Language in its
socio-cultural and interpersonal context
1. The lexicon as a gateway to the cultural dimension
An innovative lexical approach should use the study of the anthropological dimension of the word. The plurality of discourses and imaginary representations of people authorize a semantic extension of words in a figurative sense. This anthropological study of the lexicon serves not only to evaluate the figurative meaning of words in the language but to establish comparisons with other foreign languages. Windmuller argues that the use made of a concept by a linguistic sign is not only an individual one but also a collective one. These traces of representations are found in the comparison of the connotations, the lexical terminologies of some scientific scientific fields, which borrow terms coming from the animal or plant kingdom (a branch of the highway, the intestinal flora); furthermore, it would be useful to study the cultural meaning of so-called "false friend" words present between two languages to see the origins of semantic differences in terms of mental representations of the object or concept.
Within a lexical type approach it would be useful to be able to study the figurative sense, the idiomatic expressions present in a given language.In fact Windmuller remembers that words express not only objects but also the consciousness that humans have of them. In every language there is a series of words "witnesses" or "keywords" that convey new ideas, new concepts of reality, history and thus reveal the dynamics inherent between the word and the world. For example, the diachronic study of a given word would allow us to find its use in a historical period, understand an event, social practices, an ideology as well as its anchorage to the mentality.
In the same way we can speak of lexical polysemy to bring out the interaction between language and the world. The connection between the various forms of lexical meaning possible with polysemy allows a given cultural or social context to bring about a change on the discursive level and on the relational level of the various interlocutors. In fact, the use of a given lexicon implies a form of collective recognition as in the case of words of popular origin or the language of young people. These lexical terms are accepted, tolerated or rejected mainly on the social level. Still in the lexical context, from a cultural perspective, we have the presence of commercial terms in everyday language that have become central elements of a shared culture by a community. The reference to semantics is a must when, for example, Martinet emphasized that "the expression is the means and the content is the end". In fact, the meaning of a word depends on the average in terms of use within a community. In the lexical field we have had the development of ethnoscience studies in the United States with Conklin's work on taxonomies. In these works the classification of knowledge in archaic societies has been accomplished: plants, non-linguistic universes, nameable and unmentionable things.
1. The lexicon as a gateway to the cultural dimension
An innovative lexical approach should use the study of the anthropological dimension of the word. The plurality of discourses and imaginary representations of people authorize a semantic extension of words in a figurative sense. This anthropological study of the lexicon serves not only to evaluate the figurative meaning of words in the language but to establish comparisons with other foreign languages. Windmuller argues that the use made of a concept by a linguistic sign is not only an individual one but also a collective one. These traces of representations are found in the comparison of the connotations, the lexical terminologies of some scientific scientific fields, which borrow terms coming from the animal or plant kingdom (a branch of the highway, the intestinal flora); furthermore, it would be useful to study the cultural meaning of so-called "false friend" words present between two languages to see the origins of semantic differences in terms of mental representations of the object or concept.
Within a lexical type approach it would be useful to be able to study the figurative sense, the idiomatic expressions present in a given language.In fact Windmuller remembers that words express not only objects but also the consciousness that humans have of them. In every language there is a series of words "witnesses" or "keywords" that convey new ideas, new concepts of reality, history and thus reveal the dynamics inherent between the word and the world. For example, the diachronic study of a given word would allow us to find its use in a historical period, understand an event, social practices, an ideology as well as its anchorage to the mentality.
In the same way we can speak of lexical polysemy to bring out the interaction between language and the world. The connection between the various forms of lexical meaning possible with polysemy allows a given cultural or social context to bring about a change on the discursive level and on the relational level of the various interlocutors. In fact, the use of a given lexicon implies a form of collective recognition as in the case of words of popular origin or the language of young people. These lexical terms are accepted, tolerated or rejected mainly on the social level. Still in the lexical context, from a cultural perspective, we have the presence of commercial terms in everyday language that have become central elements of a shared culture by a community. The reference to semantics is a must when, for example, Martinet emphasized that "the expression is the means and the content is the end". In fact, the meaning of a word depends on the average in terms of use within a community. In the lexical field we have had the development of ethnoscience studies in the United States with Conklin's work on taxonomies. In these works the classification of knowledge in archaic societies has been accomplished: plants, non-linguistic universes, nameable and unmentionable things.
1.a Connotations
An important point concerns the connotation as a phenomenon that implies the variety of senses of a word as a way to add a large number of information on the denotative meaning. In this way it will be possible to decode its meaning through its specific use.
The connotations with a symbolic character refer to the meaning of an object or concept to an extralinguistic reality. This was the work carried out by Barthes in Mythologies (1957) in which the connotative value of objects revealed social practices, myths, values and ideas of society. The main feature of the connotation is that it is often shared within a single community of speakers. The same is true for affective connotations, for example "concentration camp", the Berlin wall, the Dreyfus affair, Mani Pulite, wall street centers "refer to reactions, mental images, that is to say a set of emotional connotations often typical of a given cultural group but which on some occasions can cause similar perceptions in other cultural groups.These same perceptions can trigger different reactions within the same group. For example, "je suis Charlie" or "I'm with Salvini" or "never with Salvini" trigger different connotations from one person to another. In the same way the allusive, euphemistic strategies used to avoid talking about sensitive issues can give rise to very different reactions between people. The connotation authorizes a form of cultural complicity between the speakers that poses many problems for foreigners. In fact, the various implications remain even more hermetic for the non-natives and cause a feeling of exclusion to the community in which they find themselves.
For example, knowing the quotations in a conversation is a good example to understand the need for mastery of the cultural competences by the interlocutors.
The same applies to metaphors, word games as typical elements of a given culture. The presence of connotative material in the text should be analyzed through a discursive corpus in a given language and compared with another language to identify the various cultural connotations, uses and perhaps a possible classification.
An important point concerns the connotation as a phenomenon that implies the variety of senses of a word as a way to add a large number of information on the denotative meaning. In this way it will be possible to decode its meaning through its specific use.
The connotations with a symbolic character refer to the meaning of an object or concept to an extralinguistic reality. This was the work carried out by Barthes in Mythologies (1957) in which the connotative value of objects revealed social practices, myths, values and ideas of society. The main feature of the connotation is that it is often shared within a single community of speakers. The same is true for affective connotations, for example "concentration camp", the Berlin wall, the Dreyfus affair, Mani Pulite, wall street centers "refer to reactions, mental images, that is to say a set of emotional connotations often typical of a given cultural group but which on some occasions can cause similar perceptions in other cultural groups.These same perceptions can trigger different reactions within the same group. For example, "je suis Charlie" or "I'm with Salvini" or "never with Salvini" trigger different connotations from one person to another. In the same way the allusive, euphemistic strategies used to avoid talking about sensitive issues can give rise to very different reactions between people. The connotation authorizes a form of cultural complicity between the speakers that poses many problems for foreigners. In fact, the various implications remain even more hermetic for the non-natives and cause a feeling of exclusion to the community in which they find themselves.
For example, knowing the quotations in a conversation is a good example to understand the need for mastery of the cultural competences by the interlocutors.
The same applies to metaphors, word games as typical elements of a given culture. The presence of connotative material in the text should be analyzed through a discursive corpus in a given language and compared with another language to identify the various cultural connotations, uses and perhaps a possible classification.
1.b Advertising and
images as vehicles for cultural information
A very rich area of educational implications is the one of advertising as a message carrying specific cultural information. To be able to decode an advertisement it is necessary to have the communication code used in that message, in other words the symbols connected to a given culture imply the knowledge of features and facts perceptible within the sign, which allow the receiver to immediately understand the message transmitted. In these advertisements often the text refers to contextual clues that are present in a given culture. These clues are generally psychological or social and in Barthes' sign theory we find objects, clothes, novels, cinemas, social behaviors as revealing signs of real sociological factors. This view of the sign includes the study of coats of arms, coats of arms, and hairstyles as functions that carry identifiers or social memberships.
In the context of understanding foreign cultures, the role of images is very clear, in fact these reveal iconic, metaphorical, allegorical representations that refer to a whole set of collective rituals and myths. These symbolic forms connote facts, values but also feelings, representations of cultural phenomena but also natural phenomena such as the conception and interpretation in a given culture of air, fire and water.
In our contemporary world, all these "sign" messages are mostly transmitted through the media.
Ultimately, using the words of Lambert (1994: 36): "reading an image means questioning its readability and its symbolic dimensions that allow its interpretation" we understand even better than the need for a true media education inside the educational world.
A very rich area of educational implications is the one of advertising as a message carrying specific cultural information. To be able to decode an advertisement it is necessary to have the communication code used in that message, in other words the symbols connected to a given culture imply the knowledge of features and facts perceptible within the sign, which allow the receiver to immediately understand the message transmitted. In these advertisements often the text refers to contextual clues that are present in a given culture. These clues are generally psychological or social and in Barthes' sign theory we find objects, clothes, novels, cinemas, social behaviors as revealing signs of real sociological factors. This view of the sign includes the study of coats of arms, coats of arms, and hairstyles as functions that carry identifiers or social memberships.
In the context of understanding foreign cultures, the role of images is very clear, in fact these reveal iconic, metaphorical, allegorical representations that refer to a whole set of collective rituals and myths. These symbolic forms connote facts, values but also feelings, representations of cultural phenomena but also natural phenomena such as the conception and interpretation in a given culture of air, fire and water.
In our contemporary world, all these "sign" messages are mostly transmitted through the media.
Ultimately, using the words of Lambert (1994: 36): "reading an image means questioning its readability and its symbolic dimensions that allow its interpretation" we understand even better than the need for a true media education inside the educational world.
2. Communication
problems: the “fatic “nature of language and communication
styles
In the field of learning a foreign language, it is totally ignored how the language is based on a game of conversational rules that speakers use and manage intentionally or unintentionally. Hence the need to create conversational learning of foreign languages. In fact, every linguistic act is an individual and social act, in which a foreign speaker will be confronted with the dangers of a bad interpretation of the sentence. Therefore, the problem of the learner lies in the level of reception and interpretation. These communicative misunderstandings can cause blockages, disappointments, frustrations, misunderstandings that certainly do not help the social relations between the interlocutors. Therefore it is necessary to provide students with the opportunity to communicate appropriately, ie to offer the possibility to do and act in communicative situations. During oral communications there are many "fatic" elements as mentioned by Malinoski that we can summarize in this way: verbal markers, allocutive terms, family ties, social, affective and cognitive relationships. And then there are the paralinguistic elements: bodily and psycho-social distance, gestures, physical contact, posture, facial expression. Para-verbal markers are prosodic, vocal, articulatory intensity, whispering, vocal timbre, vocal power.
In the field of learning a foreign language, it is totally ignored how the language is based on a game of conversational rules that speakers use and manage intentionally or unintentionally. Hence the need to create conversational learning of foreign languages. In fact, every linguistic act is an individual and social act, in which a foreign speaker will be confronted with the dangers of a bad interpretation of the sentence. Therefore, the problem of the learner lies in the level of reception and interpretation. These communicative misunderstandings can cause blockages, disappointments, frustrations, misunderstandings that certainly do not help the social relations between the interlocutors. Therefore it is necessary to provide students with the opportunity to communicate appropriately, ie to offer the possibility to do and act in communicative situations. During oral communications there are many "fatic" elements as mentioned by Malinoski that we can summarize in this way: verbal markers, allocutive terms, family ties, social, affective and cognitive relationships. And then there are the paralinguistic elements: bodily and psycho-social distance, gestures, physical contact, posture, facial expression. Para-verbal markers are prosodic, vocal, articulatory intensity, whispering, vocal timbre, vocal power.
These elements are part
of a careful study of verbal interactions focusing more on the
communicative styles present in a given culture, as well as the
cultural values that the members of a community offer to some
social uses. One could therefore compare linguistic acts and
communication strategies in various cultures. Furthermore there are
many useful conversational phenomena to be analyzed for a cultural
learning of languages.
a. Work on how to interrupt the interaction, change your words, express your misunderstanding.
b. the notion of a person's social role is very important because a person's role does not always coincide within another society.
c. learning to reformulate one's own thinking, self-correction and the reformulation of the intentions of the other interlocutor are very important communication strategies to be developed in the teaching of foreign languages.
d. implicit cultural, ie knowledge and shared knowledge, the cultural weight of words and the way to express them. From here we find the concept of connotation, ways of speaking, the dimension of restrictions and implicit discursive as central issues to be addressed in the classroom.
is. The signs of presence, namely those markers of attention during verbal interaction: yes, of course, seriously, but come on, really, but what do you say. Also smiles are very important, nodding to the interlocutor, using gestures.
a. Work on how to interrupt the interaction, change your words, express your misunderstanding.
b. the notion of a person's social role is very important because a person's role does not always coincide within another society.
c. learning to reformulate one's own thinking, self-correction and the reformulation of the intentions of the other interlocutor are very important communication strategies to be developed in the teaching of foreign languages.
d. implicit cultural, ie knowledge and shared knowledge, the cultural weight of words and the way to express them. From here we find the concept of connotation, ways of speaking, the dimension of restrictions and implicit discursive as central issues to be addressed in the classroom.
is. The signs of presence, namely those markers of attention during verbal interaction: yes, of course, seriously, but come on, really, but what do you say. Also smiles are very important, nodding to the interlocutor, using gestures.
2.b Interactional
Sociolinguistics
In Gumperz's work in interational sociolinguistics it has been established that speakers adopt strategies of linguistic behavior that vary according to many factors such as:
interpersonal relationships, interpretation of verbal messages, interpretation of the communicative situation and cultural and individual presuppositions.
For Gumperz it is necessary to consider interactions as collective factors in which the dynamics are subjected to constant changes caused by socio-cultural conventions, whose origins lie in the interpretative modalities of the speakers.
Gumperz's approach makes it clear that the essence of the communicative problem is the one highlighted years ago by Bakhtine (1977: 36), that is to say that "the true substance of the language is not constituted by an abstract system of linguistic forms but by the social phenomenon of verbal interaction ".
In Gumperz's work in interational sociolinguistics it has been established that speakers adopt strategies of linguistic behavior that vary according to many factors such as:
interpersonal relationships, interpretation of verbal messages, interpretation of the communicative situation and cultural and individual presuppositions.
For Gumperz it is necessary to consider interactions as collective factors in which the dynamics are subjected to constant changes caused by socio-cultural conventions, whose origins lie in the interpretative modalities of the speakers.
Gumperz's approach makes it clear that the essence of the communicative problem is the one highlighted years ago by Bakhtine (1977: 36), that is to say that "the true substance of the language is not constituted by an abstract system of linguistic forms but by the social phenomenon of verbal interaction ".
Webography
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