The Relationship between Language and Culture

Language is an arbitrary system of articulated sounds made use of by a group of humans as a means of carrying on the affairs of their society (Francis 1958: 13). Language is an expression of human mind rather than a product of nature, is boundless in scope and is constructed on the basis of a recursive principle and that permits each creation to serve as a basis for a new creative act (Chomsky 1972: 102). According to Sapir (1921), “language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desire by means of voluntarily produced symbols.” There are many other definitions of the language proposed by linguists. They have similar concepts although there is a different and emphasis. Thus, language is orally communication, arbitrary, symbols, and signs used that have meaning and related with the real life and human experiences. Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs and other capabilities or habits acquired by members of society (E. B. Taylor). Culture is the ways that tend to be done by members of society. It means that it is not an obligation, but it is only tendency of them. There are various theories about the relationship of language and culture. Some said that language is part of the culture, but other said that the language and culture are two different things, but have a very close relationship, so it cannot be separated. Others said that the language is strongly influenced culture so that all things that exist in the culture will be reflected in the language. Conversely, there are also said that the language is strongly influenced human culture and way of thinking or public speakers.

Language represents social reality. Understanding of social behavior through language depends on the habits of society. Therefore, when they communicate each other also depends on their culture such as culture and habits of Acehnese speakers. Acehnese speakers of Aceh Barat and Aceh Selatan (including Lamno, Jeuram, Nagan Raya), the ways children communicate with their parents are different with the habits of Pidie society (including Aceh Utara, Bireun, and east of Aceh), for example, children greet their parents. In Aceh Barat and Aceh Selatan societies, using word ”kah” (you) when greeting their parent is considered usual for them, for example, mak, kah hona kajak uroe nyoe?(mom, where do you want to go today?).   At Pidie society, however “kah” is unusual for them so that it is considered impolite. Pidie society will use word “droeneuh”(you) for greeting their parents or people who are older than them, for instance, mak ,dreoneuh hona neujak uroe nyoe?( mom, where do you want to go today?).

Language can affect culture patterns. Language affects the way of thinking and behavior members of the public speakers. Their behavior is always influenced by the properties of the language such as interpretation of time. For example word singoh “tomorrow”. The habit of Aceh Selatan society, word singoh means durations that is can be more than one day after today, even until at an unspecified time. In Pidie society, however, word singoh means tomorrow that means the day after today. For Aceh Selatan society, utterance to represent tomorrow that means the day after today is singoh beungoh. However, for Pidie society, utterance singoh beungoh means tomorrow morning. If it is near to noon, they did not say singoh beungoh anymore but they said cot uroe singoh. This clearly shows the difference in Acehnese speakers which shows the culture in a region especially in terms of promise. The impact of this regard is the habit of fulfill the promise that finally seen as a culture.

As I mentioned at first paragraph, there are also people said that culture affects language. For example, at British, British society is not civilized to eat rice so that we cannot find in English vocabulary which differentiates padi, beras, dan nasi, all of it is called rice. Therefore, in certain contexts the word rice means padi, in another context means beras and also means nasi. Another example, in Eskimo communities that have been cultured living in snow areas, has more than ten words to express the snow. On the other hand, Indonesian, including Acehnese, has only one word to describe the snow.

In short, for the aforementioned reasons, language and culture influence each other even though there are people said that language strongly affects culture and vice versa, there are also said that the language is strongly affected human culture and way of thinking. The essential of it is culture and language is inseparable.  Culture cannot exist without language and vice versa. All that is spoken in a language is about things that exist in the language of culture. Therefore, we need to learn the language if we want to explore a culture. The purpose in reviewing the language is to understand more deeply the patterns and values ​​in a society, language is considered the most powerful features of one's social personality, and also there is a relationship to the culture in a society.

   

References

Tefl.net (   ).The Relationship between Language & Culture and the Implications for Language Teaching. Retrieved December 21, 2011, from

http://edition.tefl.net/articles/teacher-technique/language-culture/

gdufs.edu (  ).The Relationship between Language and Culture. Retrieved December 21, 2011, from

http://www1.gdufs.edu.cn/jwc/bestcourse/kecheng/38/whjiaoan/files/intro.html

DeCapua, Andrea & Wintergerst, Ann. ( 2004). Cross cultures in the Language Classroom. USA: The University of Michigan Press.  

Sullivan, Kathleen E. ( 1994). Understanding Ways Communicating Between Cultures. NSW: Southwood Press Pty Limited.