This document discusses the relationship between language, culture, and world view. It states that language and culture influence each other, with language both reflecting and helping to transmit culture. Different languages may predispose their speakers to different ways of thinking due to differences in vocabulary and grammatical structures. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis proposes that the structure of a language shapes the world view of its speakers, with versions ranging from strong determinism to more moderate linguistic influence. Overall, the document argues that language and culture are intertwined, with language serving as an expression and means of transmitting cultural knowledge and identity.

1. Language Culture and World View
• Language
The word “language” means the most specialized sound signaling system which seems to be genetically
programmed to develop in humans
• Culture
Culture in narrow sense means “art and sciences”. In broad sense means “our ways of living, religion, laws,
manners, housing, dress, etc. are called culture
• Characteristics of Culture
Culture is acquired , Culture is shared , Culture is learnt , Culture is transmitted , Culture is dynamic , Culture is
adaptive , Culture is influential.
• Types of Culture
There are four types of culture
Material / Physical culture:It includes man-made objects such as tools, implements, furniture, etc. It is
concerned with the external, mechanical and utilitarian objects. It includes our banks, parliaments,
insurance scheme, currency systems, and etc. It is referred to as civilization.
Non-material / Cognitive Culture:It is something internal and intrinsically valuable. It reflects the
inward nature of man. It consists of the words the people use or the language they speak etc. It includes
our customs, tastes, attitude and outlook, in brief, our acting, feeling and thinking etc. It is mental
organization in each individual’s mind.
Real culture:It is that culture which can be observed in our daily life. The culture on which we act upon
in our social life is real. It is the culture people adopt in their real life. The whole of the culture can never
be real because some of its part may remain unpracticed. Real culture includes the values and norms
being practiced.
Ideal culture:The culture which is presented as a pattern or precedent to the people is called ideal
culture. It is the goal of the society it can never be achieved fully because some part of it remains out of
practice. Ideal culture encompasses the values and norms a culture demands.
• Language and Culture

2. Language and culture both are determined by each other. It is generally agreed that language and culture are
closely related. Language can be viewed as a verbal expression of culture. It is used to maintain and convey culture
and cultural ties. Language provides us with many of the categories we use for expression of our thoughts, so it is
therefore natural to assume that our thinking is influenced by the language which we use. The values and customs
in the country we grow up in shape the way in which we think to a certain extent.
Culture and Language
What We Say Influences What
We Think, What We Feel and
What We Believe
Unique human ability
· Ability to create and use language is the most distinctive feature of humans
· Humans learn their culture through language
· Culture is transmitted through language
The nature of language
· Considerable variation in the number of languages in the world
· 95% of the world’s people speak fewer that 100 of the approximate 6,000 different languages
· Linguists concerned about the last 5% of the world’s languages which are in danger of disappearing
Language and Culture
· Anthropologist learn to communicate in another language in order to do field work
· Language reflects a Way of Thinking
· Close relationship between language and culture. Culture is transmitted by language
· Clear that the terminology used by a culture primarily reflects that culture’s interest and
concerns
How Culture Influences Culture?
· Cultural emphasis—the vocabulary found in any language tends to emphasize the words that are
considered to be adaptively important in that culture
· Military metaphor in medicine
· Technology also affects language
Acquiring language
· Linguistic symbols are all arbitrary—that is they are conventions by which certain sounds are attached to
certain objects and events
· C/A/R=car
· Humans’ normal physical and mental apparatus allows them to learn any language with equal ease
· Human Being would speak no language if he or she were taught none
· Critical period of language development for humans before the age of six— thereafter learning language
skills become increasingly difficult
• Language is determined by Culture
Language and its structure are dependent on the cultural context in which they existed. There are ways in
which culture really varies and determines language.

3. Language as a part of Culture
Language is not just the medium of culture but is also a part of culture. Linguistic differenc es are often seen as
the mark of another culture, and they create divisiveness among neighbouring people or even among
different groups of the same nation
• World View
It is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the entirely of individual’s or
society’s knowledge and point of view including ethics, values etc
• Linguistic Determinism
It states that the structure of language determines our thought patterns
• Linguistic Relativity
“It means that users of different grammars are pointed by their grammar towards different type of observations
and different evaluations of externally similar acts of observation and hence are not equivalent as observers but
must arrive at somewhat different view of the world”
The linguist Sapir and Whorf maintained that
“The language spoken by a society influences the way in which that society thinks about the
world”
Certain System of Classification in Language and Society
There are three systems of classification which are as follows
• Kinship System
Kinship systems are the universals features of language because kinship is so important in social organization
that people use language to describe a particular kin relationship.
• Colour Terminology
It is also used to explore the relationship between languages and cultures. The colour spectrum is a physical
continuum showing no breaks at all. The interesting issue is how colours are referred to in different languages? All
languages make use of basic terms.
• Taboo & Euphemism
To express cultural meanings in language, there are certain basic limitations. Taboo is the prohibition or
avoidance in any society of behaviour believed to be harmful to its members in that it would cause them anxiety,
embarrassment or shame.

4.  Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
This hypothesis states that
“Semantic structure of language shapes or limits the ways in which speakers form the conception of the
world”
According to this hypothesis “our thinking is according to our structure of language”
1st Claim
The structure of language determines the way in which speakers of that language view the world.
Weaker claim
It is that the structure does not determine the world-view but is still influential in predisposing speakers of
a language towards adopting a particular world-view
Opposite Claim
It is that the culture of people finds reflection in the language they employ. In this view, cultural values do
not determine the structure of the language.
Neutral claim
It is that there is little or no relationship between language and culture
Most accepted Claim
It is that the structure of language influences how its speakers view the world.
The linguistic relativity principle, or the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, is the idea that differences in the way languages
encode cultural and cognitive categories affect the way people think, so that speakers of different languages will
tend to think and behave differently depending on the language they use.
The hypothesis is generally understood as having two different versions:
(i) the strong version that language determines thought and that linguistic categories limit and determines
cognitive categories and
(ii) the weak version that linguistic categories and usage influence thought and certain kinds of non-linguistic
behavior.
Conclusion
Language = knowledge
Knowledge = culture

5. So,
Language = culture
Both are the means of identity. Both denotes life style and both are dynamic
Language is the keystone to the culture. Language is the carrier and container of cultural information. Language
expresses and symbolizes cultural reality. Language is the primary means to the cultural transmission.