What is language?
This sounds like an easy question.
•Language,to put it most simply, is a set of symbols, along with the rules fro combiningthem together. Different groups of people speak and write different languages,that is they have different codes, symbols and rules to facilitate their communication.
2. Can human being only use language?
ØLanguageis the uniquepossession of human being. No other animals enjoy the privilege. Dog can bark,birds can sing, cows can moo. Some intelligent animals can learn torespond to some simple verbal ornon-verbal signals like “sit” and “jump”. But none of them can use a systematicway to express complicated thoughts and feelings. ØWithlanguage, we human beings can communicate on different topics and on differentlevels.
3.Languageand culture
Language we use and the culture in whichwe live are closely related. Some compare language and culture to a living organism: language is fresh andculture is blood.
Withoutculture, language would be dead; without language, culture would have no shape.In other words, they cannot be separated and exist alone.
Somelinguists have gone further and propose that the world we live in is based onthe language we speak. Even the way ofour thinking, they suggest, is shaped and programmed by our language.
Interrelationship between culture and language
Each culture has its own peculiaritiesand throws special influence on the language system. For example,referring to the same common
domestic animal, English chooses the word“dog”, while Chinese has its own character “狗”; Chinese has the phrase “走狗” while English has the expression“running dog”, but the meanings attributed to the two expressions arecompletely different according to Chinese culture and Western culture
respectively. To Westerners,“running dog” has a positive meaning since the word “dog”, in most cases, isassociated with an image of an animal pet－the favorite friend, thus they have thephrases “lucky dog” (幸运儿),“top dog” (胜利者),“old dog” (老手),“gay dog” (快乐的人),and it is usually used to describe everyday life and behavior, as in “Love me,love my dog” (爱屋及乌)，“Every dog has its day” (凡人皆有得意日). But in Chinese “走狗” refersto a lackey, an obsequious person. Since Chinese associates derogatory meaningto the character “狗”depending on the cultural difference,Chinese has such expressions as “狗东西”，“狗腿子”，“狗仗人势”，“狗胆包天”，“狗嘴里吐不出象牙”，“狼心狗肺”，“痛打落水狗”，“狗急跳墙”.
We can obviously see that the meaningattributed to language is cultural-specific. A great deal of cross-culturalmisunderstanding occurs when the “meanings” of words in two languages areassumed to be the same, but actually reflect different cultural patterns. Someare humorous as when a Turkish visitor to the U.S. refused to eat a hot dogbecause it was against his beliefs to eat dog meat.
Some are much more serious as when a French couple on a trip to China took their pet poodle into a restaurant and requested some dog food. The dog was cooked and returned to their table on a platter!
We can summarize the relationshipbetween culture and language as the following: language is a key component ofculture. It is the primary medium for transmitting much of culture. Withoutlanguage, culture would not be possible. Children learning their nativelanguage are learning their own culture; learning a second language alsoinvolves learning a second culture to varying degrees. On the other hand,language is influenced and shaped by culture. It reflects culture. Culturaldifferences are the most serious areas causing misunderstanding, unpleasantnessand even conflict in cross-cultural communication.
