by Frances Simon

Created on: March 15, 2009   Last Updated: May 09, 2009

Language can influence culture in a variety of ways. It can influence the way a community perceives the world, and can create community through the use of varying languages and dialects in different areas. It can both influence the way a society interacts with the world, and create a cultural identity separate from the rest of the world.

Language is composed of four major categories. For our purposes, there are two that are the most important. These are words, and grammatical constructs. The words in a language are continuously evolving. The meaning of words can change over time, new technologies can come into being, and slang is an ongoing process. For example, the word "dashboard" at one time meant the board on a sleigh that protected the occupants from the snow that was kicked up by dashing horses. The word "Internet" has made its way into virtually every language. Twenty years ago the group of letters in "bling" had no meaning. Vocabulary can be a way for the young to separate themselves from their elders, and reinforce their understanding of the world.

The words in a language also affect how an individual perceives the world. As a child develops, having the words please" and "thank you" in their day-to-day speech teaches them valuable social behavioral skills. Speech is a primary way of teaching children about their culture.

Cultures whose language lack words relating to modern society may have difficulty understanding the behavior of people whose lives are dominated by these concepts. If you have never heard of blue tooth, how can you understand the behavior of someone wandering around talking to himself?

So do grammatical constructs influence thought? The Sapir-Whorfian Hypothesis posits that it does. This hypothesis has been widely discredited, and is no longer taken seriously by linguists.

Cultural identities can be created by the language that is used, and entire societies may define themselves based on the language and dialect they speak. As one goes from north to south through the Americas, the Spanish language becomes more and more like Castilian Spanish, the Spanish spoken in Spain. Those who speak Castilian Spanish are frequently considered more sophisticated and intelligent than those who speak more informal dialects.

Another example is the country of Belgium. Most of its citizens speak either Belgian or French. The speakers of both languages feel that they are very different and better than those who speak the other language. Their identity is determined by the language they speak. One result of this is Belgium's recent inability to maintain a cohesive government.

The effect of language on culture, of differentiating and uniting groups of people, is more profound than most people realize. Not only does the specific vocabulary reflect the culture, the language or dialect spoken can also both define and separate cultures.

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