Reza Pishghadam; Shima Ebrahimi; Ali Derakhshan
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 05 July 2020
Abstract
The close relationship between language and culture has been highlighted by scholars in sociology, sociolinguistics, ethnography of communication, psychology, and linguistics. They postulate that language is a tool to instantiate cultural concepts and delineate how individuals perceive the world. Regarding ...
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The close relationship between language and culture has been highlighted by scholars in sociology, sociolinguistics, ethnography of communication, psychology, and linguistics. They postulate that language is a tool to instantiate cultural concepts and delineate how individuals perceive the world. Regarding such an outstanding impetus and triggered by the conceptualization of cultulings (culture in language), language structures and expressions can manifest the overt and covert cultural patterns. Not only can the cultuling analysis of a society disclose the cultural patterns entrenched in the language, but also it can unearth the effective and defective cultural memes. To this end, our cultural model, underpinned by environmental factors, cultural, emo-sensory, and linguistic differences, can provide a robust model to analyze cultulings of a given society. Therefore, to analyze and explain the cultulings, the cultural, emotioncy, and SPEAKING models are suggested to be collectively utilized to reflect the participants’ culture. The amalgamation of these models and the underlying environmental factors can delineate people’s specific behaviors and cultulings which can culminate in euculturing.
Jose Fernandez
Volume 8, Issue 1 , Winter and Spring 2020, , Pages 16-24
Abstract
John Searle’s theory of social ontology posits that there are indispensable normative components in the linguistic apparatuses termed status functions, collective intentionality, and collective recognition, all of which, he argues, make the social world. In this paper, I argue that these building ...
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John Searle’s theory of social ontology posits that there are indispensable normative components in the linguistic apparatuses termed status functions, collective intentionality, and collective recognition, all of which, he argues, make the social world. In this paper, I argue that these building blocks of Searle’s social ontology are caught in a petitio of constitutive circularity. Moreover, I note how Searle fails to observe language in reciprocal relation to the institutions which not only are shaped by it but also shape language’s practical applications. According to Searle, social theorists that tried to show a connection between society, culture, and language all failed to see the constitutive role of language in the making of social reality. Consequently, I believe that Searle is himself guilty of a certain kind of blind presumption, and argue that Hegel’s philosophy of culture, which Searle dismisses as implausible, offers a more cohesive account of the normative transactions between human beings and their social world.
Rajabali Askarzadeh Torghabeh
Volume 7, 2 (Special Issue on Iranians Views of Cultural Issues) , Summer and Autumn 2019, , Pages 69-79
Abstract
This study has analyzed the culture and language of the American Dream in Blue Surge. It shows the effects of the formula of success and the competition presented by this dream; and, how it produces neurotic individuals trying to cope with the competitive society by means of neurotic strategies. This ...
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This study has analyzed the culture and language of the American Dream in Blue Surge. It shows the effects of the formula of success and the competition presented by this dream; and, how it produces neurotic individuals trying to cope with the competitive society by means of neurotic strategies. This study has used Karen Horney’s theories and strategies. Horney says neurosis is engendered from the conflicting values of the competitive culture such as the absence of means to fulfill goals which are set for the individuals and harsh childhood experiences. The paper has analyzed the main characters’ languages, their psyches, and their defensive strategies according to Horney’s theories of Neurotic needs, which consider cultural elements as an important factor in producing neurotic individuals. The results show that the members of this society, the rich and the poor, all become neurotic individuals who are searching for defensive strategies, since individuals are living a social life and cannot escape its consequences.
Mohammad Hossein Keshavarz; Majed Amro
Volume 7, Issue 1 , Winter and Spring 2019, , Pages 40-51
Abstract
This study aimed at investigating the attitude of Muslim students towards the use of certain English idioms and proverbs. Thirty Muslim students were asked to express their reactions and feelings towards two categories of English idioms and proverbs: the first category included idioms and proverbs containing ...
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This study aimed at investigating the attitude of Muslim students towards the use of certain English idioms and proverbs. Thirty Muslim students were asked to express their reactions and feelings towards two categories of English idioms and proverbs: the first category included idioms and proverbs containing the names of animals that are prohibited in Islam, and the second category contained culturally inappropriate idioms and proverbs. The results of data analysis revealed that idioms and proverbs belonging to the first group were found by the majority of the participants to be rather offensive, while culturally inappropriate idioms and proverbs were less offensive. This indicates that religion is the main influential factor in the reaction of Muslim students towards English idioms. Non-Muslim English teachers may find the results of this study useful in gaining awareness about the attitudes of Muslim students towards the use of religiously and culturally-loaded idioms and proverbs and taking precautions in using such idioms in the classroom environment.
Qianqian Geng
Volume 6, Issue 2 , Summer and Autumn 2018, , Pages 113-124
Abstract
This paper explores the relationship between cultural knowledge and the specific meaning of a pronominal adverb in legal English where Chinese translators need to get the correct translation in their venture into translating the language of law. On the one hand, relying on the relevant legal cultural ...
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This paper explores the relationship between cultural knowledge and the specific meaning of a pronominal adverb in legal English where Chinese translators need to get the correct translation in their venture into translating the language of law. On the one hand, relying on the relevant legal cultural knowledge functioning as domain-general reference within a community or jurisdiction, translators, especially those non-lawyers, may find out the common grounds for decoding the meaning of linguistic expressions in source legal English and adopt such commonalities as bases for further exploring the specific meaning of a pronominal adverb, which would let translators, no matter a professional lawyer or not, get the general sketch of the meaning thereof. On the other hand, such efforts to consult the general sense cultural information need further extraction. Since the framework information out of such extraction would be organized into a systematic structure and lead to their final determination of the translation with efficiency.
Wyman King; Richard Emanuel; Xavier Brown; Niroby Dingle; Vertis Lucas; Anissa Perkins; Ayzia Turner; Destinee Whittington; Qwa'dryna Witherspoon
Volume 6, Issue 2 , Summer and Autumn 2018, , Pages 47-58
Abstract
The N-word is the ultimate insult that has tormented generations of African-Americans. Yet over time, N-word derivatives have become popular terms of endearment by the descendants of the very people who once had to endure the N-word. Therein lies the root of an ongoing argument in society today: Who ...
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The N-word is the ultimate insult that has tormented generations of African-Americans. Yet over time, N-word derivatives have become popular terms of endearment by the descendants of the very people who once had to endure the N-word. Therein lies the root of an ongoing argument in society today: Who has the ‘right’ to use the N-word and N-word derivatives? A quota sample (N=347) of undergraduate students at a historically Black college/university in the deep-South participated in this survey study. Participants were mostly Black (88%) and female (62%). Using a five-point semantic differential scale from ‘always’ to ‘never’, participants were asked the degree to which they believe it is acceptable to use the N-word and N-word derivatives. A majority (76%) of respondents agreed that it is never acceptable for non-Blacks to use the N-word with anyone in any situation. Fifty-six percent of respondents agreed that it is never acceptable for anyone to use N-word derivatives with anyone in any situation.