The Relationship Between Language and Culture

Hussein Alhamadani

Tina

ESL 150

18 October 2017

The Relationship Between Language and Culture

“A language is not just words. It's a culture, a tradition, a unification of a community, a whole history that creates what a community is. It's all embodied in a language”_Noam Chomsky. We all might think that language is just a way to express our feelings and a way to communicate with each other. In fact, language is a way to create ideas and thought that influence how we think. Before I come to the United States I did not know what it is really mean to be a bilingual. My thoughts were limited in what my society does. When I started learning English I noticed people saying words that I understood what they are but, I did not understand its meaning. Later on, I knew that there is a huge connection between the words people were saying and the culture. In the Middle East, people use words that I understand but, for somebody else from a different background it might not make any sense. The middle eastern countries show and demonstrate the relationship between language and culture.

In the middle east, people greet each other in different ways depending on their culture. Over the years; the way people greeted each other has changed due to a change of culture. In Iraq, people say  “Salaam Alaikum” which it means “peace be unto you”, is a common way to greet people in the middle east, especially the countries that surround Saudi Arabia. The greeting was used whenever and wherever Muslims gathered and interacted socially. Before Islam this phrase did not exist but, after Islam, this phrase became more common and the reason why it is more common to say “Salaam Alaikum” because prophet Mohammed wanted people to use that phrase to greet each other since Islam means peace. Other countries, such as Egypt tend to say “Sabah al full” which it means a morning of jasmine. The reason why there is a different use of words when greeting is because there is an equal number of Muslims and Christian people in Egypt. Different numbers of diverse cultures will influence how people talk and communicate with each other. The differences of culture will result in diversity and combination of words that are appropriate for all.

The language people speak may influence the way people think. According to a new study on an Israeli-Arab child who speaks Arabic and Hebrew, showed how people think differently when they speak in different language. For this study, the child took the test in both languages, when he took the test in Arabic his answers were answered more in a positive way. Where in Hebrew his answers were answered in a negative way. Researcher Shai Danziger of Ben-Gurion University stated "It's likely that a bilingual Arab Israeli will consider Arabs more positively in an Arab speaking environment than a Hebrew speaking environment," (Danziger, 2). The child stated after the test "I am a bilingual and I believe that I actually respond differently in Hebrew than I do in English. I think in English I'm more polite than I am in Hebrew," (p 4). In other words, people show the different type of selves in different environment depending on their culture. Another example is, in the Article “Does the language I Speak Influence the Way I Think?” Betty Birner said, “ Hopi speakers and English speakers think about events differently, with Hopi speakers focusing more on the source of the information and English speakers focusing more on the time of the event” ( Birner, 4). Hopi doesn't require its verb to be past or present event; rather, the types of its verbs tells how the speaker came to know the data.