Culture in language: comparing cultures through words in South Africa
DOI : 10.21049/ccs.2011.24..205
Publisher : Center for Cross Culture Studies
Research Area : Literature
-
South Africa is a multiracial country where different cultures and languages coexist. Culture can be conveyed through language. Language conditioning is also social conditioning, and through words we make sense of our own and others’ experience. In this paper I investigate the meaning of two culturally significant words: (English) peace and (African) ubuntu. Data findings will show how L2 speakers of English, when asked to define peace, promptly operate a process of transfer of the meaning from their mother-tongue Xhosa equivalent – uxolo - to its English equivalent. Ubuntu, an African word which encompasses traditional African values, has no counterpart in English. I will also argue how, in the ongoing process of globalisation, English is playing a predominant role in promoting cultural homogenization.
-
[web] Aziakpono, P. / 2007 / The Attitudes of Isixhosa-Speaking Students Toward Various Languages of Learning and Teaching (lolt) Issues at Rhodes University / www.eprints.ru.ac.za/view/.../Aziakpono=3AP02E03A03Ahtlm
[book] Battersby, J. / 2002 / Revisiting our Social Honour, In Spirit of the Nation, Reflections on South Africa’s Educational Ethos / New Africa Education and the Human Sciences Research Council in association with the Department of Education
[book] de Klerk, V. / 2006 / Corpus Linguistics and World Englishes, an Analysis of Xhosa English / Continuum
[book] du Toit, P. / 2001 / South Africa’s Brittle Peace, The Problem of Post-Settlement Violence / Palgrave
[book] Duranti, A. / 2008 / Linguistic Anthropology / Cambridge University Press
[book] Dressel, D. / 2001 / The Long Road to Peace, Constructive Conflict Transformation in South Africa / LIT VERLAG Münster
[book] Horne, F. / 2008 / English in Perspective / Oxford University Press, Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd.
[book] Landau, S. / 2001 / The Art and Craft of Lexicography / The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge
[book] Lötter / 1997 / HPP (Hennie) Injustice, Violence, and Peace The Case of South Africa, Value Enquiries Book Series Volume 56. Amsterdam / Rodopi B.V
[book] Nicolson, R. / 2008 / Persons in Community / University of KwaZulu-Natal Press
[web] Ntshoe, M. / The Impact of Political Violence on Education in South Africa: Past, Present and Future / Current Issues in Comparative Education, Teachers College, Columbia University / www.tc.edu/CICE/Issue/02.01/PDFs
[book] Pennycook, A. / 1994 / Cultural Politics of English as an International Language / Longman Group Limited
[book] Porteus, K. / 2002 / Schools Based Research: Opening Pathways for Dialogue, In Spirit of the Nation, Reflections on South Africa’s Educational Ethos / New Africa Education and the Human Sciences Research Council in association with the Department of Education
[book] Richardson, N. / 2009 / Can Christian Ethics Find its Way and Itself in Africa?, In Africa Ethics, An Anthology Of Comparative And Applied Ethics / University of KwaZulu-Natal Press
[book] Schäffner, C. / 2004 / Language and Peace / Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group
[book] Shutte, A. / 2008 / African Ethics in a Globalising World, In Persons in Community / University of KwaZulu-Natal Press
[book] Tutu, D. / 2000 / Future Without Forgiveness / Doubleday
[book] Wierzbicka, A. / 1992 / Semantics, Culture, and Cognition Universal Human Concepts in Culture-Specific Configurations / Oxford University Press
-
83 Viewed
Print this page
Download PDF