Cultural Dimensions and Attitudes to Language

Cultural dimensions and attitudes to language

Kulturnedimenzije in odnos do jezika

Pascal (1623-1662): “There are truths on this side of the Pyrenees that are falsehoods on the other.”

Culture is a "set of guidelines (both explicit and implicit) which individuals inherit as members of a particular society, and which tells them how to view the world, how to experience it emotionally, and how to behave in relation to other people, to supernatural forces or gods, and to the natural environment. It provides them with a way of transmitting these guidelines to the next generation – by use of symbols, language, art and ritual." (C.G.Helman 1996)

“Culture consists in patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiment in artefacts, the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values.” (Kluckhohn 1951)

Models of culture

Models can be taught and can help us understand how communication works within and across cultures. Models simplify!

The outer layer is the most visible or "explicit"

Norms shape behaviour, values relate to aspirations that may not actually be achieved

Values can be negative or positive: the latter motivate us

The core is "implicit", unquestioned; it is handed down from one generation to the next; may relate to the past environment

The Iceberg TheoryHall (1952): what is visible culturally is just the tip of the iceberg.

The most powerful elements are those that lie below the surface of everyday interaction. These may be referred to as "value orientations" (Brake et al 1995), which are preferences for certain outcomes over others.

Hall's triad of culture

• technical culture (above the surface)
• formal culture (just below the surface)
• informal culture or out-of-awareness culture (deeper)

Cultural dimensions

Hofstede (2001) Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviours, Institutions and Organisations Across Nations

Hofstede & Minkov (2010) Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind

Hofstede defines culture as “collective programming of the mind”.

Mental programs are developed in the family in early childhood and reinforced in schools and organisations. These programs are a component of national culture. We cannot observe the programs themselves, only behaviour, words, deeds.

Expressed in different values that predominate in different societies. These are non-rational, though we may feel that they are rational. They are the building blocks of culture. They shape institutions, roles, rules, laws, relations. We take values for granted they seem obvious, natural, ‘normal’.

A norm is a value held and applied by the majority in a society.

Hofstede identifies six dimensions of national cultures.

Culture only exists by comparison

The country scores on the dimensions are relative - societies are compared to other societies. Without make a comparison a country score is meaningless.
These relative scores have been proven to be quite stable over decades. The forces that cause cultures to shift tend to be global or continent-wide(e.g. consumerism, internet, Facebook). This means that they affect many countries at the same time, so that if their cultures shift, they shift together, and their relative positions remain the same.

SloUK

Power distance7135

Uncertainty avoidance8835

Individualism vs. Collectivism2789

Masculinity vs. Femininity1966

Long term vs. Short term orientation4951

Indulgence vs. Restraint4869

Individualism vs. Collectivism:

Individualism: a preference for a looser social framework in which the individual is expected to take care of self and family

Children are taught from an early age to think for themselves and to find out what their unique purpose in life is and how they uniquely can contribute to society. The route to happiness is through personal fulfilment. Students consider it socially acceptable to claim pursuing their own ends without minding others. Qualification in terms of performance of tasks.Emphasis on initiative.

In collectivist societies the individual can rely on the help of relatives and social groups, and maintaining ‘face’ in relation to one’s social position is more important than achieving personal goals. In a collectivist culture loyalty is paramount, and over-rides most other societal rules and regulations. Collective orientation, stress on identityand roots.

Students consider it less socially acceptable to claim pursuing their own ends without minding others. Qualification closely linked to education. Greater emphasis on duty

Masculinity vs. Femininity

‘Masculine’ societies strives towards achievement (live to work), heroism and material reward for success, and are more competitive. Masculine traits include assertiveness, material success, self-centredness, power and individual achievement.

‘Feminine’ societies value cooperation, modesty and quality of life (work to live).

Long term vs. Short term orientation

Normative societies, which score low on this dimension (Asia), for example, prefer to maintain time-honoured traditions and norms while viewing societal change with suspicion. Those with a culture which scores high, on the other hand, take a more pragmatic approach.

Indulgence vs. Restraint:

This revolves around the degree to which members of society are expected to exercise control over their impulses and desires.

Power distance (PDI)

Slovenia71

UK35

Relates to attitudes to (in)equality. Shows the level of expectation of members of the society that power will be (un)evenly distributed. Members of a society where power distance is high are more willing to accept concentration of authority and a hierarchical order in which they all have a place. In a society where power distance is low people expect unevenly distributed power will be equalised and justified in some way.

Connotations of Power Distance Index

Low PDIHigh PDI______

Authority based on secular-rational arguments / Authority based on tradition
Prevailing religions and ideas stress equality / Prevailing religions and ideas stress stratification and hierarchy
Low value on children’s obedience / High value on children’s obedience
Students put high value on independence / Students put high value on conformity
Stronger work ethic; disbelief that people dislike work / Weaker work ethic; more frequent belief that people dislike work
Employees less afraid of disagreeing with boss / Employees afraid to disagree with their boss
Employees show more cooperativeness / Employees reluctant to trust each other
Higher educated employees hold less authoritarian values than lower-educated ones / Higher and lower-educated employees show similar values regarding authority

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High PDI: people accept a hierarchical order in which everybody has a place and which needs no further justification. Hierarchy in an organisation is seen as reflecting inherent inequalities, centralisation is popular, subordinates expect to be told what to do and the ideal boss is a benevolent autocrat.

Where PDI is high people are less likely to express disagreement towards someone with higher status and disagreement is generally less tolerated. This may depend on (or reflect?) how much disagreement and questioning is accepted in the education system.

In a high PDI situation, the education process is teacher centred, the teacher initiates communication, students speak up only when invited, teachers are not publicly contradicted or criticised, there is more emphasis on rote learning and on order in the classroom, with the focus on the teacher. At the university level knowledge is presented as if it were the personal wisdom of the teacher. The quality of learning is dependent on teachers.

In a low PDI context, teachers treat students as basic equals, the education process is student-centred with an emphasis on student initiative; students make uninvited interventions and are expected to ask questions in class when they don’t understand; students may disagree and argue with teachers. The education process involves the transfer of impersonal ‘facts’ and ‘truths’. The quality of learning is dependent on students. The aim of upbringing is for the child to become independent as soon as possible.

Religion: a high PDI is more likely in societies dominated by a hierarchical religion such as Catholicism, less likely in a Protestant society.

All Latin countries in Europe (and Latin America) show higher PDI values, while all English-speaking and Scandinavian / Germanic countries show lower ones. Britain a class-ridden society but has strong sense of fair play and opportunity for all (even if that is illusory)

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)

Slovenia88

UK35

The extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by or uncomfortable with ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these.

Connotations and Social Norms of Uncertainty Avoidance Index

Low UAIHigh UA

Greater readiness to live by the day, take life as it comes / More worry about the future, uncertainty is a threat
Ease, lower stress / Higher anxiety and stress
Less emotional resistance to change / More emotional resistance to change
Less hesitation to change employer, loyalty not seen as a virtue / Tendency to stay with same employer, loyalty valued
Large proportion prepared to live abroad / Fewer people willing to live abroad
Stronger achievement motivation and more personal ambition / Less achievement motivation and low personal ambition
Hope of success / Fear of failure
More risk-taking / Less risk-taking
A manager need not be an expert in the field / A manager should be an expert
Hierarchical structures can be bypassed for pragmatic reasons / Hierarchical structures should be clear and respected
Preference for broad guidelines / Preference for clear requirements and instructions
Less show of emotions / More show of emotions
Competition between employees natural; contained by fair play and used constructively / Competition emotionally disapproved of, seen as leading to conflict
More prepared to compromise with opponents / Lower readiness to compromise with opponents
Higher tolerance for ambiguity in perceiving others / Lower tolerance for ambiguity in perceiving others
Deviance not felt as threatening, greater tolerance / Deviant persons and ideas are a threat; intolerance

Countries exhibiting high uncertainty avoidance maintain rigid codes of belief and behaviour and are less tolerant of unorthodox behaviour and ideas. In these cultures there is an emotional need for rules (even if the rules never seem to work). People value security and place a lot of faith in experts (who can transform uncertainty into certainty). A high UAI usually connects with faith in the theoretical and the search for absolute truths. Organisations use rules and bureaucracy to reduce uncertainty – memos, reports, meetings as rituals.

Cultures with low uncertainty avoidance are more flexible and tolerant, and value generalists, common sense and experience; group values less developed.

A low UAI connects with pragmatism and an emphasis on the empirical, also with an ability to accept ambiguity.

In education: more emphasis in high UAI countries on rote learning and less willingness to say ‘I don’t know’.

More likelihood that language will be presented in a rigid, rule-based fashion. Respect for experts and prescriptive-normative guides.

Research re. PDI and UAI

Sklicevanjenaslovarje na spletu

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Preglednica 2: Primerjavafrekvenceomemb SSKJ in OED

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The role of Slovene

All that we have gained throughout the centuries in the home, in our social life as a nation, all these are our sacred things. First among these are our nationality and language. Both tightly merged, the nation and the language, they once expressed the same notion, that is, the word language meant the same as the nation. (Anton Trstenjak. 1895. 'Slovanskonarodoznanstvo'; Slovenski Narod, 23 January, p. 2.)

Andrej Rozman Roza je predkratkimzapisal»Majhennarod je utemeljen na jeziku.«Misel, o kateri ne kažedvomiti, dopuščanaslednjologičnoizpeljavo: Kojezikšepa, začnešepatitudinarod - ker je utemeljen na jeziku. Konarodizgubisvojjezik, nivečistinarod. Zato je trebazajeziknenehnoskrbeti in s tem utemeljevatinarod ... Čehočemo, da ta ostanepriživljenju.TudinedavnoumrlislovenskipisateljJože Hudeček je zapisal: »Jezik je slovenstvo, in doklerbo, bomotudi mi, potem pa bomonajbržkajdrugega ali pa nas ne bo.« (SilvoKristan, ‘Svetovnidanmaternihjezikov’, Delo)

Kotprvo je pomembno, da negujemo in spoštujemosvojmaterinjezik.Kakšnabonašazgodovinskausodakotnaroda, čebomonašmaterinjezikkarnaprejpačili s tujkami. (Tatjana Malec, Narodnazavest in domovinskavzgojamladih)

Odprto pismoDržavnemuzboru RS (2004)

Slovenščina je ponekododrinjenana rob javnerabe ali celoizrinjenaiznje. Sprenevedanje, da slovenščina s tem nioskodovana ali celoogrožena, je skrajnoneodgovorno. Ceprav je anglizacijasvetovni problem, to niopravičilozaopisanojezikovnostanjeprinas./…/ Karnajhitrejenaj se ustanovitelo, kibo z ustreznimipooblastili in strokovnoavtoritetobedelo nad jezikovnopolitiko in javnoraboslovenščine.(Dular et al 1994).

Zakon o javnirabislovenščine(2004)

Resolucija o nacionalnemprogramuzajezikovnopolitiko (2007)

Pogorelec (v Gomezel Mikolič 2000: 182) opozarja, da se je v preteklostipriSlovencihpravzaradiprivzdignjenosti, 'svetosti' jezikarazviloposebno, kardogmatskopojmovanjetakoimenovanejezikovnepravilnosti.Posledicatakšnegapojmovanjanibilavišjaknjižnojezikovnakultura, temveč na enistranistrah — posameznik je gledeobvladovanjajezikanegotov — na drugi pa brezbrižnost do jezika in jezikovnekulture.

Hall’s triad

technical culture

-textbooks and manuals are theoretically at this level of culture

-the denotative level in linguistics (referential, objective, cognitive)

-teaching at this level isolates parts, analyses and recombines, e.g. grammar

formal culture

-not objective, but an accepted way of doing things

-can be taught

-we are more aware of conventions when they are flouted, e.g. when a child forgets to say Thank you

-children learn at this level through trial and error

-in linguistics, these are genres, norms, conventions

informal culture

-no 'rules' as such

-neither taught nor learned, but acquired informally and subconsciously

-respond to emotionally and identify with

-not what is said but how it is said

-in speech act theory, the illocutionary force of a proposition rather than the locution

-in terms of meaning connotation: personal and socio-cultural aspects of the sign, that change according to age, class, gender, ethnicity, etc.

Trompenaars:specific vs diffuse cultures

A specific culture is one in which individuals have a large public space they readily share with others and small private space guard closely and share with only close friends and associates. A diffuse culture is one in which public space and private space are similar in size and individuals guard their public space carefully, because entry into public space affords entry into private space as well.

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