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Overview of language, culture, and society:

What is the relation among language, culture, and society?

1. Terms: Language and culture, language and society, language in culture and society, language in cultural and social contexts



2. How are Language, culture, and society defined? What is Language, what is culture, and what is society?



3. To what extent are languages shaped by '[universal] human nature' and to what extent they are shaped by [speech community-specific] culture?
   
   What are the two opposite views on this question?
   
   What is Whorf's view of language, known as 'Sapir-Whorf hypothesis' of cultural relativity? What is cultural relativity?
   
   Whorf's view on the relation between language and culture is represented by the term 'linguistic determinism.' What does it mean?
   
   Can you think of examples that support or work against his view?
   
   
   
4. Are there universals in language and thought? Can you think of any concept that may be universal, that is, the linguistic expression referring to that concept is available possibly in all languages?
   
   
5. If there is any universality in language and thought/culture, what is the source of it? Is it because all human beings are born with a set of a priori predispositions, or because of some external conditions on human experience that exist universally to all human beings?
   
   
6. To what extent are concepts and thoughts in one culture cutlure-specific? Do you know any the example or examples that show that concepts in one language do not match those in another language?
   
   
7. What could differences in language be attributed to: differences in culutre, thought, world view, logic, cognition, etc.? Are they arbitrary and minor as universalists would like to claim, or significant so as to be worth a systematic study?
   
   

What are the examples of Korean from Sohn (Ch 1) that reflect Korean culture and society?

1. How is Korean language composed of?
   
   What is THE major factor that has shaped Korean vocabulary?
   
   To what extent has Chinese language influenced Korean?
   
   In what way has Japanese language influenced Korean?
   
   Compare the case of Korean with that of English or of any language you know of.
   
   
   
2. Where can you find the native stocks of Korean language?
   
   How are the native stocks of Korean vocabulary related to Korean culture?
   
   Compare how the concept of 'rice' is elaborated in Korean with how the concept of 'bread' is elaborated in the Western culture.
   
   
   
3. What do the numeral counters in Korean tell about Korean culture? Can you think of a similar phenomenon in other cultures?
   
   
4. What do the following Korean proverbs tell about Korean culture?
   
   (2) Sohn (Ch 1, 10-11)
   

   a.	Cheonnyang pit-to mal-lo kam-nun-da. 천냥 빚도 말로 갚는다. (<말 한 마디로 천냥빚 갚는다)
   	'A million-dollar debt can be repaid by words.' [Used to encourage polite and strategic language use.]
   b.	pyoruk-to natchag-i it-ta. 벼룩도 낯짝이 있다.
   	'Even a flea has a face.' [Refers to a shameless person, stressing the importance of social face.]
   c.	'Amthalg-i ul-myon chib-an-i mangha-n-da. 암탉이 울면 집안이 망한다.
   	'If a hen cackles, the house will be ruined.' [Used to indicate that a woman should be quiet, i.e., obey her husband.]

   
   
   
5. Korean language has developed an elaborate system of honorific language. Based on Sohn (Ch1), how (Where in Korean language) are honorifics linguistically manifested in Korean language?
   
   Compare the two utterances given in (4) (Sohn, Ch 1:12) of saying 'Have your meal.':
   

   Daughter-in-law	chinki capsu-se-yo 진지 잡수세요. meal take-HONOR:INFORMAL-POLITE
   Father-in-law	pap mog-ora. 밥 먹어라 meal eat-IMPERATIVE

   
   Notice that no single element of the utterance is the same.
   
   
6. Compared to the motivation for the politeness strategies in English, what does the existence of honorfic language in Korean tell about Korean culture?
   
   
7. Korean people tend to say 'our family,' 'our school,' 'our country,' etc., instead of saying 'my family,' 'my school,' 'my country.' What does this phenomenon tell about Korean culture?
   
   Any other examples that stemmed from the same cultural value of Korean culture?
   
   
   
8. What are the two dimensions of honorific language? How do they interact with each other, and how may languages differ in embodying their cultural values along the two dimensions of honorfics?
   
   
   
9. What are the changes of socio-cultural dynamism that took place in Korea and what are their consequences?