LESSON 3: THEORIES IN LANGUAGE AND

CULTURE  [WEEK 11] 

DISCUSSION

The Interconnected between Culture and Language 

We can view the interrelatedness between culture and language in these

three opposing aspects: 
1) Language and culture are inseparable since language is closely related
to culture. 
2) Language and culture are independent because speech is a means
of exchanging information which can be used in aspects that are not
connected to culture. 
3) Culture and language are partly interconnected. 

Kramsch (1998) pointed three ways by which language and culture are
related. 

∙ Ways of doing things and perceptions can be manifested through the use
and arrangement of words. Considering this, people in society convey culture.
∙ People postulate meaning in their daily activities and experiences
through language, and thus, language personifies cultural reality. 
∙ The context of communication where language is used embodies cultural  reality
and speakers distinguish themselves using their language as their  identity. 

Therefore, language is a tool for people to express themselves and put

significance in their social and cultural experiences and reality with others. 
Culture as part of Language 

(Sapir, 1921). 

"Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating

ideas,  emotions and desire by means of voluntarily produced symbols" (Sapir,
1921). 
Risgar (2006)
claims that language is a part of culture and a part of epidermal behavior. It is
predominantly held that the task of language is to put thoughts into words, to
communicate pieces of information and to express feelings. Language fulfills
many other functions as maintaining a friendly societal relationship between
people such as greeting people, expressing needs, etc. In this area of study,
 Kramsch (1962) phrased the main functions of language in three aspects: 
∙ Language is the primary vehicle of communication. 
∙ Language reflects both the personality of the individual and the culture of 
history. In turn, it helps in shaping both personality and culture. 
∙ Language makes possible the growth and transmission of culture, the 
continuity of societies and the effective functioning and control of social
group. 

If we endeavor to learn a foreign language, we need to be acquainted with

the  cultural realities embedded in this foreign language. There must be a distinct
way of  requesting or expressing gratitude and other appropriate ways of
transacting. 
Language, Thought and Culture 

Benjamin Lee Whorf

shared his theory on the significance of language in organizing our thoughts.

He espoused that our ways of looking at the world depend on the type of
language that we use. His example is on the word "snow". The word may mean
differently to and English person and an Eskimo person who may have 50
ways to describe the snow. 
The same holds truth for Sinugbuanong Binisaya or the Cebuano language,
there  are more than one word to mean "eat". There is "painit". "pamahaw". "hab
hab", "sima  sima", "timo", etc. Language therefore is very cultural. The Cebuano
words for eat  basically tells that culturally, Cebuanos have different ways and
practices for eating as  represented by the hue of meaning of these words: (painu,
pamahaw, hab hab, sima 
sima, timo) 

Culture and its Elements 

It is undeniable that we learn culture through interaction with people. Culture

is not inborn but rather learned as it is a social product. Words are the best tools
of cultural symbols, such as epics, myths, and stories. This helps connect people.
Aside from words or language, rituals, beliefs and values are essential in the
formation of culture.  Generally, the elements of culture include the overall
patterns of behavior, literature and language, arts, prototypes and other products
of human work and thought 
Vygotsky's theory 

Lev Vygotsky, a psychologist, believed that social interactions between and

among people are a key element in acquiring knowledge, just like how a child
watches and learns from adults. The more experiences a child has to imitate the
greater his intellectual skills and language development compared to those with
less experience and exposure. Moreover, for Vygotsky, language and culture are
intently  interconnected. He believed that every culture has specific dynamics for
social  transactions 
Piaget's theory 

Jean Piaget contends that when children are born they have an embedded
basic  structure for cognition as well as for language. As they mature, their built-in
structure  also adjusts to let them learn more about complex language and other
higher-order  concepts. In his theory, Piaget stressed that children create
meaning from the verbal  and nonverbal cues received from their environment
and these meanings change as  children learn more because of maturity. Piaget
did not adhere to Vygotsky's idea of  emphasizing culture in learning.
Chomsky's Theory 

Noam Chomsky is known for his Language Acquisition Device (LAD) which is
a  built-in box in the brain responsible for creating and learning the language. For
him,  practice is not important as children never acquire language through it.
Furthermore,  language structures can change, develop and evolve given cultural
interactions.
CHAPTER 5: LANGUAGE AND HISTORY  
[WEEK 12-13] 

INTRODUCTION 

The history of language relied so much on the hands of the great linguists
from the  time it started up to the 20h Century. Language literally and constantly
evolves with  time and its development follows a timeline. In each stage that
language passes  through are footprints of accomplishments of the great
contributors from Ancient  philosophers to modern linguists. From the time
language was first studied and  structured, the transformation of language
artifacts just kept coming. The changes  applied to language miraculously suit to
the generation of its users. With the numerous  language experts the world has,
there are just a few noteworthy linguists whose  contributions are widely adopted
and scrutinized by modern linguists. 

LEARNING OUTCOMES: 
At the end of this Chapter, the students are expected to: 
a. Identify the noteworthy linguists and their contributions to the language that it
is  today; 
b. trace the development of language in a historical; perspective from  Anglo-
Saxon to global periods; 
c. recognize the language family of English and differentiate the three Englishes 
according to the period from Old, Middles, and Modern through in-depth 
historical analysis case. 
 DISCUSSION

LESSON 1: HISTORICAL TIMELINE OF NOTEWORTHY

LINGUISTS Noteworthy Linguists 

Linguistics started to make a mark after Panini composed his Sanskrit

grammar in  India in 400B.C. followed by the

remarkable linguists of Greece in the 5th Century  onwards namely,

Socrates
, Plato, and
Aristotle.

The lineages of linguists that history  records are all noteworthy. However, in
the field of language and history, the following  linguists below are well
remembered. 
1. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) 

In 384 B.C.E, Aristotle was born in Macedonia particularly in Stagira. His

father  served as the physician of the Macedonian king, Amyntas. At 17,
Aristotle entered  the academy which Plato established in Athens and stayed
there until Plato's death.  As the successor of Plato, he departed Athens and
lived in Asia Minor and then  
resided in Lesbos. Later between 343 B. C. - 342 B. C., he was invited by
Amynta's  son, Philip II of Macedonia, to teach his 14- year old son,
Alexander. In 336B. C.,  Alexander took over the throne and conquered the
entire of Greece. So, Aristotle  left and established his school of philosophy.
He taught there until 323 B.C.  Alexander died at age 32. Uncertain of
Macedonian protection, he moved out of  Athens and lived in the Cha lcis,
north of Athens. Later in 322, Aristotle died of a  digestive disease. 

Contribution to Linguistics 
Aristotle's huge contribution to the  
development of language started  
when he demythologized language.  
He looked at it as an object of rational  
inquiry, a medium of communicating  
and expressing thoughts about  
anything under the sun. In Ogden and  
Richards (1923:11), he explained that  
the "semiotic triangle" refers to (a)  
language is human's means of  
expression of (b) thoughts that are  
purposefully connected to (c)  
elements present in this world. In  
other words, he was establishing the  
relation between language expressions including written words with the
mental  meaning produced by these words. In his theory of truth, he provided
that the  properties of either thoughts and sentences are truth and falsity. He
identified the  primary parts of a sentence - the noun and verb, which
functioned as subject and  verb in the sentence. 
2. Robert Lowth (1710 - 1787) 

He was born in Winchester on November  

27, 1710 and was educated at Winchester  
School and New College Oxford. In his  
lifetime, he worked as a Professor of Poetry  
at the University of Oxford. Lowth was a  
clergyman after he served as archdeacon of  
Winchester, rector of East Woodhay,  
prebend of Durham, Bishop of Saint David's,  
bishop of London, dean of the Chapel Royal  
and privy councilor. His noble acts ended  
after he died on November 3, 1787. 

Contribution to Linguistics 

In 1762, he published his book titled,  

"Short Introduction to English Grammar"  
which became a standard textbook. The 
“Short Introduction to English Grammar" instantly gained fame over other
grammar  books that it was reissued approximately 45 times form 1762-1800.
Lowth then  earned a reputation as a prescriptivist and that period gave rise to
prescriptivism.  The term prescriptivism refers to beliefs and practices where
one's language is  thought to be superior and correct and should be
promoted. The explicit rules are  laid down as the basis of the imposition on
the language users. He was one of the  few grammarians to publish writing
 about what is right and wrong in English  grammar where he used footnotes
that contain essential information that explained  why a particular grammatical
structure was right or wrong (Encyclopedia.com,  2019). 
3. Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) 

In 1857, Ferdinand de Saussure was  

born in Geneva, Switzerland. He was  
interested in languages even at his very  
early age. At 15, learned French, Greek,  
English, and Latin and he also wrote  
essays on languages at that age. Having  
been influenced by a family of scientists,  
he entered the University of Geneva and  
studied natural sciences. He stayed at the  
university, but he had convinced his  
parents to permit him to study linguistics  
in Leipzig in 1876 and luckily received his  
doctorate. 

Contribution to Linguistics 

As a linguist, he was among the  

pillars of linguistics in the 20th Century and known as a co-founder of
semiotics and  structuralism. Structuralism theorizes that things could not be
understood without  analyzing the context where they appear. Things might
 look self-evident at first  glance, but structuralism goes beyond what one sees
and insists that context  contributes to the meaning- making process. 
In summary, structuralism advocated three similar concepts: a) Saussure 
maintained the difference between langue (a set of conventions and rules)
and  parole (language as used in daily life). He claimed that the "sign" was a 
combination of a "signified", the mental concept or idea, and a "signifier", the 
physical existence including s ounds and image; b) There was no intrinsic
and  particular reason why a sign was utilized to express a signifier. There
was no  resemblance and direct connection between the language and the
thing that it  represents, that's why, other languages call it using different
names; and c) The  meaning of signs can be based on their relationships and
differences from other  signs (Negi, 2020).

Example:  
SIGN  SIGNIFIER  SIGNIFIED

rose  Passion

rose The thing that gives   The mental association or  concept that
meaning including word or  the sign  
image represents
4. Noam Chomsky 

His name, when written in full,  

Avram Noam Chomsky. He was born  
in Pennsylvania in 1928. He pursued  
his interest in linguistics under Zellig  
Harris, theprofessor who helped him  
earn his doctorate at the University of  
Pennsylvania. During his time, he was  
also regarded as the Father of Modem  
LInguistics, a philosopher, a social  
critic, a cognitive scientist, and a  
political activist. 

At age 13, Ch omsky began  

traveling to New. York by himself,  
where he discovered interesting 
reading materials for his extreme reading hobby and befriended some Jewish 
intellectuals. He worked as a Laureate Professor at the University of Arizona
and  as an Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology  (MIT) and had authored some notable works such as The
Logical Structure of  Linguistic Theory and Aspects of the Theory of Syntax,
Necessary Illusions:  Thought Control in Democratic Societies and Syntactic
Structures, 
Contribution to Linguistics 
 As one of the linguistic intellectuals, he introduced the concept of
universal  grammar and suggested that human has an ability to ability to learn
grammar  because the brain has a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) that
automatically  works in language acquisition. Chomsky, who often focused on
the language  learning of children, popularized this theory since the 1980s. He
was not convinced  that exposure to language alone can fully develop the
child's faculty to acquire a  language. Instead, he believed that basic language
structures are already wired  into the human brain at birth. Besides, the
human language has universal  components no matter what language it is.
For instance the English language has  verbs and nouns, and so do other
languages even it the terms being used vary due  to language differences.
The word "house in Enghsh is named as Bahay in the  Filipino language.
These terms sound and spell the distinctly from each other, yet  they belong
to one category, they are both nouns. Therefore, language shares the  same
universal components of grammar.