LANGUAGE AND CULTURAL MEANING (part 2)

Lexical and Cultural Categories Taxonomic systems: The classification system that orders things in a logical hierarchical way, a system that orders by indicating natural relationships Semantic domains: an aggregate of words (words put together). All sharing a core meaning, related to a specific topic Example: Kinship terms, body-parts words, or colours

Language expresses Cultural focus: cultural priorities Transformation Relationship to members in society

Why are semantic domains important? Speaker’s perception of his/her cultural universe Degree of cultural interest innovation, extension of semantic domains Shows how language and meaning changes over time

Lexical (vocabulary) components Kinship terminology comparison Peoples’ priorities in social relations Usage of words to name relatives Mother, father, son, daughter, etc

The analysis of these contrasts reveals that First: there is a distinction between generations grandmother/mother, father/son Two: there is a distinction of sex: father/mother, son/daughter Third: there is also a distinction between direct and collateral relatives: mother/aunt, son/nephew

Componential analysis Determines significance of contrast by isolating components of meanings Example kinship terminology ---Younger generation-female-lineal= daughter ---Older generation-male-lineal = grandfather

Kinship terminology not a universal (Seneca ) Iroquoian languages (Quebec, Ontario, and New York) My Grandmother and her sisters: one word My Grandfather and his brothers: one word My Mother and mother’s sister: one word My Father and father’s brother: one word

Seneca Kinship Terminology Different terms for for older and younger siblings My mother’s sister’s daughter –sister My mother’s sister’s son = son My Father’s brother’s daughter = sister My father’s brother’s son – brother

Lexical classifications Classification of words to make sense of speech Degrees of complexity Ambiguity: Whale fish or mammal Classification indicates: cultural interest discrimination

Ethnoscience A classification system in a given domain that organizes people’s knowledge of aspects of their universe, as, for example, botanical or zoological terminologies. Ethnoscientific systems are based on taxonomic hierarchies of similarity and contrast.

Classification of words is cultural specific Papagos (Arizona) Life is divided: living things and plants Word for living = animals Animals are the prototype (best example) of living things among the Papagos

Focal points and prototypes Focal point or a word is its central sense Best example Agreed upon by culture Prototype: idealized, internalized conceptualization of an object, quality or activity Understood in the context of culture

Cultural Presuppositions. Cultural presupposition is the notion that participants in speech interactions come to interactive situations with certain cultural knowledge.. Transmitted language. Some more complex: symbolic, rhetorical

Summary Worldviews are expressed through language use Language frames intentions and activities Framing accomplished through contrasting of words, classification of words Language use expresses cultural models

Discussion Question: How do cultural models provide frameworks for understanding the physical and social world we live in?