Relationship between Language,

culture, and Identity

Presented to:
Miss Urooj Alvi
Presented by:
Tayyba Bashir
Amna Shamir
Memoona

Contents
Introduction
Language
Culture
Identity
Culture Influence Language
Language influence culture
Relationship between Language,
Culture and Identity
Conclusion
References

Introduction
Language and culture are intricately
related and dependent on each other.
Language is formed by culture, while
culture is influenced and impacted by
language.
Without language, culture cannot be
completely acquired nor can it be
effectively
expressed
and
transmitted.
Without culture, language cannot
exist.

Introduction
Membership in a culture influences
identity. Assumptions, beliefs, and
values shared with others are a
large part of feeling something in
common with other people.
Identification with a culture results
in striving to gain membership in
that culture.

Langu
age

Identit
y

Cultur
e

Language
Language can be defined as the
system of communication
comprising codes and symbols
which are used by humans to
store, retrieve, organize structure
and communicate knowledge and
experience.
It is the primary instrument in the
expression, transmission, and
adaptation of culture.
The learning
of a second or
culture
Identity

Culture
It is a set of beliefs, values,
norms, customs, traditions,
rituals, and a way of life that
differentiates one group from
another.

Culture
culture has the ability to
acquire new characteristics
and forms. It is dynamic its permutations can take
place from one generation
to another or from one
geographical location to
another.

Identity
Norton (1997) defines identity
as,
How people understand their
relationship to the outside world,
how that relationship is constructed
across time and space, and how
people
understand
their
possibilities for the future (p. 410).

Note
Language, culture and
Identity are dynamic ,
complex and ongoing
processes.

Culture Influence Language

Lexicon, grammar rules, codes
and rules of linguistic
communication are all entirely
formed by cultural elements like
natural environment, economic
systems, types of social
relationships etc. etc.

Cultural premises and rules

about speaking are
intricately tied up with

Example
There numerous words to
describe snow used in
the languages of peoples
living in cold countries.
For example freshlyfallen, icy, packing snow
etc.

Language influence
culture

While on the one hand culture shapes

languages, on the other hand language
is also formed by them. Language is the
medium of culture.
Example:
This is clearly seen in immigrant
societies, for example, in America.
These immigrants are accustomed to a
certain
language,
and
therefore,
despite the assimilation, will continue
to use it and keep it alive, creating
different and cultured societies in this
foreign land to keep the language alive.

Language influence
culture
Furthermore, not only is language

an
expression and a display of heritage and
history, it is also the component of
culture that makes it unique, and that
creates a difference from one to another.
Linguistic differences are also often
seen as the mark of another culture, and
they very commonly create divisiveness
among neighboring peoples or even
among different groups of the same
nation. This explains how language can
be a pathway to culture.

Language and Thought

Thought processes and
perceptions of reality differ
from one culture to another.
How people think and speak is
ultimately determined largely
by their culture. We call this
Linguistic Relativity.

Linguistic Relativity
Benjamin Lee Whorf Language
and thought are so intertwined
that ones language determines
the categories of thought open
to him or her.
simply stated, the Sapir Whorf hypothesis
says, that the content of a language is
directly related to the content of a culture
and the structure of a language is directly
related to the structure of a culture.

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Language is not simply a
means of reporting
experience; rather, it is also a
way of defining experience.
Linguistic relativity is the degree
to which language influences
human thought and meanings.
linguistic differences between
cultures are associated with
cultural differences in thinking.

Relationship between Language,

Culture and Identity

Culture and language shape

ones
identity
and
personality. There is much
importance of culture and
language to ones individual
identity.
Language is a
powerful
instrument
of
identity and belonging.

levels of identification
There are
numerous
levels of
identifica
tion that
are
conveyed
by means
of
language:

The national level

Rank or social class
Level of sexual
identity or gender
The level of
generation
The level of
professional identity
Culture

The national level

The national level and the
ethnic and/or regional one,
that for historical reasons
play a significant role and on
which we will dwell shortly.

Rank or social class

The expressions we use when
speaking to others always
reflect the status relationship
between them and us;
close, friendly relations or
formal reserve, respect and
deference require different
forms of exchange.

Level of sexual identity

or gender

In all societies the proper way

for women to speak is different
from that for men, a difference
that sometimes goes as far as to
the methodical use of a special
vocabulary
and
of
different
syntactical
structures.
In
European societies it is usually
inappropriate for a woman to use
expressions that are too strong
and
direct,
or
to
use

The level of generation

The words that teenagers use are
very distinct from what the older
generations might use.
Teen speak is very good marker of
identity for teenagers. Similarly,
adults and elderly people use
words that teenagers wouldn't
usually use, so they would be
markers of identity for adults.

The level of professional

identity

The identifying cohesive

element here is the sharing
of technical and special
languages, of jargon that is
not familiar to the
community at large.

Example
One only has to think, for
example, of the jargon used by
computer programmers,
but also, albeit in a more subtle
way, by university students
where professional
characteristics blend with those
of generation and often of social
class, giving rise to very
interesting combinations.

Culture
Whether you speak with a
French, Italian, Greek, Indian,
Chinese or Jamaican accent when
you speak English reveals maybe
that English is your second
language and that you actually
grew up in another country and
you spoke a different language.

Cont
Your grammar may be a little
different and people will
think that you are speaking
"bad English" but that is not
the encouraged perspective
people should be taking, it is
just a result of grammar from
another language being
adopted into the person's
speech when they speak

Conclusion
The theoretical perspectives discussed
above suggest a distinctively
inseparable relationship between
language, culture, and identity.
Individual personal attributes do not
predetermine ones destiny in life but
are intricately enmeshed into a complex
scenario with other dimensions: ones
own cultural values, the sociocultural
context, language ideology, power
relations, the politics of language,
which impact upon ones identity

References
E. Sapir, Culture, Language and Personality, (ed.
D.G. Mandelbaum), Berkeley 1958, [p./pp.?].
B.L. Whorf, Language, Thought and Reality, (ed.
J.B. Carroll), Cambridge 1956, [p./pp.?].
Norton, B. (1977). Language, identity and the
ownership of English. TESOL Quarterley, 31(3),
409-429.
Language and Culture. Think Quest. Think
Quest. Web. 31 Jan. 2011.
<http://library.thinkquest.org/C004367/la5.shtml
>.

THANK YOU