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The Influence of Language on Culture

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The Influence of Language on Culture

Language is an important part of culture influencing how people think and how they

communicate. A person’s language influences how they see the world and ow people express

thought. Through language questions can be answered and concepts of a culture can be better

understood. In the same way language assists in understanding the world, it can create barriers to

understanding the culture and language of others. Language impacts how people experience the

world and culture shapes how the language is viewed. Through language, a person better

understands the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of their culture.

In the United States the main language is English. People who do not speak English will

have difficulty conforming to society. Even though many people speak different foreign

languages, every aspect of society is based around the English language. This includes different

forms of language used in communications. Language can come in different forms in society. In

the Information Age, language is expressed through technical means, such as cellphone this new

form of communication has impacted culture.

In the article, “Cell phone culture: How cultural differences affect mobile use” the author

discusses the influence of language and culture on new cellphone communications. According to

Canton (2012) cellphone language, such as texting, has influenced culture. Cellphone

communications have brought together people and change how people view language and

communications. New technological communications have resulted in a change to the language.

They influence how people communicate and establishes new communication manners (Canton,

2012). Texting through the use of cellphones is currently the most popular form of

communication (Canton, 2012). This is much more appealing to citizens than voice
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communications. Because texting can be time consuming, language has been shortened creating

a new culture of abbreviations and emoji’s.

Similar to the spoken language, people will use different forms of texting language to

communicate with different people. What this means is a text involving a business dealing would

be more formal than a text to a friend. People express language in different ways to conform to

society’s expectations. The new text language is not any different. Even with cellphone

communications different cultures will have different approaches to employing these

communications. The language of the text in one culture will differ in another culture. The

biggest influence will involve the person’s social environment.

In the article “How Language Shapes Thought” the author discusses how language

influences how people think. According to Boroditsky (2011) the notion that different languages

may impart different cognitive skills has been examined for centuries. Language is responsible

for placing aspect of culture into different concepts and context and is the origin of knowledge

and the person’s construction of reality (Boroditsky, 2011). For example, in the English language

there are different constructs and spatial terms which may not be present in another culture. For

example the terms left and right provide direction to people who speak English. For citizens in

New Guinea there are no similar words in the language. Instead directions are given by north,

south, east, and west.

How a person thinks is influenced by the language they speak. This is true for verbal

communications, or as discussed previously, communications involving new digital devices. A

language determines how information is organized cognitively and the types of representations

people will associate with aspects of the language. People who speak different languages will

have different approaches for describing events or how the person remembers these events. All
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of these language influences will influence how the person behaves, thinks, or believes which in

turn influences the culture.

Language can impact the development of a culture. This is evident in the way language

changes and influences different aspects of society and culture. The information age has changed

American culture to be technologically driven which has also influenced the language. As a

result a whole new digital language has developed. Language also influences how people think

which influences important cultural aspects. People view things differently through different

languages influences how they think and behave. Language pays a powerful role in shaping a

person concepts and cultural influences. Through language, people perceive, categorize, and

making meaning of the world around them resulting in the development of a culture.
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References

Boroditsky, L. (2011). How Language Shapes Thought: The languages we speak affect our

Perceptions of the world. Retrieved March 22, 2016 from

https://psych.stanford.edu/~lera/papers/sci-am-2011.pdf

Canton, N. (2012). Cell phone culture: How cultural differences affect mobile use. Retrieved

March 22, 2016 from http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/27/tech/mobile-culture-usage/