NAJD 493 Some Definitions of Language & Culture

Definitions of Language 1) Language as Code Traditionally, language is viewed as a code. In this view, language is made up of words and a series of rules that connect words together. If language is only viewed in this way, language learning just involves learning vocabulary and the rules for constructing sentences. This understanding of language is, however, a very narrow one. It sees language as fixed and finite and does not explore the complexities involved in using language for communication.

Definitions of Language 2) Language as Social Practice An understanding of language as ‘open, dynamic, energetic, constantly evolving and personal’(Shohamy, 2007:5) encompasses the rich complexities of communication….Language is something that people do in their daily lives and something they use to express, create and interpret meanings and to establish and maintain social and interpersonal relationships. (

Definitions of Language Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols." (Edward Sapir,, Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1921)

Definitions of Language We can define language as a system of communication using sounds or symbols that enables us to express our feelings, thoughts, ideas, and experiences. (E. Bruce Goldstein, Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience, 2nd ed. Thomson, 2008)

Definitions of Culture "Most social scientists today view culture as consisting primarily of the symbolic, ideational, and intangible aspects of human societies. The essence of a culture is not its artifacts, tools, or other tangible cultural elements but how the members of the group interpret, use, and perceive them. It is the values, symbols, interpretations, and perspectives that distinguish one people from another in modernized societies; it is not material objects and other tangible aspects of human societies. People within a culture usually interpret the meaning of symbols, artifacts, and behaviors in the same or in similar ways." (Banks, J.A., Banks, & McGee, C. A. (1989). Multicultural education. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. )

Definitions of Culture "Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another." (p. 51). (Hofstede, G. (1984). National cultures and corporate cultures. In L.A. Samovar & R.E. Porter (Eds.), Communication Between Cultures. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.)

Definitions of Culture "Culture has been defined in a number of ways, but most simply, as the learned and shared behavior of a community of interacting human beings.” (p. 169). (Useem, J., & Useem, R. (1963). Human Organizations, 22(3).)