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Writer's pictureAaryan Patil

The Interaction of Language and Culture

When language and culture are discussed, the proverb "language is culture and culture is language" is frequently used. It's because of their complicated, homologous relationship. Together, language and culture have evolved, influencing one another. According to American cultural anthropologist Alfred L. Krober, culture began when speech was possible, and from that point on, the enrichment of either one contributed to the other's continued development.


If culture results from human interactions, then communication is how those interactions are expressed within a given community. A speech community, according to Italian philosopher Ferruccio Rossi-Landi, is made up of all the messages that have been transmitted among people using a language that the entire society can understand. His work on philosophy, semiotics, and linguistics. Young children pick up their language and culture from the society they were born into, Rossi-Landi added. They improve their cognitive skills as they discover new things. Professor Michael Silverstein, who teaches psychology, linguistics, and anthropology at the University of Chicago, claims that the communicative pressure of culture connects various contexts and represents parts of reality. It means that putting things into the current context also involves using symbols to express events, identities, feelings, and ideas.


Language may easily be used to indicate cultural identity. However, we also use language to convey speaker intentions and depict processes and developments. Languages exclusive to certain cultural groupings are mentioned.


We refer to an ethnic group's values, fundamental presumptions, behavioral norms, beliefs, and attitudes collectively as their culture. The group's individual members' behavior and their interpretations of the implications of each member's behavior are influenced by this set of characteristics.


The characteristics of culture are expressed through language. Language is another way that we identify distinctive elements of our cultures.


All of this implies that acquiring and teaching a second language is necessary for international cooperation and communication. Understanding various languages makes it easier to understand other nations and their distinctive cultures. Once more, this demonstrates the fundamental importance of the connection between language and culture.


It is via oral education, not imitation, that we learn about culture. If the learner is still a young child, there may be some imitation. We can comprehend social control mechanisms, goods, abilities, and tactics better with language. For the community, spoken language provides a huge amount of useful information. This speeds up the process of learning new skills and adapting to different contexts or situations.


The development of writing accelerated the spread of culture. Information dissemination got significantly simpler as a result of writing's permanent nature. And this process keeps developing and speeding up as a result of the development of printing and the rise in literacy.


The availability of translation services globally and modern methods for quick communication transmission across the globe via broadcasting help make usable knowledge available to individuals everywhere in the world. As a result, the rapid transfer, availability, and interchange of social, political, technological, and scientific knowledge help the entire world.





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