Relationship Between Language and Culture

Relationship Between Language and Culture

          It is generally agreed that Language and Culture are closely related. Language is a form or style of verbal expression. It allows a person to communicate with others in meeting their needs.  While, culture is the customary beliefs, social forms and material trait of racial, a religious or a social group. The relationship between language and culture is the most significant invention made by culture. Language is used to learn culture and human culture cannot exist without language. Language expresses fact, ideas or events that are communicable, it reflects attitudes, beliefs and point of view. Also, language is viewed as a symbol of social identity. The relationship between language and culture is a complex one due largely in part to the great difficulty in understanding people’s cognitive processes when they communicate. 

       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.” Language is a part of culture and a part of human behavior.

    It is often held that the function of language is to express thought and to communicate information. Language also fulfills many other tasks such as greeting people, conducting religious service, etc.

  Krech（1962）explained the major functions of language from the following three aspects:

1.    Language is the primary vehicle of communication;

2.   Language reflects both the personality of the individual and the culture of his history. In turn, it helps shape both personality and culture;

3.  Language makes possible the growth and transmission of culture, the continuity of societies, and the effective functioning and control of social group.

It is obvious that language plays a paramount role in developing, elaborating and transmitting culture and language, enabling us to store meanings and experience to facilitate communication.