Context and

culture

In

linguistics language is very

obviously abstracted from experience
in order to be better understood as a
system
This enables grammatical regularities
to be seen more clearly and provides
representation of language in the
mind.
Communicative competence points the
way towards the analysis of language
in use considering many factors other
than the words themselves.

These

other factors are:

1. Tone of voice
2. Facial expression
3. The relationship between speakers
and their age, sex, and social status
4. The time and place
5. The degree which speakers do or do
not share the same cultural
background.
ALL THESE FACTORS TOGETHER ARE
KNOWN AS CONTEXT

Systematizing Context:
Discourse Analysis
Systematic

description of context is
difficult and the meaning of language in
context is beyond the reach of
systematic enquiry.
To make things easier applied
linguistics has developed Discourse
Analysis.
Discourse analysis is the study how
stretches of language in context are
perceived as meaningful and unified by
their users.

There

are tree areas which

contribute to the field of
discourse analysis:
1. Paralanguage
2. Pragmatics
3. Genre studies

Paralanguage
People

do not communicate only

by speaking and words.
Paralanguage is communicative
behaviour which is used
alongside language, like tone of
voice, smile, wave our hands,
touch people or make eye
contact.
Paralinguistic messages can
outweigh linguistic ones,

Paralanguage

is important to
develop effective communication
in media training, speech
therapy, and language teaching.
Does writing have paralanguage?
New technologies make the
paralanguage of writing more
significant.

The

study of visual communication and

Computer-Mediated Communication are
growing areas in applied linguistics.
Written and spoken language or a mixture of
the two cannot be used for communication
without paralanguage.
We use facial expressions in speaking and
make sometimes choice of script or font when
we write.
Paralanguage has not been extensively
studied by applied linguistics. Its role in
speech has been left to psychology and in
writing to typography and information design.

Pragmatics
Pragmatics

is the discipline which

studies the knowledge and
procedures which enable people
to understand each others Its
main concern is not the literal
meaning , but what speakers
intend to do with their words and
what makes this intention clear.

Ex.

How are you? Possible

answers with different contexts:
Asking about health
Greeting
Mind your business
Dont make me sick
Deeply depressed
Thanks be to God

Genre
Meaning

changes with the kind of

communicative event to which words belong.
Ex. Describing a person differently, in
gossiping, writing a job reference,
introducing to friends or giving a funeral
oration after death.
Genre is defined by the applied linguist John
Swales as a class of communicative events
which share some set of communicative
purposes.
Other examples are emails, jokes, prayers,
conversations..etc

All

these elements of discourse

interpreting paralanguage,
understanding pragmatic
intention and distinguishing
different genres- are part of a
persons communicative
competence, and integral to their
use and understanding of
language.

Culture
Successful

interpretation of
language in context depends
upon the degree of participants
shared conventions and
procedures including
paralanguage, pragmatics and
genre.
These conventions and
procedures with values and
beliefs which lie behind them are
elements of cultural knowledge.

Cross-cultural

communication which
takes place between members of
different national or ethnic communities
is likely to be involved in every area of
applied linguistic activity.
Examples include generations, social
classes and the two sexes.
Communication and the problems which
surround it , and therefore applied
linguistics itself, is in many ways an
inherently cross-cultural phenomenon.

There

is disagreement over the idea

that all cultures reflect universal
human attributes.
Some argue that differences are
superficial and that cultural
conventions everywhere realize the
same basic human needs. Greeting
conventions- kissing, bowing, pressing
palms or shaking hands may appear
to be different but have in common
the use of the body to communicate
degrees of intimacy and power.

There

s a disparity between academic

theorizing about cultural universals and
lived experience.
When cultural conventions are not shared
there will be absence of understanding and
a potential for misunderstanding.
Ex. Nod of the head
Kissing as a greeting
One major role of applied linguistics is to
raise awareness of the degree to which the
meaning of behaviour is culturally relative,
thus combating prejudice, and contributing
to the improvement of community relations
and conflict resolution in general.

It

would be wrong to regard cultures as

either static or nearly bounded. They are
constantly changing and leaking at the
boundaries.
Ex. Using first and surnames
We cannot equate culture with nationality.
Such labels overlook the cultural variation
within nations of social class, ethnicity,
age, education and individual preference.
Cultural identity is multivalent, and
intersection of many different loyalties and
influences of which nationality is only one.
Migrants have links to two or more nations

In

the contemporary world there

is a tendency towards larger
homogenous grouping.
ex,. Western culture and Islamic
culture
There is even an emerging of
world culture.
Ex. My name is x. how may I help
you?

Translation, culture and

context