8.6 Culture contact, cultural overlap and diffusion Contacts between peoples with different cultures usually lead to change in one or both systems. Traditionally, three forms of culture contact are identified: acculturation, assimilation, and amalgamation.

Culture contact Acculturation (同化过程） is the process of changing in material culture, traditional practices, and beliefs that occurs when one group’s cultural system interferes with that of another, directly or indirectly challenging the latter to adapt to the ways of the former. Such change has characterized most political conquests and expansions over the centuries, which accounts for the borrowing of many French words in English for instance.

Assimilation Assimilation （吸收）is the process whereby individuals for groups of differing ethnicity are absorbed into the dominant culture of a society----though not always completely. The most typical example for this is “the melting pot”.

Amalgamation （文化融合） Amalgamation (or hybridization) occurs when a society becomes ethnically mixed in a way that represents a synthesis rather than the elimination or absorption of one group by another.

Cultural overlap Cultural overlap refers to the identical part of culture between two societies owing to some similarities in the natural environment and psychology of human beings. For example, the superior tends to refer to himself or herself by means of kinship terms, such as “Have daddy/mummy/teacher told you that?”

Cultural diffusion （文化扩散） Through communication, some elements of culture A enter culture B and become part of culture B, this phenomenon is known as cultural diffusion. One typical example of cultural diffusion is the appearance of loan words. The practice of observing holidays of foreign origins and accepting concepts from other cultures. The attitude towards cultural diffusion (esp. cultural imperialism owing to linguistic imperialism)