Journal articles on the topic 'Mutual relation between language and culture'

In the context of communication, especially dialogic and generative approach to expression of culture, the concept of Art can seem as the best mode of conveyance. Such enunciation of culture through Art is substantiated by capturing all the sufficient properties of the subject of Art through language. Simply put, language is employed to describe, comprehend and communicate ideas represented in Art by having concrete sets of communicative principles that governs meaning. This paper argues such governance of meaning by language limits the potentiality of Art. It proposes the inherent obscurity in defining Art operates as a radical deconditioning through which any attempt to fix the representational meaning of Art by language is resisted. Specifically, the paper considers such resistance with the use of word ‘ANTARA’ as an exhibition concept in which works that were shown are inextricably bound by the mutual conditionality relation between language occurrence and specificity of cultural expression

Mutual contacts between representatives of different cultures often lead to communication difficulties. The article attempts to verify language games which in the process of intercultural communication reflect the uniqueness of the national language and culture. The authors, on the basis of the cultural linguistic approach, offer various forms and ways of didactic work using jokes, puzzles, anecdotes and aphorisms. Teaching to understand the meaning of language games, which occupy an important place in everyday language contacts, using them in learning and teaching a foreign language, helps learners develop intercultural competence. Mastering them allows the avoidance of difficulties in relations with representatives of other languages and cultures.

Recently, cultural, economical, and political relations between nations have increased in a noticeable way. People communicate and interact more and more to achieve mutual understanding and hit the target. While communicating, different language users may not understand or misunderstand intentions of their interlocutors. This misunderstanding happens due to the different lexicon used in different linguistic communities that reflect their lifestyle. Some words possess culture-specific meanings that reflect not only ways of living of a certain society but also the way the members of that society think and act. For this reason, intentionally or unintentionally, people apply their native language competence to the foreign language that will likely result in misunderstanding known as pragmatic failure. This article deals with the pragmatic failure on word, sentence and discourse levels. Here, implicit meanings of lexical and grammatical elements in discourses across languages and cultures, namely in the English, Azerbaijani, as well as Russian, Chinese, Turkish, and Korean languages and cultures have been investigated.

AbstractIntercultural communication is a mutual communicating of individuals or groups representing different cultures, which are used in a variety of ways to establish mutual relations. The aim of intercultural communication is to know the behavior, customs, ceremonies, and beliefs of the other cultures. Avoiding or a total lack of contacts with representatives of other cultures brings ignorance of the complexity of the social world and its wealth and can cause a culture shock, as well as the conflict of cultures. However, in order to properly carry out this kind of communication, it is necessary to know the basic building blocks for a particular social group, consisting of: history, oral tradition, language, beliefs and customs. It is also important noticing the differences between cultures. Intercultural dialogue naturally creates difficulties, since they meet in the representatives of different cultures. Acceptance of differences leads to developing proper coexistence societies, which is especially important in the current world.

For a long time, the study of ethno-language and ethno-culture was conducted based on the use of different conceptual and terminological devices, despite the significant commonality and the research possibilities in mutual connection with applying a single system of instrumental categories – universal methodological basis – semiotics. The semiotics of culture made it possible to interpret the phenomena of language and culture as phenomena of the same order. Culture is explored as a polyglot phenomenon, as a system of sign systems. In the dynamic aspect, culture, formed in the process of sociohistorical development of the people, appears as a set of schemes or programs of subjectpractical and spiritual-theoretical behaviour of people. By analogy with biological heredity, we refer to cultural heritage, in the frame of which individual behavioural programs are considered as a kind of “cultural genes”, whose systems, like genetic codes, form cultural codes. In this article, we consider the language and cultural code, namely their interaction in the linguo-cultural space. Thus, behavioural programs function in society in a signed form: in the form of social symbolism systems, in the form of etiquette signs, various kinds of signals, in the form of language. From these perspectives, we consider language as a mega program that regulates human thinking and behaviour. This approach allows us to identify the connection between language and culture. From the standpoint of the semiotics of culture, verbal speech is the main, nuclear sign system of ethno-culture, over which all other sign systems of this culture are built as its auxiliary mechanisms. The article deals with the connection between the concepts of language and code, as well as a number of related concepts. The concept of “linguistic image” is specified. The cultural code is divided into subcodes with a multi-level hierarchy. The system of cultural codes with its “vertical” and “horizontal” relations represents the figurative system of culture. Units of linguo-cultural code are formed under the interaction of cultural codes with the generally accepted code. A unit of linguo-cultural code consists of any number of lexemes, but it is a natural language embodiment of only one unit of cultural code (a separate image). Figurative codes of culture are embodied only in such linguistic units that have a figurative basis.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of information culture in Mainland China and apply the information culture framework to an organizational setting. Design/methodology/approach The foundation for the research is provided by a review of Chinese and English language literature and a case study of a university library was conducted, involving semi-structured interviews. Findings The information culture framework facilitated identification of factors not recognized in previous information culture research, including uniquely Chinese factors of egocentrism, guanxi (relationships), mianzi (face), hexie (harmony) and renqing (mutual benefit). A further finding highlighted the profound differences between archives and library institutions in China. Originality/value The paper provides the first step toward further exploring features of Chinese organizational culture which will not only influence information management practices but also highlight the issues relating to collaboration between libraries and archives in China.

The closer ties and relations between Mauritania and Israel had an effective impact on the Arab region, as the mutual interests between the two parties led to the creation of a sort of anxiety and turmoil in the relationship of Mauritania with the Arab countries, linked to them by the neighboring factor in addition to the history, culture, language and religion factors, where the Mauritanian-Israeli relations influence in several Arab and Islamic trends and to reach its maximum impact with respect to the Mauritanian relations for the war in Yemen, Iraq and the war in Syria and the Palestinian issue and the war on terrorism.

AbstractIn the study, the author analyzes the relation between communication and the real language, as this relation had been reflected by Ján Bosák (1939 – 2019), an important representative of the Slovak linguistics of the second half of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century. The theoretical and methodological coordinates of Ján Bosák’s research evolved from systemic linguistics to studying language in communication and language as a social phenomenon of its own kind. Ján Bosák has contributed to the Slovak linguistic research on the function of standard Slovak by introducing notions of the ordinary Slovak vernacular and the vernacularity, not only in the sense of stylistics, but in the sense that this vernacular represents a newly emerging variety in contemporary language situation. Since the beginning of the 1990s, Ján Bosák has systematically developed, as well as, strictly speaking, initiated the Slovak research in sociolinguistics, while he focused especially on sociolinguistic interpretation of variants and later on an original research into stratification of the Slovak language. Using sociolinguistic perspective as a starting point, Ján Bosák creatively revised the theory of Slovak national/standard language, as well as engaged in the discussion on both the norm(s) and codification of standard Slovak and the issues of language culture and possibilities for its cultivation. He also defined the so-called communication spheres and their relation to functional styles. Willingly or not, he had to leave the view of traditional theory, especially with regard to the issue of how to perceive plurality, diversity and variability within language, given that, as he assumed, the norm can neither be identified with codification nor subsumed under standards of the previous language situation. Ján Bosák undoubtedly deserves credit for the fact that the Slovak linguistics has gradually endorsed a new perspective on standard Slovak and that a diversity of views has been established in this respect. He tied in with the previous research tradition in that he held the notions of norm, codification and common use to be important with respect to the issues of standard Slovak and language culture. He believed, however, that the codification needs to be grounded in meticulous scientific knowledge on the real norm and that it is also inevitable to respect innovations and accept the principle of variety. Ján Bosák also believed that the distance in mutual communication between the norm and codification continues to grow because the “hypostatization” of the notion of system, in the sense that “everything happens in the name of the system and its sustenance” is still a characteristic tendency in Slovak linguistics. In this way, the relation between system and norm on the level of particular speech activity goes missing with regards to the individual user. A certain part of Slovak linguists is severely mistaken in that they identify norm with codification. But, as Ján Bosák argued, the contradictions of norm, common use and codification can best be grasped and interpreted through a symbiosis of systemic approach, communication approach and sociolinguistic strategy.

Abstract While greetings are performed in all cultures and open most conversations, previous studies suggest that there are cross-cultural differences between different languages in greeting behavior. But do speakers of different national varieties of the same language organize and perform their greeting behavior in similar ways? In this study, we investigate the sequential organization of greetings in relation to gaze behavior in the two national varieties of Swedish: Sweden Swedish spoken in Sweden and Finland Swedish spoken in Finland. In recent years, the importance of studying pluricentric languages from a pragmatic perspective has been foregrounded, not least within the framework of variational pragmatics. To date, most studies have focused on structural differences between national varieties of pluricentric languages. With this study, we extend the scope of variational pragmatics through adding an interactional, micro perspective to the broader macro analysis typical of this field. For this study, we have analyzed patterns for greetings in 297 video-recorded service encounters, where staff and customers interact at theatre box offices and event booking venues in Sweden and Finland. The study shows that there are similarities and differences in greeting behavior between varieties. There is a strong preference for exchanging reciprocal verbal greetings, one at a time, in both. There is also a similar organization of the greeting sequence, where customer and staff establish mutual gaze prior to the verbal greetings, thus signaling availability for interaction. The duration of mutual gaze and the timing of the greeting, however, differ between the two varieties. We have also conducted a multi modal analysis of gaze behavior in correlation to the greeting. We found that the customers and staff in the Finland Swedish data share mutual gaze before and during the verbal greeting, and often avert gaze after the verbal greetings. However, in the Sweden Swedish data, the participants often avert gaze before the verbal greetings. Our results thus indicate that both similarities and differences in pragmatic routines and bodily behavior exist between the two national varieties of Swedish. The present study on greeting practices in Finland Swedish and Sweden Swedish should contribute to the field of variational pragmatics and to the development of pluricentric theory.

The Routledge Handbook of language and culture represents a comprehensive study on the inextricable relationship between language and culture. It is structured into seven parts and 33 chapters. Part 1, Overview and historical background, by Farzad Sharifian, starts with an outline of the book and a synopsis of research on language and culture. The second chapter, John Leavitt’s Linguistic relativity: precursors and transformations discusses further the historical development of the concept of linguistic relativity, identifying different schools’ of thought views on the relation between language and culture. He also tries to demystify some misrepresentations held towards Boas, Sapir, and Whorf’ theories (pp. 24-26). Chapter 3, Ethnosyntax, by Anna Gladkova provides an overview of research on ethnosyntax, starting from the theoretical basis laid by Sapir and Whorf and investigates the differences between a narrow sense of ethnosyntax, which focuses on cultural meanings of various grammatical structures and a broader sense, which emphasises the pragmatic and cultural norms’ impact on the choice of grammatical structures. John Leavitt presents in the fourth chapter, titled Ethnosemantics, a historical account of research on meaning across cultures, introducing three traditions, i.e. ‘classical’ ethnosemantics (also referred to as ethnoscience or cognitive anthropology), Boasian cultural semantics (linguistically inspired anthropology) and Neohumboldtian comparative semantics (word-field theory, or content-oriented Linguistics). In Chapter 5, Goddard underlines the fact that ethnopragmatics investigates emic (or culture-internal) approaches to the use of different speech practices across various world languages, which accounts for the fact that there exists a connection between the cultural values or norms and the speech practices peculiar to a speech community. One of the key objectives of ethnopragmatics is to investigate ‘cultural key words’, i.e. words that encapsulate culturally construed concepts. The concept of ‘linguaculture’ (or languaculture) is tackled in Risager’s Chapter 6, Linguaculture: the language–culture nexus in transnational perspective. The author makes reference to American scholars that first introduced this notion, Paul Friedrich, who looks at language and culture as a single domain in which verbal aspects of culture are mingled with semantic meanings, and Michael Agar, for whom culture resides in language while language is loaded with culture. Risager himself brought forth a new global and transnational perspective on the concept of linguaculture, i.e. the use of language (linguistic practice) is seen as flows in people’s social networks and speech communities. These flows enhance as people migrate or learn new languages, in permanent dynamics. Lidia Tanaka’s Chapter 7, Language, gender, and culture deals with research on language, gender, and culture. According to her, the language-gender relationship has been studied by researchers from various fields, including psychology, linguistics, and anthropology, who mainly consider gender as a construct that preserves inequalities in society, with the help of language, too. Tanaka lists diachronically different approaches to language and gender, focusing on three specific ones: gender stereotyped linguistic resources, semantically, pragmatically or lexically designated language features (including register) and gender-based spoken discourse strategies (talking-time imbalances or interruptions). In Chapter 8, Language, culture, and context, Istvan Kecskes delves into the relationship between language, culture, and context from a socio-cognitive perspective. The author considers culture to be a set of shared knowledge structures that encapsulate the values, norms, and customs that the members of a society have in common. According to him, both language and context are rooted in culture and carriers of it, though reflecting culture in a different way. Language encodes past experience with different contexts, whereas context reflects present experience. The author also provides relevant examples of formulaic language that demonstrate the functioning of both types of context, within the larger interplay between language, culture, and context. Sara Miller’s Chapter 9, Language, culture, and politeness reviews traditional approaches to politeness research, with particular attention given to ‘discursive approach’ to politeness. Much along the lines of the previous chapter, Miller stresses the role of context in judgements of (im)polite language, maintaining that individuals represent active agents who challenge and negotiate cultural as well as linguistic norms in actual communicative contexts. Chapter 10, Language, culture, and interaction, by Peter Eglin focuses on language, culture and interaction from the perspective of the correspondence theory of meaning. According to him, abstracting language and culture from their current uses, as if they were not interdependent would not lead to an understanding of words’ true meaning. David Kronenfeld introduces in Chapter 11, Culture and kinship language, a review of research on culture and kinship language, starting with linguistic anthropology. He explains two formal analytic definitional systems of kinship terms: the semantic (distinctions between kin categories, i.e. father vs mother) and pragmatic (interrelations between referents of kin terms, i.e. ‘nephew’ = ‘child of a sibling’). Chapter 12, Cultural semiotics, by Peeter Torop deals with the field of ‘semiotics of culture’, which may refer either to methodological instrument, to a whole array of methods or to a sub-discipline of general semiotics. In this last respect, it investigates cultures as a form of human symbolic activity, as well as a system of cultural languages (i.e. sign systems). Language, as “the preserver of the culture’s collective experience and the reflector of its creativity” represents an essential component of cultural semiotics, being a major sign system. Nigel Armstrong, in Chapter 13, Culture and translation, tackles the interrelation between language, culture, and translation, with an emphasis on the complexities entailed by translation of culturally laden aspects. In his opinion, culture has a double-sided dimension: the anthropological sense (referring to practices and traditions which characterise a community) and a narrower sense, related to artistic endeavours. However, both sides of culture permeate language at all levels. Chapter 14, Language, culture, and identity, by Sandra Schecter tackles several approaches to research on language, culture, and identity: social anthropological (the limits at play in the social construction of differences between various groups of people), sociocultural (the interplay between an individual’s various identities, which can be both externally and internally construed, in sociocultural contexts), participatory-relational (the manner in which individuals create their social–linguistic identities). Patrick McConvell, in Chapter 15, Language and culture history: the contribution of linguistic prehistory reviews research in this field where historical linguistic evidence is exploited in the reconstruction and understanding of prehistoric cultures. He makes an account of research in linguistic prehistory, with a focus on proto- and early Indo-European cultures, on several North American language families, on Africa, Australian, and Austronesian Aboriginal languages. McConvell also underlines the importance of interdisciplinary research in this area, which greatly benefits from studies in other disciplines, such as archaeology, palaeobiology, or biological genetics. Part four starts with Ning Yu’s Chapter 16, Embodiment, culture, and language, which gives an account of theory and research on the interplay between language, culture, and body, as seen from the standpoint of Cultural Linguistics. Yu presents a survey of embodiment (in embodied cognition research) from a multidisciplinary perspective, starting with the rather universalistic Conceptual Metaphor Theory. On the other hand, Cultural Linguistics has concentrated on the role played by culture in shaping embodied language, as various cultures conceptualise body and bodily experience in different ways. Chapter 17, Culture and language processing, by Crystal Robinson and Jeanette Altarriba deals with research in the field of how culture influence language processing, in particular in the case of bilingualism and emotion, alongside language and memory. Clearly, the linguistic and cultural character of each individual’s background has to be considered as a variable in research on cognition and cognitive processing. Frank Polzenhagen and Xiaoyan Xia, in Chapter 18, Language, culture, and prototypicality bring forth a survey of prototypicality across different disciplines, including cognitive linguistics and cognitive psychology. According to them, linguistic prototypes play a critical part in social (re-)cognition, as they are socially diagnostic and function as linguistic identity markers. Moreover, individuals may develop ‘culturally blended concepts’ as a result of exposure to several systems of conceptual categorisation, especially in the case of L2 learning (language-contact or culture-contact situations). In Chapter 19, Colour language, thought, and culture, Don Dedrick investigates the issue of the colour words in different languages and how these influence cognition, a question that has been addressed by researchers from various disciplines, such as anthropology, linguistics, cognitive psychology, or neuroscience. He cannot but observe the constant debate in this respect, and he argues that it is indeed difficult to reach consensus, as colour language occasionally reveals effects of language on thought and, at other times, it is impervious to such effects. Chapter 20, Language, culture, and spatial cognition, by Penelope Brown concentrates on conceptualisations of space, providing a framework for thinking about and referring to objects and events, along with more abstract notions such as time, number, or kinship. She lists three frames of reference used by languages in order to refer to spatial relations, i.e. a) an ‘absolute’ coordinate system, like north, south, east, west; b) a ‘relative’ coordinate system envisaged from the body’s standpoint; and c) an intrinsic, object-centred coordinate system. Chris Sinha and Enrique Bernárdez focus on, in Chapter 21, Space, time, and space–time: metaphors, maps, and fusions, research on linguistic and cultural concepts of time and space, starting with the seminal Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), which they denounce for failing to situate space–time mapping within the broader patterns of culture and world perspective. Sinha and Bernárdez further argue that although it is possible in all cultures for individuals to experience and discuss about events in terms of their duration and succession, the specific words and concepts they use to refer to temporal landmarks temporal and duration are most of the time language and culture specific. Chapter 22, Culture and language development, by Laura Sterponi and Paul Lai provides an account of research on the interplay between culture and language acquisition. They refer to two widely accepted perspectives in this respect: a developmental mechanism inherent in human beings and a set of particular social contexts in which children are ‘initiated’ into the cultural meaning systems. Both perspectives define culture as “both related to the psychological make-up of the individual and to the socio-historical contexts in which s/he is born and develops”. Anna Wierzbicka presents, in Chapter 23, Language and cultural scripts discusses representations of cultural norms which are encoded in language. She contends that the system of meaning interpretation developed by herself and her colleagues, i.e. Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM), may easily be used to capture and convey cultural scripts. Through NSM cross-cultural experiences can be captured in a thorough manner by using a reduced number of conceptual primes which seem to exist in all languages. Chapter 24, Culture and emotional language, by Jean-Marc Dewaele brings forth the issue of the relationship between language, culture, and emotion, which has been researched by cultural and cognitive psychologists and applied linguists alike, although with some differences in focus. He considers that within this context, it is important to see differences between emotion contexts in bilinguals, since these may lead to different perceptions of the self. He infers that generally, culture revolves around the experience and communication of emotions, conveyed through linguistic expression. The fifth part starts with Chapter 25, Language and culture in sociolinguistics, by Meredith Marra, who underlines that culture is a central concept in Interactional Sociolinguistics, where language is considered as social interaction. In linguistic interaction, culture, and especially cultural differences are deemed as a cause of potential miscommunication. Mara also remarks that the paradigm change in sociolinguistics, from Interactional Sociolinguistics to social constructionism reshaped ‘culture’ into a more dynamic as well as less rigid concept. Claudia Strauss’ Chapter 26, Language and culture in cognitive anthropology deals with the relationship between human society and human thought/thinking. The author contends that cognitive anthropologists may be subdivided into two groups, i.e. ones that are concerned with the process of thinking (cognition-in-practice scholars), and the others focusing on the product of thinking or thoughts (concerned with shared cultural understandings). She goes on to explore how different approaches to cognitive anthropology have counted on units of language, i.e. lexical items and their meanings, along with larger chunks of discourse, as information, which may represent learned cultural schemata. Part VI starts with Chapter 27, Language and culture in second language learning, by Claire Kramsch, in which she makes a survey of the definition of ‘culture’ in foreign language learning and its evolution from a component of literature and the arts to a more comprehensive purport, that of culturally appropriate use of language, along with an appropriate use of sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic norms. According to her, in the postmodern era, communication is not only mere transmission of information, it represents construal and positioning of the self and of self-identity. Chapter 28, Writing across cultures: ‘culture’ in second language writing studies, by Dwight Atkinson focuses on the usefulness of culture in second-language writing (SLW). He reviews several approaches to the issue: contrastive rhetoric (dealing with the impact of first-language patterns of text organisation on writers in a second language), or even alternate notions, like‘ cosmopolitanism’, ‘critical multiculturalism’, and hybridity, as of late native culture is becoming irrelevant or at best far less significant. Ian Malcolm tackles, in Chapter 29, Language and culture in second dialect learning, the issue of ‘standard’ Englishes (e.g., Standard American English, Standard Australian English) versus minority ‘non-standard’ speakers of English. He deplores the fact that in US specialist literature, speaking the ‘non-standard’ variety of English was associated with cognitive, cultural, and linguistic insufficiency. He further refers to other specialists who have demonstrated that ‘non-standard’ varieties can be just as systematic and highly structured as the standard variety. Chapter 30, Language and culture in intercultural communication, by Hans-Georg Wolf gives an account of research in intercultural education, focusing on several paradigms, i.e. the dominant one, investigating successful functioning in intercultural encounters, the minor one, exploring intercultural understanding and the ‘deconstructionist, and or postmodernist’. He further examines different interpretations of the concepts associated with intercultural communication, including the functionalist school, the intercultural understanding approach and a third one, the most removed from culture, focusing on socio-political inequalities, fluidity, situationality, and negotiability. Andy Kirkpatrick’s Chapter 31, World Englishes and local cultures gives a synopsis of research paradigm from applied linguistics which investigates the development of Englishes around the world, through processes like indigenisation or nativisation of the language. Kirkpatrick discusses the ways in which new Englishes accommodate the culture of the very speech community which develops them, e.g. adopting lexical items to express to express culture-specific concepts. Speakers of new varieties could use pragmatic norms rooted in cultural values and norms of the specific new speech community which have not previously been associated with English. Moreover, they can use these new Englishes to write local literatures, often exploiting culturally preferred rhetorical norms. Part seven starts with Chapter 32, Cultural Linguistics, by Farzad Sharifian gives an account of the recent multidisciplinary research field of Cultural Linguistics, which explores the relationship between language and cultural cognition, particularly in the case of cultural conceptualisations. Sharifian also brings forth illustrations of how cultural conceptualisations may be linguistically encoded. The last chapter, A future agenda for research on language and culture, by Roslyn Frank provides an appraisal of Cultural Linguistics as a prospective path for research in the field of language and culture. She states that ‘Cultural Linguistics could potentially create a paradigm that “successfully melds together complementary approaches, e.g., viewing language as ‘a complex adaptive system’ and bringing to bear upon it concepts drawn from cognitive science such as ‘distributed cognition’ and ‘multi-agent dynamic systems theory’.” She further asserts that Cultural Linguistics has the potential to function as “a bridge that brings together researchers from a variety of fields, allowing them to focus on problems of mutual concern from a new perspective” and most likely unveil new issues (as well as solutions) which have not been evident so far. In conclusion, the Handbook will most certainly serve as clear and coherent guidelines for scholarly thinking and further research on language and culture, and also open up new investigative vistas in each of the areas tackled.

Research background: The economy with the strongest influence on world affairs, international politics and world economy is undoubtedly the economy of the United States of America. In the Czech Republic, after the revolution, the USA quickly came to the forefront of interest and mutual foreign trade grew significantly. However, their global influence was significantly reflected not only in economic aspects, but also in sociological aspects. In recent years, the so-called “Americanization” has been taking place in the Czech Republic. American terms were often adopted in the commonly used Czech language, and the demand for American goods increased significantly. Purpose of the article: The objective of the presented text is to evaluate development of the influence of the USA on the economy of the Czech Republic by analysing the development of key macroeconomic quantities, in particular gross domestic product, gross national product, balance of payments and foreign trade. Based on the results of this analysis, the future development of the Czech economy, more precisely opportunities and impacts arising from mutual trade relations between the American and Czech economies, is predicated. Methods: Descriptive statistic. Findings & Value added: The results of the research showed a gradual expansion of the influence of the American economy in the Czech Republic, which began after 1989 and continues to this day. This influence manifested itself in several aspects. It was reflected in the structure of mutual foreign trade, and also in the Czech culture and the Czech language (adoption of English terms into the Czech language). The further potential of mutual trade is highlighted out by comparing the structure of export and import from the USA in total and export and import from the USA to the Czech Republic.

Summary The concept of the language as an instrument for children, that leads to their mutual understanding in the classes 1–3, depends on the comprehensive educators approach to the relations between linguistics and the philosophy of language, developmental psychology, sociology of culture, and the history of the Polish society. The child’s undertaking of the school education imposes on the teacher the obligation to accompany it not only in mastering the elementary knowledge of the native language’s grammar system, but also in creating situations that overcome students fear of making difficult decisions when solving interesting tasks. When using the functions of the language: fatic, communicative, informational, expressive or meta-linguistic, pupils go through the several stages from the incorrect speech to correct speech, and they master the elementary structure of the reading texts intended for the little recipients. The described process would be strengthened depending on the pupil’s social background, and conditioned culturally and environmentally. This in turn affects the perception of the poetic language function and aesthetic attitude towards art.

This article continues the topic of the previous one [Zavyalova, Kutsenkov, 2020]. It reveals how great is the role of humor in the cultures of West Africa, where it manifests itself in various spheres of life of its peoples. The Kɔ̀tɛba Folk Theater in Mali and Guinea is another traditional aspect of humor based on satire. The secret society of Kɔ̀rɛduga “jesters” is characteristic of the traditional cultures of Manden. The Dogon have guardians of brussa, alamonyou, who play the role of clowns during the release of masks, and female jesters yayeré, who are wives of the inhabitants of a given village, originating from other villages. The Manden and Dogon humor permeates all spheres of the traditional way of life, and it plays one of fundamental roles in the manner of communication, in the theater and in oral literature. Thus, satire is aimed either at resolving possible conflicts in the absence of mutual understanding between representatives of various social, age and other groups, at resolving conflicts associated with violation of etiquette. All satirical folklore genres function on this basis. Fairy tales and anecdotes ridicule violations of the norms of etiquette inherent in this particular culture. The folk theater touches on topical, actual violations of traditional norms of behavior. In conclusion, the authors note that humor is one of the foundations of the “virtual” reality of the culture created by these societies. When such regulators are violated and their semantic content changes, the whole reality and even the very existence of these peoples will change.

Abstract Research on emotion in anthropology has been supplanted by an ethnographic turn toward ‘subjectivity’, ‘embodiment’, ‘personhood’, and ‘experience’. In this article, I explore how these interrelated modes of analysis can help ethnographers to better understand the cultural processes that constitute how people feel. I show that among my Christian Dusun interlocutors in Ranau, Malaysian Borneo, the interactive engagement between subjects and their environment determined the vectors of emotional possibility in terms of belief. The intersection of religious objects (God, the Holy Spirit, Satan) and mutual obligations in the community produce what I refer to as the ‘faith network’. I trace these collective attachments to consider how ‘believing in’ regulates feeling in relation to situations of crisis, impasse, and tragedy. The combined efforts of my interlocutors, I suggest, created an active commitment that pulsated through the faith network, which sustained an intensive and defining mode of their relational experience.

The reviewed book is the eleventh in the series devoted to the “Culture of the First Polish Republic in dialogue with Europe. Hermeneutics of values”. This series is the aftermath of an interesting research project, whose aim is both to comprehensively present the cultural relations of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with Europe, as well as to recognize the ways and forms of mutual communication of literary, aesthetic, political and religious values. In addition, it aims to present in a broad comparative context the structure of Early Modern culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Apart from the introduction, the book contains the dissertations of 11 authors originating from various scientific centers in Poland and abroad (Toruń, Białystok, Vilnius, Venice, Padua, Cracow, Poznań, Rzeszów) and representing different research specialties: philology, history, and history of art. The general and primary goal of the text it is to analyze various aspects of the Ruthenian culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, both in its dynamic connection with the Polish-Latin culture and the processes occurring in Eastern European Orthodoxy after the fall of the Byzantine Empire and in connection with the strengthening of the Moscow state. The key issues developed in the volume relate essentially to: values of the Ruthenian culture, some of which coincide or are identical to those recognized by Western-Polish citizens of the Commonwealth, while depend on the centuries old tradition of Eastern-Christian culture.The articles focuses on the values displayed in the Orthodox and Uniate spheres and around the polemics between them, punching with axiological arguments. The most frequently and basic problems that were raised are: determinants of identity, faith (religion), language (languages), social status, origin; the policy of rulers, the problem of ecclesiastical jurisdiction; tradition and change in culture – biblical studies, patristics, liturgy, theology; printing, translations, education; apologetics and polemics, preaching, iconography; a renewal program for the clergy that was to become the vanguard of the renewal of the entire Eastern Church; Bazylian Uniate ( Greek- Catholic) clergy: the idea of cultural integration, education, translation and publishing.

The paper highlights the peculiarities of mutual interference between concepts FASHION and RELIGION. The study represents an attempt to compare fashion and religion as two systems of worldview. Verbal and non-verbal appeals to religious concepts within the scope of representations of concept FASHION in contemporary English media are being outlined. Special emphasis is put on Christian tradition as the cultural foundation of the English language. The paper briefly touches the problem of Muslim concepts’ representations in fashion discourse as an essential part of contemporary English massculture. The change in perception of fashion from the Bible times to contemporary fashion magazines is being studied. The practical dimension of the research includes texts of King James Bible, articles extracted form modern fashion magazines, sites of well-known fashion brends, releases of fashion collections, texts of news portals especially from such columns as society, culture, blogs. The diachronic perspective is represented by the texts of English authors from the Middle Ages and the Rennaisance period. The study pinpoints axiological shifts in culture and fashion discourse. Such key stages of manifestation of various representations of the concept FASHION as SHAME – FAST, GRIEF AND SORROW – POWER – VICE – FREEDOM – IDENTITY – RELIGION were highlighted. The results of the study show a high level of cognitive modification of the concept FASHION, antonymic relations between the primary and current kernel parts of this concept are shown in religious aspect.

At the highest level of interstate relations, cultural relations between Russia and India are considered not only as one of the strategic areas of cooperation, but also as its basis, which is manifested in the mutual awareness of the common fundamental values of the peoples of Russia and India. The cultural policy of the two states is characterized by similar tasks: the preservation of cultural heritage, national culture and language in the context of cultural integration and globalization, the protection of cultural values, and the search for effective forms of cultural interaction. The evidence of the stability, effectiveness and relevance of this format of interaction, even in an unfavorable political environment, is its temporal continuity, presented in this work in the context of the historical experience of the formation of cultural ties between Russia and India in different periods of time, starting from the 15th century. The aim of this article is to typologize this experience up to the present time. The theoretical focus was on such subject areas as interstate cultural cooperation, cultural exchanges, and cultural diplomacy. The sources were Russian and Indian official documents, as well as relevant research works. The authors used the ideographic (descriptive-narrative), comparative-historical, and retrospective methods, as well as the periodization method in the study. The novelty of the research consists in the generalization of ideas about the mechanisms of international cultural cooperation, the practices of cultural exchanges and cultural diplomacy, the interaction of national cultures on the example of Russian-Indian relations. The actual significance of studying this issue is enhanced by its organic connection with the prospects of improving the status of national cultures, expanding the possibilities of their inclusion in the context of world culture, and with the prospects of social development in general. The analysis of documents, research works, and the level of interstate relations between Russia and India allows us to conclude that it is the cultural sphere with its stable semantic codes that underlies Russian-Indian political and economic relations. The results of the study of the development of cultural interaction can be used for a further investigation of the interaction of cultures, in the activities of organizations, institutions, departments, diplomatic services dealing with interstate cultural cooperation, for the development of research-based programs for the exchange of cultural values and their use in the activities of cultural institutions in different countries. На высшем уровне межгосударственных отношений культурные связи России и Индии рассматриваются не только как одно из стратегических направлений сотрудничества, но и как его основа, проявляющаяся во взаимном осознании общности фундаментальных ценностей народов двух стран. Для культурной политики государств характерны сходные задачи: сохранение культурного наследия, национальной культуры и языка в условиях культурной интеграции и глобализации, защита культурных ценностей, поиск эффективных форм культурного взаимодействия. Свидетельством устойчивости, эффективности и востребованности такого формата взаимодействия даже в условиях неблагоприятной политической конъюнктуры является его временнáя преемственность, представленная в данной работе в контексте исторического опыта формирования культурных связей между Россией и Индией в разные периоды времени, начиная с XV в. Цель написания статьи – типологизация этого опыта вплоть до настоящего времени. В центре теоретического внимания оказались такие предметные области, как межгосударственное культурное сотрудничество, культурные обмены, культурная дипломатия. Источниками при этом явились российские и индийские официальные документы, результаты научных исследований. Применены идеографический, сравнительно-исторический и ретроспективный методы, а также метод опроса.Научная новизна проведенного исследования состоит в обобщении представлений о механизмах международного культурного сотрудничества, практик культурных обменов и культурной дипломатии, взаимодействия национальных культур на примере российско-индийских отношений. Значимость изучения данной проблемы усиливается своей органичной связью с перспективами повышения статуса национальных культур, расширения возможностей их включения в контекст мировой культуры и с перспективами общественного развития в целом. Анализ документов, научных работ, уровня межгосударственных отношений России и Индии позволяет сделать вывод, что именно культурная сфера с ее устойчивыми смысловыми кодами лежит в основе российско-индийских политических и экономических отношений. Результаты изучения вопросов развития культурного взаимодействия могут использоваться для дальнейшего изучения взаимодействия культур, в деятельности организаций, учреждений, ведомств, дипломатических служб, занимающихся вопросами межгосударственного культурного сотрудничества, разработки научно-обоснованных программ обмена культурными ценностями и их использования в деятельности учреждений культуры разных стран.

The article covers the proceedings of International academic online conference ‘The Roerich Family Heritage: Bridge between India and Russia. Marking the Centenary of the Creation of the Philosophical Teaching of Living Ethics’, which was held on November 27, 2020. The conference was organized by the Indian Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature (INDAPRYAL) and The International Centre of Roerichs (ICR). Researchers from India, Russia and Belarus took part in the project. The entire Roerich family was indeed brilliant in its versatility: Nicholas Roerich — a great Russian artist, humanist and public figure of the 20th century, Helena Roerich — a cosmist philosopher, George Roerich — a prominent orientalist, historian and linguist, and Svetoslav Roerich — an outstanding artist and public figure. The philosophical doctrine of Living Ethics was created by Helena Roerich in close connections with the ancient spiritual traditions of India. March 24, 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning the creation of the corpus of these texts. Living Ethics was the main common factor of all the Roerichs’ works. The conference discussed the exceptional role of the Roerichs’ heritage in Indo-Russian cultural interrelations. The topics of the papers included a wide range of areas for studying the multi-faceted creative heritage of the Roerich family — the close connection between the philosophy of Living Ethics and Vedic and Buddhist philosophy, epistolary works of Helena Roerich as a detailed commentary on the texts of Living Ethics, images of India in the Roerich heritage, preservation and popularization of the Roerich heritage in the space of Indian culture etc. The conference showed that the Roerichs’ heritage contains a rich scientific, cultural and creative potential for the development of Russian-Indian relations, deepening mutual understanding and bringing the cultures of the two countries closer together.

From 1999 Polish and Romanian humanists face each other on conferences in Suceava (Romanian Bucovina) which are part of “Polish Days” in Romania organized by the Association of Poles in Romania. Polish and Romanian historians, ethnographers, sociologists, politologists and linguists deliver lectures and discuss Polish-Romanian contacts and relations in the past and present. from the Polish part many historical lectures concern the interwar period and the problem of Polish refugees in Romania during the World War II. In the period between1918–1945 the relations between Poles and Romanians were rather friendly and now these topics are discussed most frequently. Among the Romanian historians there are more specialists on the relations between Moldova and the Polish Kingdom till the end of 18th century. Many historians focus on the Polish-Romanian relations in the years 1945–1989. Most of the lectures concerning the political present were delivered by the Poles. Cultural sections of the conference concentrate on mutual language influences, Polish–Romanian literature contacts, translations of Polish literature into Romania and Romanian literature into Poland, the analyses of literary works, Polish studies in Romania and Romanian studies in Poland, the perception of Romanian culture among the Poles and vice versa, the problems of religions, education, libraries, music and tourism. Polish etnographers concentrate on the problems of Polish Bucovinians but the most discussed subject is not the history of Polish Bucovinians but their local dialect. Most of the conference lectures were printed. “Polish Days” in Suceava are the most important event organized by the very active Association of Poles in Romania and they help breaking the stereotypes and enhance the integration between the Poles and Romanians.. In general the conferences in Suceava do not have their equivalent in the contacts between humanists of other countries.

Buddhism was often a theme in poetry, especially when writing to monks and on Buddhist sites; it was sometimes a deep conviction on the part of individual poets that contributed to the way they represented the world. There was a period, however, from the ninth through early eleventh century, when Chan meditation shaped how poets thought about the very way of writing poetry. The common use of the [Buddhist] “Way” or Chan in parallel with “poetry” in couplets from this period worked through the possible relations: identity, similarity, complementarity, and mutual exclusion. But the presumption was that the composition of poetry was the counterpart of Chan meditation. Such serious reflection on the relation between Chan meditation practice and poetry eventually devolved into Yan Yu’s thirteenth-century comparison of Chan sectarian doctrine with the study of poetry. Le bouddhisme est un thème très fréquent dans la poésie chinoise, en particulier quand le poète écrit à un moine ou au sujet d’un site bouddhique. Il constitue dans certains cas une conviction profonde qui contribue fortement à forger la représentation du monde telle que le poète l’exprime en vers. Il y eut cependant une époque, entre le ixe et le début du xie siècle, où la méditation Chan a façonné la façon même dont les poètes concevaient l’écriture poétique. L’usage fréquent des termes “Voie” (bouddhique) ou Chan en parallèle avec celui de “poésie” dans les couplets de cette époque couvre la gamme de leurs relations possibles: identité, similarité, complémentarité et exclusion mutuelle. L’hypothèse commune à ces diverses options était que l’écriture poétique était l’homologue de la méditation Chan. Ces réflexions élaborées sur les rapports entre les pratiques de la méditation Chan et de la poésie ont débouché au xiiie siècle sur la comparaison menée par Yan Yu entre la doctrine Chan et l’étude de la poésie.

The subject of this research is the alienation of tradition as a way of relating to the past. The goal of this article consists in conceptualization of an “alienated tradition” as a mode of relationship between the social present and the social past, generated by the historical dynamics of development of the tradition, which is simultaneously a factor of social development and a source of personal suffering. The research methodology leans on the principle of social epistemology, which implies following the mutual conditionality of evolution of representations on connection between the present and the past, reflected in the concept of tradition sociocultural mechanisms of the  tradition. The article analyzes the language of interpretation of tradition as a combination of sociocultural mechanisms connecting the social present and the past. The novelty of this work consists in interdisciplinary synthesis of the concepts and research positions: the classical concept of alienation, research on intergenerational communication and cultural memory, socio-criticism studies, and theory of suffering. The alienation of tradition suggests objectification of these connections, in terms of which the social past perceived by a person as the new and communicative grounds for the alienation of tradition, emerged as result of increasing vicariousness of intergenerational communication. The alienation of tradition has a dual meaning. On the one hand, it becomes the foundation for self-determination of a person with regards to cultural continuum, force of development, due to the fact that a person is no longer positioned as a result of determinacy by the past, but an active subject who transforms the world relying on own mind, rather than the legacy of the past. On the other hand, the alienation of tradition becomes a cause of suffering; the more vicarious becomes the person’s relationship with the past, the more antagonistic and alienated become the grounds for his existence in culture that are determined by the past.

AbstractWhat makes us so smart as a species, and what makes children such rapid learners? We argue that the answer to both questions lies in a mutual bootstrapping system comprised of (1) our exceptional capacity for relational cognition and (2) symbolic systems that augment this capacity. The ability to carry out structure-mapping processes of alignment and inference is inherent in human cognition. It is arguably the key inherent difference between humans and other great apes. But an equally important difference is that humans possess a symbolic language.The acquisition of language influences cognitive development in many ways. We focus here on the role of language in a mutually facilitating partnership with relational representation and reasoning. We suggest a positive feedback relation in which structural alignment processes support the acquisition of language, and in turn, language—especially relational language—supports structural alignment and reasoning.We review three kinds of evidence (a) evidence that analogical processes support children's learning in a variety of domains; (b) more specifically, evidence that analogical processing fosters the acquisition of language, especially relational language; and (c) in the other direction, evidence that acquiring language fosters children's ability to process analogies, focusing on spatial language and spatial analogies. We conclude with an analysis of the acquisition of cardinality—which we offer as a canonical case of how the combination of language and analogical processing fosters cognitive development.

The present article deals with the mutual influence of constituent components of language - culture interrelation. It also studies the revealing of the forms and principles of occurrence of cultural factors in the language and provides a short insight into the history and setting of the problem. The attitude of a human being towards reality phenomena as well as to the realization of time, quantity, gender, and case categories depend on the life style, daily routine, customs / traditions and mentality of the ethnos. The ways of defining common and distinguishing features of expressing the linguo- cultural factors in multi – system languages are investigated in the paper. It is stated in the research that cultural factors are reflected not only in the lexical and phraseological units of the language system, but also in its grammatical categories. Being a bearer and a transmitter of information, language is a specific means of realization of the culture.Accordinly, cultural factors are encoded and decoded in the language depending on the mentality and outlook of the ethnos. The mutual influence of language and culture occurs in communication process between the bearers of multi – system languages and evinces quite differently.

Meetings of different cultures in today's global multicultural society are occurring almost every moment in the most diverse forms of communication. Intercultural communication due to an increased interdependence between people of different cultures, religions, languages and world view becomes a reality of everyday life, where encounters culture imply the necessity of quality mutual correlation based on the idea of interculturalism. Given that childhood is considered an extremely important period of human life, 18 institutions of early and preschool upbringing and education are the places of the first formal outbound socialization and the earliest institutional transfer of socially accepted norms and values, as well as the places where the forms of intercultural relations are applied in society. This paper gives an overview of the results of empirical research aimed at determining the level of basic knowledge in the field of interculturalism and examining the desirable intercultural competence of the educators, and the effectiveness of intercultural action in the early and preschool upbringing and education process.

In the first part of this study, published in the first issue of the magazine Illuminatio/Svjetionik/Almanar, the author briefly outlined the basic elements of the philosophy of politics characteristic of the history of modern nations in which he analysed the relations of the individual, the people, the nation and the state. The second part of this study focuses on the attitude of Bosniaks towards collective memory, which, according to the author, was brought to the threshold of amnesia under the influence of the long-term political strategy of their neighbours. The author believes that the shaken collective memory represents the most neuralgic problem and the greatest danger for the historical reintegration and homogenization of Bosniaks as an ethnicity and a nation. The author emphasizes that “Bosnian” is a territorial determinant and completely excludes the national determinant “Bosniak”. Flirting with the phrase “Bosniaks/Bosnians”, which is often used, is not only a denouncement of the ethnic and national affiliation of Bosniaks, but further denies their uniqueness – and thus calls into question the very existence of Bosniaks. A Bosniak is born, a Bosniak remains. A "Bosnian" becomes, a "Bosnian" cease to be. A Bosniak living in Bosnia is also a "Bosnian". A "Bosnian" who is not a Bosniak does not become a Bosniak anywhere, not even in Bosnia. A Bosniak who does not live in Bosnia remains a Bosniak, but ceases to be a "Bosnian". The goal of substituting the historical name Bosniaks with the territorial designation "Bosnians" is obvious: Break the homogeneous core of Bosniaks by erasing awareness of their ethnic identity, name, national unity, common history, culture, language, in short – a common past, present and future. The study also recalls the difference between the modern understanding of the nation and the way in which this social phenomenon was interpreted until the middle of the 20th century. Behind the separation of the nation from the ethnicity/people, as the supposedly superior form, lies the effort to relativize the ethnicity/people, as an objective fact, to weaken the mutual ties of its members and to bring the entire population under the control of central political power – as a seemingly integrated and homogeneous whole.

Learner autonomy has been a focus of research for last three decades. Not only the nature of phenomenon was investigated but also its role in foreign language learning attracted researchers’ interests. The present paper examines the mutual creative relationship between learner autonomy and target foreign language acquisition. Following an interpretive paradigm, this qualitative study used semi-structured interviews to explore the beliefs of 16 university teachers of English language teaching in four public sector universities of province Punjab, Pakistan. Results revealed a close creative connection between learner autonomy and English language learning. Teachers believed that autonomy in learners accelerates language learning. Major aspects of learner autonomy were reported fulfilling the perceived needs of foreign language learning. The study implied that fostering of autonomy in learners accelerates target language proficiency.

From the birth of the public television in Europe, media has been related with cultural and divulging objectives. Nevertheless, it is necessary to admit that the relation between television and culture have always been difficult or al least controversial. Until the eighties there seemed to exist a mutual respect among each other but since the loss of monopoly on the part of the public European chains the relation has been getting worse. Public television has got involved in drag by a crazy race for audience rates where programmes on or with cultural values have been progressively diminished. Desde el nacimiento de la televisión en Europa, se le ha atribuido una función cultural y de difusión de valores, de conocimiento y de saber. Sin embargo, hay que reconocer que la relación entre televisión y cultura siempre ha sido difícil y polémica. Hasta los años ochenta parecía existir un mutuo respeto entre ambas, pero, desde la pérdida del monopolio por parte de las cadenas públicas europeas, la relación ha ido empeorando hasta alcanzar el rótulo de «mala». La televisión pública se ha dejado arrastrar por una loca carrera de índices de audiencia, en donde los programas de valores culturales, con valores culturales o sobre-valores culturales han ido menguando progresivamente.

Abstract The aim of this paper is to describe the relations between the religious communities in the Republic of North Macedonia. This paper will examine the history of each of the most numerous traditional religious communities in the country, the history of the dialogue between them and its present situation, the communication and mutual influences, as well as the attempts to overcome disagreements and misunderstandings. It is an overview of the most important activities of the dialogues and challenges in relation to the events and changes in the country.

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.本文揭示了在當代西方墮胎爭論背後起作用的身體圖式，以及這種身體圖式如何使墮胎問題最終在西方語境中成為沒有答案的難題。並援引醫家和儒家的思想材料，說明中國傳統身體觀如何更平衡地解決了同一個身體中的母親與胎兒的關係問題，從而既避免了西方語境中的陷阱，又因為更貼近懷孕身體的真實關係而在應用上具有倫理優勢。Abortion is a subject of much controversy in contemporary Western culture. However, the heated debate produces a dilemma: pro-life or pro-choice. For the pro-life advocates, the fetus is regarded as a person and therefore has the absolute right to life, which is undeniable in any case. Even when pregnancy threatens the mother's life, the mother has no right to take the innocent life of the fetus; In other words, the choice of life or death should submit to pure chances, as some critics uphold. On the other hand, however, the pro-choice advocates claim that the pro-life argument is incoherent and radical, since the right to life should not include the right to use another person's body. In their view, the woman should enjoy complete control on her body as on her house. The woman has the right to abort, as long as she has the right to decide what happens in her body: no doubt the fetus has the right to life, but unfortunately, not in this body.The ostensibly incompatible positions of the “ pro-life" and the "pro-choice” actually share the same all-or-nothing strategy which is predetermined by the same image of the body. In the Western tradition, the body is viewed as a thing, and being a person is equated with controlling a body. Accordingly, it is inclined to obscure the existence of the mother which is viewed as only chora.There is less debate on abortion in the context of Chinese culture. This does not mean that Chinese people are more barbaric over such issues, as some Western scholars imagine. This paper aims to propose that Chinese traditional thought has a different system of language about the issue of abortion based on its own body-schema. It argues that this language system may avoid the dilemma mentioned above.Contrary to the Western body-schema, the Chinese body-schema does not admit the dualism of body and soul, and hence does not emphasize the absolute control of the person (or the soul) on the body. The body in the Chinese traditional thought is not viewed as a closed organism kept in dualism, but a continuum of one and the same level, or a texture, which keeps returning to itself by intertwining everything born from it, especially in terms of qi〔氣〕- vital energy - therefore there is no fixed limit between body and soul, or between my body and another person's body.Concerning the issue of abortion, the Chinese body-schema can be further examined in three contexts. First, in the context of procreation, the sexual bodies are neither viewed as homogeneous nor heterogeneous, but coexist as symbiosis (of yin and yang〔陰陽〕): that is, the unity of two organismic processes which require each other as a necessary condition for being what they are. This makes it possible for Chinese traditional thought to evaluate the meaning of the mother clearly, which is, however, depressed in the Western tradition. Second, in the context of the development of the fetus in the womb, the fetus is viewed as an essential part of the mother, like plants having flowers and fruits, or trees having roots. Relations of parents to children or children to parents are like two parts of a single body or the same breath / vital energy separately breathed, which can find direct responses from each other. Such a mutual influence becomes more and more apparent, which serves as an important limitation on abortion after the pregnancy lasts beyond three months. Finally, in the context of Confucianism, everyone's body is viewed as derived and inseparable from his parents, which suggests a new ethical horizon: the choice of moral values and behaviors is up to qin intimacy, 〔親〕. Qin is neither individuals nor other bigger units (e.g. family, nation); it can never be substantiated, but is always already there as a vortex: everything having originated from it keeps returning to it, and just in this tension everything gets its proper ethical position. For example, in the case of abortion, not the rights, but the concrete ethical relations of the family, should first be taken into consideration. Under some circumstances, abortion may be a more responsible decision for other family members or qin , yet the fetus is still of irreducible importance, for qin naturally covers the fetus.In conclusion, the Western one-sided body-schema (in which one body is shared by two persons) is far from showing the real relation in pregnancy. It leads to an all-or-neither strategy and thus falls into dilemma. In contrast, the Chinese body-schema can hit the balance between the woman and the fetus, or between the pregnant body and the socially ethical body (qin). The Chinese body-schema is closer to the concrete situation of the pregnant woman and thus has ethical advantages to overcome the dilemma in practice.DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 168 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.

Latgale is the essentially most different and most peculiar Latvian region from the perspectives of language and culture and their interaction with the cultures of other nations. Hence, this article attempts to reveal how the images of werewolves in Latgalian folklore and the means of their expression used in traditional tales differ from the rest territory of Latvia. The aim of the article is to understand the use of this relatively little studied mythical image and the features of their characters in Latgalian folklore. Previously, the author studied the features of werewolf depictions in Latvian folklore in general, and also compared it to Lithuanian folklore. The main source used in the research are five tales of werewolves, which can be found in an electronic version of Pēteris Šmits’ collected fairy tales and tales on http://valoda.ailab.lv/folklora/pasakas/saturs.htm, recorded in the dialect of the Eastern part of Latvia. Different dictionaries and encyclopedias, for example the „Interpretative Dictionary of the Latvian Language” („Latviešu valodas skaidrojošā vārdnīca”) (http://www.ailab.lv/Vardnica/), the „Dictionary of Latvian Etymology” (“Latviešu etimoloģijas vārdnīca”), the „Encyclopedia of Mythology” (“Mitoloģijas enciklopēdija”), and the „Dictionary of Foreign Words” (“Svešvārdu vārdnīca”) were used to describe the symbolical and etymological meaning of a werewolf image. The main methods used in the paper are semiotic and comparative. The semiotic method is used to explain the symbolical meaning of the werewolf image and the semantics of the word. The comparative method is used to compare the comprehension and interpretation of the werewolf image in the tales written in the Latvian and Latgalian languages, as well as to compare the structure of these tales and the use of artistic means of expression. As the result of the research, it is possible to conclude that the Latgalian tales of werewolves show features that both agree with and differ from tales of other regions. However, the means of expression in the Latgalian tales of werewolves are rather different from texts written in other regions. One of the major differences is the language which the tales are written in, as well as emotionally expressive elements in the colloquial speech of the narrators, such as the lexis of the region, dialectisms, similes, hyperbolization, and russicisms.Just like in the majority of tales from other regions, special introduction and conclusion formulas are used. The introduction formula takes the listeners into the world of fairy tales and magic, and the conclusion fromula brings them back into reality. In addition, the use of particular toponyms to gain the effect of credibility is quite common. The motive of shapeshifting wedding guests in a number of Latgalian tales is more characteristic and more common in Lithuanian folklore, but not in the folklore of other Latvian regions. Only in one of the analyzed tales a person turns into a werewolf of his own free will. What’s more, he is not a Latgalian, which subtextually implies dislike and prejudices against an alien, which is relatively typical of Latgalian folklore in general. Also, a special shapeshifting formula – a curse – is found in one tale only. Few techniques are mentioned for retrieving human form – jumping over another shot werewolf’s skin, eating a piece of bread given by a human, or cross-cutting a wolf’s skin. Among these methods the bread technique is the most common also in the tales from other Latvian regions. Also, it should be noted that the word „werewolf” is mentioned in one tale only and an expressive description of a werewolf’s appearance is missing. This probably means that this character was not very popular in Latgalian folklore, which is also proved by the small quantity of these texts. Only one tale is narrated by a man, whereas male narrators are predominant in the other regions. In addition, in some Latgalian tales there are relatively distinguished features of patriarchy, relationships between the rich and the poor, and a peculiar sense of humor for this region and its means of expression. Having conducted the research of the tales of werewolves it is quite safe to assert that the narrator’s place of residence and the region that he/she comes from has a relatively essential meaning in the choice of folkloristic motives. The social and cultural environment, the language, and mutual relations are those preconditions that form a person’s weltanschauung, perception of life and basic values. With their special mentality, emotionally colorful means of expression and an exciting, different language, the Latgalian tales are for sure distinctive from the other ones and are very important for Baltic folklore in general.

Abstract The paper aims to reflect on theoretical foundations of Horecký’s approach to the relation between language (and more specifically: terms) and thinking (concepts). Reflections are devoted to Horecký’s explicit and implicit beliefs on the nature of terms and concepts and their mutual relation, as well as their relation to reality around. Definitions of both term and concept appear in some of Horecký’s major papers. The paper focuses on models of term-concept relation proposed in those papers. Finally, an attempt is made to find some convergences and divergences in theories of Horecký and the Czech logician Pavel Tichý.

In article discusses the relationship between Iran and Kyrgyzstan in the field of culture and education. Attention is focused on the pragmatic course in the relations between the two countries, the cultural factor of mutual influence is noted. The article provides a brief overview of Iran’s cultural initiatives in relation to Kyrgyzstan.

The article considers the relation and mutual influence of negative emotions and culture. It provides arguments for the distinction between negative and positive emotions. The main claim is that what distinguishes negative emotions is that their intentionality is directed towards the subject themselves, by which the subject becomes the emotion?s hostage. Although intuitively wrongheaded, the article claims that negative emotions can have a positive impact in social life and serve the advancement of human values and struggles against injustice. Valuing negative emotions refers to correspondence with relevant social norms, that is to say, how can we judge social events in the framework of ethical, moral, or social values.

The article touches upon the problem of the correlation between the peculiarities of the national character and culture, the type of personality and their reflection in the language. It is explained why the process of mutual understanding is almost impossible without in-depth studies of the types of the cultures of language communities.

Abstract The western margin of the Amazon basin near the modern-day border between Ecuador and Peru is an area of notable linguistic and ethnic diversity, but the indigenous cultures also show considerable similarities, thanks to a long history of contact and mutual influence. One of the cultural traits of the area is a genre of “magic” songs used to ensure success in all kinds of activities, but especially romantic pursuits, hunting (for men), and gardening (for women). These songs are distinguished musically from other song types, the lyrics are rich in imagery and metaphor (especially relating to birds and animals) and allusions to mythology, and they use a lexicon that includes both archaisms and innovative loanwords from neighbouring languages. This paper focuses on the magic songs (called anɨn or anen) of the Aguaruna or Awajún, an indigenous group of north Peru. I describe the formal and poetic properties of these songs and their significance within the context of Aguaruna oral tradition and traditional culture, and then ask what these songs can tell us about the social and linguistic history of the region.

In April 2014, Nihon Hoso Kyokai (NHK: Japan Broadcasting Company) aired a short animated film titled “Ophelia, not yet”. Ophelia, in this animation, survives, as she is a backstroke champion. This article will attempt to contextualize the complex negotiations, struggles and challenges between high culture and pop culture, between Western culture and Japanese culture, between authoritative cultural products and radicalized counterculture consumer products (such as animation), to argue that it would be more profitable to think of the relationships between highbrow/lowbrow, Western/non-Western, male versus female, heterosexual versus non-heterosexual, not simply in terms of dichotomies or domination/subordination, but in terms of reciprocal enrichment in a never-ending process of mutual metamorphoses.

Abstract Linguistic creativity is a manifestation of communities’ and cultures’ innovativeness. The initial results will be presented of an empirical project analysing the character and speed of the social spread of winged words and neologisms in a microblogging site, using the tools of social network analysis applied to big-scale data. Investigating the diffusion of linguistic innovation requires an approach pooling competences from human, social, and computational sciences. Such a complex systems perspective can lead to a deeper understanding of how mutual relations and communication between Internet users impact the cultural evolution of language in time and space, and the shape and dynamics of the interactions themselves, delivering quantitative estimates on the expansion of linguistic expressions and allowing the prediction of future trends and their scale.

<p>http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-795X.2015v33n1p27</p><p>Este artigo analisa a relação entre história e narrativa, investigando suas relações recíprocas. Há um sentido comum entre ambas, pois é possível circunscrever a narrativa como história e a história como narrativa. O caráter notadamente formativo da narrativa é dado por sua intenção simultaneamente lúdica e educativa. Com esse intuito, esta investigação desdobra-se nos seguintes aspectos: origem e função da narrativa; o elemento mítico; o aspecto da oralidade; o prazer da narrativa na relação entre o narrador e o ouvinte. Dessa forma, tem-se a sua relação com a educação, compreendida no sentido amplo de formação. Nesse plano, o sentido aqui analisado de história será aquele que se instaura como arte de narrar. Para tanto, do ponto de vista metodológico, serão analisadas passagens dos poemas de Homero e Hesíodo, buscando identificar os elos que unem a poesia à narrativa. Eles colocam em cena, entre suas personagens, aspectos fundamentais da arte de narrar, que entrelaçam memória e saber, revelando o aspecto técnico da imagem poética, ou seja, a construção da linguagem da narrativa. Desse modo, será possível mostrar como, já no universo da cultura clássica, oralidade e memória vinculam-se de modo essencial e inscrevem uma perspectiva formativa como arte de narrar e de ouvir.</p><p><strong>Orality and Memory: the role of narrative in education</strong></p><p><strong></strong><br /><strong>Abstract</strong><br />The aim of this research is to analyze the relationship between history and narrative, investigating their mutual relations. There is a common sense between them, and it is possible to confine the narrative as history and history as narrative. The remarkable formative character of the narrative is given by its recreational and educational intent. Our pourpose is to research the following aspects: origin and function of narrative; the mythical element; the aspect of orality; the pleasure of the narrative on the relationship between the narrator and the listener. In this way its relationship with education is understood in the global sense of training. The sense of history here analyzed is conceived as the art of narrating. Therefore, from a methodological point of view, the poems of Homer and Hesiod will be analyzed in order to identify the ducational conceptions of the relationship between poetry and narrative. They put into play between their characters fundamental aspects of the art of narrating, which intertwine memory and learning, and show the technical aspect of the poetic image, i.e., the construction of the language of the narrative. So, it will be possible to show how the world of classical culture, orality and memory become linked in an essential formative perspective as a narrating and listening art.</p><p><strong>Keywords: </strong>Memory. Poetry. Education.</p><p><strong><br /></strong></p><p><strong>L’oralité et la mémoire: le rôle du récit dans l’éducation</strong></p><p><br /><strong>Résumé</strong><br />Cet article analyse et recherche les rapports entre l’histoire et le récit. Il y a un même sens entre eux puisqu’il est possible de circonscrire le récit à l’histoire et l’histoire au récit. Le caractère remarquablement formatif du récit est donné à la fois pour ses intentions ludique et éducative. La recherche se déroule sur les aspects suivants: l’origine et la fonction du récit; l’élément mythique; l’aspect de l’oralité; le plaisir du récit dans le rapport entre le narrateur et l’auditeur. Ainsi, son rapport avec l’éducation est entendu dans le grand sens de formation. Le sens de l’histoire analysé ici sera celui établi comme l’art du récit. Pour cela, les poèmes d’Homère et d’Hésiode seront analysés, sur le point de vue méthodologique, dans le but d’identifi er les liens entre la poésie et le récit. Ils mettent en jeu entre ses personnages les aspects fondamentaux de l’art du récit, qui entrelacent la mémoire et le savoir, en révélant l’aspect téchnique de l’image poétique, c’est à dire, la construction du langage du récit. Par suite, il sera possible montrer comme, dans l’univers de la culture classique, l’oralité et la mémoire sont liées de manière essentielle et inscrivent une perspective formative comme l’art de raconter et d’entendre.<br /><strong>Mots-clés:</strong> Mémoire. Poésie. Éducation.</p>

In this article we try to contextualize the relations between Linguistics and Cognitive Sciences from a pragmatic-discursive standpoint. For this purpose, we proceed with a critical study of the streams that, in Linguistics, postulate a close relation between language and cognition, concerning some fundamental notions such as communication, use and context. Finally we list the theoretical bases upon which a conceptual bridge betweeen language and cognition can be established: a relation of mutual constitutiveness, which necessarily passes through the processes of signification and in which discourse intervenes.

The word is becoming globalized in every aspect. As a result, people are encountering everyday many foreign languages and cultures either through mass media, social media, schools, books etc. Living in this type of environment gives us the opportunity to learn and study many foreign languages and cultures. The importance of the relation between language and culture has been studied and assessed since a long time. This study is focused on how foreign languages are taught through culture. There can be raised several important question regarding the relation between language and culture. Is there any connection between language and culture? Do they influence one another? Can someone learn a language without knowing the culture and vice versa? In order to answers such questions there was revised the most modern literature on this topic. After revising the literature, a survey was also conducted to the lecturers and students of foreign languages faculty at “Aleksander Xhuvani” University in Elbasan. The purpose was to approach the topic from both perspectives and get the results and opinions from different point of views. The number of students participating in the survey was higher than lecturers, so percentages are given separately for both categories. Then the results were analyzed and compared with one another

This paper investigates the mutual relationship between Jordanian practitioners’ individualistic/collectivistic cultural orientation and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). It explores Jordanian accountants’ perception of the importance of IFRS, the IFRS-embedded cultural values attributed to those accountants, and whether adopting IFRS has contributed to change their cultural orientation. A three-part questionnaire distributed to 81 Jordanian accountants reveals that their cultural orientation is more collectivistic than individualistic. Moreover, accountants who have practiced only IFRS have a more individualistic orientation than those with long experience with the pre-IFRS standards. As the paper analyses only one cultural dimension (i.e., collectivistic versus individualistic), further research should explore other cultural dimensions, such as power distance, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance, religion and language, and their interrelationships with IFRS. Our findings should be relevant to other countries, especially those with developing or emerging economies, as they strive to improve the effectiveness of their corporate financial information.

During the early years a young child gradually becomes a member of a culture by learning how to understand and then produce relevant social practices – particularly through interaction in conversation. This paper examines how one child adapts to the practices surrounding the production of questions and answers. Adopting a longitudinal case-study approach and employing conversation analysis, consideration is given to the question-answer practices this child produces during asymmetric conversations across the period when she is acquiring conversational skills (from 12 months to 3 years 7 months). Through a micro-analytic examination of extract examples across this period, it becomes clear that although initially a child can learn the format of question-answer sequences, it is not until the third year that some recognition of being accountable for the form of an answer becomes evident. Between the ages of 2 and 3, we observe that this child is called to account for answers that are deemed inappropriate or odd. Concluding comments consider these practices as forms of social adaptation within asymmetric interactive contexts. Keywords: child-parent-interaction; asymmetric interaction; learning conversational skills

This article considers thinking with a common worlds framework in relation to reimagining our pedagogies to move beyond the nature/culture binary. Drawing on the work of scholars who engage with common worlds ethnographic projects, the author grapples with what it means to shift from humancentric perspectives of teaching children about nature toward attending to the interdependencies, mutual vulnerabilities, and responsibilities between humans and nonhumans. The article describes encounters between children, wasps, bees, and mushrooms as a means of illustrating how we might move toward different ways relating to the nature/culture divide, away from learning about toward thinking with.

Abstract Australia’s language-in-education policy documents have consistently included references to the place of ‘culture’ in language teaching. This paper seeks to examine how the major national policies conceptualise culture and interculturality in relation to languages education. For each policy, this study will analyse the language focus, the conceptualisation of the relationship between language and culture, the contexts in which the policy envisages cultural knowledge will be relevant, and the overall educative vision for language and culture learning. From these analyses it can be seen that successive policy documents have shifted the domain and purpose of interculturality and have constructed views of interculturality that are increasingly instrumentaly focused. The policies show a transformation from a humanistically focused construction of education and a view of languages as relevant to diversity, to an economically focused construction of education and a view of languages as capital for economic deployment. At the same time, they have preserved a largely static, information-focused construction of culture which is not consistent with the user-oriented policy goals.

Enabling the models with the ability of reasoning and inference over text is one of the core missions of natural language understanding. Despite deep learning models have shown strong performance on various cross-sentence inference benchmarks, recent work has shown that they are leveraging spurious statistical cues rather than capturing deeper implied relations between pairs of sentences. In this paper, we show that the state-of-the-art language encoding models are especially bad at modeling directional relations between sentences by proposing a new evaluation task: Cause-and-Effect relation prediction task. Back by our curated Cause-and-Effect Relation dataset (Cℰℛ), we also demonstrate that a mutual attention mechanism can guide the model to focus on capturing directional relations between sentences when added to existing transformer-based models. Experiment results show that the proposed approach improves the performance on downstream applications, such as the abductive reasoning task.

AbstractFor anthropologists who engage in encounter-based fieldwork, contact zones have a peculiar phenomenal quality that is often neglected by scholars from other disciplines who have taken up the fieldwork paradigm initially developed by ethnographers. In this paper, I want to elaborate how, in my most recent fieldwork in Syria, I experienced such zones, and I want to reflect on this experience and its relation to concepts and writing as it becomes knowledge. I define fieldwork as “the registering of sensory impressions in a (temporal) process of mutual subject-discovery and critique,” and anthropology as a “mode of engagement in generating knowledge and social and political action that enables ongoing relationships” (Borneman/Hammoudi 2009: 19). This picture of fieldwork and ethnography, in its stress on the author being in “a zone of contact with the world he is depicting” (Bakhtin 1981: 30), is at odds with understandings that focus on anthropology as a “cultural critique” of the West (Marcus/Fischer 1986), “creative and usable mappings” (Gupta/Ferguson 1997: 56), “comparison of embedded concepts” between societies (Asad 2003: 17), or interpretation of another culture (Geertz 1973).

Kernel methods have produced state-of-the-art results for a number of NLP tasks such as relation extraction, but suffer from poor scalability due to the high cost of computing kernel similarities between natural language structures. A recently proposed technique, kernelized locality-sensitive hashing (KLSH), can significantly reduce the computational cost, but is only applicable to classifiers operating on kNN graphs. Here we propose to use random subspaces of KLSH codes for efficiently constructing an explicit representation of NLP structures suitable for general classification methods. Further, we propose an approach for optimizing the KLSH model for classification problems by maximizing an approximation of mutual information between the KLSH codes (feature vectors) and the class labels. We evaluate the proposed approach on biomedical relation extraction datasets, and observe significant and robust improvements in accuracy w.r.t. state-ofthe-art classifiers, along with drastic (orders-of-magnitude) speedup compared to conventional kernel methods.

It is widely acknowledged that enhancing innovation capability is an inevitable requirement for the survival and sustainable growth of firms operating in the information technology sector. Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the relationship among organizational culture, knowledge management and innovation capability in the open innovation environment to provide useful suggestions and recommendations for managerial practices within the high-tech industry. Primary data collected from 182 high-tech firm’s representatives were processed by using the Structural Equation Modeling approach. The results showed that knowledge management was strongly correlated with innovation capability. The positively significant relationship between organizational culture and knowledge management was also confirmed. Overall, the findings suggest that an open innovation culture of an organization in which mutual trust, collaboration and learning are promoted by supportive and participative leaders is more likely to increase the efficiency of knowledge management practices; thus, eventually lead to enhanced innovation capability of the firm.