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Culture and Language
Something that we do all the time in our everyday life is to communicate. The action of communication involves the usage of symbols, which are things that represent something else, for example a red light symbolizes “stop”. A symbol can be a written or a spoken word, a gesture, a facial expression… Symbols stand only because a group of people agrees to interpret them the same way. That is why the meaning of symbols varies from culture to culture. Symbols are symbols because a group of people have agreed on their common usage.
As Gudykunst and Yun Kim (1997) claim, the relationship between symbols and the things which they symbolize is not a self evident or natural one… Symbols derive their specific function from group consensus or social convention and have no effect whatever (outside their rather trivial physical characteristics) on any person not acquainted with such consensus or convention.
The meaning we attach to a symbol is a function of our culture, our ethnic group, our family and our unique individual experiences. The human ability to develop speech and language and to communicate derives from the usage of symbols. Their meaning is learned within the process of socialization, the process of acquiring a cultur
Approximate Word count = 1520
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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