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　　LanguageandCulture

　　Therearemanywaysinwhichthephenomenaoflanguageandcultureareintimatelyrelated.Bothphenomenaareuniquetohumansandhavethereforebeenthesubjectofagreatdealofanthropological,sociological,andevenmemeticstudy.Language,ofcourse,isdeterminedbyculture,thoughtheextenttowhichthisistrueisnowunderdebate.Theconverseisalsotruetosomedegree:cultureisdeterminedbylanguage-orrather,bythereplicatorsthatcreatedboth,memes.

　　Earlyanthropologists,followingthetheorythatwordsdeterminethought,believedthatlanguageanditsstructurewereentirelydependentontheculturalcontextinwhichtheyexisted.ThiswasalogicalextensionofwhatistermedtheStandardSocialScienceModel,whichviewsthehumanmindasanindefinitelymalleablestructurecapableofabsorbinganysortofculturewithoutconstraintsfromgeneticorneurologicalfactors.

　　Inthisvein,anthropologistVerneRayconductedastudyinthe1950's,givingcolorsamplestodifferentAmericanIndiantribesandaskingthemtogivethenamesofthecolors.Heconcludedthatthespectrumweseeas"green","yellow",etc.wasanentirelyarbitrarydivision,andeachculturedividedthespectrumseparately.Accordingtothishypothesis,thedivisionsseenbetweencolorsareaconsequenceofthelanguagewelearn,anddonotcorrespondtodivisionsinthenaturalworld.AsimilarhypothesisisupheldintheextremelypopularmemeofEskimowordsforsnow-commonstoriesvaryfromfiftytoupwardsoftwohundred.

　　Extremeculturalrelativismofthistypehasnowbeenclearlyrefuted.Eskimosuseatmosttwelvedifferentwordsforsnow,whichisnotmanymorethanEnglishspeakersandshouldbeexpectedsincetheyexistinacoldclimate.Thecolor-relativityhypothesishasnowbeencompletelydebunkedbymorecareful,thorough,andsystematicstudieswhichshowaremarkablesimilaritybetweenthewaysinwhichdifferentculturesdividethespectrum.

　　Ofcourse,therearewaysinwhichculturereallydoesdeterminelanguage,oratleastcertainfacetsthereof.Obviously,theancientRomansdidnothavewordsforradios,televisions,orcomputersbecausetheseitemsweresimplynotpartoftheirculturalcontext.Inthesamevein,uncivilizedtribeslivinginEuropeinthetimeoftheRomansdidnothavewordsfortribunes,praetors,oranyothertrappingofRomangovernmentbecauseRomanlawwasnotpartoftheirculture.

　　Ourculturedoes,sometimes,restrictwhatwecanthinkaboutefficientlyinourownlanguage.Forexample,somelanguageshaveonlythreecolortermsequivalenttoblack,white,andred;anativespeakerofthislanguagewouldhaveadifficulttimeexpressingtheconceptof"purple"efficiently.Somelanguagesarealsomoreexpressiveaboutcertaintopics.Forexample,itiscommonlyacknowledgedthatYiddishisalinguisticchampion,withanamazingnumberofwordsreferringtothesimpleminded.(TheLanguageInstinctbyStevenPinker,p.260.)

　　CultureandLanguage-UnitedbyMemes

　　AccordingtothememetictheoristSusanBlackmore,languagedevelopedasaresultofmemeticevolutionandisanexampleofmemesprovidingaselectionpressureongenesthemselves.(FormoreonBlackmore'stheoryvisitTheEvolutionofLanguage.)Thedefinitionofacultureinmemetictheoryisanaggregateofmanydifferentmemesetso