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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Language as a portrayal of culture
Author:Massamba, D.P.B.ISNI
Year:1992
Periodical:Journal of Asian and African Studies (Tokyo)
Issue:43
Pages:95-107
Language:English
Geographic term:Subsaharan Africa
Subjects:culture
African languages
Abstract:Language is a fundamental characteristic in any people's culture. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, that a people's language determines the way they mould their world, while debatable in some respects, nonetheless reveals certain aspects of the relationship between language and culture which cannot be easily dismissed. Thus social relations, which tend to differ from one society to another, are very clearly portrayed by the languages used in the societies in question. The author examines some of these relations in English-speaking and Swahili-speaking societies. He also looks at cultural concepts portrayed in a Bantu language, Ci-Ruri, and in Swahili, in order to make his point, that cultural phenomena do reveal themselves in language, although in most cases they go unnoticed. Bibliogr., ref.
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