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1、LanguageandCulturelIntroductionSincehumanbeingappeared,allkindsoflanguagescameintobeingbirbybit.Andwiththedevelopmentoflanguages,cultures,varietiesofculturesgrew,too.Whatwecannotdenyisthatthereisaintimaterelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture.Therearemanywaysinwhichthephenomenaoflanguage
2、andcultureareintimatelyrelated.Bothphenomenaareuniquetohumansandhavethereforebeenthesubjectofagreatdealofanthropological,sociological,andevenmemeticstudy.Language,ofcourse,isdeterminedbyculture,thoughtheextenttowhichthisistrueisnowunderdebate.Theconverseisalsotruetosomedegree:cultureisd
3、eterminedbylanguage-orrather,bythereplicatorsthatcreatedboth,memes.lLanguageasDeterminedbyCultureEarlyanthropologists,followingthetheorythatwordsdeterminethought,believedthatlanguageanditsstructurewereentirelydependentontheculturalcontextinwhichtheyexisted.Thiswasalogicalextensionofwhat
4、istermedtheStandardSocialScienceModel,whichviewsthehumanmindasanindefinitelymalleablestructurecapableofabsorbinganysortofculturewithoutconstraintsfromgeneticorneurologicalfactors.Inthisvein,anthropologistVerneRayconductedastudyinthe1950's,givingcolorsamplestodifferentAmericanIndiantribe
5、sandaskingthemtogivethenamesofthecolors.Heconcludedthatthespectrumweseeas"green","yellow",etc.wasanentirelyarbitrarydivision,andeachculturedividedthespectrumseparately.Accordingtothishypothesis,thedivisionsseenbetweencolorsareaconsequenceofthelanguagewelearn,anddonotcorrespondtodivision
6、sinthenaturalworld.AsimilarhypothesisisupheldintheextremelypopularmemeofEskimowordsforsnow-commonstoriesvaryfromfiftytoupwardsoftwohundred.Extremeculturalrelativismofthistypehasnowbeenclearlyrefuted.Eskimosuseatmosttwelvedifferentwordsforsnow,whichisnotmanymorethanEnglishspeakersandshou
7、ldbeexpectedsincetheyexistinacoldclimate.Thecolor-relativityhypothesishasnowbeencompletelydebunkedbymorecareful,thorough,andsystematicstudieswhichshowaremarkablesimilaritybetweenthewaysinwhichdifferentculturesdividethespectrum.Ofcourse,therearewaysinwhichculturereallydoesdeterm
