Cultural Constraints of Written Discourse

Paper Summary:

The project addresses not only the cultural assumptions that are involved in texts used in language teaching, but also the kinds of cultural knowledge and skills that are required by language learners for comprehending and interpreting these texts. The paper looks at the way we conceptualize the world and how it seems to acquire some language-and-culture specific features. The project focuses not only on the different conceptualization of knowledge and experience of the world within different cultures, but also on the way it is fixed in language.

Contents:
General Introduction
Theoretical Assumptions
Practical Implications
Method
Data Analysis
Results and Discussion
References

From the Paper:

"The variety of interpretations of culture and its relationship to language is a theme of continuing and possibly endless debate. Generally speaking, language is not transparent and neutral. It is a site in which beliefs, values and points of view are produced, encoded and contested. Language thus reflects culture, and language and culture are inseparable. Sherzer (1987) views language as cultural and claims that it is language use in discourse that creates, recreates and modifies culture."

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