Language and Culture Essay

Language and civilization return a fluid transactionhip. They both interact and shape the structure by means of which individuals provoke mediate their lives within a social context. Language and finish ar immanent forces that help to define and open up the port we understand various dimensions of our lives, whether done the jackpot media and advertising, science and engineering science, slang, diverse lexicon, changes of messages. This study go away aim to break down the proper(postnominal) forums done which oral conversation is useful to finale and how last forms the mechanisms and strategies by means of which we use terminology.I harbor begin with a disputeion of the relationship between quarrel and culture and then move on to the divers(prenominal) paradigms that contain detail uses of terminology. To begin, it de persona be helpful to lay a framework upon which to build a working definition of wrangle. According to the University of Princetons onl ine dictionary, language is a dogmatic means of communication by the use of sounds or conventional symbols (Language). This is unsophisticated enough for us to understand that language acts as a intermediate for communicating.The key terms to highlight present are systematic as well symbols because they stretch the function of the definition to include the power that institutions founder over language as well as the way that language derriere crack and change through with(predicate) semiotics. As a system, language relies upon a specific and formal set of rules in order to function. Grammar, syntax, slang, and meaning are all elicited from the rules of language. The institution of a particular language also varies greatly depending on socio-economic factors as well as through educational strategies.For example, with the rise of information technology and the internet as well as through global capitalism, the English language has taken focus on be as a pseudo-global langu age due to its far comer capacity and its prevalence in scientific and technological innovations. It will be interesting to see how the mapping of English changes as the world becomes smaller through interconnectivity and the rise of other global languages such as Chinese. assorted cultures, through different languages, render different modes of expression and understanding that give rise to cultural diversity.Cultural diversity relies upon the comparing and contrasting mechanisms through which meaning is ingrained. Semiotics is the realm of language that is concerned with signs and signification. Language is the shot through which we identify particular signs and accord them a meaning, or a signification. This is important because through the sign, or symbol, a culture places specific connotations beyond the traditional denotative structure of language. Language both identifies and distinguishes. This is where varying mediums run across a signifi apprizet role on the way cul tures digest and create their lives through language.To illustrate how this works, I will next discuss the role that the mass media has on both the language of culture and the culture of language. The lateralization of mass media and advertising over the realms of cross cultural communication cannot be underestimated. Through advertisements, newspapers, television, radio, and the internet, people across the world have instant find to a constant stream of information that shapes the way we live our lives. This can have both positive and negative impacts. On the positive side, mass media acts a vehicle for cross cultural dialogue.It provides people with a rough-cut language and a common set of terms through which to discuss the pressing issues of the day. The information presented is current and has a specific point of focus. Depending on a persons cultural dispose and through which channel of mass media they travel on the information highway, the meaning of the information chan ges dramatically. In this way, two people from different cultures can watch the same news clip and come away from the experience with two completely different understandings from the same language and information.On the negative side of mass media we can point to what cultural theorists beginning with Antonio Gramsci have termed cultural hegemony. This names a dual process through which competing ideologies are struggled forbidden on the stage of culture and through which subversive or outsider paradigms are brought into the governing plain of culture in order to assimilate and therefore correct the conflict of interests (Chandler). This applies to our discussion of language and culture because it helps explain how the role of the media frames trusted issues in order to parlay a particular point of view.For example, here in America hegemony can be witnessed through the way trick News presents its conservative political agenda against the way that Comedy rudimentary portrays i ts progressive politics through shows like the fooling Show. The language presented and apply in media relies upon subtle ideological functioning in order to indicate at an agenda or viewpoint instead of simply communicating said purpose. As mentioned before, language both identifies and distinguishes. As in the old example of news presentation, we can see how play a joke on News identifies its hearing through its conservative ideology.By identifying as they do, they also distinguish themselves from the liberal-leaning Daily Show audience. It will be interesting to see how much, if any, influence Fox News can have during the Obama presidency and the rise of liberalism after relying so heavily upon Republican and conservative politics through the Bush administration. The shift in the power of balance in American politics will sway the tide of public opinion in the arena of culture that hegemony frames. We can also witness the way science and technologies rely upon specific uses of language in order to elucidate communication and meaning.Perhaps this arena of culture illustrates the example best. Science and technology create paradigms of knowledge. By this, we can see how biochemists al just about literally speak another language than thermonuclear physicists in their professional lives. Again, this is not a positive or a negative situation it is a cultural practice that plays itself out through particular frameworks of understanding the world. Another interesting example of how science and technology play out in the realm of language is to consider the macro level.As hinted at earlier, science and technology, with their innovations originating largely from the United States and Japan, have consisted and evolved through the language of not just professional jargon, but specifically and about exclusively through English. In his innovative essay, Translingual Travel The treatment intrust of Cultural Hegemony, Chinese cultural theorist Dai Xun writes of the impact this phenomenon has in China, The master(a) premise in the rise of cultural hegemony is the advantages and control western countries make happy over science, technology and information (Xun).This is another form of cultural hegemony that phases out periphery languages at the cost of integrating English into the global vocabulary as well as forming the unbalanced socio-economic relationships of our age. Language is utilized for specific purposes through systematic controls and symbolic gestures. That being said, language is not a monolithic and static entity. Although language relies on specific grammatical and syntactic rules, cultures have always innovated and bent the rules of grammar in an effort to assert their erratic cultural conditions.The rise of slang is one of the most important and culturally reinforcing tactics that marginal groups use to coalesce and self-identify. Slang is a part of language, and it follows that it serves again to identify as well as to distinguish. One of the most striking examples of slang can be witnessed in hip-hop unison. blame is rapidly becoming a global phenomena and it goes beyond just the music to include fashion, dancing, music making and lifestyle.In this way, the slang the hip-hop corporation uses separates them from other groups while also helping them to identify with like-minded people. Hegemony in the realm of hip-hop can help explain how power relations work themselves out through culture. In its infancy, hip-hop was a culture unique to African-Americans in inner-city America. With its popularity and rise through mass media, white, middle-class teenagers are adopting hip-hop into their lifestyles and trying to identify with the conditions that gave rise to it.This is how dominant culture integrates what was antecedently a subversive and politically threatening subculture into the mainstream. Now we see hip-hop artists in childrens cartoons, at suburban schools and in the malls. In conclusion, language and culture maintain mutually reinforcing relationship. Both dominant and subversive forms of communication are played out on the arena of cultural hegemony. This condition goes beyond the traditional positive/negative paradigm of culture. What is important to many cultures can have very little significance to others.Works CitedChandler, Daniel. (2000). Gramsci and Hegemony. red ink Media Theory. Retrieved December 22, 2008 from http//www. aber. ac. uk/media/Documents/marxism/marxism10. html Language. (2008). Wordnet. Princeton University. Retrieved December 22, 2008 from http//wordnetweb. princeton. edu/perl/webwn? s=language Xun, Dai. (2008). Translingual Travel The Discourse Practice of Cultural Hegemony. Southwest Normal University. Retrieved December 22, 2008 from www. ln. edu. hk/eng/staff/eoyang/icla/Translingual%20Travel