# If Levi-Strauss met Langacker: Constructional foundations of cultural patterns

Canonical page: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns

- SlideShare title: If Levi-Strauss had met Langacker: Constructional foundations of cultural pat...
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- Topics: Language & meaning
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## Slide 1: If Levi-Strauss met Langacker: Constructional foundations of cultural patterns

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-1 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-01.png

Dominik Lukeš

@techczech

<http://metaphorhacker.net>

## Slide 2: Preliminaries

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-2 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-02.png

## Slide 3: Preliminaries

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-3 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-03.png

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**Can culture be taught the same way that language can?**

Culture is more like language than we assume in that language is more like culture than we assume.

## Slide 4: Preliminaries

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-4 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-04.png

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![Portraits and labels compare Jakobson’s voiced / unvoiced distinction with Lévi-Strauss’s cooked / raw distinction.](https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/media/page-04.png)

- Jakobson
- **voiced / unvoiced**
- **cooked / raw**
- Lévi-Strauss

## Slide 5: Preliminaries

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-5 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-05.png

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> “I saw a guy at a party wearing a leather jacket and I thought, ‘That is cool.’ But then I saw another guy wearing a leather vest and I thought, ‘That is not cool’. Then I figured it out: ‘Cool’ is all about leather sleeves.”
>
> – Demetri Martin

## Slide 6: Preliminaries

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-6 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-06.png

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![Two portraits accompany the labels Langacker, construction inventory, Levi-Strauss and question marks.](https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/media/page-06.png)

- Langacker
- **construction inventory**
- **??????**
- Levi-Strauss

## Slide 7: Preliminaries

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-7 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-07.png

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**Caveat**

We need more than just using terms from one field to label phenomena in another without providing a benefit.

## Slide 8: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-8 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-08.png

## Slide 9: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-9 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-09.png

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![Book cover: Radical Construction Grammar: Syntactic Theory in Typological Perspective, William Croft, Oxford.](https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/media/img-3f51c4fc77cf61c2.jpeg)

## Slide 10: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-10 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-10.png

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**Language** = Constructions (meaning/form pairs) + Integration (blending)

## Slide 11: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-11 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-11.png

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- Language is a structured **inventory** of symbolic units
- Units are best described as **constructions** linking form and meaning
- Formal and semantic compositionality is the process of conceptual **integration**

## Slide 12: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-12 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-12.png

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Everything we know as words and rules are just **constructions**.

## Slide 13: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-13 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-13.png

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Knowledge of linguistic units is the **same kind of knowledge as other kinds of knowledge** (encyclopedic) and exhibits the same kinds of organizational, cognitive and social properties (incl. basic-level hierarchies, prototype category effects, underspecification, redundancy, conventionalization, culture/language-specificity, explication, negotiation)

## Slide 14: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-14 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-14.png

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Knowledge is structured by frames (cognitive models).

(See talk on Frames.)

## Slide 15: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-15 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-15.png

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**conceptual integration** is constrained, underspecified, opportunistic, dynamic, conventionalized

## Slide 16: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-16 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-16.png

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**Meaning** of constructions can be very **rich** (encyclopedic/lexical – ‘horse’) or very **schematic** (grammatical ‘N’, ‘N+pl’)

## Slide 17: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-17 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-17.png

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| meaning | / dog /     |
|---------|-------------|
| form    | \[ d ɔ g \] |

## Slide 18: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-18 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-18.png

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| / dog /     | / plural s/z/ɪz / |
|-------------|-------------------|
| \[ d ɔ g \] | \[ z \]           |

## Slide 19: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-19 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-19.png

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![Six photographs of dogs on boats or at the wheel surround the pairs / dogs / above d ɔ g z and / sail / above s aɪ l, each pair separated by a horizontal line.](https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/media/page-19.png)

| / dogs /      | / sail /     |
|---------------|--------------|
| \[ d ɔ g z \] | \[ s aɪ l \] |

## Slide 20: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-20 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-20.png

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Constructions are of different **degrees of schematicity** (e.g. style is a construction) and their working is available for introspection to various degrees (cf. Talmy)

## Slide 21: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-21 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-21.png

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- ***because*** **construction**
  - *meaning:*
    - profile logical cause in the discourse space;
    - activate logical prosody of causation
  - *form:* \[because\] clause-initial (stressed) position + collocational patterns

## Slide 22: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-22 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-22.png

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- **English causal cohesive harmony construction**
  - *meaning:* profile necessary (logical) causal coherence links through connectives *plus* direction and/or semantic prosody of logical inference
  - *form:* zero, for, because, so, therefore, thus, which is why, then *plus* English elegant variation

## Slide 23: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-23 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-23.png

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- ***introduction*** **construction**
  - *meaning:*
    - identify genre; activate conceptual spaces for blending; hypostasize entrenched blends and activate gaps; establish credibility of author
  - *form:*
    - local grammars of introduction: opening statement, definition, anecdote (it is said, when I), analogy (just like), name-drop (it is Lakoff’s claim), statement of generality (language is one of the most complex systems), statement of agreement (the concensus is)

## Slide 24: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-24 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-24.png

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Construction inventory (Croft and Cruse 2004)

![Three construction diagrams appear. The first links constructions to word, NP VP and Quant N boxes, with a grammar arrow. The second links Sbj IntrVerb and Sbj Aux-n’t Verb to “I didn’t sleep”. The third branches from Clause through Sbj IntrVerb and Sbj TrVerb Obj to examples including Sbj sleep, Sbj run, Sbj kiss Obj, Sbj kick the bucket and Sbj kick the habit.](https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/media/page-24.png)

## Slide 25: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-25 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-25.png

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Constructions are organized in a **patterned inventory** that is subject to both collective convergence and individual divergence.

## Slide 26: (Radical) Constructional view of language

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-26 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-26.png

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The inventory is collectively **negotiated** both implicitly through imitation and explicitly.

## Slide 27: Culture as inventory of constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-27 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-27.png

## Slide 28: Culture as inventory of constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-28 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-28.png

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Behaviours, beliefs, social hierarchies, forms of speech = patterned **inventory of form / meaning pairs**

## Slide 29: Culture as inventory of constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-29 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-29.png

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Culture cannot be summarized by general principles. There are regularities and patterns of motivation but no determination.

## Slide 30: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-30 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-30.png

## Slide 31: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-31 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-31.png

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![An open palm has a smiling face drawn on it.](https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/media/img-5fc5b24a51a2e565.png)

## Slide 32: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-32 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-32.png

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![A kitten with narrowed eyes and a smiling baby accompany the question “The universal smile?”.](https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/media/page-32.png)

The universal smile?

## Slide 33: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-33 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-33.png

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![A photograph shows a shopkeeper and customers across a shop counter, with the caption “Russian shopkeepers should be more friendly”.](https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/media/img-cf269c06622a869c.jpeg)

Russian shopkeepers should be more friendly

## Slide 34: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-34 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-34.png

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![A photograph of Hillary Clinton smiling broadly accompanies the caption “Americans are insincere”.](https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/media/img-4aeb3e8dcc7b942c.jpeg)

Americans are insincere

## Slide 35: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-35 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-35.png

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SMILE

- Person you know
- Express happiness
- Confirm emotional relationship

## Slide 36: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-36 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-36.png

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SMILE

- Person you meet
- Express general connection/acknowledgement

## Slide 37: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-37 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-37.png

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IMAGES OF SMILE / SAYINGS ABOUT SMILING / …

- Smiling means friendliness
- Smiling is better when sincere
- More people should smile
- …

## Slide 38: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-38 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-38.png

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Collectivist / Individualist cultures

(Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 1983)

<http://geert-hofstede.com/dimensions.html>

## Slide 39: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-39 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-39.png

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**Individualist**

> “a loosely-knit social framework in which individuals are expected to take care of themselves and their immediate families only”

## Slide 40: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-40 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-40.png

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**Collectivist**

> “a tightly-knit framework in society in which individuals can expect their relatives or members of a particular in-group to look after them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty”

## Slide 41: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-41 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-41.png

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![A grouped bar chart compares United States, Russia and China across PDI, IDV, MAS, UAI and LTO. The IDV group is outlined: United States 91, Russia 39, China 20. Source printed on the slide: geert-hofstede.com/countries.html.](https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/media/img-9225dfbb5214efde.png)

<http://geert-hofstede.com/countries.html>

## Slide 42: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-42 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-42.png

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**United States**

- Chamber of Commerce
- Teams, organizations, etc.
- “No ‘I’ in team”
- “Friends”

## Slide 43: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-43 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-43.png

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**China / Russia**

- Local government individualistic
- Individuals in teams
- Family is the individual
- “Friends”

## Slide 44: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-44 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-44.png

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![Book cover: Understanding Cultures Through Their Key Words: English, Russian, Polish, German, and Japanese, Anna Wierzbicka. The slide labels it Wierzbicka, 1997.](https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/media/img-00d1e91e8a2e9420.png)

Wierzbicka

1997

## Slide 45: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-45 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-45.png

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> “I hate the prostitution of the word friendship to signify modish and worldly alliances.” (Emerson cited by Wierzbicka, p. 48)

## Slide 46: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-46 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-46.png

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> “By contrast, the modern expression *close friend* is not meant to have the same range of referents as the word *friend*; it is indeed intended to stand for a different category of people, linked to the target person by a different kind of relationship.”
>
> Wierzbicka, p. 49

## Slide 47: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-47 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-47.png

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FRIEND (forms)

FRIEND (meanings)

## Slide 48: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-48 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-48.png

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> “I'll be there for you
>
> When the rain starts to pour
>
> I'll be there for you
>
> Like I've been there before
>
> I'll be there for you
>
> 'Cuz you're there for me too...”

> *“V nouzi poznáš přítele.”*

Friendship is important

Czech friend, American friend

## Slide 49: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-49 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-49.png

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“How much money do you make now?”

Knowledge of earnings of a person

Czech friend, American spouse, Albanian acquaintance

## Slide 50: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-50 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-50.png

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![Book cover: The Little Czech and the Great Czech Nation: National Identity and the Post-Communist Social Transformation. The slide labels it Ladislav Holý, 1996.](https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/media/img-909e3b9745838e92.png)

Ladislav Holý

1996

## Slide 51: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-51 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-51.png

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![A scanned table titled “Traits ascribed by Czechs to themselves (percentages), 1990 and 1992” groups negative and positive traits into two year columns.](https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/media/img-7bb424c877a4d688.png)

## Slide 52: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-52 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-52.png

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> “ \[Czechs\] see themselves as petty-minded, intellectually limited, and mediocre, and yet consider the Czech nation highly cultured and well educated. The **coexistence of the two images** poses constant dilemmas.” (p. 77)

## Slide 53: Examples of cultural constructions

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-53 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-53.png

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Little England

> “Little Englander is also, colloquially speaking, an [epithet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epithet) applied in criticisms of [English people](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_people) who are regarded as[xenophobic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophobia) and/or overly [nationalistic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalistic) and are often accused of being "ignorant" and "boorish".”

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Englander>

## Slide 54: Conclusion

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-54 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-54.png

## Slide 55: Conclusion

Cite: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns#section-55 · Original slide image: https://slides.dominiklukes.net/readers/constructional-foundations-of-cultural-patterns/pages/page-55.png

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Non-reductionist view of culture is possible. Research needs to focus on **form/meaning pairings of different generality** not the identification of general principles.

Collections: [Linguistics, metaphor and cognition](https://slides.dominiklukes.net/?collection=linguistics)