Language and Culture

1. Language and Culture McCool Chapter 3

2. Language and Culture • Miscommunication • Personal differences • Cultural differences

3. Language and Thought • Connection between language and thought • Extreme nativism – language is innate • Whorfian hypothesis – language determines how a person thinks • Strong version • Weak version • Most are in the middle and believe that a combination of innate and learned traits connect language and thought • What role does culture play? • What do you think?

4. Attitude Toward Language • Low context cultures • Language as an effective tool for communication • Language is practical • Words and meaning are clearly connected • Verbal elements of communication • High context cultures • Language as a secondary and ineffective tool for communication • Language is aesthetic • Words and meaning are often ambiguous and complex • Nonverbal elements of communication • Silence • Implicit association – metaphor • Poetry is valued

5. Digital and Analog • Writer responsible, low context • Assumes that language will convey information and meaning precisely • Language is effective for communication • Explicit, clear writing • Reader-responsible, high context • Assumes that language will carry information and meaning imperfectly • Language is used in addition to other methods of communication • Deep meanings are embedded in the words used

6. Clarity and Ambiguity • Clarity is most important feature of good writing • Direct addresses and responses are desired • Clear statements of achievements are not disrespectful • Ambiguity suggests that the writer does not understand the topic or has not researched it enough • Okay to write about topics a teacher or authority figure will disagree with • Ambiguity is valued because it maintains group harmony • Indirect addresses and responses are desired • Humility is important • Directness is often viewed as disrespectful • Power distance and authority must be respected

7. Formality and Informality • Emphasis on pronouns reflecting status (Ud.) • New ideas from people with low status are rarely considered • Communication style depends on power distance • Humility and modesty • May come across as insincere flattery • No special pronouns reflecting status; equality is valued • New ideas from anyone are considered • Communication style does not depend on power distance • May come across as disrespectful

8. Emotion and Writing • Unemotional, detached writing • Analytical reasoning, logic, evidence • Emotion is seen to cloud rational thinking • Emotions in writing • Emotional appeals are valued • Emotion is seen to be persuasive

9. Negative Statements • Saying things in the affirmative (“It is good”) is valued in optimistic cultures • Saying things in the negative (“It is not bad”) is valued in more pessimistic cultures – both demotes positive statements and promotes negative statements

10. Let’s Look at An Example • There are at least 40 “mistakes” that the salesperson uses in this video. • Do these fit into the categories that McCool creates in Chapter 3? • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZVzMQGc6cY&feature=related