Recent photos

A nest of electricity boxes

Some place in Namur with scalps

C. Kramsch differentiates between culture and language

Dit is een  verder ongerelateerde maar wel mooie foto die ik in Namibië nam. Er was een verzameling provisorische hutjes, waar deze, geheel uit frisdrankblikjes opgetrokken, er één van was. Dit stond in de buurt van een verkoppunt voor al dan niet zelfgemaakte kettingen en armbandjes. Ik denk dat de hutjes daar stonden om de verkopers tegen de zon te beschermen zolang als er geen kopers in de buurt waren (vaak, want het was midden in de woestijn). Het kan natuurlijk ook dat de hutjes zelf de attractie waren.

I had a lot of fun reading the first chapter of Language and culture by Claire Kramsch, especially because I didn't fully agree with what she was saying, although I found it interesting. Apparently creativity breeds from disagreement, because after reading and avidly typed the following, which I would now like to share with you.

In the chapter “The relationship of Language and Culture”, Kramsch makes a differentiation between language and culture, however closely related they are to her.

“Culture is the product of socially and historically situated discourse communities, that are to a large extent imagined communities, created and shaped by language.” (p 10)

“Language is a system of signs that is seen as having itself a cultural value. Speakers identify themselves and others through their use of language; they view their language as a symbol of their social identity. The prohibition of its use is often perceived by its speakers as a rejection of their social group and their culture. Thus we can say that language symbolizes cultural reality. (p3, original emphasis) 

Yet I feel the following passages prove otherwise, namely that language and culture are not separate, but the same. Culture is “language by other means”, or language is “spoken culture”.

 “Culture both liberates and constrains. It liberates by investing the randomness of nature with meaning, order and rationality and by providing safeguards against chaos; it constrains by imposing a structure on nature and by limiting the range of possible meanings created by the individual.” (p 10)

“Common attitudes, beliefs and values are reflected in the way members of the group use language – for example, what they choose to say or not to say and how they say it. Thus, in addition to the notion of speech community composed of people who use the same linguistic code, we can speak of discourse communities to refer to the common ways in which members of a social group use language to meet their social needs. Not only the grammatical, lexical, and phonological features of their language (for example, teenage talk, professional jargon, political rhetoric) differentiate them from others, but also the topics they choose to talk about, the way they present information, the style with which they interact, in other words their discourse accent.” (p6-7, original emphasis)

“The way in which people use the spoken, written, or visual medium itself creates meanings that are understandable to the group they belong to, for example, through a speaker's tone of voice, accent, conversational style, gestures and facial expressions. Through all its verbal and non-verbal aspects, language embodies cultural reality.” (p3, original emphasis.)

It surprises me that even in an introductory work to the relation between language and culture, the idea that the two are the same thing through different means is not expressed. It is not such a far stretch of concepts, but it makes a lot more sense than to separate them.

As Kramsch suggests, culture helps to structure the chaos of nature, and invests specific objects, places and actions with meaning. It allows people to share common understandings, assumptions and expectations. Language does the exact same, but instead of associating e.g. white flowers or the graveyard with the idea of death, it associates the sound sequence /dεθ/ with the idea of death.

The sound sequence may be a more accessible and quick way of expressing the idea than the flowers or the graveyard, and the flowers or the graveyard give a more total experience: you can see, smell and touch them. They are also things of themselves, whereas /dεθ/ is nothing other than the sound sequence. Thus the relation between the sound sequence and the concept is more direct than that between the flowers and the concept.

Kramsch, C. J. (1998). Language and culture (Vol. 3). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Telefoonkunst

PaintJoy-resultaten in omgekeerd chronologische volgorde. Inspiratie: (1), (2).

 Er is alleen helaas geen opvulmogelijkheid, maar beperking broedt innovatie. 

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150223_023436.

150223_021104. Deze deed John aan een zelfportret van Fracis Bacon denken:

Wat mij weer aan een (welbekende) foto van John zelf deed denken:

Ich habe über Deutsch gesiegt

Wochen und wochen der nicht allzuharten Arbeit.

Munich master courses

 Studenten am TUM Asia in Singapur. Source: Focus.de

Topical: the Technical University of München plans to swap to English for all its Master courses by 2020. I couldn't find much about it on their website though, maybe they want to keep it on the down-low after the negative publicity? Alternatively, maybe they just don't publish plans and visions on their news page.

If true this is a good example of the progress towards English as a world language, and equally of protest against it doing such. I do not think that English will replace the languages that people in Europe learn as children: even if all courses in German universities are taught in English, German will still remain the mother tongue. However, there is a real move towards English as the new Latin, as the language of all scientific publications. This seems to show that despite the pride of languages for the rights of which people fought one, two centuries ago, there is also simply a need for a language which everyone can communicate in easily.

I do not agree with the university's decision. I understand the need for good ability in English, but simultaneously there needs to be good backing to show that German students who are taught in English, in Germany, will still reach enough fluency that their learning of the subject at hand is not impeded, and that they will still reach enough fluency that they can write good-quality academic articles which can compete internationally (it is really hard to get to a level where you can't just write, but actually write well). Moreover, whether or not the English competency of the students at this university would be perfect, the German language will still be irreparably harmed. If a register is not practised, it dies. If people stop talking about a certain kind of chemical technology in German, the German terms for this technology are eventually forgotten and, more importantly, words for new developments within the technology are no longer created in the German language. This is very hard to reverse, as testified in the writings on language revival on this blog. (I would like to write a blog post sometime about the inkhorn revolution, where the English vocabulary was drastically extended to make it fit for use at universities. The one thing I never quite understood yet is what triggered them doing that.)

It could be a good alternative to encourage students EU-wide to study abroad, to gain experience with speaking different languages such as English and working in multilingual environments. Also, language courses should be strongly promoted if not an obligatory part of the course.

Delivery after 8 months

Guys it's finished

Here's me handing it in at 6.30 am on Thursday:

It had to be handed in digitally

Next projects:

learning LaTeX
improving German

Also, I've been accepted here.

Television and the promotion of national identity: Our Friends in the North on RTÉ

Kevin McAleer, promotion picture for Our Friends in the North. Source

Last year I took a class "Broadcasting and the language of identity". It was a bit of a weird class, in which we talked about national identity, subcultures, music, TV and radio but without very much theory or feedback. However, I had fun writing the final essay for it. It is about the Ulster Scots Broadcasting Fund and specifically about one show funded through it, Our Friends in the North. This is a show presented by comedian Kevin McAleer, from Co. Tyrone, who visits and interviews people who see themselves as Ulster-Scots, to get to know and understand the language, culture and history. In the article I try to pick apart how the programme promotes national identity in a way that makes it palatable to the public.

Click here for the article