th edition. Boston, Mass: Pearson / Allyn and Bacon.

Jandt, F E. (2007) An introduction to intercultural communication: identities in global community . Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc.

Mohan, T, McGregor, M T, Saunders, H & Archee, S. (2008) Communicating as a professional . Sydney, Australia: Cengage Learning.

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